Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count

While it is widely acknowledged that the open admissions policy of the U.S.’ 1200 community colleges offers a great chance for historically underrepresented student groups, the academic gain for community college students has often been questioned. Research shows that more than half of community college students fail to meet their educational goals. Community colleges enroll almost half of all U.S. undergraduate students, and this statistic therefore has significant impact nation wide.

Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count is a national initiative seeking to turn the tables around for community college students. The initiative is funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education , the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation . While this task force was founded to boost the academic achievements of community college students in general, it will have a particular focus on the student groups that have traditionally found it difficult to succeed in the educational arena, including students of color and low-income students. Partners collaborating on this initiative are The American Association of Community Colleges , The Community College Leadership Program, and selected colleges from 15 different states (full list of the selected colleges available here).

Achieving the Dream’s goals are:

- To provide planning and implementation grants to colleges and state policy efforts.

- To help colleges develop and implement strategies to improve student success.

- To conduct research about effective practices and student achievement.

- To work to influence public policy towards supporting colleges’ improvement efforts.

- To engage communities, businesses and the public.

- To ensure that historically underrepresented groups successfully complete the courses they take and earn degrees/certificates.

Commenting on their ambitions, the initiative’s webpage states the following: ‘After four to eight years, a substantially higher percentage of students at Achieving the Dream colleges—especially low-income students and students of color—will experience success, as measured by the list above, with no reduction in enrollment for these populations. Longer term, Achieving the Dream aims to influence national policy and practice in order to increase student success at colleges that do not have the opportunity to participate directly in the initiative.”

Read more about the initiative here.

‘Simon Bill’ Followed by NAFSA Success

For those looking to develop educational exchange across the Atlantic, the dwindling number of Norwegian students going to the U. S. is an already well-known issue. The reluctance of American students to study in Norway has also been noted. However, while these are important areas of focus, it is not to be forgotten that compared to other countries, the total number of Americans studying abroad is low. This is what motivated the recent passing of the ‘Simon Bill’. Fortunately, it recently became apparent that there is no shortage of Norwegian options for American students now more eager and enabled to study abroad.

Shortly after the passing of the Simon Bill, the biggest educational conference in the U. S., NAFSA, was held in Minneapolis. As has been the norm during recent years, the Nordic region was represented by one stand. This year, the stand was SiU’s responsibility, and 18 Norwegian institutions took this opportunity to market themselves. Compared to previous years this number is high, which indicates an interest for increased cooperation with the US. The fact that the conference took place in Minnesota may also explain the high number of Norwegian institutions participating.


Balanced Mobility

According the Open Doors report, published by the Institute of International Education, 200 000 plus American students traveled abroad in 2004. The passing of the Simon Bill will enable far more American students to study abroad, as well as opening the door to so-called ‘non-traditional’ study destinations.

This will help institutions to overcome an already mentioned hurdle for bilateral academic collaboration: the imbalance in the exchange check-book. Norway sends ten students to the US for every American student they receive. With the passing of the Simon Bill, all participants at NAFSA were hopeful. SiU, one of several institutions committed to increasing the numbers of foreign students coming to Norway, were one such participant. According to Director Gunn Mangerud, who had meetings with representatives from different levels in the Amercian educational sector, ’the interest from the US is growing’. Read more.

Departments of Commerce and State Expand Their Partnership to Promote U.S. Higher Education Abroad

From the American Council on Education
"The Department of Commerce, in cooperation with the Department of State, is expanding an ongoing initiative aimed at informing students from other countries about higher education opportunities in the United States.
Following a 2006 effort to promote the U.S. higher education to China, the departments have announced that they will expand that effort and add a U.S. Electronic Education Fair for India later this year.
According to organizers, the goal of the Fair is three-fold: to increase applications to and enrollment in U.S. higher education institutions; to debunk myths about the U.S. visa system; and to provide U.S. higher education institutions increased visibility."

The Chronicle Hosts Debate on Visa Difficulties for Scholars

Following an increase in the numbers of scholars who are denied entry to the US when attempting to visit the country for academic purposes, The Chronicle yesterday hosted an online discussion on the issue (read transcript of discussion in full here).

The two interviewees were Barbara Weinstein, Professor of history at New York University and President of the American Historical Association, and Melissa Goodman, staff attorney in the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project.

Weinstein and Goodman explained that the most common methods of denying scholars US entry are delaying to act on Visa applications and not providing any explanation when the applications are eventually turned down. They also informed that scholars have on occasion been stopped at the border despite possessing valid visas. This was the case for both Yoannis Milios and Adam Habib, two recent incidents mentioned by the interviewees. A timeline documenting all high-profile cases is available here.

The participants were mostly people in academic positions, and the discussion largely focused on how to best act in these situations in the future. Hosting events outside the US to avoid the problem entirely was presented as one option. However, while both Weinstein and Goodman agreed that this might work as an immediate solution in some cases, they also called for more proactive suggestions on how to approach the issue in general.

On the whole, they were supported by the participants of the debate in this. So far, each incident has been dealt with by the parties involved on a ‘case by case’ basis, and there was a general consensus that since the problem now appears to be of a certain scope, a broad-spanning strategy is needed.

The most specific idea on this front came from Amy Hagopian (University of Washington), who suggested that a national university association should be formed to tackle the problem.

Read more here

House of Representatives Passes ‘Simon Bill’

On June 5th, the House of Representatives passed the ‘Simon Bill’, named after late Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL). The Bill (available in full here) was created to address certain features of the American student population. Above all, the fact that US students score below their foreign counterparts on indicators of international knowledge is something the Bill emphasizes and seeks to correct. It also proposes sending US students to ‘nontraditional study abroad destinations’ as the perhaps most efficient method of fulfilling this purpose.

The bill calls for the establishment of a corporation named 'The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation'. This Foundation is to be governed by a Board of Directors chaired by the Secretary of State. According to the directives stated in the Bill, the Foundation will be responsible for raising funds from the private sector to supplement those made available under the Act itself.

The Bill presents three main objectives for the Foundation:

· Within 10 years to have not less than one million undergraduate US students studying abroad annually within ten years.
· To have the student population studying abroad reflect the demographics of the undergraduate population as a whole
· To increase the percentage of study abroad students opting for nontraditional destinations

The passing of the Bill has generated a considerable amount of attention. Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, is among those who has acknowledged the significance of the Bill in a written statement. Lantos' understanding of the Bill's potential is echoed by Senator Richard Durbin, who promises to follow up in the Senate. The American Council of Education reports: "The strong support that the Paul Simon Study Abroad Act received as it passed in the House was very encouraging," Durbin said in a written statement. "An international study abroad program will help provide the next generation of Americans a deeper understanding of the cultures and histories of other nations. I will work to see that this legislation is considered in the Senate”. To read more, click here.

Council Releases International Student Application Numbers

Applications to U.S. grad schools from international students are up--but the annual rate of increase is declining--reports the Council of Graduate Schools in its latest survey

Higher Ed Community Expresses Concern Over Proposals to Global Trade Agreement

From the American Council on Education, March 27

The American Council on Education (ACE), the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and nearly two dozen other higher education associations are expressing serious concern over the U.S. offer under consideration at the current Doha round of negotiations for the General Agreement on Trade in Services or GATS. The groups believe the proposal threatens U.S. higher education’s autonomy and undermine its strengths.

In a March 6 letter to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), ACE and CHEA state that the offer made by the USTR could leave thousands of accredited, degree-granting institutions unprotected.

The letter outlines several circumstances where higher education could be vulnerable to challenges under GATS, including transfer of credits. "The inability of U.S. institutions of higher education to make qualitative judgments in establishing minimum standards for coursework creditworthiness would compromise the quality and integrity of American higher education," the letter states.

The letter goes on to assert that the U.S. offer could also result in "differential treatment of public and private institutions of higher education" because some public colleges and universities operate pursuant to certain delegated powers of state governments, while private institutions do not.

ACE has been voicing its reservations with U.S. officials over potential U.S. GATS commitments since 2001. For background information on the issue, click here.

See also update on GATS and Higher Education