Coursera has been operating for only a few months, but the company has already persuaded some of the world's best-known universities to offer free courses through its online platform. Colleges that usually move at a glacial pace are rushing into deals with the upstart company. But what exactly have they signed up for? And if the courses are free,…

Allison G. Armentrout, an adjunct instructor at Stark State College, does not get paid by the hour. She earns $4,600 to teach two English composition courses. But now she carefully tracks how many hours she works on an electronic time sheet. During a recent week, she spent three hours preparing for her lectures, close to six hours in the…

According to a recent article in The New York Times, the political makeup of academe may be changing. In 2005 more than 54 percent of full-time faculty members in the United States were older than 50, compared with just 22.5 percent in 1969. Patricia Cohen, a reporter for the "Times," couples that with another intriguing fact: Recent studies…

Community colleges in nearly half of the states will probably face midyear reductions in their appropriations, according to a survey of members of the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges. The study paints a bleak picture of a widening fiscal crisis among state governments, which started in the most recent budget year and is…

This article reports that Gary Rhoades, who has spent his entire 22-year career at the University of Arizona studying issues that affect the professoriate, has been named general secretary of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Mr. Rhoades directs Arizona's Center for the Study of Higher Education. Leaders of the AAUP hope…

Community-college students, like students anywhere, begin to form their impressions of an institution the instant they set foot on its campus. And often what they find during those first few weeks can determine whether they come back for more, or turn heel and leave. Findings from a new study may offer some clues as to why those who leave do so,…

The University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT-Dallas) was conceived 10 years ago as a public institution along tried-and-true lines--a comprehensive metropolitan university meant to serve a diverse student population and to improve the economic outlook of a part of the city that prosperity has left behind. But that was before management consultants…

When Mary Cullinan became president of Southern Oregon University in September, the 5,000-student public university in the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains was in dire financial shape. A $4-million shortfall had forced university officials to dip deep into its financial reserves, draining them to perilously low levels. The path back to…

First-year college students are significantly more likely to drop out if their high-stakes "gatekeeper courses" are taught by part-time instructors, according to the findings of a study presented during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association last week. The paper is the latest in a long parade of studies suggesting that…

The Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, a national higher-education group for exchanging information about substance abuse programs has issued a set of 22 standards for college policy formation and enforcement. Institutions will be invited to join the network. (MSE)

The 22-year-old Whitaker Foundation, the largest private supporter of biomedical engineering, will close in 2006 to avoid becoming a bureaucracy in search of a reason for being. The foundation, with assets of about $442 million, will increase payouts until 1999, then decrease them as it spends its way out of existence. About 95% of grants go to…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This May 27, 2005 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Fullbright of the Mind" (Phelps, Christopher); (2) "The Matchmaker:…

Saudi Arabia has been developing at breakneck speed since the end of World War II, when oil production transformed this country of Bedouins into one of the richest polities in the world. Its higher-education system, however, has not kept pace. The Ministry of Higher Education was not established until 1975, and its task was to educate a population…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This April 22, 2005 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "A Hypocritical Oath" (Drozdowski, Mark J.); (2) "Becoming A Learner…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This May 21, 2004 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "In New York, Unaccompanied" (Fogg, Piper); (2) "Why They Pirate: Study says Students aren't in it for the…