This article reports on a phenomenological study conducted in 2013 to investigate co-op learning from the students' perspectives. 104 seniors were interviewed who had completed one to three periods of co-op employment. A stratified purposeful sample with proportional representation of six university colleges was used. Using a standardized,…

With many baby boomers preparing to retire, higher education is facing an anticipated shortage of academic administrators. Compounding this challenge, many mid-career faculty are reluctant to fill these important positions, concerned that academic leadership is incompatible with work-life balance, that it detracts from their commitments to…

This article reviews the path of funding higher education in Hungary, where funding cuts have resulted in understaffing, escalating tuition, growing student debt, and declining enrollment. Graduation rates are low, government policies favor vocational disciplines, and the system of preparation and access gives preference to students from wealthier…

This article describes the Program on the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV), a unique experiment in undergraduate education. This project challenged a group of 88 colleges and universities affiliated with a variety of Christian denominations, from Orthodox and Roman Catholic to Evangelical Protestant and Quaker, to think anew about what…

Given the increasing expectation that students should bear most of the college-cost burden, loans have been the largest form of financial aid since 1982, a shift that has been particularly hard on needy students. Loan-aversion has contributed to the access problem for these students, while facilitating more privileged students' ability to…

We know that social-networking sites, especially Facebook, offer all students the means to accumulate social capital through connection strategies. Developing social and academic connections through Facebook is particularly important for first-generation college students (FGCS), who may find participating in traditional engagement activities and…

One strength of liberal arts and sciences colleges is their emphasis on so-called "high-impact practices" (HIPs), which are known to be associated with student success. These practices include first-year seminars, learning communities, and study abroad, among others. What all of these HIPs share is a deeper level of engagement and active…

In the March-April 2013 issue of "Change," Patti McGill Peterson and Robin Matross Helms described the disheartening status of internationalization on American college campuses. Despite internationalization being touted as a strategic goal in higher education, over the past 15 years little has changed at most colleges. Student learning…

Funded by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts (CILA) at Wabash College, the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS) is a multi-institution, multi-year, longitudinal study designed to identify the academic and non-academic collegiate experiences that foster liberal learning. This article describes how the study was done and…

Gender equity in education has certainly improved since the 1960s, when women faced barriers such as quotas limiting their numbers. Indeed, in recent years, women have surpassed men in their persistence and success as college students: They now receive about 60 percent of bachelor's degrees. But even though women now have full access to education,…

In July 2012, the executive doctoral class of 2013 from the University of Pennsylvania's Higher Education Management Program in the Graduate School of Education conducted a study of higher education in Ireland. The international study, an important component of the executive doctoral program, mirrored and built on research completed by Joni Finney…

A growing majority of today's college-goers are adult students, and the economic and cultural trends driving this growth are here for the long term. In some respects this is good news: Adult undergraduate students tend to earn higher GPAs and have better aptitude and psychosocial scores than do traditional-aged students. Unfortunately, adult…

In its 10th anniversary issue, "The Chronicle Review" asked a number of scholars to identify the "Defining Idea of the Next Decade." One nominee: the movement to abandon the disciplines in order "to meet the scholarly and public challenges educators face" (Ecklund, 2010). In Elaine Ecklund's perspective, it is only through interdisciplinary…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program is a major research and development effort to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. The substantial engagement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplinary faculty with school-teachers is a hallmark of the MSP…

In 1907, Frederick Cottrell, professor of chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley and father of the modern academic patent, worried that if universities became too directly involved in patenting and licensing operations, their thirst for profits could lead to the erosion of the openness necessary for academic science to flourish. For…