Helicopter parents, notorious for hovering over their college-age children, may actually help students thrive, according to this year's National Survey of Student Engagement. Students whose parents intervene on their behalf--38 percent of freshmen and 29 percent of seniors--are more active in and satisfied with college, says the monstrous annual…

As the first balloting of the 2008 presidential campaign nears, colleges in early-voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have become hotbeds of political activity. College campuses are favored venues for nationally televised debates and candidates' policy announcements. College officials say election activities can bolster…

In this article, the author talks about the tenure process of being a professor which can be gloomy for assistant professors as they share a common culture of the joyless quest for promotion and tenure. Life as an assistant professor has its bleak moments; however, the downbeat cosmology is, in the end, dysfunctional and hurts more than it…

This article reports on the expansion of global-health programs in the U.S. as universities respond to rising donations and student interest. New York University, which started its program last year, is one of a growing number of universities that are responding to a surge in student demand for courses and programs in world health. NYU's students,…

This article describes Israel's latest conflict--plummeting government spending and strikes by faculty members and students which are threatening the stability of the country's universities. The founders of the modern state of Israel considered higher education to be so important that they established the country's first two universities long…

Someday students seeking a college loan might go to a Web site, fill out a brief questionnaire, and get connected to the lender with the best possible rate. Such a system would bring cheer to students seeking straight answers, lenders seeking fair competition, and colleges seeking relief from investigations led by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo…

Female and minority faculty members rated their institutions less positively as places for junior professors to work than did their male and white counterparts, according to a new report. Young professors said institutional policies designed to help them succeed were important, but they were less satisfied that those policies were effective. Women…

In the past few decades, with the explosion of biotechnology and the aging of the population, the use of human subjects in research has increased significantly. The United States has done much to protect human research subjects, and no one can deny the importance of keeping them safe. But at the same time, researchers whose work poses no threat to…

This article presents a report released by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, a nonprofit group promoting access and quality in postsecondary education around the world. With college enrollments mushrooming in many nations but public support generally unable to keep up, the world is seeing a historic swing from public to private financing…

In this article, the author contends that the vast majority of American historians no longer regard American culture--whether high culture or mainstream popular culture--as an essential area of study. The much-vaunted culture turn in the humanities has run its course in one of the first disciplines it influenced. Indeed, most of the books today…

In 1997 Congress crafted an ambitious set of higher-education tax incentives that the House of Representatives and Senate are now revisiting. Millions of students each year receive the Hope tax credit and the Lifetime Learning tax credit. They are now firmly planted in the college-finance landscape. But according to the author, higher-education…

For most of the past decade, the lobbying juggernaut of the career-college sector and its political patrons have fought a battle on Capitol Hill to federalize institutional decisions about transfers of credits. They have accused traditional colleges of refusing to award academic credit for what they claim is their institutions' equivalent course…

Politicians nowadays want higher education institutions to become more actively involved in the economic development of their communities. However, as much as they want to do so, they need financing. Therefore, it is crucial for politicians to be educated on what universities can realistically do for economic development. In this article, the…

It came as a great surprise recently to read in "The New York Times" that the New York attorney general's office had launched an investigation into possible financial improprieties between colleges and outside organizations that provide study-abroad programs. Subpoenas had been issued to five of the largest program providers, "with more to come."…

Congress created Upward Bound in 1964 with the goal of preparing more low-income students for college. A few months later, it created a second college-preparation program, Talent Search. The pair of programs formed the foundation of TRIO, which now includes six outreach and support programs for disadvantaged students and veterans. Upward Bound's…