Throughout the twentieth century the population of the United States, as indeed the rest of the world, was growing older. Since 1900 the percentage of Americans 65 years of age and older has more than tripled (from 4 percent in 1900 to 13 percent in 2009), and the number has increased from 3 million to 40 million. "Between 2010 and 2050, the…

It is an exciting time for online education. Lately, there has been breathless talk of a "revolution" and massive "disruption," largely based on Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) models pioneered by universities such as MIT and Stanford, and headline-grabbing start-up companies such as Udacity and Coursera. Meanwhile, university professional and…

This article, based on a presentation at the University Professional and Continuing Education Association Annual Conference, March 29, 2012, provides concepts, terminology, and financial models for establishing and maintaining successful institutional partnerships. The authors offer it as a contribution to developing a wider understanding of the…

"College readiness" means that a student can enter a college classroom without remediation and successfully complete entry-level college requirements (Conley, 2012). In order for students to be considered college ready, they must acquire skills, content knowledge, and behaviors before leaving high school. Research on high-school performance…

As other universities across the country struggle with their financial challenges, continuing education units can serve the same pioneering role in the development of new financial and budget systems. Confronted by serious financial shortfalls during the last three decades, university administrators started to focus on new budget and revenue…

This article describes a model that can be used to analyze student enrollment data and can give insights for improving retention of part-time students and refining institutional budgeting and planning efforts. Adult higher-education programs are often challenged in that part-time students take courses less reliably than full-time students. For…

The paper examines the issue of educational pathways, including a brief overview of the higher education regulatory framework and market forces in Australia, particularly as recent policy reforms and political aspirations affect them. It highlights the key challenges and outlines a potential model for integrating vocational and higher educational…

This article describes two models for enhancing the social integration of nontraditional students in academic programs. The first explains ways to develop onsite communities for both graduate and undergraduate degree-seeking students at New York University. The second model is used with undergraduate students at Washington State University seeking…

A survey of 34 continuing-education institutions found that diverse units administer graduate certificate programs. A better model would involve shared governance by graduate schools and continuing education schools. Each brings different strengths: graduate schools offer quality assurance, and continuing education has a market orientation and…

Compares U.S. and British approaches to transferable skills. Describes a Scottish project, Developing Employment-based Access to Learning, a work-based learning model that focuses on three types of skills: personal effectiveness and critical reflection; collection and organization of materials; and analysis, synthesis, and review. (SK)

The authors attempt to show that pure types exist upon which to fashion continuing education unit structures. They argue for a purposefully integrated, mixed model to benefit the multiprofessional institution and express the need for a dialogue devoted to the further exploration of this context. (CH)

In a partnership model, all members of a higher education institution work together to anticipate and meet students' changing needs, favoring team goals and course improvement. The model should replace traditional mechanistic models emphasizing form over function and regulation over innovation. (SK)

Models through which higher education provides outreach include centralized, decentralized, and hybrid. The latter, academically integrated and administratively decentralized, meshes continuing education programs with the academic mission while maximizing cost effectiveness. (SK)

Using the Integrated Practice Perspective model and data from 85 continuing education administrators, working roles in geographically decentralized organizations were examined. The resulting role composite for continuing educators differs from that in the literature. Contingency variables influence role importance and frequency of performance. (SK)