Positive social mobility benefits individuals in terms of personal advancement and the nation in terms of productivity. There are other social benefits aside. Education, including higher education, is widely understood to be a key contributor to social mobility. However, without a measure of universities' impact on social mobility it is difficult…

Level 4 and 5 qualifications--including Foundation Degrees, Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (NHDs)--are an excellent route for those not interested (or not yet ready) to embark on a full degree, for mature learners who want to take only a limited amount of time out of the labour market and for employers looking to…

In the spring of 2020, the US Department of Education updated Title IX guidelines addressing the way campuses investigate gender-based violence. This paper explores how then Vice President of Student Affairs at Phoenix College handled changes to Title IX compliance in the early months of the Coronavirus pandemic while also transitioning to remote…

For nearly 50 years, the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) has been integral to the IOE (Institute of Education), UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (University College London, UK). This article is written from the perspectives of four researchers who have served in the TCRU's formative years and over its lifetime. It chronicles the TCRU's…

In 1978, the University of Phoenix was among the first for-profit universities to receive accreditation from a prestigious regional agency: the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Its accreditation marked a turning point in broader acceptance for the for-profit model in higher education and gave the…

In many institutions of higher education across the land, a resounding cry for reform echoes loudly, disrupting thriving projects and well-constructed programs. When our college's reform agenda left us little space for critical pedagogical interactions with our students and colleagues, we intuitively stepped away from the ashes of what we had…

After years of remarkable expansion, the for-profit higher education sector is showing signs of an industrial reset in the wake of increased federal regulations aimed at addressing claims of aggressive recruiting practices and high student default rates throughout the sector. Large publicly-traded for-profit universities, such as the University of…

There are increasing demands for higher levels of data assurance in higher education. This paper explores some of the drivers for this trend, and then explains what stakeholders mean by the concept of data assurance, since this has not been well defined previously. The paper captures insights from existing literature, stakeholders, auditors, and…

Intergenerational relationships and gender roles in China are in transition because of ideational and structural changes resulting from social movements and policies in the past half a century. Using a mixed-methods design, we examine Shanghai fathers' involvement in their adolescent daughters' lives. In contrast to traditional stereotypes,…

In 1974, John G. Sperling left a tenured position at San Jose State University with $26,000 in savings to start an academic program for working adults. In the beginning, he ran the operation out of his house. The program soon outgrew the house, Sperling relocated to Arizona, and the program adopted the name of that state's capital. Now the…

Last month, higher education company the Apollo Group, Inc. (Apollo) confirmed that it entered into an agreement with the United States (US) federal government to resolve a long-standing lawsuit concerning its subsidiary, the for-profit University of Phoenix (Phoenix). Originating in 2003, the False Claims Act lawsuit filed by university officials…

Instructors are a chief input into the higher education production process, yet we know very little about their role in promoting student success. This is in contrast to elementary and secondary schooling, for which ample evidence suggests teacher quality is an important determinant of student achievement. Whether colleges could improve student…

As university leaders have long argued, the contribution of higher education to national and regional economies is considerable. Although the importance of universities in their local economies is not usually contested, much more should and could be done to take full advantage of higher education in regional and city development. Why have the…

The University of Phoenix is often derided by traditional academics for caring more about its bottom line than about academic quality, and every year, the annual report issued by its parent company focuses more on profits than student performance. This article reports that the institution that has become the largest private university in North…

There is a substantial body of research showing that teacher quality is an important determinant of student achievement in elementary and secondary schools, inspiring some states and districts to enact policies aimed at identifying and rewarding high-quality teachers. Yet relatively little is known about the impact of instructor effectiveness on…