"What Will They Learn?"™ evaluates every four-year public university with a stated liberal arts mission as well as hundreds of private colleges and universities selected on the basis of size, mission, and regional representation. All schools in the "What Will Will They Learn"™ study are regionally-accredited, nonprofit…

In the fiercely competitive, global job market, solid preparation in core skills matters a lot. Will college graduates write with the clarity, grace, and accuracy that employers (and everyone else) expect? Will they have the basic mathematical and scientific skills--regardless of their majors--that equip them to navigate an increasingly…

At a time when 87% of employers believe that our colleges must raise the quality of students' educations in order for the United States to remain competitive globally, and four in five Americans say they believe all graduates should have to take the key courses outlined in the study, few colleges require a real liberal arts education. "What…

Read and admired throughout the world, Shakespeare's plays and poetry have been the guiding light of statesmen, of authors, and of artists. His writings are the indispensable foundation for understanding English literature, language, and rhetoric. Yet less than 8% of the nation's top universities require English majors to take even a single course…

A college education is rightly part of the American Dream. It is seen as the ticket to success in career and community, a credential that repays the investment of time and money in higher education that students, families, and taxpayers make. In "What Will They Learn?"™ the authors take as a premise that the core purpose of attending…

ACTA [American Council of Trustees and Alumni] today released a report that examines the country's most prestigious liberal arts colleges. Despite endowments soaring as high as $1.8 billion, nearly all institutions increased tuition during the Great Recession to finance bloated administrative spending, with many college presidents enjoying…

America's great public universities were founded with the highest expectations of academic excellence and service to their states. Overall, these institutions, often called the "flagship universities," do a poor job of ensuring that undergraduate students engage in an intellectually vibrant campus culture and leave with a solid…

The State University System of Florida has in recent years faced major budgetary challenges, remarkable for the size of its reductions in state funding, even when compared to the large cuts seen in so many states struck by the recession of 2008. What is more surprising in the world of higher education, however, is the progress that Florida's…

Echoing the words and thoughts of Thomas Jefferson, California's state constitution embraces the noblest of principles in its vision for public higher education. Over the decades, California public higher education has dominated policy discussions as a model of access and excellence and a powerful engine of economic growth. Indeed, it would be…

In an uncertain environment, it is imperative that leaders of colleges and universities ensure that money spent on higher education--whether that money comes from students, parents, donors, or taxpayers--is being invested wisely. How well do colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia live up to the public trust? How do they compare…

Maine is blessed with universities that have records of significant achievement. The seven campuses of the University of Maine System (UMS) together educated over 23,000 students (full-time equivalent) during the past year. But for good reason, in recent years public confidence in higher education throughout the nation has fallen. Half of the…

In 2011, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed into law the South Carolina Higher Education Efficiency and Administrative Policies Act, maintaining the transparency and accountability that lead to increased academic quality and affordability at colleges and universities. It is in this context that ACTA (American Council of Trustees and…