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EDU news curated by Kiosk: Reimagining Higher Education’s value and other higher ed news

Reimagining Higher Education’s Value: Someone May Need to Sell the Category

From Kiosk: “Higher education is a $2 trillion industry sticking its chin out to be disrupted,” and as a marketing professor, Scott Galloway knows a thing or two about market position. He has made a career by both celebrating higher education and questioning it from within the halls. Galloway seems to have an innate capacity for identifying trends in consumer behavior that need to be addressed, like the fact that a recent study by The Gates Foundation, HCM Strategists, and Edge Research to understand why enrollment is declining in higher education found that “Higher Education Must Prove Value to Potential Students, Who are Currently More Attracted to Immediate, Lower-Cost Options.” In this study, “non-enrollees” (defined as 18 to 30-year-olds who never enrolled or never completed a degree) saw professional licenses or certifications as better value for their goals. 

View the full article from Kiosk.

 

Do fewer jobs require college degrees now?

From EdSource: “The number of job postings requiring college degrees — or any educational attainment at all — may be declining, according to research from Indeed, a job posting platform, as The Hill reported. Indeed noted that more than half of jobs, 52% of its postings, had no formal education requirement as of January, up 4% from 2019. Postings requiring four-year degrees went from 20.4% to 17.8% in the past five years. ‘Employers are loosening their formal education requirements as the labor market remains tight and attitudes towards skills-first hiring practices change’. … Indeed researchers said in their analysis, as The Hill reported.”

View the full article from EdSource.

 

As Companies Drop Diploma Requirements For More Jobs, Few Workers Without Degrees Are Getting Hired For Them

From Forbes: “With great fanfare, companies have been dropping four-year degrees from their job ads, turning the concept of ‘skills-based hiring’ into a bonafide buzzword. … Companies are dropping degree requirements, but how much are they actually hiring people without diplomas into those jobs? The answer: Not very much yet, at least overall. That’s the finding of a new report from Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work Project and the Burning Glass Institute … For jobs where the researchers could see that degrees had been removed from postings and where enough hiring had taken place to get a credible sample, the researchers estimate that firms increased the share of workers hired without a BA by only about 3.5 percentage points.”

View the full article from Forbes.

 

Almost three-quarters of all jobs will require more than a high school diploma by 2031, according to a new report

From Working Nation: “Right now, about 68% of the nation’s jobs already require that additional training beyond high school. According to CEW’s After Everything: Projections of Jobs, Education, and Training Requirements through 2031, as we shift even more toward a knowledge-based, tech-based economy, the percentage of jobs requiring more than a high school diploma will soar to 72% by 2031.”

View the full article from Working Nation.

 

If Trump wins…

From The Chronicle: “The December 5 congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses offers a preview of what’s to come. When we pull ourselves away from the partisan melee and the fallout, including the resignation of two Ivy League presidents, we can see the outlines of a thus far one-sided battle. … Consider Christopher Rufo, the conservative activist behind Republican attacks on critical race theory and anti-racism programs (and now a board member at New College of Florida) … He dismisses the idea that universities can reform themselves: Administrators are too ‘weak,’ he argues, and are thus prone to ‘emotional or social manipulation’ by faculty activists. For Rufo, the way forward is to use state power to bring about what he sees as the necessary changes.”

View the full article from The Chronicle.

 

How to Fix the Crisis of Trust in Higher Education

From The New York Times: “A 2018 report from Gallup and the Strada Education Network, which found that ‘there is a disconnect between what consumers want and expect from postsecondary education and what they are receiving.’ The study was a nationally representative survey of over 100,000 Americans ages 18 to 65 ‘who are currently employed and have taken at least some college courses.’ Only 26 percent of those surveyed ‘strongly agree that their education is relevant to their work and day-to-day life.’ … What that means practically is that more colleges and universities need to differentiate their offerings…they need to understand that learners of all ages have vastly different needs and then design very different programs that appeal to them.”

View the full article from The New York Times.

 

For the first time, 25% of the world’s 200 best institutions are led by women

From University Business: “Among the top 200 global universities identified by Times Higher Education in 2024, 50 are now run by women, marking a steady incline over the past five years: 43 in 2022, 41 in 2021, 39 in 2020 and 34 in 2019 and 2018. This year’s gains mark a new milestone now that women run a quarter of the world’s highest-ranked institutions.”

View the full article from University Business.

 

AI is much more of an opportunity than a threat to universities

From Times Higher Education: “AI-driven assessment tools provide instant, personalised feedback. One can imagine students who struggle with complex data analysis techniques, for instance, being able to use an AI-powered tutoring system to pursue personalised exercises that significantly improve their analytical skills within days. … Through customised continuous and formative learning, with real-time skills assessments, students could be equipped with the latest in-demand competencies and encouraged to be more innovative. For example, a group of Surrey engineering students working on their capstone project used an AI platform to simulate and test their designs, enabling them to iterate their prototypes rapidly.”

View the full article from Times Higher Education. 

 

Abortion and Gun Laws Matter in College Choice, a New Study Finds

From The Chronicle: “Eighty-one percent of current and prospective students said campus gun policies could influence their college decisions, according to the Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2023 State of Higher Education survey. Seven in 10 students said state laws on reproductive health could be a factor in their enrollment decisions, with 38 percent calling access to such care highly important — an increase from the previous year.”

View the full article from The Chronicle.

 

Biden proposes free community college, Pell Grant increases in FY25 budget

From Higher Ed Dive: “The president’s funding proposal is likely dead on arrival in a divided Congress, but it shows his priorities for higher education. … The U.S. Department of Education would receive $82 billion in discretionary funding under President Joe Biden’s budget proposal for fiscal 2025, a 3.9% increase from fiscal 2023. The plan, released Monday, would also establish a federal-state partnership to make two years of community college tuition free, according to the Education Department. Additionally, the plan would subsidize two years of tuition for students from families who make less than $125,000 and who attend four-year historically Black colleges, minority-serving institutions or tribal colleges.”

View the full article from Higher Ed Dive.

 

Postgraduate international student recruitment plummets

From University World News: “The survey by Universities UK, which had responses from 73 universities, showed international enrolments were down by 44% this January, with uncertainty over the future of the UK’s post-study work offer and increasingly negative rhetoric from the government over the impact of the surge in overseas student numbers since the COVID pandemic. That coupled with the rise in visa fees is putting international students off in seeing the UK as a study destination, according to experts.”

View the full article from University World News.