Category Archives: higher education

How will colleges and universities plan for January? A crowdsourced tracking project

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

How will higher education respond to the Omicron wave next month? As I’ve said before, it’s difficult to forecast what COVID will do, given the variability of the virus itself as well as how humans respond to its action.  What … Continue reading →

Posted in coronavirus, higher education | 8 Comments

Looking ahead to COVID-19’s third year: what it may mean for higher education

Posted on December 11, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

As I was finishing this post two pandemic stories unrelated to higher education hit my various feeds about the same time.  One was from a finance reporter, who proclaimed his delight in going to many social gatherings, from indoor restaurants … Continue reading →

Posted in coronavirus, higher education | 4 Comments

Two state university systems shrink over a year and a decade

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

For years I’ve been projecting and observing a decline in American higher education.  Reality keeps giving examples of those projections becoming observable data.  Today’s case in point is a pair of state university systems, one in Pennsylvania, the other in … Continue reading →

Posted in enrollment, higher education, horizon scanning | 1 Comment

Have master’s degrees gone too far? A critique and a discussion

Posted on July 18, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

Have master’s degrees become a problem? Last week New America’s education policy leader Kevin Carey gave an interview to Slate.  In it Carey and his interlocutor, Jordan Weissmann, argued that American master’s degree* programs have been corrupt and dangerous in … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, enrollment, future of education, higher education | 13 Comments

Bill Maher vs. higher ed

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

Last Friday night a high profile American comedian and tv host presented a criticism of higher education.  In a little more than six minutes Bill Maher took academia to task for a range of problems. I find this critique useful … Continue reading →

Posted in higher education | 10 Comments

American tuition discounting rose again: what that means and why it matters

Posted on May 23, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

Today I’m going to describe a key datapoint in higher education. To do so I need to explain a deep weirdness in how students pay for American college and university classes.  Many people have a hard time grasping this strange … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, higher education, trends | 7 Comments

Queen sacrifice at Pacific Lutheran University

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

Another American campus launched a queen sacrifice this week. (“Queen sacrifice” refers to when a college or university cuts tenure-track faculty members. The source of the phrase is chess, where queens are the most powerful piece, as tenure-track faculty are, … Continue reading →

Posted in higher education | Tagged | 4 Comments

One plan for American higher ed this fall: how many campuses are requiring vaccines? UPDATED

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

UPDATED MAY 1 As spring term proceeds, colleges and universities are planning for this upcoming fall semester. There is a lot going on in this complex process, especially as pandemic conditions change. I have posted about one scenario already, plus … Continue reading →

Posted in coronavirus, higher education | 4 Comments

How is higher education adapting to the pandemic? Introducing #COVedStories

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Bryan Alexander

How did colleges and universities manage to shunt classes online in a hurry last spring? What are we doing in higher ed now to organize spring term during a still-roaring pandemic? buy vigora online buy vigora no prescription generic What … Continue reading →

Posted in coronavirus, higher education, Uncategorized | Tagged | 6 Comments

Wreckage and hope: looking towards 2021 from 2020

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Bryan Alexander

What can 2020 tell us about higher education in 2021? It’s still too early to really make this call, in some ways.  2020 is too fresh, too close, and too riven by a mixture of fierce political fighting and enormous … Continue reading →

Posted in future of education, higher education | 2 Comments