Higher Ed Links ...

1. Jeff Rybak on his book What's Wrong with University and How to Make It Work For You Anyway? (some chapter excerpts are available there too):

   The most essential problem with university today is that it has become, or at least it pretends to be, the answer to absolutely everyone’s success in life. Of course every student wants to be “successful,” but it must be obvious that we all have different goals. When this one institution becomes the answer to everyone’s everything, disappointment is inevitable. I’ll go further than “disappointment” and say that many students are downright miserable. Many are angry. Many feel betrayed.

   This book gets back to the essential questions that every student should have been encouraged to ask long before attending university. “What do you want? Why do you want this education? What do you intend to do with it?” We need to tear down the absurd idea that university is inheriently positive, always good for everyone, and never bad for anyone. How can that possibly be true when it’s failing so many students?

2. Robert Barro and Jong-Wha Lee at VoxEU: Educational Attainment in the World, 1950 - 2010:

   Empirical investigations of the role of human capital require accurate measures across countries and over time. This column describes a new dataset on educational attainment for 146 countries at 5-year intervals from 1950 to 2010. The new data, freely available online, use more information and better methodology than existing datasets. Among the many new results is that the rate of return to an additional year of schooling on output is quite high – ranging from 5% to 12%.

3. Does teaching matter at (American) universities? Interesting discussion at Crooked Timber and Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog.

4. Laura at Apt. 11D: How Do You Explain Adjunct Exploitation (at American universities)?

5. Two news reports on the tough times at American universities: Universities are offering doctorates but few jobs (LATimes) and US College Degrees: Still the Best among World's Top Universities? (Christian Science Monitor).