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  4. Mar2017

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    The Trump administration’s plan to cut billions of dollars in research spending by eliminating indirect cost reimbursements would devastate university science, especially at public institutions, experts warned. [This is an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, America’s leading higher education publication. It is presented here under an agreement with University World News.] The US secretary for health and human services, Tom Price, told Congress this week that the idea is to save taxpayers money while giving them the same amount of research activity. Indirect cost payments are funds spent on "something other than the research that’s being done," Dr Price told a House of Representatives subcommittee on health appropriations on Wednesday. But university representatives made clear on Thursday that it simply does not work that way. Indirect costs reflect the legitimate expenses of providing scientists with labs and complying with a host of essential services that somehow will still need to be paid, the representatives said. Under current law, a researcher who receives a federal grant to conduct research cannot simply be billed by his or her university for those costs, said Tobin L Smith, vice president for policy at the Association of American Universities, which represents major research institutions. And universities absolutely won't force students to cover the difference, Smith said. "The reality is we don't have other revenue sources to pay for those things, because let's face it, we are not going to rob tuition to pay for those costs," he said. "It just is not going to happen." It's not clear what universities would do if Congress actually accepted the administration's proposal to end indirect cost payments, said David Kennedy, director of costing policy and studies at the Council on Governmental Relations, another association of research universities and affiliated medical centres. State institutions probably would suffer first and hardest, Kennedy said, because they would have virtually no ab
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
      Mar2017EnglishDonald_TrumpUSAresearch_grant
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      Arizona Summit Law school, a troubled for-profit institution owned by the InfiLaw System, has been placed on probation by its accrediting body, the American Bar Association. The association’s move was announced on Monday and followed Arizona Summit’s affiliation with Bethune-Cookman University, a nonprofit historically black college in Daytona Beach, Fla. Arizona Summit Law in Phoenix is the second school owned by InfiLaw to be placed on probation for failing to meet A.B.A. accreditation standards. Sterling Partners, a private equity firm in Chicago and Baltimore, is an investor. The first, Charlotte School of Law in Charlotte, N.C., lost its eligibility for federal student aid in January as a result of the probation. Its enrollment has declined sharply, and the school has said it is trying to restart federal aid and is exploring affiliation with a nonprofit college in a Northeastern state. At Arizona Summit, the bar association found that admissions practices, academic programs, and graduation and bar exam passage rates were below par. These deficiencies, according to a statement by the A.B.A. Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, “have resulted in the law school now being in a position where only immediate and substantial action can bring about a sufficient change to put the law school on a realistic path to being in compliance within the time allowed” by the bar association’s rules. Only 24.6 percent of Arizona Summit graduates who took the Arizona state bar exam for the first time in July 2016 passed, an exceptionally low rate. Charlotte School of Law reported nearly the same passage rate for its graduates who took the North Carolina bar exam last month. The bar association said that because the situation at Arizona Summit was critical and urgent, it could have hearings this year to consider any additional remedial action or sanctions “up to and including withdrawal of the law school’s approval.” The probation decision was made by the bar association’s Council of the Section of Legal E
      7 years ago by @prophe
       
        Mar2017for-profitbanaccreditationUSALaw
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        Remember when candidate Trump promised to make college affordable for everyone? Yeah, that’s not happening.  Instead, Trump is turning to the notorious corporateers who have been pouring McDiplomas on the nation’s steaming trillion-dollar student debt pyre to shake up higher education. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s controversial pick for a special assistant—for-profit college corporate lawyer Robert Eitel, may be a portent. As counsel for Bridgepoint, the parent company of the now-tainted brands of Ashford University and University of the Rockies, was forced by the Obama administration last year to refund $24 million in tuition and debt costs to students, plus civil damages, after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that its heavy marketing scheme for its online programs, and “deceived its students into taking out loans that cost more than advertised.” Bridgepoint is just one player in a sector of for-profit institutions that are known for exploiting millions in federal loans and grants, providing substandard academics and granting worthless diplomas. While many companies were reined in by regulators under Obama, the industry as a whole has survived, and is now poised for revival under Trump. In fact, even those companies penalized for defrauding students have not been held fully accountable over federal student debts; Bridgepoint’s sanction, for example, did not encompass federal loans, even though graduates are typically chained to about $33,000 in taxpayer-subsidized debt. But the for-profit college companies hobbled by financial crisis under Obama might see a major resurrection under Trump’s and DeVos’s deregulatory agenda. One tactic may be for belly-up for-profits to reinvent themselves as nonprofits, in order to skirt future regulations and wriggle out of liability for financial abuses. The Corinthian college chain, for example, following bankruptcy, was placed under the control of a nominal “nonprofit” called Zenith (which was later exposed for having compromising financial entangle
        7 years ago by @prophe
         
          Donald_TrumpUSAMar2017for-profitrisegrowth
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          Ratings agency dings small university for spending big after a new president took over. As focus shifts to a budget deficit, question becomes whether Drew can cut spending while growing enrollment. MaryAnn Baenninger inherited a budget deficit when she came to Drew University in the summer of 2014. The next year, the small private university’s deficit grew. And that was by choice. Drew spent more as Baenninger sought to put money into the university’s campus, students and employees. The university issued its first raises in about five years. It hired a respected enrollment guru and increased its financial aid spending. It renovated the dining hall. The spending was a change for Drew, a pricey university to the west of New York City in Madison, N.J., which had been preparing for budget cuts following several years of dropping enrollment before Baenninger arrived. But, according to Baenninger and members of her administration, the spending helped to keep talented staff and faculty members from leaving, improve student retention and increase applications from prospective students. “We were losing kids on the food, for God’s sake,” Baenninger said. “Our salaries were going downhill. Now they’re going up.” Recently, however, the spotlight has shifted to Drew’s deteriorating financial situation. Moody’s Investors Service drove home that point this month by downgrading Drew’s bonds for the second time in 15 months. Moody’s dropped one series of bonds from Ba3 to B2 and two others from Ba3 to B3, sinking them farther into junk territory and signifying that they are highly speculative. Moody’s pointed to operating deficits that are expected to last longer than previously projected, along with a competitive student market constraining possibilities for short-term revenue growth. It said Drew has no more unrestricted liquidity left and would have to rely on loans and distributions from temporarily restricted endowment assets for working capital. Moody’s also assigned a negative rating outlook. “The negative outlook reflect
          7 years ago by @prophe
           
            Mar2017USAEnglishdeficitbudget_cutNY
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            The Bihar Legislative Council today passed seven bills including the Bihar Private University (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which paved way for running private universities from rented premises in the state. State Education minister Ashok Choudhary introduced the bill proposing to allow private universities to function from rented premises with a built up area of 5,000 sqm up to two years till construction of permanent infrastructure. Countering BJP member Vinod Narayan Jha's assertion that not a single university has shown interest in opening its campus in Bihar, Choudhary said the state government has received 14 proposals for setting up universities. Out of them, the government has set up a committee to look into the Detailed Project Report of 12 proposals. Three universities would start running their courses soon and the government has decided to allow such universities to run their academic activities from rented accommodation for two years if they fulfil all requisite criteria, he said. "Our aim is to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in universities. So, we opened the door for private institutions. At present, the state's GER is 13.9 per cent against the national average of 24 per cent. The government intends to push that up to 30 per cent by 2020," he said. State Parliamentary Affairs minister Shrawan Kumar introduced the Bihar State Legislature (Members' salaries, allowances and pension) (amendment) Bill, 2017 which was passed by the legislative Assembly yesterday. An amendment has been proposed in the preamble of the State Legislature (Members' salaries, allowances and pension) (Amendment) Act to incorporate provision of pension for retired members of the bicameral state legislature. The House passed Bihar Farmers and Rural Areas Development Agency (Repeal) Bill, 2017, the Patna University (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Bihar State University (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Bihar Appropriation Excess Expenditure Bill, 2017. The Legislative Council also passed the Bihar Protection of Interest of Dep
            7 years ago by @prophe
             
              IndiaMar2017ProposalprivateopenBihar
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              The financial pressure on university students has been growing across the U.S. for several decades. At the national level, inflation-adjusted tuition and fees at a public four-year university rose 270 percent from 1977 to 2017, while the federal minimum wage fell by 24 percent. While standards of living generally rose over those 40 years, the financial pressure on university students sharply accelerated. Earlier generations were more fortunate. Summer work plus part-time work no longer enable graduation debt-free. From 2001 to 2017, tuition and fees for undergraduates at the University of Montana are up 103 percent with the CPI rising 39 percent. In 2001, a student working 40 hours for 12 weeks at the Montana minimum wage could cover 81 percent of annual tuition and fees. By 2017, even with a rise of 58 percent in the minimum wage, such summer work covered less than 63 percent. The price of textbooks is up 150 percent in the same period. Data from 2014 show 67 percent of Montana graduates with debt averaging $26,946. Whereas students may be paying their share, the state is not. Students pay more and get less. Unrestricted revenue (tuition, fees, state allocations) per full-time-equivalent student in the Montana university system in 2015 was $10,783 – second-lowest nationally. The national average was $2,100 higher, with neighboring states Idaho, North Dakota and Wyoming higher by $1,069, $3,671 and $9,550, respectively. The percentage of the total covered by student tuition in Montana was significantly higher than in neighboring states. Moreover, legislatures in 13 states with lower median household incomes (including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, New Mexico, Oklahoma and North Carolina) allocated substantially more state funds per FTE than Montana’s legislature. Montana is winning the race to the bottom. University funding in Montana lags a national field that is itself lagging. If other state university systems were healthy it would be less of a problem. Unfortunately, public hi
              7 years ago by @prophe
               
                Mar2017USAEnglishthreat
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                The Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary, could be close down. CEU was founded in 1991 and has 1,440 students from 117 countries, many of whom on a scholarship, and has operated in Hungary for 25 years. Many of the social science degrees offered at the CEU rank among the world’s top 50-100, while it is also one of the leading research institutions in Hungary. The management of the private university says that the Victor Orban administration has introduced legislation that makes its operation impossible. The law proposed by the Orban government suggests that any foreign University must be subject to an intergovernmental agreement and can only operate in Hungary if it has a campus in the country of origin. CEU is registered with New York State but does not have a campus in the United States. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Orban view George Soros as a political foe. Even if setting up a campus in the United States within a year would be possible, an intergovernmental agreement to ensure the continued operation of the CEU would be impossible. Speaking to Bloomberg on Wednesday, the President of CEU, Professor Michael Ignatieff, made clear that “the bill is a threat to our continued existence in Hungary.” However, the Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics says the proposed legislation will be applied to 28 foreign universities operating in Hungary and is not targeting the CEU alone. “This is not an anti-CEU investigation and not against Mr. Soros,” Mr. Paklovics told the BBC.
                7 years ago by @prophe
                 
                  Mar2017EnglishHungaryBudapestclosurepolitics
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                  The Minister of State-designate in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has defended the four-year Senior High School (SHS) curriculum, saying students who went through that system performed better than their counterparts who went through the three-year course. He, however, proposed a window to be opened for well-endowed schools that could complete the three-year system with the hope of posting good performance without restrictions. Prof. Yankah shared his views on the matter when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament last Monday. Answering questions on a wide range of issues, he described the complaints that private universities were much more expensive than public ones as a myth, contending that the gap between public and private universities was narrowing. Prof. Yankah, who is currently the Vice-Chancellor of the Central University, noted that many universities had evolved, leaving their core mandate behind. He submitted that tertiary institutions had moved away from their original courses and programmes and cited the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as one such institution running many non-science programmes that did not encourage the younger universities to carve a niche for their own programmes. Culture of reading Touching on the need to improve the reading culture among schoolchildren, Prof. Yankah underscored the need for parents to read to their children to sleep, to imbibe in them a good reading culture. According to the university don, two per cent of primary schoolchildren could hardly read and write English and any other Ghanaian language and called for enough reading books to be supplied to schools, especially the deprived ones, to help change the situation. Asked whether he supported the compulsory retirement of 60 years in respect of teachers and lecturers who still had the drive to impart knowledge, Prof. Yankah indicated that there was a considerable number of youth out there who needed to be mentored to take up the mantle
                  7 years ago by @prophe
                   
                    GhanaMar2017Englishappointmentdefend
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                    The Pt B D Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak will also conduct combined counselling on the basis of merit of National Eligibility and Entrance Test NEET PG 2017. The Haryana government on March 28 announced that no private medical or dental college, including those under private or deemed university, are authorised to carry out their own counselling for admission to post graduate courses. The NEET post graduate admissions will be conducted in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses have to be done on the basis of NEET scores. The Pt B D Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak will also conduct combined counselling on the basis of merit of National Eligibility and Entrance Test NEET PG 2017 and NEET MDS 2017 for admission to post graduate courses for academic session 2017-18 in all the government, government-aided, private medical and dental institutes including those under private and deemed universities in the state. Applicants can choose among various subjects which include MD, MS, PG Diploma and MDS, a spokesman of Haryana Directorate of Medical Education and Research. He also stated that the candidates desirous of seeking admission to MD, MS, PG Diploma and MDS courses would apply online for registration on the web portal — uhspgadmissions.in. ALSO READ: JIPMER Exam 2017: What you need to know about JIPMER MBBS entrance exam For the candidates seeking admissions need to know that the final allotment of seat/specialty/institute will be done by the admission committee after physical verification of eligibility criteria and original documents. Another important point that the aspirants must note that they should be personally present of the candidate in front of the admission committee at the time of counselling would be compulsory, he said. It is also While referring to the counselling schedule for admissions, the last date for submission of online application forms is April 8. The main counseling registration, choice filing & indicative seat allotment for NEET PG 2017 has commenced at
                    7 years ago by @prophe
                     
                      IndiaMar2017medicalprivateEnglish
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                      Chestertown, Md. — The moment Isaiah Reese set foot on the idyllic campus of Washington College, a private liberal arts school on Maryland’s eastern shore, he knew he didn’t want to go there. At the time, he was a high school senior on a school tour. “I told myself I was not going to this school, no matter what,” Reese, who is now a freshman at the college, said over a slice of pizza and a spinach wrap burrito in Washington College’s polished cafeteria overlooking one of the school’s greens. Though Chestertown, Md., where the college is located, is just 75 miles from Reese’s native Baltimore, the quaint, roughly 5,000 person boating town struck Reese as almost a different universe from the mostly African-American high school he was attending at the time. “They gave us a tour of the school and I’m still saying nope, nope, this town is old, it’s boring,” he said. But then Reese had a conversation with a Washington College staffer that started to make him change his mind. “As soon as he said ‘full ride’ I was like, ‘Uh-huh, okay,’” Reese recalled at his cafeteria table in a hat emblazoned with Washington College’s logo. The 19-year-old is now one of 14 students in the inaugural year of George’s Brigade, a prestigious scholarship program and the brainchild of Sheila Bair, president of Washington College and the former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The program, which is named for George Washington — also the college’s namesake — offers promising students from low-income backgrounds a full-ride to the school, including room and board, and caps their student loan borrowing for any other incidentals at $2,500 year. Just tuition at the school for the 2016-2017 academic year was more than $42,000 a year. But George’s Brigade is about more than meeting students’ financial needs. It’s also about ensuring they enjoy and make it through school, according to Bair. She first came up with the idea shortly after arriving at the college and researching some of the challenges low-income and first generat
                      7 years ago by @prophe
                       
                        MarylandUSAEnglishMar2017Free_tuitionlow-income
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