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    Seven Missouri private colleges and six from Kansas have failed a U.S. Department of Education test of their financial responsibility during the 2014-2015 academic year. The Chronicle of Higher Education this week released analyzed data that found 177 degree-granting colleges across the country failed the test, 18 more than had failed the previous year. Most of those failing were nonprofits. Only 65 of the failing schools were for-profit institutions. Among them was Wright Career College, a for-profit private school that was based in Overland Park and closed in April 2016 after going bankrupt. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that in determining whether an institution passes or fails, the Education Department considers an institution’s debt and assets, among other factors. Scores given range from negative-1 to 3, and any score below 1.5 is considered failing. These schools are subject to cash monitoring and other federally imposed requirements. A school could raise concerns about its financial responsibility and end up on the monitoring list for late financial statements, outstanding liabilities and accreditation issues. The scores are made public by the federal Education Department as some broad indication of the financial health of thousands of two- and four-year schools. The idea is to give tuition-paying students and parents a better look at what their money is buying and how it’s being used. “The department’s methodology in devising the scores has drawn sharp criticism in the past from some higher-education groups,” the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Among the schools in Missouri listed with a failing score for the 2014-2015 academic year is Westminster College in Fulton with a score of 1.1. But school officials said the college has subsequently improved performance and the reported score “does not reflect our college’s current financial conditions,” said Lana Poole, college spokeswoman. Poole said Westminster’s composite score for financial responsibility would increase to 2.7 fo
    vor 7 Jahren von @prophe
     
     
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    More than 150,000 students qualify for university admission annually, but only 27,000 can be accommodated in state-run universities, State Minister of Higher Education Mohan Lal Grero said. He said others, numbering around 130,000 were left out and some of them opted for vocational education and related areas in the governmental institutions. The Minister was addressing a seminar organised by the Agriculture Faculty of the Peradeniya University, under the theme ‘Peradeniya University and Sri Lanka Food Industry-the inter relationship’ as part of its diamond jubilee commemoration of the University at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Institute, Colombo. That was the reason the government had decided to support private higher education sector, Grero said. The government would introduce a loan scheme for students who had financial problems to enrol in higher education institutes in Sri Lanka. "If we have quality higher educational institutions within the country foreign exchange can be saved," Grero said. The minister said they would also focus on further developing the state education sector. The government was planning to increase state university intake by 15% by 2020. According to its policy the main target was to increase the intake up to 50,000 students by 2020, Grero said.
    vor 7 Jahren von @prophe
     
     
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    President Donald Trump´s threat to deport millions of illegal immigrants – half of them Mexicans – has triggered an unprecedented campaign by the Mexican government and universities. A raft of measures announced in recent weeks seek to reincorporate returning migrants into the country´s education system and labour force while defending those who wish to remain in the United States. Trump has vowed to deport as many as three million illegal immigrants, with those with criminal records at the front of the queue. However, there is growing fear among the hundreds of thousands of university students and workers who are beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA programme – which grants temporary legal status to certain immigrants who arrived as minors – following the detention of several DACA holders in recent weeks. A recent series of menacing tweets by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, suggesting that even DACA holders could be subject to deportation, has sparked further alarm. Mexicans represent roughly 5.8 million of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. They include an estimated 400,000 Mexicans known as Dreamers, for the proposed federal Dream Act that sought to provide legal status for young immigrants. Many have little or no support system in Mexico and some don´t even speak Spanish. In response, the Mexican government is seeking to ease the repatriation process for hundreds of thousands of migrants, particularly students. New legislation On 17 March, the Mexican Congress approved new legislation that streamlines the application process to schools and universities for returning migrants. The changes to the federal Education Law empower private colleges to revalidate transcripts from other Mexican or foreign institutions. Even more significant, students who studied abroad no longer need to present an apostille – a diplomatic notarised seal – along with their transcripts, a process that can take weeks and cost hundreds of dollars. The feder
    vor 7 Jahren von @prophe
     
     
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    After leaving Somalia at the height of the civil war to work in universities in Italy and Canada, Professor Mohamed Ahmed Jimale returned to the ravaged Somalian capital of Mogadishu in 2012 with the idea of reviving the Somali National University, or SNU, where he had graduated in 1983 and taught as a lecturer in the faculty of veterinary sciences. He was approved as rector by the new central government in 2013 and the university opened in 2014 with six faculties. In this interview, Jimale speaks about the state of higher education in Somalia and the challenge of running a university in what is still an unstable and often hostile environment, and about his hopes of helping poorer Somalis to attain the kind of education that launched his own career. UWN: What does it take to run such a university? MAJ: It’s not easy at times. Finding students is difficult, as is finding the right calibre of academic and support staff. Our university is tuition-free, therefore whoever gets admission here must earn it first by passing their high school exams and our pre-admission exams, which many students fail. At the level of academic staff, the higher education labour sector in Somalia is still young and it is tricky getting the right personnel to run the university. Another challenge is that we depend on the government for funding, which is not constant or predictable due to other competing national budget priorities. There are those who hold a myth that a tuition-free government university like ours is the preserve of high-ranking government officials and their children or you have to be influential or come from powerful families to get admission. We have had to battle with and demystify [this], making it clear that the university is open to all Somalis. The only ticket required is good grades. The final challenge is how to bring back our seven campuses with limited resources and cater for swelling numbers. UWN: What kind of assistance have you received from foreign universities? MAJ: One of the major problems we
    vor 7 Jahren von @prophe
     
     
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    For those that draw the line in the sand at $5.00 for a “penny stock,” Aspen Group, Inc. (OTCQB:ASPU) may be able to graduate out of penny-stock-land soon. Trading as low as $1.52 last July (and $1.21 in January 2016), the company has found a solid uptrend to tip the scales at $4.44 in December for its current 52-week high. After a pullback from that high, shares are moving up again, including a 7.7% climb in morning trading to $4.04 on Friday. Shares are being driven by the New York City-based post-secondary education company issuing two substantial pieces of news after Thursday’s closing bell. First, in the third quarter of fiscal 2017 (ended January 31, 2017), Aspen reported revenue of $3.74 million, up 73% from the year prior quarter. The company swung to a profit, with net earnings of $7,377 versus a net loss of $689,718 a year earlier. Aspen also had a record number 825 new student enrollments during the latest quarter, a 50% year-over-year increase. Separately, the company said it signed a letter of intent to acquire an unnamed regionally accredited for-profit university based in California for $9.0 million. Payment will come in the form of $2.5 million in cash, $2.0 million in convertible debt and $4.5 million in ASPU common stock. $900,000 of the $2.5 million cash component will be lent to a newly-formed entity controlled by the loan’s guarantor who owns 100% of the voting power of the university.
    vor 7 Jahren von @prophe