Based at the graduate school of Education and Information at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Higher Education Research Institute "serves as an interdisciplinary center for research, evaluation, information, policy studies, and research training in postsecondary education." It is also the home of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), a national longitudinal study of...

A number of noteworthy items related to the landscape of higher education found their way into major newspapers this week, including the announcement that Harvard University's endowment reported a 21.1 percent gain on its investments for the fiscal year 2004. This was the best performing year for Harvard's university fund since 2000, although the school also announced that the projected returns...

From Austin, Texas's local NPR affiliate KUT comes Higher Ed, a "lively and entertaining weekly discussion of issues related to higher education." The show is hosted by Jennifer Stayton of KUT and Dr. Ed Burger, president of Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas and covers a range of topics related to higher education, including curriculum, pedagogy, college readiness and more. On this...

A Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation's report, Opening Doors: Students' Perspectives on Juggling Work, Family, and College sheds light on factors sometimes overlooked by legislators and policymakers as they seek to better the circumstances of America's underclass. Recognizing the critical role of education and vocational training in improving upward mobility, key players effectively fail...

With the revenues taken in by state governments continuing to drop over the past fiscal year, public universities are finding themselves forced to make massive cutbacks to numerous programs. A particularly troubling legal ruling occurred this week when St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Romines ruled that the University of Missouri will potentially have to return millions of dollars in...

Over half of all students taking classes at the college level do so at a community college. Many policy-makers, pundits, and politicians are wondering how to best improve these key educational institutions. This 40-page report released in April 2012 takes a look at the current shortcomings of American community colleges, along with offering some suggestions about the way forward. The report was...

Originating from the Reinvention Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, this 41-page report is a follow-up report to the original Boyer Commission Report on undergraduate education first released in 1998. Following up on the 1998 report, this document examines the progress made by various universities in 10 different aspects of undergraduate educational areas identified by the...

What is the state of America's universities? That is a vast question, and it was posed to the National Academies by the U.S. Congress. Specifically, Congress asked the National Academies to assess the competitive position of America's research universities over the coming decades. The results of the Academies' findings are in this 227-page report issued in 2012. Visitors to the site can download...

The United States Supreme Court recently announced that it will hear a case on whether an individual can sue a college for violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law designed to protect the privacy of a student's educational records. The case puts Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, against Ru Paster, an education graduate who claims he is unable...

Americans have witnessed and participated in an "extraordinary decade of economic volatility and educational reform." As a result, the National Academy of Sciences appointed a committee to organize a workshop to explore how the various participants in the post-secondary sector have been responding to economic changes. This workshop, which was held in May 2001, was approved by the Governing Board...