The University of Texas system, one of the largest in the U.S., is “betting big” on microcredentials, or academic certifications short of a degree. UT is partnering with Coursera to do so, as well as big tech firms like IBM and Google. The goal for the 30,000 students expected to participate is to help them…

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced another $9 billion in student debt relief through improvements to existing programs, a move that will affect 125,000 Americans, and which he touted as leading to economic improvement.   Wednesday’s announcement focuses on three programs: one for borrowers who have worked in public service for more than a decade;…

Florida’s 12 state universities will now accept the Classics Learning Test (CLT), a controversial standardized testing alternative to the SAT and ACT, this fall. They also will continue to accept the more-established SAT and ACT test results. The CLT focuses on the “classical” Western and Christian canon, according to Inside Higher Ed. The move comes…

China is one of the world’s largest source countries for international students, but it just entered a “demographic deficit,” meaning that its population is likely to decline. In a shrinking future, Chinese leaders, and those in other countries, might not want to let young talent go to other countries, especially if the move is permanent.…

U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings have been criticized for inaccuracy and exclusivity. The magazine tried to fix this year’s undergraduate rankings by measuring social mobility and graduation rates for first-generation students. It also dropped several indicators, such as alumni giving, that critics say have more to do with prestige than with the quality…

“Gen P,” the cohort of students who went online for much of the pandemic, demands more in-person experiences and high-quality digital ones. Colleges across the country are adjusting their orientation programs as a result. Read more from Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Ed. (September 2023) …

Aisha Lakhani, a graduate student at Anna Maria College, talks about the path that led her from Pakistan to the school in Paxton, Massachusetts. She’s studying counseling psychology and working with students as a residential specialist, a role in which she creates events and supports students. She talks about her experiences here. (September 2023)  …

Many colleges no longer require admissions tests like the SAT. They say the tests don’t meaningfully measure intelligence and are easily gamed by wealthier or more privileged students. However, it seems wealthy students are still taking the tests, while poorer ones are forgoing them. Since the tests are still weighed in admissions, the result may…

Writing in the Baltimore Sun, Jay A. Perman, chancellor of the University of Maryland system, says  that despite falling enrollments and public trust in universities, graduates still earn more, live longer and happier lives, and even volunteer more often. Read the op-ed here. (September 2023) …

Syllabi used to be an intellectual map, showing students what they could expect to learn. But academic and video game designer Ian Bogost argues that syllabi have become boring, rote and describe college policies and regulations instead of academic material. Read his argument in The Atlantic. (August 2023) …

International students at Michigan State University talk about workplace culture shocks in the U.S. Sophomore Shreshta Sinha of India, who’s studying computational and cognitive neuroscience, says that unlike India, the U.S. tends to stress work over education. Read the full story here. (September 2023)  …

Labor unions are finding support among graduate students at U.S. colleges and universities, according to a new report.  Graduate students, upset by working conditions and pay, have held a series of organizing votes in the past two years, Times Higher Education reports. (September 2023).   …

Only about 4 in 10 Americans say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. Sarah Wood of U.S. News & World Report examines why and offers some solutions. (August 2023)  …

Between a third to half of all students admitted to the University of Pennsylvania and the California Institute of Technology feature high school research projects in their applications, and the MIT application even has a dedicated section for them. Such projects can be “both a differentiator and an equalizer” in the admissions process: they can…

An op-ed in Politico argues that Chinese international students are often reluctant to discuss their country’s politics. They suggest two reasons. First, they fear punishment for themselves or their families by the Chinese Communist Party. Second, as anti-Chinese sentiments surge in many countries, they worry about discrimination. Read the piece by Jianyi Yang and Leslie…

Johns Hopkins University, a prestigious research institution in Baltimore, Maryland, boosted its racial diversity by expanding outreach and financial aid, as well as getting rid of “legacy” admissions — those admitted because they have a relative who previously attended the school. However, the U.S. Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college and university admissions earlier…

To cut costs, many colleges, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are using robots to deliver food in dining halls and at sports games. Students can order food with an app, and the robot will deliver it to them. According to the robot’s manufacturer, 64% of students surveyed say the service has kept them from skipping…

Many thousands of international students come to study at American universities and colleges each year. VOA’s Laurel Bowman met four students who have just landed at campuses in the Washington area. Camera — Adam Greenbaum and Saqib Ul Islam. …

Many prestigious companies in the U.S. are now offering their employees free coaching to get their children into selective schools. The perk is designed to recruit the best workers in a tight job market, but critics say it only worsens inequality. Jon Marcus has more for The Hechinger Report. (September 2023) …

The U.S. college system is different from most others: Students are graded from A to F, and often choose their course of study — their “major” — one to two years after enrolling. Anayat Durrani of U.S. News & World Report explains the differences. (August 2023)  …

AfterSchool Africa takes a look at the finer points of arranging accommodations for international students. Among the considerations: How close is the housing to campus? How safe is it? What about its proximity to public transit? Read the full story here. …

American college enrollments are falling, even as they are increasing in comparable countries. One culprit could be the cost: while college graduates earn more, the debt they accumulate often wipes out much of that advantage. Paul Tough investigates for The New York Times Magazine. (September 2023) …

The University of Kentucky has spent $805,000 a day for the past decade on upgrades to its campus, and now has one of the highest tuitions in the country, despite serving a lower-income state. Melissa Korn, Andrea Fuller and Jennifer S. Forsyth report for The Wall Street Journal. (August 2023) ]  …

Every year, most American college students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It determines how much need-based assistance you can receive and is also important for many scholarships, grants and other opportunities. Now, the format is being simplified, as Cheryl Winokur Munk of The Wall Street Journal explains. (August 2023) …

In the Chronicle of Higher Education, Maggie Hicks writes that ChatGPT frequently invents sources, causing headaches for librarians asked to find them, and getting students in trouble when they don’t learn how to track down information themselves. With scholars willing to cut corners to get papers published faster, academia could fall prey to a “complicated…

The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down race-based affirmative action, but colleges have struggled to implement the ban. The new guidelines stress that affirmative action is now illegal but that there are other ways for schools to diversify their student bodies. Read the explainer from Liam Knox of Inside Higher Ed. (August 2023) …

Most students looking to study in the United States are already familiar with prospects for financial aid, but there are some lesser-known scholarships available. The Times of India has compiled a listing of scholarships — many offered by individual schools — that can benefit students from other countries. (August 2023). …

Two years after the Taliban took Kabul, Karin Fischer of the Chronicle of Higher Education profiles a group of Afghan women at the University of Delaware who fled Kabul. After learning English, mastering U.S. cultural norms and surviving the trauma of separation from their families, these students are now mentoring other new arrivals. (August 2023)…