Higher Ed Alternatives – The College Fix

New Center for Academic Pluralism to produce scholarship promoting open inquiry, viewpoint diversity

Therese Joffre - Hope College — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 04:09:09 +0000

A new academic center launching this fall aims to address the shortage of scholarly work that challenges the dominant narrative in higher education. The New York City-based Center for Academic Pluralism was founded by the Heterodox Academy, a nonpartisan nonprofit “committed to advancing the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement to improve higher…

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UMinn program helps students graduate in 2.5 years

Matthew Sivieri - Northeastern University — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 04:02:09 +0000

One student saved approximately $15,000 A public university introduced a program to trim the standard college timeline to less than four years at significantly reduced expense. University of Minnesota Rochester has partnered with the Mayo Clinic to offer a two-and-a-half-year bachelor’s in health sciences “developed to build future health care executives and leaders,” according to the program…

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Retiring conservative professor offers ‘cure for the diseases which ail the modern university’

Blake Mauro - Clemson University — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 04:00:23 +0000

‘The next generation of college professors should think in terms of working outside the ‘mainstream’ university world’ Great Books scholar Colin Pearce, who has spent the last several decades of his life in front of a classroom, said he’s leaving academia with a sense of trepidation, as the classical liberal education enjoyed by students of the past is no longer what today’s young scholars…

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‘Forbidden Courses’ summer program at new University of Austin tackled questions canceled at other schools

Declan Hurley - University of Chicago — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 04:06:32 +0000

‘The truth is that you simply cannot talk about life, meaning, goodness and God with people and leave feeling half-hearted about them,’ student attendee said DALLAS — Professors and inquiring young minds gathered in the last two weeks of June for a program sponsored by the new University of Austin, designed to encourage questions that might get a scholar canceled anywhere else.

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Virginia’s Gov. Youngkin latest to scrap college degree requirement for most state jobs

Maggie Kelly - Assistant Editor — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 04:03:35 +0000

A growing number of states are shifting to skills-based hiring, National Governors Association said Virginia axed bachelor’s degree requirements for 90 percent of state jobs this week, following a precedent adopted by several states with bipartisan support over the last year. “Governor Glenn Youngkin announced today a landmark change in how state agencies will recruit and compete for talent by…

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Florida first state to accept Classic Learning Test as alternative to SAT, ACT

Rachel Culver - The Masters University — Mon, 22 May 2023 04:01:01 +0000

New College of Florida also adds test to acceptance options Florida has become the first state in the nation to officially accept the Classic Learning Test as an alternative to SAT and ACT, the latter of which are considered ideologically slanted to the left. The legislation, signed earlier this month by Gov. Ron DeSantis, makes the exam eligible as an option for students seeking to qualify…

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New program provides high school grads service-year jobs

John Parker - Syracuse University — Thu, 18 May 2023 04:02:51 +0000

Program provides immediate alternatives to college for recent grads Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently signed a new law establishing the country’s first post-high school paid “service year” program, in which recent grads can opt for working at a nonprofit, public agency or some other group before they jump headfirst into college. The new program — billed as the first of its kind in the nation…

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Activists stage ‘die-in’ at Harvard to protest opioid drug company connection

Georgia Lucas - UNC Pembroke — Thu, 11 May 2023 04:01:36 +0000

Anti-opioid group ‘stands in solidarity with student movements calling on Harvard to sever the university’s ties to the legacy of white supremacists’ Harvard University students continue their fight against the university’s association with the Sackler family, owners of the OxyContin producers Purdue Pharma, in partnership with an outside advocacy group. An online petition titled “Tell…

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Left-leaning think tank calls for high schools to prioritize vocational training: ‘bipartisan issue’

Nathan Biller - Colgate University — Mon, 08 May 2023 04:02:03 +0000

Improving pre-vocational opportunities for high school students is a ‘bipartisan issue,’ policy expert said American high school education should include more options for practical instruction in career skills as well as college prep instruction, according to a Washington-based think tank. The Progressive Policy Institute, a center-left nonprofit organization, recently released a policy paper…

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Trade school programs thrive amid overall college enrollment decline

Maggie Kelly - Assistant Editor — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 04:06:39 +0000

National and state governments invest in growing field of technical education “While almost every sector of higher education is seeing fewer students registering for classes, many trade school programs are booming,” according to an April 17 article in The Hechinger Report. Enrollment in mechanic and repair trade programs went up 11.5 percent from spring 2021 to 2022, according to the National…

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