State APSCUF President Steve Hicks asks, "Where are we going and Why is Bill Gates driving?"
is Bill Gates driving?
Posted on August 24, 2010 by apscuf
Those of you who read the Chronicle frequently might have seen the front page article in the Aug. 13 edition. Here it is for those of you who haven’t seen it: http://chronicle.com/article/Can-Gates-Foundations-Mill/123824 .
What is revealed in the article is that the Gates Foundation, along with several others, have become involved in higher education recently (the Gates involvement is dated in the article ALL THE WAY BACK to 2008!). The thrust of their concern is to have more people gain a degree. This, as the article indicates, dovetails with the Obama Administration’s goal to again be the world leader in percentage of population with degrees.
None of us who have spent our professional lives in higher education can object to the general notion of more people having degrees, but we do need to question what means are going to be used to provide these degrees.
If you are paying attention to this national debate, which has not loomed overly large on the public stage (the Harkin Bill as passed recently cut the funding found there to provide for Federal financial support for higher ed), the push for more degrees is driven by a push for shorter duration (the Bologna/European concept of 3-year Bachelor degrees), more technology (using distance ed to provide “access”), and more job-orientation.
They don’t talk about capacity. The two great 20th-century expansions of higher education in America came from capacity growth with the GI Bill after WWII & the Vietnam/NASA driven expansion of the 60s. Universities grew.
Now they want to provide more degrees to more people, but without more facilities. “You can do it through distance ed” or “you can enlarge your classes a few seats, can’t you?”
There’s nothing wrong with providing more degrees to more people, but we need faculty involved in how to provide them, so that the degree more people are getting is the same degree as their predecessors’.
- Steve Hicks
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A new report by a conservative watchdog group concludes the nation's universities have become less efficient over the years by dramatically increasing the number of administrators they hire per student.
The Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute contends the rapid increase in administrative expenses is a big part of the rising cost of higher education. The organization calls for a reduction in government subsidies as a way to force universities to become more efficient.
"Like any addiction program, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Higher education needs to admit they have a problem of administrative bloat," said Jay Greene, the report's author and head of the Department of Education
Reform at the University of Arkansas.
Officials at three Arizona universities mentioned in the report say they haven't read the study, which is being released today. But they said they are familiar with its methodology and believe the conclusions are seriously flawed.
ASU officials say the report's definition of who is considered an administrator is distorted because it includes employees such as academic advisers, financial-aid counselors and librarians, who are essential to the university's mission but don't manage the institution.
The study examined 198 public and private universities using employee and financial data that universities report annually to the U.S. Department of Education.
From 1993 to 2007, the number of full-time administrators for every 100 students increased 39 percent at public universities, the Goldwater study found. In 2007, public universities averaged 7.9 full-time administrators for every 100 students.
Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/08/17/20100817collegeadministration0817.html#ixzz0wz77CKd9
'BEHIND THE HEADLINES'
State APSCUF Vice President Ken Mash was featured on a recent episode of the television show "Behind the Headlines." Behind the Headlines episodes are available for viewing online. You can watch all episodes of the show by clicking here.
Behind the Headlines is taped in Harrisburg and is a production of the Susquehanna Valley Center for Public Policy, a non-partisan, non profit public policy research organization based in Hershey. Charlie Greenawalt, Senior Fellow for the Center, Professor of Government at Millersville University, and political analyst on WHP TV in Harrisburg, is the program host.
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Blue Shield Claim Form, Authorization for Disclosure of Health Information Form now online!!! APSCUF members can now download the Blue Shield Claim Form directly from the APSCUF web site! To acquire a Claim Form, click here!
To download the Authorization for Disclosure of Health Information form, click here!
Save money with Nationwide General Auto Insurance! Are you interested in getting a Car Insurance quotation from Randy Engle, APSCUF's Nationwide Insurance Agent? If so, click here!
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PROPOSED REVISION TO THE REPORT FROM THE GOVERNOR'S TASK FORCE ON CLASS SIZE IN THE STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION Read the proposed revision to the report from the Governor's Task Force on Class Size in the PASSHE by clicking here.
(Note: This posting has been present for many months. It has been kept on the site for reference purposes.)
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RETIREMENT QUESTIONS? VISIT THE SERS, PSERS AND TIAA-CREF WEB SITES!
To visit the SERS web site, click here.
To visit the PSERS web site, click here.
To visit the TIAA-CREF web site, click here.
DO YOU NEED INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR STATE OR U.S. REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS? IF SO, USE THESE LINKS TO HELP!
Information about all Pennsylvania Representatives and Senators can be acquired via a web site maintained by the Commonwealth. To visit the site, click here.
Information about all United States of America Representatives can be obtained by clicking here.
Information about all United States of America Senators can be obtained by clicking here.
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