UNIVERSITY SYSTEM — ECONOMIC IMPACT AND VALUE

Report reveals local economic impact of higher education
http://www.henryherald.com/news/2013/jul/18/report-reveals-local-economic-impact-higher-educat/
Henry Daily Herald
By Johnny Jackson
July 18, 2013
JONESBORO — Economic output from the area’s higher education institutions has remained steady or improved the past five years, according to a report from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The report revealed Clayton State University in Morrow, Gordon State College in Barnesville and the University of Georgia’s Griffin campus each contributed millions to the local economy.
Note: This story also appeared in the Clayton News Daily: http://www.news-daily.com/news/2013/jul/18/report-reveals-local-economic-impact-higher-educat/

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM – GOOD NEWS

Sebastian Thrun on the Future of Learning
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/517181/sebastian-thrun-on-the-future-of-learning/
Technology Review
July 19, 2013
Sebastian . . . Thrun sat down to chat with MIT Technology Review IT Editor Rachel Metz at Udacity’s Mountain View, California, office. . . We have a partner institution—San Jose State University. We are also now working with Georgia Tech to offer an entire degree [which will begin in January]. The degree is offered by them, because we are not accredited, but we can certainly supply all the infrastructure, and the secret sauce for making it work.

CONSOLIDATION

Cash-strapped Universities Turn to Corporate-Style Consolidation

Cash-Strapped Universities Turn to Corporate-Style Consolidation

TIME U.S.
July 19, 2019
By Jon Marcus
…In addition to Augusta State and Georgia Health Sciences University, Georgia has fused six other institutions into three, reducing the total number in its public system to 31, and reorganized 15 of the state’s technical colleges, saving an estimated $6.7 million a year on overhead.

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM – RESEARCH

The consequences of chutzpah
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2013/07/18/the-consequences-of-chutzpah/
Washington Post
July 18, 2013
…And particularly assertive CEOs are more likely to use cash to acquire a target company because they believe their own firm’s stock price is undervalued, which can deplete financial resources. All that adds up to potentially risky propositions for investors, say the researchers, who are based at the University of Missouri, Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Texas at Arlington.

This Blast Effects Sensor Suite Analyzes IEDs to Save Lives
http://gizmodo.com/this-blast-effects-sensor-suite-analyzes-ieds-to-save-l-803769949
Gizmodo
July 18, 2013
…Developed by the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force in collaboration with the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the Integrated Blast Effects Sensor Suite (I-BESS) is a series of soldier- and vehicle-mounted, networked pressure sensors and accelerometers that provide a more complete look at a blast.
OPINION/COLUMNS/EDITORIALS/BLOGS

The question of the day and the decade: Should everyone go to college?
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2013/jul/18/question-day-should-everyone-go-college/
Atlanta Journal Constitution
July 18, 2013
“Get Schooled” Blog
By Maureen Downey
I get a lot of questions from readers on college. Should my kids go to UGA or Georgia Tech? Should they choose a smaller school. . . A question I seldom get: Should my kid even go to college?
Student loans are not the answer
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/student-loans-are-not-the-answer-94415.html
Politico
July 18, 2013
By William Elliott
The financial-aid model that American college students depend on is broken. Unfortunately, media coverage and political skirmishes focus on student-loan interest rates and rising student indebtedness, while ignoring the one strategy that can increase personal responsibility, educational outcomes and long-term financial health for students: college savings.

College loan deal ties rates to economy
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/07/18/2588003/college-loan-deal-ties-rates-to.html
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
July 18, 2013
So even in the Washington of 2013, it really is still possible to reach meaningful consensus after all. A few million college and graduate students are no doubt delighted at that pleasant surprise. Thursday afternoon a bipartisan Senate panel announced a compromise (remember that word?) on interest rates for student loans by the federal government. Similar legislation has already passed the House, and it’s possible this could all be in place before most college classes begin for the fall term.

How Not to Become Road Kill
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/07/19/how-liberal-arts-can-avoid-becoming-road-kill-essay
Inside Higher Education
July 19, 2013
By Steven Neshyba
The atmosphere at the university workshop on online learning was becoming a little edgy, with questions in the air like “What does flipping a classroom really mean?” And, more dauntingly, “Do MOOCs threaten our liberal arts model of education?” A high point occurred when one participant, addressing a panel of faculty and administrators, asked, “What is our solution to these changes?” with the not-so-gentle observation, “Because if we don’t have one, we are road kill.”
HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS

For veterans, a fight for college credit
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/veterans-fight-college-credit
Texas Tribune
July 19, 2013
Texas Army veteran Ryan Rafols worked as a missile defense engineer during his time in the U.S. Army, operating military defense systems, calculating targets and maintaining computer systems. But when Rafols came back to Texas and applied to the engineering school at the University of Texas at Austin earlier this year, he was told none of his experience would count toward his degree. That made no sense to him.

The attack of the MOOCs
.http://www.economist.com/news/business/21582001-army-new-online-courses-scaring-wits-out-traditional-universities-can-they
The Economist
July 20, 2013
. . . Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete. . . .EdX, a non-profit MOOC provider founded in May 2012 by Harvard University and the MIT and backed with $60m of their money, is now a consortium of 28 institutions, the most recent joiner being the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai.

Blackboard MOOC gains 15 more colleges
http://www.ecampusnews.com/around-the-web/blackboard-mooc-gains-15-more-colleges/
eCampusNews
July 18, 2013
Learning management company Blackboard Inc. recently announced that 15 additional colleges and universities have signed up to use its services to run massive open online courses (MOOCs), InformationWeek reports. Classes will be free of charge and run this summer and fall.

San Jose State U. Puts MOOC Project with Udacity on Hold
http://chronicle.com/article/San-Jose-State-U-Puts-MOOC/140459/?cid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
July 18, 2013
After two semesters of experimentation, San Jose State University has decided to take a “breather” in a project aimed at determining whether Udacity, a Silicon Valley-based company that specializes in massive open online courses, can help the university deliver credit-bearing online courses. (Subscription required)
[Related article] Uh, oh, San Jose State University suspends online course project with Udacity
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/18/uh-oh-san-jose-state-suspends-online-course-project-with-udacity/
Gigaom
July 19, 2013
In a move that doesn’t bode well for massive and open online courses known as MOOCs, San Jose State University on Thursday said that it was pausing its highly-touted partnership with online education startup Udacity. …Coursera, for example, has 80 top global educational partners and Udacity offers an online degree with Georgia Tech– many will likely be happy to see San Jose State hit the pause button and deliberate more deeply on the new kind of education format.

Bill Gates: MOOC providers should take a lesson from for-profit college sector
http://www.ecampusnews.com/business-news/bill-gates-mooc-providers-should-take-a-lesson-from-for-profit-college-sector/
eCampusNews
July 16, 2013
By Denny Carter
Microsoft founder and CEO Bill Gates said universities that provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) should engage in more “hand holding” with students as a way to stem the sky-high dropout rate in the online educational settings. Gates, while answering audience questionsJuly 15 at Microsoft Research’s Faculty Summit, suggested ways MOOCs could better serve traditional and nontraditional students, including taking a page from the often-maligned for-profit college industry.

Free Courses for a Big Problem
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/19/two-year-colleges-go-open-source-seek-fix-remediation
Inside Higher Education
July 19, 2013
By Paul Fain
Free online courses have run into a backlash of late. But a handful of community colleges may have found a way to dial up open-source content to help tackle one of higher education’s thorniest problems: remedial education.

Graduation Gaps Between Minoriity and White Students Slowly Narrow
http://chronicle.com/article/Graduation-Gaps-Between/140437/
Chronicle of Higher Education
July 18, 2013
By Katherine Mangan
The graduation gap between minority and white college students is slowly narrowing, and the campuses having the most success aren’t necessarily the wealthiest or most selective, according to a new report by the Education Trust. (subscription required)
[related story] Report: Minority Enrollments Grow, But Success Gaps Shrink Slowly
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/19/report-minority-enrollments-grow-success-gaps-shrink-slowly
Inside Higher Education
July 19, 2013
The number of black and Latino students entering four-year colleges significantly outpaced the number of white students over the last three years, while the six-year graduation rate of the minority students edged up slowly, the Education Trust said in a new report.

Federal Student-Loan Debt Crosses $1-Trillion Threshold
http://chronicle.com/article/Federal-Student-Loan-Debt/140427/
Chronicle of Higher Education
July 17, 2013
By Cory Weinberg
Student-loan borrowers now owe the federal government more than $1-trillion for the first time, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureauannounced on Wednesday. The swelling federal student-loan debt now sits at $1.2 trillion, the bureau estimated.

Assessment: It’s the Law
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/19/iowa-state-legislators-mandate-course-level-continuous-improvement-reporting-mixed
Inside Higher Education
July 19, 2013
By Coleen Flaherty
If teaching a 300-plus person course isn’t enough work, faculty members who do so at Iowa’s three public universities have new duties starting this fall. By state law, they must create and use “formative and summative assessments” and submit a plan for using those assessments to improve student learning.

Jobs Mismatch
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/19/do-faculty-members-share-students-and-parents-focus-jobs
Inside Higher Education
July 19, 2013
By Scott Jaschik
OMAHA, NEB. — Only 49 percent of faculty members at four-year colleges and universities believe that their graduate school training prepared them well for their jobs as professors. Perhaps that’s why, suggested John H. Pryor of the University of California at Los Angeles, many professors may not place as high a priority as do students on the role of higher education in helping them find jobs.

U. of California Gets an Unexpected Leader in Janet Napolitano
http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-California-Gets-an/140465/
Chronicle of Higher Education
July 18, 2013
By Seth Zweifler
When Janet Napolitano, the departing U.S. secretary of homeland security, becomes president of the University of California, her leadership may be exactly what the struggling institution needs to propel itself forward during a time of painful budget cuts. Or it could signal an unusual candidate without much higher-education experience sweeping in and furthering the downward spiral of a 10-campus system that is considered by some to be the nation’s crown jewel of public higher education.
[related article] UC regents appoint Napolitano amid protest
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/UC-regents-appoint-Napolitano-amid-protest-4673527.php
San Francisco Chronicle
July 18, 2013
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano became the first woman appointed to lead the University of California on Thursday during a sometimes raucous meeting of the UC regents in San Francisco where police arrested six immigrant rights protesters.

Young Donors Are Turned Off by Out-of-Date, Uninformative Web Sites
http://chronicle.com/article/Young-Donors-Are-Turned-Off-by/140455/?cid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
July 18, 2013
Colleges and other nonprofit organizations that want to persuade people in their 20s and early 30s to give and volunteer don’t have much of a chance if they’re not updating their Web sites frequently and including compelling details about their causes and the people they serve, according to a survey released on Thursday. (subscription required)

Senate Panel Approves Boost in Funds for NSF and Other Physical Sciences
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/19/senate-panel-approves-boost-funds-nsf-and-other-physical-sciences
Inside Higher Education
July 19, 2013
The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a spending bill Thursday that would increase spending on the National Science Foundation by $183 million over what the agency is receiving this year.

Challenge of Measuring Work-Force Outcomes
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/19/challenge-measuring-work-force-outcomes
Inside Higher Education
July 19, 2013

OTHER NEWS

State jobless rate up again in June
http://www.ajc.com/news/business/state-jobless-rate-up-again-in-june/nYwP3/
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
July 18, 2013
By Michael Kanell
Georgia’s jobless rate rose from 8.3 percent to 8.6 percent in June as public sector job cuts outpaced hiring in the private sector, the state reported Thursday. (subscription required)
[related article] Jobless Rate Rises to 8.6%
http://www.gpb.org/news/2013/07/18/jobless-rate-rises-to-8-6
Georgia Public Broadcasting
July 18, 2013
From the Associated Press
ATLANTA — State labor officials say Georgia’s unemployment rate increased to 8.6 percent in June. State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said the rate increased partly because a large number of education workers are unemployed during the summer, and new graduates are considered unemployed until they find a job.

College-Educated Americans Less Engaged in Jobs
http://www.gallup.com/poll/163538/college-educated-americans-less-engaged-jobs.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication
GALLUP
July 18, 2013
By Shane Lozep and Preety Sidhu