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Jun30
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Your boss is your boss and s/he tells subordinates what to do and they do it. It is not always right or prudent, but, by golly, there is movement.
Accountability is fixed and measured...usually.
Still, faculty enjoy a reasonable amount of academic freedom. Often times there is participation in curriculum development, textbook choice and determination of class objectives.
There is even enough allowance for shared governance to appease accrediting associations that ask for faculty involvement and to keep the faculty from forming unions.
Consequently, fopro management has control of the decision making process while still listening to her workers/instructors.
In short, there is traditional business like management that exists - for good and for bad.
And, market trends...needs of students...program change...program implementation...are responded to in a relatively timely manner. NO?
What do you think?
go to 老毕看中国
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Jun30
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It is called shared governance. Faculty presidents and provosts must let major issues go before faculty counsels. After the faculty agrees, which is never, the president can usually move on with his/her decisions. Shared governance flies in the face of...
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Some institutions in China offer as much as US $60,000 to visiting professors and still others offer twice that much for well-known MBAs, engineering and science professors. Peking University adds an additional $US50,000 settling in fee and living quarters. This...
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Jun29
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Stockholders want a return on their investment...usually. Some investors may have so much money it doesn't matter, but this is not the norm. Consequently, fopros must demonstrate that they can make money...make decisions...meet market needs...and adjust for the times...on a...
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There are often many people who have a stake in a non-profit university. I have borrowed much fodder from Richard Ruch and his book HIGHER ED, INC. He deserves much credit for his insights and the discussions he creates. He...
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China, number one again....turned out more PhDs last year than any other country in the world. But...a PhD does not a good teacher make. Quality of teaching is being seriously questioned in China. Professors are caught up in 1. Publish...
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Jun28
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Fopros like when people give them seed money, start-up capital or growth capital. Depending on the state of the school, the money goes into the bank or is used to start a new program that will generate income of which...
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Endowment is a fancy word that makes the giver feel like they have given something and made something better. Non-profit endowment managers invest their funds in the stock and bond market and hope for it to grow. However, they don't...
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The Chinese college ranking system was created by Shanghai Jiaotong University. The ranking is 90 percent based on research. Wuhan University has a ranking system as well that has about half of that based on research. The research reports quality...
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Jun27
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"Donations" to fopros come in the form of stock purchases. Investors are courted, wined and dined on the company's dime and it is usually the responsibility of the president or some key person in the company who has the right...
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Non-profits spend considerable effort cultivating donors - tapping successful alumni - wining and dining on the taxpayer's dime, in hopes of getting more gifts - freebies - for which they will not be accountable. There is often an alumni association,...
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Profs and students alike in China say that Chinese higher education lacks creativity. Students are called "stuffed ducks" because of the lifeless way they are filled with information. If I were not an educator I would think this is funny....
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Jun26
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Fopros must set aside about 40% of their earnings before paying taxes to pay taxes. If one of the big fopro players generates, let's say $100 million in revenue for the year and $40 million is eaten up in taxes...where...
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China is doing its darndest to expand its higher-ed system. Since 2000 China has doubled it investments in colleges and universities to just under $12 billion during the five years ending in 2004. Additionally, China has tripled the land aread...
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Public colleges and universities get an average of 50% of their revenues from tax subsidies = federal, state and local governments. What that means is that John and Jane Taxpayer are paying for these schools AND then are being charged...
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Jun25
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Recently, a 26 year old PhD candidate at Tsinghua University abruptly quit the program despite being just a few months shy of getting his degree. His reasons for quitting were not - too hard, I am burnt out, ran out...
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The largest teacher of Braille in the world and the only "distance learning' school for blind people world-wide is located in Winnetka< Illinois. The school survives largely on donations despite having some 10,000 blind and visually impaired people enrolled in...
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Isn't that interesting? Contrary to popular opinion 'blood sucking, money hungry, insensitive' fopro school presidents have families, too? And they care about them. UoP and other fopros are facing serious challenges from the traditional colleges = traditional colleges are beginning...
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Jun23
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Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison talked about giving Stanford $150 million to build an institute to study technology's effect on politics and economy. Harvard got jealous and said they wanted the money. In March of 2005, Ellison said he would give...
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It's hard to beat Stanford's Business School program....if for no other reason, you have that tremendous network of previous graduates to work when you graduate. But, stanford thinks they can still do things better. Beginning in the fall of 2007,...
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Here are eight recommendations from college admission advisor to help you or your kid get into a top tier school. 1. Take on a quality activity - do something that has meaning, makes a difference. Serve the needy, visit the...
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Jun22
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Jack Welch gives advice on how the new graduate can succeed in American companies. It seems good advice to succeed in any company ...anywhere. His number one piece of advice - OVERDELIVER - This is very un-American...and very un-student like....
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How many ways can you think of to make money off of students? Well, here's another. I read a report the other day where an independent college counselor in Oregon charged up to $36,000 per student to just help them...
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Online learning will continue to grow for several reasons. There is one last reason why I think online-learning will continue to grow. It gives people/students a chance to get ahead. There are still enough people who want to compete -...
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Jun21
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Apollo Group is the biggest of the Fopro education groups. They own University of Phoenix. Yesterday their stock fell 2 percent after reporting lower third quarter profits because of higher costs. Corinthian Colleges is another of the big players. They,...
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Many people can get their tuition paid for by their employer. I did. Or, I should sayI am having my employer pay for it. Suppose you did make up your mind to go back to school - fopro or otherwise....
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Online learning will continue to grow for several reasons. The fourth reason I think online-learning will continue to grow is because there is so much money to be made at it. University of Phoenix is making big bucks with online...
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Jun20
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At Inside Higher Ed Judith Eaton shares four proposals for improving the accreditation process. 1. Accelerate the current accreditation emphasis on evidence of institutional performance and student learning outcomes - By all means, colleges must be teaching what they say...
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Many people can get their tuition paid for by their employer. I did. Or, I should say I am having my employer pay for it. Suppose you did make up your mind to go back to school - fopro or...
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Online learning will continue to grow for several reasons. The third reason why online-learning will continue to grow is because it accessible everywhere there is an internet connection...that is everywhere. More students from more countries are seeking an online education...
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Jun19
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Higher-ed accreditation practice does not have the trust it once had. Just because a school is accredited it no longer means that the school can be relied on to deliver quality education. How many full-timers are there? It doesn't matter...
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Many people can get their tuition paid for by their employer. I did. Or, I should say I am having my employer pay for it. Suppose you did make up your mind to go back to school - fopro or...
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Online learning will continue to grow for several reasons. The second reason online-learning will grow is because employers are demanding higher skills from their employees to continue to compete in this global economy. The guy in India may be better...
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Jun18
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Many people can get their tuition paid for by their employer. I did. Or, I should sayI am having my employer pay for it. Suppose you did make up your mind to go back to school - fopro or otherwise....
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University of Phoenix has a parent - Apollo Group, Inc. Apollo Group says they will hire an outside firm to review its stock-option grants. Some have accused UoP of granting options to top execs as compensation but then backdate those...
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Online learning will continue to grow for several reasons. The first reason is because of the advent of high-speed Internet. Anybody wtih a home PC can now take a course online. If you have a laptop you can take your...
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Jun16
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Uh, online learning is not easier. If anything online learning is tougher. The time stamp is unforgiving. The interaction between prof and student is more. Every student must interact with his/her instructor and do it often. There is also no...
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Enrollments are increasing 10 times faster than traditional enrollments. Let's see, every time someone visits a campus, takes a tour, visits a book store, eats in a cafeteria, looks at an empty gym or stadium and then sits with a...
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Grand Canyon University might be a school for ultramarathoners (super marathoners)..guys and gals who run multiple marathons in one day. I know of one race that goes from rim to rim of the Grand Canyon and back all in one...
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Jun15
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Former Toyota President Shoichiro Toyoda has founded Kaiyo Academy, a $175 million school that he modeled after Britain's Eton Academy - a school that boasts 19 British Prime Ministers among her alumni and the second-in-line to the throne, Prince William....
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eCollege provides value-added information services to the post-secondary and K-12 industries. Its customers includ publicly traded fopros, community colleges, public and private universities, school districts and state departments of education. Its mission is to help increase new enrollments and increas...
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Berkery, Noyes & Co. LLC is a leading independent investment bank that provides M & A services to the global information, publishing and IT sectors. The group has been involved as an advisor for most major transactions, buying and/or selling,...
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Jun14
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The big oil companies are having a pity party. They have all that money - ExxonMobil has about $33 billion in cash, and nowhere to spend it. Poor babies. They are also complaining that they can't find the personnel they...
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The last time I checked, good clean competition was healthy. When two competitors are involved, both sides check the strengths and weaknesses of its competitor and then tries to capitalize on it. If one side has a strength or two,...
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Somehow, somewhere, someone decided that doing something for reasons other than making a profit was a noble reason to do things. Educating our kids, mankind, the world is also a higher calling. By logic - educating with no regard for...
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Jun13
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Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) wants to duke it out with Sallie Mae, the nation's largest provider of student loan services. Sallie Mae started out as a federal agency but then went private = for profit. Does this scenario...
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Fopros and Non-fopros alike are doing their darndest to get more students. Clarion University has a not so novel idea of recruiting high school studnets directly from china. A principal and the international director of Yaosha High School in Tianjin,...
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Prior to president Hu's visit to the US a short time ago there was plenty of words being written about China's software piracy and the attention or lack of that it paid to it. Lenovo made a big deal by...
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Jun12
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At a recent forum sponsored by the newspaper "Vedomosty" and the "Bazovy Element" company, their was unanimous agreement that Russian higher education is unable to meet the market's contemporary requirements in skilled specialists. The propose answer - "the quality of education...
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AACRAO reports that about 400,000 students - 2 percent of all college students, 3percent of students attending community colleges and 4 percent of students infopros do NOT have a high school degree! But, how can they get in without a...
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Jun11
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With so many adult students opinions are flying everywhere on how they might be served best and what is needed most. Gary Berg author of Lessons From the Edge offers up these four main pressures - 1. Diminishing financial support...
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The Baltimore Sun has this story about an 80 year old lady who is trying to become a lawyer. Her kids and grand kids no doubt want her to stop wasting their inheritance on going to school. Age is less and...
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American Council on Education is a coordinating body for higher education. Recently they released some interesting statistics - interesting to people who care about higher education, non-profit and fopro alike. Just one in six of the undergraduates in college are...
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Jun 9
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Schools want regional accreditation. Fopros also want regional accreditation. It gives them status, recognition and confidence with their students who might want to take their class units and transfer them to a four year or other institution. Fopros will go to extremes...
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For-profit Apollo Group, owner of the world's largest university (Universtiy of Phoenix) and the loan company, Sallie Mae are using political donations to get their way on Capital Hill. Now, I bet there is no one over 30 years old who...
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There are Six Regional Accrediting Authorities in the US. They are Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accredits educational institutions in the following areas: Delaware, District...
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Jun 8
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In a comment, Dr. McMaster shared the hiring process for non-traditional universities. I'd like to share an experience of mine.... I taught for one year at the graduate level for a teacher's training university in upstate NY. I was hired...
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American colleges and universities are subject to approval and accreditations of governing bodies. What that means is that there are a group of people who travel from school to school counting library books, adding up square footage and checking out...
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An improving economy is often bad for schools. The reason is simple - Increased competition from jobs. Let me see, should I go to school which costs money or go to work and make money? Easy answer, right? Always has...
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Jun 7
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How do student needs and interests fit into curriculum design at fopro and non-profit universities? Students generally have little say in academic programs and curriculum designs, since faculty and program chairs set these in motion. Recently, however, forward thinking planners...
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Just when www.careered.com thought they were out of the woods, the US Justice Departmen has expanded its investigation into the company. The Morning Call reports there are allegations that the company made false statements regarding job placement and tuition costs, according to...
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Fopros* hope to continue to grow by doing several things. 1. Figure out how to use Internet advertising more to its advantage by not breaking the bank. 2. Expand the distance education method by offering programs completely online or through...
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Education Management is one of the largest fopro companies ...# 3 behind Apollo Group and Career Education. Now, EDMC has come big time investors. Providence Equity Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners recently acquired the company. A Goldman Sachs exec...
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So how much does it cost to educate a student? Richard Garrett, a senior research analyst at Eduventures knows the answer. It costs $3,577 per student at for-profit colleges. It costs $5,464 per student at public colleges. It costs $8,513...
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Samuel Wood of Stanford likens the faculty of fopros* to the unskilled labor force on an assembly line turning out the original cars. I beg to differ. But not totally differ. It is true that the faculty at a fopro is...
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Jun 6
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Did I ever say that I hate unions. I still do. The American Auto Industry is NOT a model of profitability. My sister site www.panasianbiz.com has touched on that not a few times. A lot of the auto industry's problems...
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I have been in the classroom for nearly 30 years. It's not because I am stupid and it took me that long to get out of the 12th grade, it's because that is how long I have been a teacher. ...
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One of the ways that fopros* keep the cost of instruction down is by redefining the role of the faculty member. Faculty at fopros do not design courses; they teach a curriculum that is provided. In fact, at the one...
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27,200 Chinese nationals chose to go back to China to work after finishing schooling overseas in 2005 up 47.9% from the previous year according to China's Ministry of Education. A spokesman for the ministry told a press conference that though...
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Jun 5
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While traditional universities are cutting back here is another fopro that is looking to expand. Hanah Cho of the Baltimoresun.com writes Laureate Education, Inc. is looking to fill 75 jobs and will be holding a job fair on June 14th to fill positions...
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Let me pound on this chart from Samuel Woods one more time. There is one glaring difference between how the money is spent in the non-profits and how it is spent in the fopros. The non-profits spend about 43% of their...
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I have a couple of more points I want to make after looking at Samuel Wood's chart on Fopros and Non-profits. According to his graph, the non-profits pay about 38% of their budget for instruction. The fopros pay out about...
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Samuel Wood, creator of this model of money in/money out for higher ed institutions says that non-profit colleges are beginning to spend more money on marketing. Wow!...where did the non-profits get that idea, I wonder. Still..he says that the decision...
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Howard Block is an analyst with Banc of America Securities who follows education stocks. One of his concerns is that people, analysts, critics or otherwise will think fopros* are inherently inferior to non-profits....when there really is no data to support...
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Jun 4
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I have another observation about Samuel Wood's Samuel Wood's Chart . According to the chart, the fopros spend about 23% of their resources recruiting and advertising for new students. The last time I checked, that meant encouraging kids, adults and...
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According to this chart by Samuel Wood, 70% of all funds that a public non-profit college gets are from government grants, contracts and appropriations. Let me see, the last chance I checked, the government got their money from, uh...taxes = you...
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Some estimate that the forpro* industry is worth as much as $15.4 Billion and growing. There are approximately 20 million students enrolled in the 6,000 or so American colleges that are eligible for federal aid. Eight percent of them are...
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When push comes to shove here might be the number one reason why profs at traditional universities don't like fopros*. The fopros do NOT offer tenure to their professors. What that means is the instructors in fopros have to keep...
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Jun 2
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This chart says volumes...I will refer back to it often. It was developed by Samuel Wood of Stanford U....
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Institutions offering education for money is likened to the Red Cross trying to make a profit. This is what George Keller reckons most traditional college professors, non-profit campus executives and many graduates think of the fopro movement. A better method...
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Higher education has endured some earlier, um, fads. Perhaps this fopro* thing will come and go as well. 1. The creation of land-grant colleges so kids of the working class could prepare for work. 2. The introduction of evening classes...
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George Keller gives four reasons why he thinks there are more fopro* universities. 1. Workers in the US need to be more intelligent - a mature economy needs mature workers. 2. There is an expansion in adult education - Over half of all higher...
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In a recent article I read that many grads are coming home after school. The reason is simple - $40 Billion in loans and no means to pay it off. The average debt of kids 21-35 who are just finishing...
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Well it seems that fopro* faculty can be equally foolish. For some reason, academics want everyone to read what they write and listen to what they say but they don't want to recipricate. That was my experience in the traditional universities and...
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Jun 1
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I am tired of writing for-profit university or for-profit institutions or for-profit education or for-profit students. Help me out here...from here on out they are called Fopros. Got that? Fopro - as in For-profit. And it can be used to refer...
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I wrote just a couple of days ago about the top seven big players in for-profit education business. Here are three of them that were mentioned in a recent businessweek.... Career Education Corporation Corinthian Colleges Universal Technical Institute However, they...
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According to Businessweek, less than 20% of the students in their Top 10 MBA programs have a BA in Business. What that means is, of course, the students study something else and then enroll in the MBA program. Of the...
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President Hu hasbeen pitching the Chinese government's vision of China's economy as one that relies on high-end innovation more than low-cost manufacturing. Consequently, he wants his scientists and university research labs to create a new edge to nanotechnology, stem cell research...
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Not long ago China's most famous scientist was busted for faking his research. Chen Jin faked a chip breakthrough. He was guilty. Beijing may be guilty, too, of pushing its scientists, researchers and students too hard to come up with...
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The San Jose Mercury News reported that an audit found 143 exceptions to compensation policies for senior officials of the University of California, including a relocation allowance of $125,000 for one official to move from Santa Cruz to Oakland. I...
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