News

Family background factors like parental income, education, and race now account for over 40% of the variance in SAT/ACT scores among UC applicants, according to a new publication by CSHE researcher Saul Geiser. 

Recent years have witnessed a rise in the level of nationalism in many countries with tightened immigration policies and stronger governmental oversight of multinational research collaborations. At the same time, competition among countries and universities for international students has increased significantly, while the demographics of young populations in many countries are shifting.

Now, the onset of a historic global pandemic, with its serious travel challenges and dramatic economic effects, raises yet another threat to the future of internationalization on U.S. campuses.

The Center for Studies in Higher Education is currently accepting applications from UC Berkeley doctoral students, who are writing dissertations focused on higher education, to join a stimulating research seminar to be held in 2020-2021.

In the last twenty years, California’s 10-campus University of California system and 23-campus state university system have seen significant declines in financial support from the state’s politicians, a trend that will only become more worrisome as California responds to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn.

The US economy is in a free fall. Businesses have closed and people have been laid off. Unemployment could reach 30 percent in some parts of the country, and if it does there are predictions that an additional 15 percent of the population will fall into poverty. Inequality may grow with significant impact on disadvantaged groups. And this comes at a time when the US economy was already in the midst of a transition related to work.

In this policy brief for the University of California Office of the President, Zachary Bleemer and Aashish Mehta present evidence suggesting that GPA major restrictions disproportionately impact underrepresented and lower-income students with less prior academic opportunity. It links those students to postgraduate outcomes to show that, in at least one comprehensive case study, pushed-out students are sharply prevented from achieving high wages or their preferred careers after graduation.

In a study published April 8, researchers found that compared to in-person instruction, online education platforms could be used to increase enrollment in STEM programs at a lower cost.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 8, 2020
Contact: Igor Chirikov, UC Berkeley — chirikov@berkeley.edu, (510)517-7066

ONLINE EDUCATION PLATFORMS COULD SCALE HIGH-QUALITY STEM EDUCATION
FOR DISTRESSED UNIVERSITIES

CSHE in the News - Not too long ago, the state would step in and fund the construction of a new building to meet demand. No longer, John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education, told me. “State funding has already evaporated for seismic retrofitting, new buildings and maintenance,” he said, leaving donors to fill the gap.

When testing requirements are properly aligned, the best test prep is regular classroom instruction

"It is at public universities like UC Berkeley that donors can really impact the socio-economic advancement of California and society in general," said CSHE's Senior Research Fellow, John Douglass for Berkeley Blog. 

In a series for @uniworldnews around "Missing Links” in university policies and practices, CSHE senior research fellow John Aubrey Douglass and senior associate Ellen Switkes discuss Hiring and promotion as key to fulfilling Higher Education mission.

"In the US, there had already been weakening demand from Chinese students partly due to tensions on American campuses amid the ongoing trade war," said Rahul Choudaha

CSHE's Zachary Bleemer suggests that competition is the key reason UC freshmen applications have dipped for a second straight year, with the percentage of California high school graduates applying to a UC campus doubling from 10% in the mid-1990s to 20% today.

John Aubrey Douglass, editor of a forthcoming book on neo-nationalism and universities, told University World News: “In an era of increased attacks on academic freedom by autocrats and demagogues, Soros’ new initiative provides a meaningful attempt to bolster links between universities in more free societies with those operating under repressive government.”

ROPS study by CSHE Associate Saul Geiser and Berkeley Graduate School of Education Maria Veronica Santelices found that a student's high-school GPA was "consistently the best predictor" of cumulative college grades and graduation.