Institutional Research

Does Conflict of Interest Distort Global University Rankings? By Igor Chirikov CSHE 5.21 (April 2021)

Igor Chirikov
2021

Global university rankings influence students’ choices and higher education policies throughout the world.When rankers not only evaluate universities but also provide them with consulting, analytics, or advertising servicesrankers are vulnerable to conflicts of interestthat may potentiallydistort theirrankingsThepaperassessesthe impact of contracting with rankers on...

Pathways for Improving Doctoral Education – Using Data in the Pre- and Post-COVID Era

John Aubrey Douglass
Igor Chirikov
2021

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic altered the perception of the management challenges facing universities, globally. It has changed the market for domestic and international students, required institutions to move rapidly to online and remote teaching, and brought into question the funding model for many universities, particularly with the specter of reduced tuition income and state funding under the assumption of a global recession.
But is also true that the pandemic, and its impact on higher education, varies by nation, and even by the collective pan-regional response – e.g., Europe...

Facilitating Academic Curriculum in Learning, In Teaching, and Threaded Evidence by Joseph Martin Stevenson and Karen Wilson Stevenson, CSHE 2.21 (February 2021)

2021

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are often the center of discussion among faculty in higher education during discourse about curriculum conceptualization, design, planning development, and implementation. This commentary offers a functionally-centered framework that places faculty feasibility, fluidity, freedom, and flexibility around a core conceptualization of SLOs in the context of overall alignment within the college curriculum. The framework could be useful to readers failing to have shared governance over the curriculum, readers facing accreditation adherence, as well as readers...

Federally Funded Research, the Bayh-Dole Act, and the COVID Vaccine Race, by John Aubrey Douglass, CSHE 3.21 (February 2021)

John Aubrey Douglass
2021

This essay discusses the world of federally funded intellectual property (IP) before and after the Bayh-Dole Act and its impact on the world of science and commerce, before then exploring the complicated debates over ownership of the science behind the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines that will bring normalcy back to the world. Before 1980, federally funded science in the U.S. was largely focused on meeting the Cold War national defense needs of a nation in a science and technology race with the Soviet Union. The 1980 Bayh-Dole Act initiated in earnest the recognition that the advancement of...

Collective Bargaining and Social Justice in the Post-Covid Digital Era, by Daniel J. Julius, CSHE 13.21 (December 2021)

Daniel J. Julius
2021

This paper examines social justice and collective bargaining with a focus on higher education. Observations are offered around the following issues: a) a brief history of social justice as it has been conceptualized in labor management relations with a particular focus on unions in higher education; b) identification of collective bargaining scenarios when social justice platforms may have a more salient impact on negotiations; c) actions and strategies the parties might consider to accommodate social justice concerns in the bargaining process; and d) measuring and assessing collective...

Role of University International Partnerships for Research & Education: Leaders’ Critical Insights & Recommendations by William Lacy et al. CSHE 4.22 (June 2022)

William B. Lacy
Jean-Yves Merilus
Xiaoguang Liu
Laura R. Lacy
2022

International partnerships have become increasingly important for the mission and goals of universities and colleges globally. Understanding the nature of these partnerships and the perspectives of their senior leaders is critical. Senior international officers (SIOs) at 59 US public and private universities and colleges and 4 non-US universities completed surveys regarding: goals and criteria for developing the partnerships; number and country of their partners; types of existing partnerships; ways the university/college promotes/rewards international partnerships; challenges faced and...

Effective Communication: The 4th Mission of Universities—a 21st Century Challenge by Marcelo Knobel and Liz Reisberg, CSHE 6.22 (July 2022)

Marcelo Knobel
Liz Reisberg
2022

The critical role of communication is usually overlooked by higher education institutions. Here we argue that higher education institutions must consider an effective communication as one of their top priorities. This communication must go well beyond promoting the university’s opportunities to potential new students, the pursuit of potential donors and outreach to policymakers: it must engage all aspects of internal academic life and seek the engagement of the larger society. Increasingly, higher education has to defend its purpose, integrity and legitimacy in a climate of growing neo-...

The Private Side of Public Universities: Third-party providers and platform capitalism by Laura T. Hamilton et al. CSHE 3.22 (June 2022)

Laura T. Hamilton
Heather Daniels
Christian Michael Smith
Charlie Eaton
2022

The rapid rise of online enrollments in public universities has been fueled by a reliance on for-profit, third-party providers—especially online program managers. However, scholars know very little about the potential problems with this arrangement. We conduct a mixed methods analysis of 229 contracts between third-party providers and 117 two-year and four-year public universities in the US, data on the financing structure of third-party providers, and university online education webpages. We ask: What are the mechanisms through which third-party relationships with universities may be...

A Case for For-Profit Private Higher Education in India by Asha Gupta, CSHE 8.22 (October 2022)

Asha Gupta
2022

India has the credit of running the second largest higher education system in terms of institutions worldwide, despite having only 26.3% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), including vocational education. It aspires to achieve a target of 50% GER by 2035. It means it would require a larger number of higher education institutions (HEIs), public and private, in addition to huge fiscal resources. At present about 75% of the HEIs are privately managed with about 66% of student enrolment. Though there is no provision of for-profit higher education institutions in India, many non-profit private HEIs...

Fine Wine at Discount Prices? A Review of the Research on the Part-Time Faculty Workforce by Tami Christopher, Amal Kumar, and R. Todd Benson, CSHE 7.22 (October 2022)

Tami Christopher
Amal Kumar
R. Todd Benson
2022

Although part-time faculty have long contributed specialized expertise to colleges and universities, their role has shifted away from specialized expertise as they have shouldered an increasing share of day-to-day teaching operations at colleges and universities. Today, part-time faculty provide higher education institutions a flexible workforce and a less expensive workforce alternative. Despite their significant impact, the research literature lacks an up-to-date integrative synthesis of the part-time faculty workplace on its own terms, an object of study unto itself instead of a less-...