ROPS 2011

ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE: Rethinking Bok’s “Underachieving Colleges” Thesis

Steven G. Brint
Allison M. Cantwell
2011

Using data from the 2008 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey, we show that study time and academic conscientiousness were lower among students in humanities and social science majors than among students in science and engineering majors. Analytical and critical thinking experiences were no more evident among humanities and social sciences majors than among science and engineering majors. All three academically beneficial experiences were, however, strongly related to participation in class and interaction with instructors, and participation was more common among...

Peer Review in Academic Promotion and Publishing: Its Meaning, Locus, and Future

Diane Harley
Sophia Krzys Acord
2011

Since 2005, and with generous support from the A.W. Mellon Foundation, The Future of Scholarly Communication Project at UC Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) has been exploring how academic values—including those related to peer review, publishing, sharing, and collaboration—influence scholarly communication practices and engagement with new technological affordances, open access publishing, and the public good. The current phase of the project focuses on peer review in the Academy; this deeper look at peer review is a natural extension of our findings in Assessing...

AFTER BROWNE: The New Competitive Regime for English Higher Education

Roger Brown
2011

From 2012 English universities and colleges will be operating in a more demanding market environment. There will be competition on tuition fees for undergraduate (Baccalaureate) programs for the first time. New private, including “for profit”, providers will be entering the market. There will be much more information about what institutions will be offering to existing and potential students. The Government believes that this will raise quality as well as providing a sustainable basis for the future. However there is little evidence to support these beliefs and considerable grounds for...

DIVERSITY MATTERS: New Directions for Institutional Research on Undergraduate Racial/Ethnic and Economic Diversity

Gregg Thomson
2011

This paper reviews the new directions in institutional research on undergraduate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity at the University of California, Berkeley. The use of SERU/UCUES and other web-based census surveys has made possible more detailed and extensive analysis of student diversity. Included is research on an expanded number of racial/ethnic groups and on multiracial students, the significance of the African American experience, implications of the new IPEDS racial/ethnic reporting requirements, and a closer examination of Pell Grant and first-generation college...

SEEKING SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES: The Legacy of the Great Recession

Katharine Lyall
2011

The business models under which most public universities in the U.S. operate have become unsustainable. They were put in place when state economies were stronger and there were fewer programs making competing claims on state funds. The current Great Recession has made things worse, but the unsustainability of current business models derives from longer-term trends that will prevent state investment in higher education from rebounding to prior levels. States and universities are making both incremental and structural changes in response. Incremental changes work within existing...

Former University of California Chancellors Urge New Funding Models for UC

Fiat Lux
2011

In this era of massive budget cuts, the survival of the University of California as a greatinstitution of learninghas become the subject of increasingly urgent debate. Twenty-two of the twenty-nine living former UC chancellors met in San Francisco on June 26-28, 2011 to discuss the current threats facing the University and all of California public higher education. Although the chancellors were not unanimously agreed on every point, there was general consensus regarding the principal recommendations onfunding the University and protecting its quality.On August 4, 2011 they sent UC...

Wealth, Cost, and the Undergraduate Student Experience at Large Public Research Universities

Steve Chatman
2011

Relying primarily on the responses of a proportionally weighted sample of undergraduate students attending eighteen majorpublic research universities (N > 300K, responses from > 130K, n > 40K)that are part of the Student Experience in the Research University Consortium, this paper concludes that students from households at all income levels have been impacted by the increasing expense of higher education. The large majority of students from households at all income levels have changed behaviors to make college more affordable. However, the most remarkable result was that dependent...

Creating Choice in California Higher Education: A Proposed Voucher Program

Patrick Murphy
2011

The state of California currently has a monopoly on the provision of higher education that is directly subsidized by state taxpayers. This proposal suggests that California abandon the single provider approach and offers a choice or voucher program as a substitute. The purpose of proposing such a dramatic change is not necessarily intended to bring about a shift in policy.The paper, instead, uses the voucher proposal as a vehicle to ask: what is the state’s interest in supporting higher education with taxpayer dollars and how can it most efficiently pursue that interest?