Author: IBL News

IBL News | New York

Facebook–which started as a college-only network–returned to its roots by launching last week a platform exclusively for students, Facebook Campus.

The social media giant described the platform in a blog post as “a college-only space designed to help students connect with fellow classmates over shared interests,” explaining that due to the pandemic outbreak and the shift to partial or full-time remote learning “it’s more important than ever to find a way to stay connected to college life.“

Facebook Campus is a dedicated section of the Facebook app designed for students, with a Campus profile that’s different from their main Facebook profile. To create a Campus profile, students need their college email and graduation year.

Once a Campus profile is set up, students can discover Groups and Events unique to their school, and connect with classmates who share similar interests. When content is shared on Campus, only people within Campus will see it.

The platform includes campus-only news feeds, classmates directories, and real-time chat rooms.

The social media giant started to roll out Facebook Campus to 30 colleges in the US. Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg’s own alma mater, was not on the list.

These are the participating schools: Benedict College; Brown University; California Institute of Technology; College of William & Mary; Duke University; Florida International University; Georgia Southern University; Georgia State University; Johns Hopkins University; Lane College; Lincoln University (Pennsylvania); Middlebury College; New Jersey Institute of Technology; Northwestern University; Rice University; Sarah Lawrence College; Scripps College; Smith College; Spelman College; Stephen F Austin State University; Tufts University; University at Albany – State University of New York; University of Hartford; University of Louisville; University of Pennsylvania; University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Vassar College; Virginia Tech; Wellesley College; and Wesleyan University. Students at these colleges can find Campus within the Facebook app.

Users’ initial reviews of the app have been very negative.

 

IBL News | New York

ETS–Princeton, New Jersey-based leading assessment nonprofit organization founded in 1947 and making $2.1 billion in revenue–announced this week the creation of ETS Strategic Capital.

This unit will invest in educational businesses that help to expand ETS’ offering for K-12, higher education, and corporation. Its goal is to establish a global portfolio of emerging education companies.

“We bring value-add capabilities in assessments, research and development, global distribution, and innovative technologies to our portfolio and partner companies,” said Ralph Taylor-Smith, the Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital.

“We’ve reached a pivotal point in the ongoing evolution of education — there is a fundamental change in how educational services are delivered, how tools and assessments are structured, and how learners, schools, and companies are engaged and connected,” he added.

Currently, ETS has a portfolio of five companies:

• ApplyBoard–A Canadian platform for international student recruitment, with $71 million funding from ETS.
• Pipplet–A Paris-based start-up specialized in language assessment for businesses.
• Capti (by Charmtech Labs LLC)–Buffalo, New York-based startup that provides personalized literacy and learning support to K–12 students.
• EdAgree–A newly formed spin-out company from ETS that will match international students with universities and support those students throughout their education journey.
• Gradschoolmatch.com–Atlanta-based platform that helps prospective graduate students match with potential graduate academic programs. ETS plans to incorporate it into its offerings to the graduate school market.

ETS Strategic Capital explained that mostly will target private equity investments that are typically in Series B, C, or later, where companies already have a proven product. Its idea is to invest up to $15 million. For acquisitions, it’s targeting companies making at least $20 million in revenue.

IBL News | New York

OpenStax–Rice University’s OER publishing initiative–plans to vastly expand its library of free, public use textbooks after it received $12.5 million in new grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation, and the Stand Together community. Support also comes from the Charles Koch Foundation and its parent nonprofit organization, Stand Together, formerly known as the Seminar Network.

With 42 books now in its library, OpenStax announced last week that those grants will allow doubling the number of titles in the catalog.

OpenStax–whose mission is to ensure that students do not stress over the costs of textbooks–aims to raise an additional $17.5 million to increase its catalog to nearly 90 textbooks, reaching 10 million student-seats over the next five years.

The organization claims that it has saved 14 million students around the world more than $1 billion since it published its first book in 2012.

“Nine years ago, we dreamed about solving the textbook affordability and access crisis for students,” said Richard Baraniuk, the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice and founder and director of OpenStax. “Now, with this tremendous investment in open education, we will be able to not only accelerate educational access for tens of millions of students but also drive innovation in high-quality digital learning, which has become commonplace due to COVID-19.”

Demand for OpenStax and other open educational resources has increased dramatically over the past decade and it has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic broke. Since schools switched to remote instruction in March, OpenStax has seen a 217% increase in the use of its materials over the same period last year.

Open educational resources (OER), including OpenStax textbooks, are educational materials available for free, public use, and licensed to allow modification and redistribution by anyone.

 

IBL News | New York

U.S. News & World Report released its 2021 Best Colleges rankings this week, including 1,400 institutions. The results – based on data of data from pre-pandemic 2019 – are similar to the last edition, despite the magazine explained that its methodology was revised over time.

In its 36th year for the ranking, U.S. News & World Report features Princeton as the top national university, followed by Harvard, Columbia, MIT, and Yale. UCLA is the only public school in the top 20.

Best National Liberal Arts (223 schools)

1. Williams College
2. Amherst College
3. Swarthmore College
4. Pomona College and Wellesley College (tie)

Best National Public Universities (209 schools)

1. University of California, Los Angeles
2. University of California, Berkeley
3. University of Michigan
4. University of Virginia
5. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Of the top 11 national public universities, six were the various campuses of the University of California.

Best Public Liberal Arts Colleges (23 schools)

1. U.S. Naval Academy
2. U.S. Military Academy
3. U.S. Air Force Academy
4. Virginia Military Institute
5. St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities (79 schools)

1. Spelman College
2. Howard University
3. Xavier University of Louisiana
4. Tuskegee University
5. Hampton University

Top Performers on Social Mobility

National Universities

1. University of California, Riverside
2. University of California, Irvine
3. Rutgers University, Newark
4. University of California, Santa Cruz
5. University of California, Merced

National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. College of Idaho
2. Lake Forest College (IL)
3. Thomas Aquinas College (CA)
4. Spelman College
5. University of Puerto Rico, Cayey

 

• Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes: U.S. News Releases Its Best College Rankings For 2021

IBL News | New York

Nearly 70% of college students feel they are falling behind on their studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a research report released yesterday by Instructure, creator of Canvas LMS.

The survey, titled “The State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education” (PDF, download), finds that socioeconomic disparities among students – heightened during the pandemic – threaten their engagement and success. In addition, students from lower economic classes are 4x more likely to report difficulty in staying engaged in online learning.

 

IBL News | New York

Arizona State University (ASU) last week announced it will open in December 2021 a major research laboratory space on environmental sustainability, helping to solve global problems like climate change, food and water security, and sustainable energy.

“We have decided it’s in the collective interest of humankind to build something that’s on the scale of a national laboratory in the United States, but not devoted to weapons and other defensive strategies — devoted to creative strategies and positive global futures,” said ASU President Michael Crow.

The university said the lab, called The Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, will house more than 500 faculty and 1,000 students and will serve as a space to bring together students and researchers across disciplines — like engineering, environmental sciences, and economics — to study issues like climate change, public health, food security, and energy systems.

ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory will encompass a new college with three unique schools, as well as a major research institute and a practice arm devoted to solutions, each significantly enhanced by and integrated with global partnerships.

The Global Futures Laboratory will be based on five pillars — learning, discovery, solutions, networks, and engagement — with key topics being explored across disciplines.

IBL News | New York

Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE)–formerly DeVry Education Group–announced on Friday that it will acquire Walden University from Laureate Education, Inc. for $1.48 billion in cash.

The transaction, expected to close in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022, will require approval by accreditors and the federal government.

With 48,000 students, the for-profit Walden University–specialized in healthcare education– has one of the largest enrollment in the U.S., following the University of Phoenix and Grand Canyon University. About a third of its students are in nursing programs.

The acquisition positions Adtalem to become even more strategically focused on health care. The company already owns the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Chamberlain University, Ross University School of Medicine, and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.

The combined institutions will have 26 campuses across 15 states and four countries, the company said, with 6,100 faculty members and more than 90,000 students with 34% African American enrollees. It will rank number one for total undergraduate and graduate nursing enrollment in the U.S. and be the world’s top provider of M.D.s, Ph.D.s, and nursing degrees to African Americans.

The Baltimore-based, publicly-traded, and Bill Clinton-backed, Laureate has been selling off institutions for several years.

https://youtu.be/WGVqGVz23hA

IBL News | New York

All of the 23 campuses of the California State University (CSU) system will continue to operate with virtual instruction during the academic term that begins in January 2021–and also will continue with a reduced population in campus housing.

Chancellor Timothy P. White made the announcement in an email to the university this week, and highlighted that “a subsequent wave of COVID-19 cases in or about March 2021 is also still projected.”

“The virus continues to spread. There is no vaccine and there likely will not be one widely available any time soon. The summer increase in infections that were forecast in the spring happened as predicted, and it was larger than expected. While cases and hospitalizations are starting to stabilize in most of California’s counties, it is plateauing at a number that is approximately 40 percent higher than what we experienced in the spring. A larger wave continues to be forecast for the period between October and December, coupled with seasonal influenza; this will undoubtedly be a daunting challenge for us.”

Chancellor Timothy P. White acknowledged that there was widespread socialization, gathering, and partying during the Labor Day weekend that didn’t comply with public health directives, as it happened at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.