Author: IBL News

IBL News | New York

COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on international students has resulted in a drop of 43% in international enrollments in the U.S. At least 40,000 students have deferred enrollment to a future term.

These findings come from a survey conducted by IIE (Institute of International Education) and nine partner associations in 700 colleges.

• The majority of responding institutions report increasing virtual recruitment through online events and asynchronous or synchronous virtual campus visits.
• Over half is leveraging current international students, online recruitment, social media, EducationUSA, and international partnerships for outreach and recruitment.
• Fifty-six percent of institutions are recruiting international students at U.S. high schools. Approximately half are prioritizing overseas recruitment in China, Vietnam, and India.

The IIE is convinced that when international travel resumes, there will be a surge of students that have deferred or set their plans aside.

International students contributed $38.7 billion to the U.S. economy in 2019-20.

IBL News | New York

The Unizin university consortium announced last month a partnership with Blackboard to offer Ally (Blackboard Ally) to its 14 member institutions [in the graphic above].

“Blackboard will also implement learning data interoperability standards in Ally to integrate learning data to the Unizin Data Platform (UDP), enabling institutions to build effective data-driven practices at scale,” explained the learning company in a press release.

“Now more than ever with digital learning tools usage at an all-time high, it is critical that all students have equitable access to course resources,” said Cathy O’Bryan, Chief Executive Officer of Unizin.

Ally integrates LMSs, automatically checking digital course content for accessibility issues, and generating alternative formats of instructor content “using advanced Machine Learning algorithms.”

Unizin started its trajectory as a consortium with a partnership with Canvas LMS, later on exploring other educational technologies. Its alliance with Blackboard is a win for the learning company amid the loss of business in favor of Canvas LMS.

IBL News | New York

Half of Americans (52%) don’t believe a good job is within their reach, a 46% say that the hiring and advancement system isn’t fair. Similar shares of Americans cited a lack of employer support for training.

These are the main findings of a national survey of 21,000 people conducted by Strada Education Network and Public Viewpoint about the impact of the pandemic in the U.S.

Another relevant conclusion points to the fact that a quarter of Americans without a college degree said more education and training would make no difference in their ability to get a good job or advance in their career.

“Americans’ skepticism about their ability to advance professionally is deeply concerning,” said Dr. Dave Clayton, Senior Vice President at Strada’s Center for Education Consumer Insights. “People need a clearer understanding of how education can lead to a good job for them.”

Among Americans considering an education in the next six months, 44% prefer work-based learning, nontraditional online training programs, or employer training over college programs.

IBL News | New York

Educause released its report 2021 Top IT Issues: Emerging from the Pandemic, intended to guide higher education leaders use technology.

This year, the institution offers three lists, examining the top 5 issues within three scenarios of restore, evolve, and transform.

“For some institutions, the pandemic will indeed be an extinction event. Others will strive to evolve, and our data suggest that many of those will incorporate some transformational elements and will also try to restore their previous financial health or cultures. But the pandemic will lead other institutions to reinvent themselves and, in doing that, contribute to higher education’s epigenetic change.”

“2021 will require that the higher education industry and its leaders answer the difficult questions and start moving forward to emerge from this pandemic—by restoring, evolving, and/or transforming.”

Educause identified several potential Top IT Issues for 2021.

Scenario 1: Restore. Figuring out what to do to get back to where we were before the pandemic.

#1: Cost Management
Reducing institutional costs and increasing workforce efficiency through process redesign and automation, data and analytics, and other technology solutions

#2: Online Learning
Strengthening online and hybrid education by providing on-demand support for course development and delivery and advocating for processes, policies, and support structures to increase student and institutional readiness

#3: Financial Health
Revising budget models and IT governance to preserve critical IT operations and capacities in the face of institutional financial challenges

#4: Affordability and Digital Equity
Providing increased support for students’ technology needs and enabling technology availability from anywhere, particularly off campus

#5: Information Security
Providing information security leadership that supports faculty, students, and staff returning to campus, while being budget-conscious and ensuring a safe and secure recovery

Scenario 2: Evolve. Focusing on adapting to the new normal.

#1: Student Success
Advancing student support services to help students attain their academic and career goals by integrating data systems, user interfaces, policies, and guided pathways

#2: Equitable Access to Education
Providing technologies, support, and policies for diverse users and equitable access to bridge the digital divide and reduce equity gaps

#3: Online Learning
Progressing from emergency remote teaching and learning to online learning by advancing best practices in technology-enabled teaching and learning

#4: Information Security
Developing a cybersecurity operations strategy that effectively detects, responds to, and mitigates security threats regardless of where students, faculty, and staff are located

#5: Financial Health
Partnering with advancement, research, and other institutional areas to develop new funding sources and partnerships

Scenario 3: Transform. Focusing on redefining our institution and taking an active role in creating the innovative future of higher education.

#1: Institutional Culture
Contributing to a culture of transformation by modeling agility and future thinking when designing IT programs and services

#2: Technology Alignment
Identifying and applying sustainable digital strategies and innovations that are driven by the institution’s ambitions and transformational goals

#3: Technology Strategy
Developing an enterprise architecture to enable business outcomes, manage data to enable decision-making and future opportunities, streamline business processes, and enable digital resources to keep pace with strategic change

#4: Enrollment and Recruitment
Exploring and implementing creative holistic solutions for recruitment, including analytics-based marketing around student career outcomes, technology-enabled transfer agreements and partnerships, and use of social media to build student communities

#5: Cost Management
Focusing digital transformation efforts and IT service delivery on helping the institution maximize value and reduce overhead.

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IBL News | New York

The State University of New York system (SUNY) announced Sunday that it is canceling its spring break and also requiring all students to be tested for COVID-19 if they return to campus for in-person learning on February 1st. In addition, masks-wearing will be mandatory at all times, even amid social-distancing.

SUNY–which includes 64 colleges in the State of New York–said in a public statement that its “aggressive strategy gives the institution the best chance to return students to classrooms in early 2021“.

Jim Malatras, Chancellor at SUNY, explained that its “comprehensive plan” was intended “to keep this virus at bay throughout the flu season and through the spring semester.”

Several schools at SUNY suffered COVID-19 outbreaks, especially after infections at large parties.

The institution ensured that it conducted over 370,000 coronavirus tests since August, with a positive rate of .48 percent.

In addition to testing before returning to campus, all students will be forced to quarantine for seven days prior to their arrival. Students will be given mid-week breaks from instruction in place of the week-long spring break that is usually taken.