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IBL News | New York

President Trump urged universities to continue reopening their campuses, even as some institutions have reported clusters of COVID-19 outbreaks and hundreds of new cases.

“We have learned one thing, there’s nothing like campus there’s nothing like being with a teacher as opposed to being on a computer board,” Trump said during a White House press briefing yesterday. “The iPads are wonderful but you’re not going to learn the same way as being there.”

President Donald Trump blasted universities that have canceled in-person classes, arguing that the virus is akin to the seasonal flu for college students–despite the commonly shared view of health experts that the novel coronavirus is deadlier than the flu and more easily transmitted.

“For older people and individuals with underlying conditions, the China virus is very dangerous, but for university students, the likelihood of severe illness is less than or equal to the risk of the seasonal flu.”

Currently, universities are rethinking opening plans after a spike in infections in the last week as students returned to campus. The pressure is mounting to close campuses. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill decided on Monday to suspend in-person classes for the fall. Notre Dame, Michigan State University, and The University of Pittsburgh also pivoted to online-only classes for undergraduates before they arrive on campus.

The COVID-19 virus is already spreading through colleges mostly because of off-campus parties, and daily life in sororities and fraternities. A recent example was known yesterday. Last weekend at the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, bars and sidewalks were crowded with sorority members and other students reveling in their return-to-school rituals, sparking the fury of university officials.

Also, yesterday, The New York Times linked at least 251 cases of the virus to fraternities and sororities across the country, including in Washington, North Carolina, Berkeley, Calif., and Oxford, Miss.

IBL News | New York

Experts predicted yesterday that many colleges will follow the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s decision to backtrack plans to reopen its campus for in-person learning and shift to remote learning amid a surge of COVID-19 cases among students.

For now, two major research universities have announced to reverse plans to resume in-person instruction, although at a smaller scale than UNC. The University of Notre Dame decided yesterday to suspend in-person classes for almost 12,000 students, moving undergraduate classes online for two weeks while keeping students on campus. Michigan State asked undergraduates who had planned to live in residence halls to stay home.

Crowded, mask-free parties at Oklahoma State University, Notre Dame, Iowa State, Villanova, and other colleges took place over the weekend. The lack of social distancing, along with dorm contact environments, are predictable scenarios for the spread of the pandemic–epidemiologists claim.

UNC-Chapel Hill decided to move all undergraduate classes online starting today Wednesday, while it offered students the opportunity to cancel residence hall requests with no penalty.

The announcement on Monday followed reports of four Coronavirus clusters over three days in dorms, apartments, and a fraternity house. As a result, 130 students tested positive.

As of Monday morning, 954 students were tested, 177 students were put in isolation and another 349 in quarantine.

After consultation with state and local health officials, #UNC’s infectious disease experts and the @UNC_System, Carolina is making two changes to de-densify campus. First: On Wednesday, Aug. 19, all undergraduate instruction will shift to remote learning https://t.co/BaKlNB6jEr

— UNC-Chapel Hill (@UNC) August 17, 2020

This week, UNC’s infectious disease experts are making changes to de-densify campus.

“As much as we believe we have worked diligently to help create a healthy and safe campus living and learning environment, we believe the current data presents an untenable situation,” UNC-Chapel Hill’s Chancellor, Kevin M. Guskiewicz, and Provost, Robert A. Blouin, wrote in a statement.

In April, the interim president of the UNC announced that he wanted all campuses to re-open in the fall. In August, the UNC Board of Governors announced their mandate for campuses to reopen. Last week they all got their way, with the dorms at UNC re-opening at full capacity, despite faculty and staff workers’ protests.

Yesterday, the editorial board for the Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s student newspaper, called out university leadership after the outbreak.

“Everybody told the university not to reopen, and it was only a matter of time,” said Nikhil Rao, a student government senior adviser who has participated in online meetings with provost Bob Blouin every month since April along with other student leaders. “I would be shocked if I didn’t know this was going to happen.”

Meanwhile, university officials are blaming off-campus parties and activities for the surge in COVID-19 cases.

IBL News | New York

Access to handwashing stations and safe toilets that are clean and disinfected are key requirements for a safe reopening children’s schools worldwide –United Nations officials told IBL News.

There are 1.6 billion students in 190 countries. According to UN data, roughly 43%, that is, 818 million lack access to basic handwashing facilities at school, with soap and water. A third of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The COVID-19 virus pandemic has created the largest disruption to education ever recorded. And the lack of hand hygiene and clean water in half of the student population dramatically aggravates the crisis.

“Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services are essential for effective infection prevention and control in all settings, including schools”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, General Manager at the World Health Organization, this week. “It must be a major focus of government strategies for the safe reopening and operation of schools during the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic.”

A report built on reopening guidelines published on Thursday 13th by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, encouraged governments to seek control of coronavirus spread by balancing the need for implementing public health measures against the social and economic impacts of lockdown measures. There is substantial evidence of the negative impacts of prolonged school closures on children.

Henrietta Fore, Executive Director at UNICEF, stated, “We must prioritize children’s learning, making sure that schools are safe to reopen.”

Globally, 43% of schools lack basic handwashing facilities with soap & water — key elements for fighting #COVID19.

New @WHO & @UNICEF guidelines outline infection prevention measures needed to ensure schools can reopen & operate safely.https://t.co/e8GL3EKO6C

— United Nations (@UN) August 14, 2020

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• Resource: Unicef.org: 2 in 5 schools around the world lacked basic handwashing facilities prior to COVID-19 pandemic 

IBL News | New York

The University of Arizona (UA) made a big play into the online market by acquiring the for-profit college Ashford University–with 35,000 students–and is creating a new private, nonprofit entity called the University of Arizona Global Campus.

The move, announced on Monday, shakes up the online higher education sphere and can signal more changes.

This way, the University of Arizona will become a relevant player in the digital education and compete with Arizona State University (ASU), University of Phoenix, and Grand Canyon University.

The Tucson-based public university–currently with only 4,200 students enrolled online–said that the Global Campus will focus on students who are typically underrepresented in higher education, like older adults, parents, and veterans.

Ashford University, a fully online university property of Zovio Inc. (Nasdaq: ZVO) education technology services company, moved to the Phoenix area from San Diego last year. Ashford is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ Senior College and University Commission.

UA is purchasing Ashford University for $1 from Zovio, but will share 19.5 percent of its tuition revenue for 15 years with Zovio, formerly known as Bridgepoint Education. In addition, Zovio will still provide education technology services to the Global Campus under a long-term agreement, UA said.

The transaction is expected to be completed later this year, after regulatory approvals are granted and the deal is finalized.

A similar, controversial arrangement deal was reached between Purdue University and Kaplan University, resulting in the formation of Purdue University Global.

The newly created Global Campus will be a private nonprofit university, not public like UA. It will appoint the initial board of trustees with long-term membership on the board, along with a president for the Global Campus.

IBL News | New York

Organizations are increasingly using education and training-based content as a tool to attract customers.

As the effectiveness of traditional online marketing continues to decline, education-powered marketing is gaining ground.

It not only builds trust with customers by providing them an intellectual betterment, but it also fuels existing content and marketing strategies.

Google’s craving for renewed and original content gets answered with new education and training related lessons, lectures, and resources.

This valuable knowledge posted online can be enhanced with certificates. Innovative organizations are understanding the importance of providing some sort of certification.

This is a list of some of the companies that apply education-based marketing:

• Hubspot

• Adobe

• Nvidia

• IBM

• Salesforce

• Databricks

• Hootsuite (Hootsuite Academy)

• Slack

• Autodesk

• AWS

• Mint

• Microsoft

IBL News | New York

2U (Nasdaq: TWOU) came out yesterday with a reported loss of $66.2 million and revenues of $182.7 million in its second quarter ended June 30. Loss per share was 34 cents, better than Zacks’ analysts expected of 44 cents.

The stock went up 1.36% yesterday until $43.87. Since the beginning of the year, shares increased 83% versus the S&P 500’s gain of 0.9%. The rise of the stock was 20% in the last 12 month.

The Lanham, Maryland-based OPM provider presented a different picture of its quarter earnings. It highlighted its revenue increase of 35% to $182.7 million compared to the second quarter of 2019. It added: “Graduate program segment revenue increased 14% to $115.7 million and Alternative Credential Segment revenue increased 97% to $67.0 million, including $36.6 million in revenue from Trilogy, acquired in May 2019.”

“In these complex and challenging times, the importance of 2U’s mission and the value we deliver for our partners and their students has never been more clear,” Co-Founder and CEO, Christopher “Chip” Paucek said. “As universities accelerate their digital transformations and more students affirmatively choose to pursue an education online, we believe our strong relationships with leading universities and the unmatched scale and quality of our portfolio of offerings position us well for future growth.”

“We are driving significant improvement in key profitability and cash flow metrics while maintaining quality, enhancing operational efficiency, and executing on growth opportunities,” said Chief Financial Officer, Paul Lalljie. “We delivered a significant improvement in free cash flow in the second quarter and expect to achieve EBITDA profitability next quarter and for the full year. We also increased our financial flexibility with our recent convertible senior notes offering and revolving line of credit.”

IBL News | New York

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on a new guidance document that international students won’t obtain an F-1 or M-1 visa to enroll in online programs in the U.S.

“New or initial nonimmigrant students who intend to pursue a full course of study that will be conducted completely online will likely not be able to obtain an F-1 or M-1 visa to study in the United States,” stated ICE on its latest document released July 24.

However, students can remain in the United States if they are already engaged in a fully online program as they do not need a new visa.

The new guidance from U.S. immigration officials confirms the validity of the approach adopted by Harvard University and the University of Southern California (USC) when advised newly admitted international students who require F-1 visa sponsorship not to come to the U.S.

According to immigration experts quoted by Inside of Higher Ed, it is still not clear whether international students may obtain visas for hybrid programs consisting of a mix of in-person and online courses.

IBL News | New York

Microsoft will provide by the end of the year free online classes on digital skills, job-hunting resources, and interview prepping to 25 million people facing unemployment due to COVID-19.  According to the corporation, global unemployment in 2020 may reach a quarter of a billion people.

The training is designed to teach digital skills Microsoft says employees need to enter 10 occupations, such as help-desk technician, digital marketer, and data analyst.

Microsoft’s employment initiative, announced yesterday on its Official Blog, will include low-cost certification and LinkedIn-job seeking tools, along with free access to content in LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn, and the GitHub Learning Lab –three organizations owned by the giant of software.

These resources can be accessed at opportunity.linkedin.com  and news.microsoft.com/skills.

In addition, Microsoft will back the initiative with $20 million in cash grants to selected nonprofits organizations.

The Seattle-based company will use its outreach on public policy issues. “Microsoft will use its voice to advocate for public policy innovations that will advance skilling opportunities needed in the changed economy,” stated Brad Smith, President of the company, in the same blog post. “Unemployment rates are spiking for people of color and women, as well as younger workers, people with disabilities and individuals with less formal education. Our goal is to combine the best in technology with stronger partnerships with governments and nonprofits to help people develop the skills needed to secure a new job,” he added.

As part of the initiative, LinkedIn will share free, real-time labor market data and skills insights to help governments, policymakers and business leaders understand what’s happening in their local labor markets: what companies are hiring, the top jobs companies are hiring for and the trending skills for those jobs.  This data can be accessed using a new interactive tool at linkedin.com/workforce. Data is available for more than 180 countries and regions (150+ cities, 30+ countries).

Microsoft said it used the Economic Graph to identify the key jobs and horizontal skills that are most widely in demand:

1. Become a Software Developer
2. Become a Sales Representative
3. Become a Project Manager
4. Become an IT administrator (Prepare for CompTIA Network+ Certification)
5. Become a Customer Service Specialist
6. Become a Digital Marketing Specialist
7. Become IT Support / Help Desk (Prepare for the CompTIA A+ Certification)
8. Become a Data Analyst
9. Become a Financial Analyst
10. Become a Graphic Designer

Regarding LinkedIn Learning paths, these are:

• Job seeker – Finding a Job During Challenging Economic Times
• Critical soft skills – Master In-Demand Professional Soft Skills
• Digital transformation – Digital Transformation in Practice: Virtual Collaboration Tools
• Allyship and inclusive conversations – Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for All

In terms of Microsoft Certification, the company will make exams that typically cost over $100 available for a fee of $15. Exam takers will have until March 31, 2021, to complete the exam. These will include:

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals
• Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals
• Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Power Platform App Maker Associate
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Developer Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate

Mikel Amigot, IBL News | New York

The COVID-19 pandemic–with almost 10 million cases worldwide of infected individuals and over 450,000 deaths confirmed– continues to deepen the global crisis in education. Over 1.1 billion children are now out of school, and access to online learning is becoming increasingly unequal and divisive.

“Providing a range of learning tools and accelerating access to the internet for every school and every child is critical”, said this month Robert Jenkins, Chief of Education at UNICEF.

Disparities on digital technologies are aggravating the crisis. Three-quarters of countries are using online platforms to deliver online education, but in 71 countries less than half of the population has Internet access. Governments are also using TV networks to deliver distance education.

However, even broadcast television doesn’t work in many countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 1 in 100 homes in rural Chad has a television.

UNICEF reports show that countries have been transforming their educational systems to cope with the demand. For example, in West and Central Africa, government officials have pushed service providers to deliver education for primary and secondary school students.

Innovative experiences have also emerged. An interesting case study happened in Somalia, where offline pre-recorded lessons were uploaded to solar-powered tablets intended for children.

In addition, video lessons are often shared through Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms.

The UN reported that measures have been taken in order to host educational content on connected tablets to vulnerable students.