The government of India has invested $1 million in a partnership between Yale University and two top Indian universities to help Indian university leaders learn American methods of academic administration and institutional management, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The program comes in response to high demands on the Indian education system, which have led to a series of reforms. These reforms including modernization and expansion of the system will increase demand for academic leadership, Sanjay Dhande, director of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, told The Chronicle. The partnership, which is the latest in a number of Indian projects in which Yale has participated, is expected to last for five years. Yale University also announced plans to open a school jointly with the National University of Singapore in September, the Yale Daily News reported.
Seventy-one college and university leaders have publicly vowed to improve their institutions' quality of instruction within two years as part of a voluntary agreement known as the Presidents' Alliance for Excellence in Student Learning and Accountability, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The 71 presidents represent a wide variety of institutions, including liberal arts colleges, private and public colleges and universities and community colleges, with different schools taking on goals specific to their form of institution. Utah's Westminster College pledged to create electronic portfolios for first-year students to reflect learning goals, while Miami Dade College has promised a wider variety of learning goals with each major.
Wal-Mart has begun paying for its employees to take online courses through a partnership with the for-profit American Public University, National Public Radio reported. Wal-Mart plans to cover up to 15 percent of tuition and to offer experience credits based on years spent working for Wal-Mart. American Public University officials were somewhat apprehensive about entering into the partnership, worrying that it could as much as double the University's enrollment and introduce a large population of older adult students who are considered "high risk" for dropping out as they balance work and family commitments. Despite these concerns, Alicia Ledlie, Wal-Mart's director for lifelong learning, told NPR the company is putting $50 million into the project over the next three years. An internal survey of over 30,000 employees showed that over 70 percent responded positively to the idea of taking college courses online toward a four-year degree, NPR reported.
