By the end of their sophomore year, 45 percent of college students have not improved significantly in their ability to think and reason critically, according to a recent book released by sociology professors from New York University and the University of Virginia. On standardized test results collected from over 2,300 individuals, 36 percent show no intellectual improvement after their senior year compared to their freshman year, Inside Higher Ed reported. Lack of rigor in college courses and students' tendency to study in groups hampers improvement and results in a workforce of graduates who may struggle in the difficult economy, according to the book. Because students improve most when studying individually, institutions should emphasize academic rather than social activities and encourage professors to assign greater amounts of reading and writing, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Yale University plans to further cut the budgets of both academic and non-academic departments, despite an earlier promise to end budget reductions after May 2010, the Yale Daily News reported Tuesday. In order to reduce the university's $68 million budget gap, "non-academic units" will have to decrease spending by 5 percent and professors will face limitations on the availability of funds, Yale Provost Peter Salovey and Yale President Richard Levin told the Daily News. Although the economy has begun to improve, Yale administrators are still tending to the effects of the $6.5 billion drop in the endowment representing a 24.6 percent loss in funds that occurred between 2008 and 2009. The portion of the endowment available for spending will drop to $975 million for the 2011-2012 fiscal year and will remain at this level throughout the following three years. In the past, the university has cut spending on "nonessential" expenses and eliminated almost 250 jobs in order to close the budget gap, the Daily News reported.
For-profit institutions and schools providing professional degrees have become significantly more popular over the past five years, according to a Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education report released on Tuesday. A total of 483 institutions were added to the organization's list of higher education institutions, with 77 percent representing for-profit schools like the Won Institute of Graduate Studies, which offers degrees in alternative medicine. The dominance of for-profit schools, however, may not reflect an increasing demand for the degrees they offer, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The update also revealed that the number of institutions offering mainly professional degrees has increased by 17 percent since 2005, while 49 percent of two-year colleges now also offer four-year degrees.
