June 3, 2013
Washington Roundtable Urges Legislators to Prioritize Higher Education
A recent update on our state’s progress toward meeting the Washington Roundtable’s Benchmarks for a Better Washington emphasizes the need for legislative action on education, including protecting funding for our public universities, as well as transportation and business costs. The Roundtable – a nonprofit, public policy organization comprised of major, local business executives – created the Benchmarks…
Georgetown Sheds Light on Unemployment and Earnings Trends for Recent Grads
To understand how graduates of different majors are faring in the current job market, a new Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce report examines unemployment rates and median earnings by degree for “recent college graduates” (ages 22-26 with bachelor’s degrees), “experienced college graduates” (ages 30-54), and “graduate degree holders” (ages 30-54 with at least…
May 24, 2013
Georgia State Launches Pilot Program to Help Retain Students
Georgia State University (GSU) has launched an innovative pilot program, called the Panther Retention Grant, designed to help retain and graduate GSU students who drop out of school for financial reasons. At Georgia State, a diverse public university with over 24,000 undergraduates, administrators have been struggling to raise the undergraduate 6-year graduation rate, which has…
May 21, 2013
Bipartisan Bills Seeks to Provide Transparency in Higher Ed
The Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, a bipartisan federal bill championed by Senators Wyden (D-OR), Rubio (R-FL) and Warner (D-VA) and Representatives Andres (D-NJ) and Hunter (R-CA), was introduced in both chambers of Congress last week. The bill seeks to give students and their families more information about graduation rates,…
May 10, 2013
UW and WSU collaborate to offer “Academic Redshirt” program
The University of Washington (UW) and Washington State University (WSU) (along with eight other top universities) have been selected by the National Science Foundation to participate in the Graduate 10K+ program, a $10 million initiative to increase graduation rates in STEM fields, particularly engineering and computer science. The UW will receive $970,000 and WSU will…
May 9, 2013
Accenture Report Recommends Hiring Graduates Based on Potential
Accenture, a management consulting firm, recently conducted a survey of 2011/2012 college graduates and 2013 pending graduates. The survey focuses on the 2011/2012 graduates’ job search experience, and asks them about their current jobs, salaries, and future education plans. Accenture then contrasts their responses with the employment expectations of pending 2013 graduates. Some interesting findings…
April 30, 2013
Legislature Adjourns, Special Session Starts May 13
The 105-day state legislative session officially ended this Sunday, April 28th. Unfortunately, the state legislature was unable to reach a compromise on the budget by the end of the session. A significant cause of the impasse is the Washington State Supreme Court ruling that requires the legislature to fully fund K-12 education. The House budget…
April 25, 2013
UW Ranks 1st among Public Schools and 2nd Overall for Federal R&D Funding
Of the nearly 900 schools that received federal money for research and development (R&D) in FY 2011, the UW ranks first among public institutions and second overall in terms of federal research funding. According to a study by the National Science Foundation (NSF), approximately 20 percent of all federal R&D support went to just 10…
Florida to provide extra funding for faculty salaries, research
On Monday, Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed a bill that gives special status and increased funding to Florida’s top two universities. The bill designates the University of Florida and Florida State University as “pre-eminent” universities and provides them with an extra $15 million per year, for five years, to help them become two of…
April 15, 2013
UW Lags Behind Peers in Faculty Salaries
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) recently released its report on faculty salaries for 2012-2013. Salaries for full-time faculty members rose by an average of 1.7 percent in 2012-2013, which offsets inflation (estimated at 1.7 percent in 2012-13). However, increases varied widely across institution type—pay at private universities was much higher than salaries at…