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Global Higher education Bulletin: 14th October 2023

ACT Scores Drop for Sixth Year in a Row

The national average ACT composite score dropped to 19.5 out of a maximum score of 36 for the Class of 2023, according to data released by the testing organization.


Although the decline is not as significant as it was in 2022, when the average score dipped below 20 for the first time since 1991, this is the sixth consecutive year of a decline.


What’s more, the proportion of students in the Class of 2023 who didn’t meet any of the ACT’s college-readiness benchmarks is higher than ever before. Only 21 percent of all students met every benchmark, in math, science, reading, and English, while 43 percent met none of the benchmarks, according to the data.


 

Binghamton University earns higher education diversity award third year in a row

Binghamton University has received the 2023 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — Binghamton will be featured, along with 108 other recipients, in the November/December 2023 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. This is the third year Binghamton has been named as a HEED Award recipient.


 

Should US politicians be cutting humanities courses?

Amid concerns about value for money and the supposed liberal bias of certain humanities and social science subjects, conservative politicians are increasingly intervening in curricular decisions. Do such subjects still have a place at public universities – and who should get to decide, asks Paul Basken.


From the perspective of power politics, the debate is seen by some experts as just another marker of dysfunction, whereby conservatives chasing economic supremacy are increasingly hamstrung by their tactical alliance with those peddling social fears – and who are suspicious of the humanities for their supposed connection with liberal perspectives on social issues, rather than for their lack of application in the jobs market.


 

Colleges Draw Criticism for Slow Response to Hamas Attacks

Pro-Palestinian student groups on many U.S. college campuses have drawn ire this week for their celebratory response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians, one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in the Jewish state’s history.


Various campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, a national organization that advocates for Palestinian liberation, released statements applauding the attack. In an Instagram post on Saturday, the SJP chapter at Ohio State University wrote, “An unprecedented but historical series of events has taken place, led by our heroic resistance in Gaza who have shown the world yet again that the spirit of the Palestinian people cannot and will not be trampled.”


 

Biden administration takes second swing at mass student loan cancellation

The Biden administration kicked off its second attempt at canceling mass amounts of student loan debt Tuesday — this time with a protracted regulatory process. But the method could ultimately run into similar kind of legal troubles that led to the demise of the initial forgiveness plan in the U.S. Supreme Court.


The U.S. Department of Education is engaging in negotiated rulemaking, which brings in a committee of industry professionals to hash out policy details — in this case, loan cancellation.


These committee members, who met for the first time Tuesday, represent different factions of higher education, and must all agree on regulatory language. If committee members can’t find consensus, the Education Department can write a rule how it sees fit.


 

Baylor Receives Fulbright-Hays Grant to Strengthen East Asian Languages, Asian Studies Program

Baylor University has received its first-ever Fulbright-Hays grant of $294,000 that will assist the University in strengthening its East Asian language programs (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) and Asian Studies program.


The Fulbright-Hays Program – a Fulbright Program funded by a Congressional appropriation to the U.S. Department of Education – awards grants to individual U.S. teachers, pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral faculty, as well as to U.S. institutions and organizations. Funding supports research and training efforts overseas, which focus on non-Western foreign languages and area studies.


 

International students ‘to verge on majority’ at top universities

Half of students at Australia’s most prestigious universities are on track to be from overseas, just as government reviews encourage smaller and higher-quality overseas student cohorts.


A study by global college chain Navitas projects that 51 percent of students at Australia’s oldest tertiary institution, the University of Sydney, will be overseas citizens by 2030. International students will comprise 50 percent of the load at the University of Melbourne, 48 percent at Monash University, 46 percent at UNSW Sydney and 44 percent at the University of Queensland.


The projections, presented at the Australian International Education Conference in Adelaide, apply a 3.7 percent compound annual growth rate to universities’ international student cohorts in 2019. Domestic enrolments are projected to grow at a more sedate 1.8 percent.


 

AIEC: ‘consultation key in reforms’, says Australian education minister

Addressing the AIEC conference in Adelaide on October 11, minister Jason Clare appealed to delegates to ensure that the reputation of both the sector, as well as the country, is not damaged by unscrupulous operators.


Reiterating recent government announcements made over the previous 18 months, Clare said, “we cannot do this in a vacuum”.


“I want to work with you to ensure that we get this right,” he told delegates.


Since coming into power in May 2022, the Albanese government has revealed a host of policy amendments aimed at securing the integrity of the international education sector.


Changes include capping work hours to 24 hours per week, ending the concurrent loophole and increasing the amount in savings students need to show when applying for visas to $24,000. Most recently, it announced an overhaul of the visa system and a ban on commission for onshore student transfers.


 

Some colleges pull students from study abroad programs in response to Israel-Hamas war

As war rages in the Middle East, American colleges have been left trying to keep students and faculty studying abroad safe.


USA Today reached out to more than two dozen colleges, many with a history of having a presence in Israel or large study abroad programs, in the last two days to ask how their programs have been affected by the unfolding crisis. Some schools confirmed students had safely left the area. Others said students and staff remained in the region while their institutions monitor the situation and put in place new safety protocols. A small number of schools reported that by chance, this semester, they have no students and faculty studying in Israel.


 
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