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Integrated Marketing, Reputation, and Image Update
Dumbing down of our colleges and universities? A new national study shows that college grads are significantly less proficient at literacy, reading, and comprehension than they were a decade ago. The survey presents startling comparative results that suggest our higher ed institutions deserve failing grades compared with just a decade ago. What does this say about us all, or is this simply another survey with results you can massage to reach any conclusion?
Saudi scholarships on the rebound; colleges being used for political purposes? Enrollment of Saudi Arabian students in US colleges and universities, which plunged after 9/11, has spiked once again, a move many say is essential to repairing strained relationships between the two countries. Should education be a pawn to politics, or should our colleges and universities more aggressively seek international students and then tout the benefits of a US degree? Many think the latter is the right choice, but the debate continues.
Views of Penn State professor rankle lawmakers: When a faculty member of the York campus of Penn State University used class time to question the politics of the president, it triggered a legislative inquiry that is the tip of the conservative iceberg nationwide. Across the nation, lawmakers are increasingly being asked to pass versions of an "Academic Bill of Rights," which conservatives say will blunt the pervasive liberal viewpoint found on college campuses. Have we gone too far, with actions such as those by David Horowitz, a conservative commentator and president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, who is trying to pass the legislation in a dozen states? How far is too far in the debate, and what is at risk?
Strange bedfellows? When the pharmaceutical industry teams with medical schools at colleges and universities, is research integrity compromised? That's doubtful, but the mix of for-profits and university researchers can be complex and sensitive, as Sheffield University in Britain recently learned. In that instance, a leading researcher clashed with Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, which is working closely with the institution. Where should the line be drawn -- or should it? -- between for-profits and university researchers?
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