#higher-education

#higher-education

Under the current administration, we have witnessed a dangerous cascade of immigration policies and actions. These developments are impacting our students, employees, campuses and communities in real time, imperiling the future of our colleges and universities. It's time for us in higher education to pull the fire alarm. Pulling the fire alarm does not mean panic. This is a call to respond, mobilize and act.

"Due to the severe budget constraints currently facing UC, the PPFP faculty hiring incentive is sunsetting as of fall 2025," the spokesperson said in a statement. "While the University will continue to provide five years of salary support to PPFP fellows hired by summer 2025 and in earlier years, no new incentives will be provided going forward. Campuses will still be able to hire PPFP fellows as part of their normal search and hiring processes, but the additional financial contribution from the incentive program will no longer be available."

Our Greek forebears, as early as Hippocrates, coined the term "kρίσις" to describe a "turning point"; kρίσις, a word related to the Proto-Indo-European root krei-, is etymologically connected to practices like "sieving," "discriminating" and "judging." In fact, the most widely mentioned skill we humanists offer our students, critical thinking, originates from the same practice of deliberate "sieving." Thus, when we call ourselves critics and write critical theory, we admit that crisis might just be our natural habitat.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping higher education at an extraordinary pace. From personalized learning assistants to analytics dashboards, colleges are investing in AI faster than ever before. Yet one truth remains constant: no amount of technology will transform learning without human readiness. Faculty members are the heartbeat of any innovation. Their willingness to explore, experiment, and evolve determines whether AI becomes an empowering co-educator or an underused novelty. Building faculty readiness, therefore, isn't a side project; it's the foundation of sustainable AI integration.

In July the University of Pennsylvania was the first to strike a deal, in its case to resolve a Title IX investigation. Penn agreed to erase former swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, from its record books; bar transgender athletes from future competition; and send personal apology letters "to each impacted female swimmer," among other concessions. In exchange, the Trump administration restored $175 million in federal research funding frozen amid the investigation.

The 2030 Plan calls on the university to expand the reach of its educational programs-both in person and online-and to make UVA more accessible, including to learners across and beyond the Commonwealth. The University of Virginia's Office of the Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation is a key part of advancing this charge on behalf of the university, helping our schools and institutes design, deliver and scale high-quality online and hybrid programs that extend UVA's reach and impact.

Gen Zers were raised on an American Dream that's slowly disappearing from view. They followed in the footsteps of their parents, who were once told that excelling in school and landing a spot at a top college would lead to success, a house, and a six-figure career-but broadly speaking, that's no longer the case. People are pointing fingers at universities, demanding that they ease costs and provide students with the skills they need to find jobs.

The center, the first of its kind in the U.S., is a joint project between the university's communications and business schools, and aims to attract students planning to participate in the $250 billion creator economy. With rising unemployment rates, and a college degree no longer unlocking the career opportunities it once did, the creator economy could be a beacon of hope for young graduates in a dismal job market.

The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA is giving a presentation about the Wildlife Care Center in Saratoga on Nov. 1. The care center opened in March. Staff will be presenting about the wildlife programs and facilities they use to treat sick, injured or orphaned animals before releasing them back into the wild. The presentation is scheduled from 1-2 p.m. in the Maple Room of Saratoga Library.

Middlesex University Needyanand Raya arrived in London from Mauritius in 1999 to complete his master's degree. He was bearing a promise he made his father - to continue his studies "until there will be no examination beyond that to take". More than two decades later, he's now Dr Raya, having completed a doctorate in social policy at the age of 69 at Middlesex University. When asked how he felt about it? "Well, nothing much. It's just an achievement of a lifetime."

When London Breed was still mayor of San Francisco, she tried to lure some historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to set up satellite campuses here in SF. Of course, she also attempted to get the University of California to build an SF campus (she was rebuffed), and new Mayor Daniel Lurie has set his sights on attracting a Vanderbilt University SF campus (those negotiations may be promising). Maybe Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee has been watching.

Societal divisions and seismic shifts in technology make this "an enormously consequential time for our university, for all of higher education and for our country," President Michael I. Kotlikoff said Oct. 24 in the annual State of the University address. "Every university president now finds themself seeking, with fresh urgency, new answers to old questions around higher education in America: How can the university best prepare its students for the future they will inhabit - and build the best future for our nation?" said Kotlikoff, Cornell's 15th president.

When students entered Tsinghua University in Beijing this year, one of the first representatives they met wasn't a person. Admission letters to the prestigious institution came with an invitation code to an artificial-intelligence agent. The bot is designed to answer students' questions about courses, clubs and life on campus. At Ohio State University in Columbus, students this year will take compulsory AI classes as part of an initiative to ensure that all of them are 'AI fluent' by the time they graduate.

Sofia Corradi, the creator of the EU's Erasmus program which has sent millions of young people abroad throughout Europe to study, died in Rome aged 91, Italian media reported Saturday. Her family, who announced her death according to media reports, described the academic as a woman "of great energy and intellectual and emotional generosity". The professor of education at Rome's Roma 3 University, Corradi -- known as "Mamma Erasmus" -- in her 20s won a prestigious US Fulbright scholarship, which took her to Columbia University in New York where she received a master's degree in law.

The California Faculty Association has sued the California State University after the university system handed over the personal phone numbers and email addresses of 2,600 Los Angeles campus employees to the federal government in response to an antisemitism investigation. The lawsuit filed last week seeks a court order prohibiting CSU administrators from disclosing any faculty members' personal information in response to federal subpoenas without first providing notice to the impacted employees and giving them the opportunity to object.

President Donald Trump insists that top universities must pay dearly for not protecting Jewish students. This includes cutting $790 million in medical and scientific research previously led by Northwestern University scholars. Michael Schill, then president of Northwestern, was berated by congressional Republicans for brokering a compromise with pro-Palestinian protesters last year, disbanding their tent cities while preserving free speech. He was too timid in stamping out campus antisemitism, Trump disciples argued. Shill stepped down last month.

"I'm so excited that I actually went and bought a Vanderbilt hat, and I can't wait to welcome them into my district," said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey.

"We exist to serve our region by providing an excellent, accessible education that equips students to succeed in college, career, and life," Teniente-Matson said in a statement.

Under the Department of Education's proposed Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement, institutions would have to submit applied, admitted and enrolled student data broken down by test score quintiles, grade point average quintiles, income ranges, Pell Grant eligibility and parental education levels, as well as data regarding aid and student outcomes. Institutions would also be required to send historical data going back to 2020.