Sept. 18, 2015

As part of a growing movement to document students’ skills and knowledge, a variety of providers — MOOCs, private companies, industry groups, colleges themselves — are offering new types of credentials. They include badges, certificates, and microdegrees. Some are offered at no cost, while others…

On the centennial of the death of Anthony Comstock, the archetypal bluenose, let us learn from the epic failure of his career.

An associate dean says a book on leadership suggests that universities need to pay more attention to the followership.

After the previous dean stepped down, the university’s provost decided to hire internally and chose two law professors.

What you need to know about the past seven days.

The requests are ever more frequent on campuses, and they are coming from a wider range of students.

The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business finds that small changes in the hiring process pay off.

The University of Oregon’s big brand masks its fragile status.

How two students — one Chinese, one American — grapple with censorship, taboo topics, and a liberal education in a closed society.

Competency-based education, which focuses on results rather than process, is a model that colleges are going to have to adopt to survive.

In the future, writes the philosopher Alain de Botton, employers will value workers who have amassed collections of specific skills, not those with name-brand diplomas.

As alternative qualifications become more common, accreditors strive to remain involved in the credentialing process and focused on learners.

Despite decades’ worth of calls for reform, education schools still fail to make the grade. So what’s next?

You don’t need a degree to be a professional illustrator, they say. You just need skills and contacts, which their unaccredited school can provide.

For reasons both practical and moral, traditional higher education ought to endorse the use of digital badges, microcredentials, and other alternatives to the college degree.

Today’s employers want more information about what skills graduates really have, say groups that promote alternative credentials.

A new platform aims to help employers track casual learning.

Institutions that based their value on guarding access to the high-quality dissemination of knowledge will find their status bypassed by a new economy.

It’s still a key credential, but some programs are working harder to carve out a niche.

Higher education can take on the work of making excellence inclusive, rather than exclusive, with tools that did not exist even a decade ago.

Short-term, work-related certificates are soaring in popularity as students use them to land jobs or, eventually, earn degrees.

Only a handful seem close to significant deals, and some of those wouldn’t involve students directly.

The State University of New York is expected to approve a sweeping new policy that seeks to make its campuses more welcoming to a range of underrepresented groups.

Iowa isn’t the first university to select a nonacademic leader. We talk to three other executives who are making the transition to the ivory tower.

The future of online education could involve a growing number of entrepreneurial academics who think beyond bricks and mortar.

The Faculty Senate vote signaled growing discontent over the regents’ hiring of a new president whom many have criticized as unqualified to lead the university.

The suit, filed by a professor who says she was told that moves between the universities are “not permitted,” suggests that official policies against competition put institutions in legal peril.

The University of Texas asks students to step in on other scenarios, like suicide threats, binge drinking, and academic dishonesty. Other universities are following suit.

State attorneys general stepped in to broker changes at Sweet Briar College and the Cooper Union, and disgruntled alumni claimed victories. The interventions were nothing of the kind.

Efforts to fix the notoriously demanding financial-aid application, which go back years, are intensifying. But obstacles remain.

Faculty member: “You should try my job.” Administrator: “No, you should try mine.” Yes we should.

A number of factors influenced Washington State’s recent decision to cut in-state tuition by as much as 20 percent over two years at some public-college campuses.

After the Mormon Church lowered the minimum age requirements for missionaries, Utah State University stepped up its efforts to stay connected.

Tennessee universities may soon join the ranks of institutions that privatize the management, maintenance, and security of their buildings.