Andrew Delbanco is a professor of American Studies at Columbia University, author of several books. In this Q&A, "New England Journal of Higher Education" ("NEJHE") Executive Editor John O. Harney asks Delbanco about the state of higher education and intellectual life today.

This research considers a variety of independent variables to determine the school-based factors that can predict alumni giving. Data for this study are gathered from a top-tier liberal arts college located in the US with an impressive history of alumni giving and a robust endowment fund. The findings indicate that cultural components of the…

Research has shown that a tenure track incorporates both commitment and control aspects: the career system offers junior-level academics long-term job prospects, but subjects them to performance control. This study complements existing research on tenure track positions, which has mostly been conducted in northern America. Universities in Finland…

Second grade students learn about philanthropy by creating projects where they work through an inquiry process. Each student works with a group to create community-based projects that support existing local non-profits to enrich the quality of life in an area. Student action is visible through an authentic assessment event that allows students to…

This study examined department supports that influence doctoral completion and time-to-degree among 5,001 doctoral programs at 212 universities in the United States. Multiple regression models were used to determine the relationships between financial support and academic support and doctoral retention and how these relationships vary across STEM…

While grassroots and student activism surrounding the first Earth Day in 1970 played a role in fostering environmental studies programs around the country, this dissertation narrates the untold story of other forces that served as crucial catalysts. Established conservation education models, the dynamics of college and university funding, and the…

In 2012, more than five percent of all postsecondary students were veterans or currently serving in the military, and 43% attended a public 2-year institution (Ahern, Foster, & Head, 2012). The Collegiate Veteran Affairs Program, at a public 2-year college in the southeastern part of the United States, serves as the point of contact for…

Like other Canadians, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) members are alarmed by the existential threat that climate change represents to the world. They believe leadership from Canadian governments is crucial along with meaningful changes from institutions and individual efforts. The post-secondary education (PSE) sector has a…

States and the federal government have long provided substantial financial support for higher education, but in recent years, their respective levels of contribution have shifted significantly. Given the essential role that government funding plays in higher education access and operations, policymakers across the nation frequently face difficult…

The development of the Regional Guidelines on Innovative Financing Mechanisms and Partnerships for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) was a joint initiative of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education (UNESCO Bangkok) and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Early Childhood Care Education…

Previous research (Kiewra & Creswell, "Educational Psychology Review" 12(1):135-161, 2000; Patterson-Hazley & Kiewra, "Educational Psychology Review" 25(1):19-45, 2013) has investigated the characteristics and work habits of highly productive educational psychologists. These investigations have focused exclusively on…

Over the past decades, science funding shows a shift from recurrent block funding towards project funding mechanisms. However, our knowledge of how project funding arrangements influence the organizational and epistemic properties of research is limited. To study this relation, a bridge between science policy studies and science studies is…

The mental health of adolescents is a salient contemporary issue attracting the attention of policy makers in the UK and other countries. It is important that the roles and responsibilities of agencies are clearly established, particularly those positioned at the forefront of implementing change. Arguably, this will be more effective if those…

Faced with economic and demographic challenges, Catholic colleges and universities use endowment and licensing revenues to supplement tuition income in order to serve their missions of educating students of all socio-economic classes to promote the common good through their professional careers and service to the community. Licensees sometimes…

This article analyses how political preferences, which are co-determined by the beliefs of decision-makers and influences of interest groups and the general public, affect the decisions to maintain or cut public funding for tertiary education during the economic crisis. Our sample included 29 European countries which we divided into two groups…