This article focuses on the pre-university access pathways of disadvantaged first-generation students studying at a South African university. Based on data collected via qualitative methods, it draws on findings from a study of purposively selected students at a university in the Western Cape Province. It explores the ways they access and gain…

Using three tenents of Critical Race Theory, this study examines the influence of edTPAs on diverse early childhood pre-service teachers in a graduate program. Findings suggest that (1) Color-blind admissions policy and practice were at odds with edTPA's perceived academic language demands; (2) A tension emerged between financial demands of edTPA…

This paper presents a study conducted by Inegbedion, Adu and Ofulue from the National Open University of Nigeria. The study focused on the quality of access (admission and registration) at NOUN from a student perspective. A survey design was used for the study while a multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the sample size. All the…

Students and the public routinely consult various published college rankings to assess the quality of colleges and universities and easily compare different schools. However, many institutions have responded to the rankings in ways that benefit neither the schools nor their students. In "Engines of Anxiety," sociologists Wendy Espeland…

This paper is the third in Pioneer Institute's "UMass at a Crossroads" series. This report takes a closer look at the university's growing dependency on increases in tuition and fees and expansion of out-of-state and international student enrollment to support continued expansion of the university. The first report examined whether…

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of Hispanic faculty involved in physical education teacher education programs at predominantly White colleges and universities in the United States. The study was positioned in the theoretical framework of organizational socialization. Participants were Hispanic (n = 6) faculty from various…

Privileging elite academic pedigrees in graduate admissions preserves racial and socioeconomic inequities that many institutions say they wish to reduce. To understand this preference, I integrate across perspectives on trust in rational choice, social capital, and social network theories, and use the resulting framework to interpret 68 interviews…

This article reports on a study of foreign students' success in higher education in Norway and focuses specifically on the relation between academic success and students' proficiency level of Norwegian as measured by a CEFR-based university entrance test. This study is distinguished from prior studies because it sets out to investigate not only…

The "2018 Teacher Prep Review" examines the results of rating 567 traditional graduate programs, 129 alternative route programs, and 18 residencies preparing both elementary and secondary teachers. The Review includes recommendations for programs to make changes to improve the quality of teachers entering the profession and highlights…

The project presented in this report examined how the public post-secondary education system in British Columbia (BC) uses various means to admit applicants who have not achieved high school graduation -- the normal criterion for admission -- to universities, colleges and institutes in the province. The criteria by which post-secondary…

Across New England, an increasing share of jobs will require some postsecondary education by 2020. Yet, the National Student Clearinghouse findings demonstrate that student pathways to a degree or credential are not always straightforward. In New England, approximately 25% of all students who earned a bachelor's degree had previously attended a…

The goal of this paper was to address the question, "Have the austerity measures enacted due to the global economic crisis impacted student enrollments at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez?" as Rodríguez (2011. "Social protest and the future of Higher Education in Puerto Rico." "Academe" 97(4).…

Many faith-based liberal arts institutions are tuition-dependent and are forced to compete with both public institutions as well as private for-profit colleges and universities to maintain student enrollment levels. Some faith-based institutions have adopted strategic enrollment management policies and procedures that emulate the best practices…

Higher education in America is resilient; in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, higher education manages to weather the storm of change, pressure, doubt, and criticism. Consider the following challenges: shifting demographics, escalating tuition, decreased state funding, retention and graduation rates, flat tuition revenue,…

Poor completion rates in the radiation therapy associate's degree program offered through a community college did not meet the standards set by the college and damaged the program's reputation. The relationship between admission criteria and program completion was not known. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any…