Whether they recognize it or not, virtually all colleges and universities face three GrandChallenges:·Improve the learning outcomes of a higher education: A large majority of college graduates are weak in capabilities that faculty and employers both see as crucial.·Extend more equitable access to degrees: Too often, students from underserved groups and poor households either don’t enter college or else drop out without a degree. The latter group may be worse off economically than if they’d never attempted college.·Make academic programs more affordable (in money and time) for students and other important stakeholder groups: Many potential students believe they lack the money or time needed for academic success. Many faculty believe they don’t have time to make their courses and degree programs more effective. Many institutions believe they can’t afford to improve outcomes.These challenges are global. But, in a higher education system such as that in the United States, the primary response must be institutional. This book analyzes how, over the years, six pioneering colleges and universities have begun to make visible, cumulative progress on all three fronts.

The issues of accountability, affordability, and access loom large for postsecondary education not only in the United States, but across the world. The educational system of some countries is based on a long history with strong traditions and administrative processes, and yet other countries are just now beginning to expand their educational system to the postsecondary sector. Chapters discuss: Accountability, Access, and Affordability as Key Challenges in the Reform of Croatian Higher Education Pursuing Quality and Equity of Higher Education: A Review of Policies and Practices in East Asia The Australian Perspective: Access, Equity, Quality, and Accountability in Higher Education Creating an Impetus for Institutional Analysis in South America: Quality Assurance Listen to the Urgent Sound of Drums: Major Challenges in African Higher Eduation The Balancing Act: Accountability, Affordability, and Access in American Higher Education A Few Reflections on Accountability, Affordability, and Access Worldwide Although the chapters included in this volume are merely a small sampling of assessment-related issues faced in some countries or regions of the world, these discussion contribute to the larger set of conversations that seek to examine and strengthen post-secondary education around the world. This is a supplemental issue of the Jossey-Bass quarterly higher education report series New Directions for Institutional Research. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

Affordability, access, and accountability have long been among the central challenges facing higher education -- and they remain so today. Here, Donald E. Heller and other higher education scholars and practitioners explore the current debates surrounding these key issues. As students and their families struggle to meet rising tuition prices, and as state funding for higher education dwindles, policymakers confront issues of affordability within state and institutional budgets. Changing demographics and challenges to affirmative action complicate the admissions process even as colleges and universities seek to diversify enrollments. And issues of institutional accountability have forced the restructuring of higher education governing boards and a reexamination of the role of public trustees in governance. This collection analyzes how issues of affordability, access, and accountability influence the way in which state governments approach, monitor, and set public higher education policy. The contributors examine the latest research on pressing challenges, explore how states are coping with these challenges, and consider what the future holds for public postsecondary education in the United States. Praise for the first edition "Affordability, access, and accountability will continue to be hot-button issues as legislators at all levels address constituents' concerns about their children's future... Any administrator who wants to gain a deeper understanding of these issues... might do well to spend some time with these essays." -- University Business

Incoming college presidents are entering the job at a time when the role is increasingly challenging as they are asked to do more, decide and act faster, create and maintain more relationships, and demonstrate successes while under an unrelenting microscope. The range of leadership skills and competencies surrounding the current college presidency requires well-prepared and well-informed college presidential aspirants. Research shows there is no formal training framework available in colleges to prepare successful candidates for the presidency. Consequently, most incoming college presidents have lamented being ill-prepared for the role. The Evolving College Presidency: Emerging Trends, Issues, and Challenges provides guidance and career trajectory advice for aspiring college presidents as they prepare to take on this challenging and dynamic role. The text also explores the emerging trends, issues, and challenges of the college presidency including issues such as diversity and inclusion, funding and fundraising, and political issues. Covering a range of critical topics such as student affairs and community relationships, this reference work is vital for higher education professionals, administrators, researchers, practitioners, scholars, academicians, instructors, and students.

A “bracing and well-argued” study of America’s college debt crisis—“necessary reading for anyone concerned about the fate of American higher education” (Kirkus). College is far too expensive for many people today, and the confusing mix of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid leaves countless students without the resources they need to pay for it. In Paying the Price, education scholar Sara Goldrick-Rab reveals the devastating effect of these shortfalls. Goldrick-Rab examines a study of 3,000 students who used the support of federal aid and Pell Grants to enroll in public colleges and universities in Wisconsin in 2008. Half the students in the study left college without a degree, while less than 20 percent finished within five years. The cause of their problems, time and again, was lack of money. Unable to afford tuition, books, and living expenses, they worked too many hours at outside jobs, dropped classes, took time off to save money, and even went without adequate food or housing. In many heartbreaking cases, they simply left school—not with a degree, but with crippling debt. Goldrick-Rab combines that data with devastating stories of six individual students, whose struggles make clear the human and financial costs of our convoluted financial aid policies. In the final section of the book, Goldrick-Rab offers a range of possible solutions, from technical improvements to the financial aid application process, to a bold, public sector–focused “first degree free” program. "Honestly one of the most exciting books I've read, because [Goldrick-Rab has] solutions. It's a manual that I'd recommend to anyone out there, if you're a parent, if you're a teacher, if you're a student."—Trevor Noah, The Daily Show

Written by the President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and a leading health care journalist, this groundbreaking book examines how leading organizations in the United States are pursuing the Triple Aim—improving the individual experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of care. Even with major steps forward – including the Affordable Care Act and the creation of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation -- the national health care debate is too often poisoned by negativity. A quieter, more thoughtful, and vastly more constructive conversation continues among health care leaders and professionals throughout the country. Innovative solutions are being designed and implemented at the local level, and countless health care organizations are demonstrating breakthrough remedies to some of the toughest and most expensive challenges in health care. Pursuing the Triple Aim shares compelling stories that are emerging in locations ranging from Pittsburgh to Seattle, from Boston to Oakland, focused on topics including improving quality and lowering costs in primary care; setting challenging goals to control chronic disease with notable outcomes; leveraging employer buying power to improve quality, reduce waste, and drive down cost; paying for care under an innovative contract that compensates for quality rather than quantity; and much more. The authors describe these innovations in detail, and show the way toward a health care system for the nation that improves the experience and quality of care while at the same time controlling costs. As the Triple Aim moves from being largely an aspirational framework to something that communities all across the US can implement and learn from, its potential to become a touchstone for the work ahead has never been greater. Pursuing the Triple Aim lays out the vision, the interventions, and promising examples of success.

This book offers formal and informal leaders at all levels of their institution theory-informed and practical guidance on implementing and sustaining change through collaborative leadership. The framework and concepts presented are applicable at the department, program, campus, or system level to guide minor, incremental, or transformative change.Achieving a shared organizational vision can be a daunting challenge, given the multiple missions of higher education, varied and often conflicting stakeholder viewpoints, siloed organizational structures, traditions of shared governance, and a highly educated workforce bringing together colleagues with diverse disciplinary perspectives. Achieving these aims requires taking into account the organization’s systems and values and the needs and aspirations of corresponding stakeholders across the enterprise. Ruben provides a guide for achieving and sustaining these goals in an engaged and collaborative manner.Employing the author’s widely used Excellence in Higher Education (EHE) framework, this book offers principles and practices relative to change, collaboration, and organizational vision that can greatly enhance the prospects for effective outcomes, highlighting three key themes:·Understanding and leveraging the dynamics of change. ·Leading collaboratively, and meaningfully engaging one’s colleagues. ·Adopting and pursuing a shared vision of organizational purpose and aspirations.The book is intended for faculty and staff who want to advance the effectiveness and impact of their program, department, and institution, and to do so in a way that creates a shared vision to sustain these benefits into the future. It serves as a text for the growing number of leadership development programs, and for courses with a focus on higher education leadership.