Introducing Learning Curve, our new education blog
Today MinnPost is launching a new education blog, Learning Curve, by Beth Hawkins. It replaces The Next Degree, which focused solely on higher-education coverage.
Next Degree
The higher-education beat was created in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education news outlet affiliated with the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, Columbia University.
College financial aid: More grant money available – and easier to find
For many Americans, a college degree seems more unattainable than ever.
Minnesota community colleges try innovative ways to improve retention, completion and transfer rates
From Century College to Normandale, MnSCU’s persistence efforts are paying off: Its first- to second-year retention rate has risen 2 percentage points in the last year.
European college students protest U.S.-style ‘capitalist education’
Ten years ago, Europe’s ministers met in Bologna, Italy, to create a sort of common European education market. A three-year bachelor’s degree would replace the longer first degrees offered by most European universities.
Four Minnesota community colleges rank in Washington Monthly’s top 10
America’s 50 best community colleges are listed as part of Washington Monthly’s College Guide. What makes these colleges better than the rest?
Colleges doing more to help freshmen survive and thrive
COLUMBIA, S.C.—Eight freshmen in flip-flops, shorts, and T-shirts assemble around a library table at the University of South Carolina to puzzle out homework from an introductory accounting class.
My last post — and one last plea: Donate. Join. Advertise.
Memories of brainstorming for the future MinnPost.com are surfacing as I prepare to leave for a full-time editing job at Finance and Commerce.
Beloit College Mindset List says Class of 2014 can’t write cursive
BOSTON — If you’re a college freshman this fall, the Beloit College Mindset List says you can’t write cursive.
That’s OK, Billy Madison couldn’t either in the 1995 film. He failed to correctly write “buzz” and “Rizzuto” in cursive.
Here comes another best-colleges ranking: U.S. News & World Report’s
The University of Minnesota and six Minnesota liberal-arts colleges make the magazine’s top 100 list.
New assessment grades colleges on basis of curriculum requirements
Families looking for colleges that give students a broad foundation in required “core” classes have a new tool available.
WhatWillTheyLearn.com grades more than 700 colleges and universities on their general education requirements.
University of Minnesota’s new master’s program aims to keep arts and cultural leaders in the state
As she got to know the community through her role as managing director of theater and dance at the University of Minnesota, Sherry Wagner-Henry noticed that no post-graduate program existed to “steward” professional arts leaders and managers.
MCTC’s ‘YouTube Girl’ makes a pitch for college
A tweet from MnSCUfan this week sent me to a fun video produced by the Cinema Division at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Former U of M board chair wonders about the need to release names of presidential finalists
Maureen Reed, who chaired the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents during the 2002 presidential search, raises an intriguing question in an Aug. 8 Chronicle of Higher Education story.
Obama’s sense of humor surfaces in speech at UT-Austin
Deep in the heart of President Obama’s address Monday in Austin, Texas, was a quip that ought to crack up anyone who has ever filled out a FAFSA.
On the water: Gulf of Mexico and Upper Mississippi beckon researchers this summer
From researching the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to exploring food webs in the Upper Mississippi River, two Minnesota-based teachers are staying busy this summer.
U students, faculty helping to develop public-health education in Uganda
The AIDS epidemic is still front and center in Kampala, Uganda, where 12 University of Minnesota students and five faculty members from various schools are participating in a two-week Global Health Institute with educators from Africa.
U of M faculty giving gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner a crash course on university’s role
Independent Tom Horner is the first gubernatorial candidate to meet with faculty at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. Today’s tour includes the new Science Teaching + Student Services building.
For-profit colleges hit with claims of fraud, aggressive recruiting
In a blurry video, a financial aid officer at a for-profit college tells an applicant to leave off any mention of a $250,000 inheritance when filling out aid applications, saying it’s really not the government’s business.
The applicant was an under
Student loans offer a rare break this fall: lower interest rates
Tuition isn’t going down. Textbook prices are still on the rise. But at least one area of college financing is headed in the right direction: Interest rates on loans are falling.
‘Tis the season for Fulbrights and other awards
Fourteen University of Minnesota graduate and undergraduate students are Fulbright scholars, and three early-career educators from Minnesota have received five-year, $150,000 fellowships from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation.