Welcome to the GAPS Bulletin (Issue 9) – December 2015.

Wishing all of our Network Partners and readers a very Happy New Year and a rewarding 2016 in all your post-secondary access and student success initiatives!

The GAPS Bulletin Welcome to the GAPS Bulletin (Issue 9) – December 2015   Wishing all of our Network Partners and readers a very Happy New Year and a rewarding 2016 in all your post-secondary access and student success initiatives!   We encourage you to share or tweet using the buttons below to connect others in your networks to GAPS and to help us expand our reach. Global Access News Where Degrees Matter Most The OECD has recently released their Education at a Glance report for 2015, studying 30 countries around the world. Documenting that post-secondary studies remain strongly correlated with both higher income and lower unemployment levels, this year’s report highlights the world’s regions where post-secondary degrees are worth the most in terms of additional income. In fact, a host of central and south American countries, including Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, are those where university degrees command the highest paid jobs, when compared to other workers without post-secondary qualifications. China Striving to Match Economic Emergence With Post-Secondary Investments In an effort to maintain its growth levels, the Chinese government is stressing the importance of expanding post-secondary access in order to move the economy slowly away from the cheap, unskilled labour market that brought about its current economic prosperity and towards a depth and breadth of more innovative, highly qualified workers. The progress made thus far is striking, with students from the Shanghai region recently scoring at the highest level internationally in proficiency in reading, math and science (PISA). Major inroads in narrowing gender disparity and increasing enrolment at all education levels has been central to the success of China’s recent education policies. Significant geographic disparities, however, are an ongoing challenge.    Mark Zuckerberg Pledges to Increase Access Through Personalized Online Learning Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan have recently taken to Facebook to announce their intention of donating a large portion of their multi-billion dollar fortune to good causes, one of which is broadening access to quality education and improving education equity. The founder of Facebook stresses the importance of enhancing the quality of personalized online learning tools, as the means to eliminate the disadvantages faced by students who do not live close to good schools. Some experts are skeptical, however, including Justin Reich, an online education researcher at MIT, for whom the problem of access to quality education is not as simple as merely improving online education platforms. Click Here to Follow the GAPS Initiative on Facebook Gender Should be Component of Higher Education Rankings, Says Expert A member of the Higher Education Authority’s gender equality review group is arguing for university performance on gender equality to be factored into world education rankings.   High-profile international rankings such as those produced by QS and Times Higher Education are largely based on academic research, quality of education, and graduate performance. O’Connor argues that the degree to which the campus culture is welcoming to women is an important part of any female student’s success. Do Prestigious Universities Warrant Their Reputation? A group of researchers from Columbia University and Yeshiva University have undertaken to evaluate what constitutes quality in education, looking to determine whether prestigious universities, both in terms of ranking and general reputation, deserve their status. The researchers began collecting data for their study by sending individuals into 9 different colleges, each with varying levels of prestige. The individuals evaluated the quality of education provided based on four criteria: the professor’s knowledge of the subject, student engagement, cognitive complexity of the coursework, and the standards and expectations associated with coursework. The researchers concluded that, with the exception of the cognitive complexity category, prestigious and non-prestigious universities generally scored in a similar range. New US Census Data Shows Drop in College Enrolment Among Low-Income Students Data recently published by the United States Census Bureau shown that college enrolment has dropped a total of 3% since 2008, partly due to the improving economy that has allowed younger workers to find jobs right out of high school. However, enrolment in poorer populations has dropped 10% during the same period of time. Experts are surprised by the finding given that federal and private grant money for higher education has soared since 2008. Some point to increasing tuition as the culprit, but most conclude that further research is required to identify the true source of dropping enrolment rates.   High California Admissions Standards Forcing Students Out-of-State The Campaign for College Opportunity, a nonprofit that advocates for access to higher education for all Californians, has released a report suggesting the state is far from providing every in-state student a chance to pursue higher education. Last year, the average accepted applicant had a GPA above 4.0 and an average SAT score of 2140, well above the average scores for other top colleges across the country. The selectivity is the product of California’s 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, an increasingly large applicant pool from Californian high schools, coupled with more out-of-state applicants and a decrease in state funding.   Is Blended Learning the Means to Close India’s Educational Achievement Gap? The disparity in educational achievement among economic classes, coupled with an important shortage of teachers, has troubled the country’s policy makers for decades. The Khan Academy proposes a blended learning model that combines one-to-one learning on computers with teacher instruction, notably for those living in India’s poorest regions, as the means to strengthen and standardize nationwide education standards.  The article points to the Nalanda project by the Motivation for Excellence Foundation in Mumbai as one example of this approach, which is exploring the potential of learning mathematics using a blend of teacher instruction and self-learning through an offline digital learning tool. UK Student Engagement Survey Finds More ‘Hard’ Than ‘Soft’ Skill Learning Survey responses from more than 24,000 UK students show their studies have little impact on students’ ‘soft skill development’ such as creativity, innovation and developing personal values. Based on North America’s National Survey of Student Engagement, the survey was the first attempt to measure “learning gain” in British universities, coordinated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Students Call on Universities to Do More to Help Asylum Seekers While recognizing the University of Edinburgh for extending its ‘home student’ tuition rate to refugees, students are calling on the university to show leadership by waiving fees and establishing bursaries to cover living costs. If it fails to do so, says students, it risks being seen as “paying lip service to the notion of helping asylum seekers”.  To make a real impact on university age asylum seekers in the UK, they urge the adoption of a nationwide policy. “If universities like Edinburgh start to make that change, it will help create momentum that will drive change on a larger scale, as others will see that allowing asylum seekers access to higher education is not only possible, but inclusive and desirable.” Click here to share initiatives or news with access and success colleagues from around the world GAPS Network News Community Colleges and Trade Schools Also Play a Key Role in US Labour Force Competitiveness Lumina Foundation President and CEO, Jamie Merisotis, says that more people will have to consider trade schools or community colleges if the United States wants to maintain its competitive stance in the manufacturing sector. ‘Networking University’ A Model for Engagement in Disadvantaged Communities   University College Cork (UCC) is re-engaging with the most educationally disadvantaged communities in inner-city Cork through its centre for Adult Continuing Education and a three-way partnership of the Cork Education & Training Board (Cork ETB), Cork City Partnership and UCC, aiming to be responsive to educational needs in the community and shaping their responses in cooperation with other agencies and partners. ‘The Networking University’s’ initial program was a successful Diploma in Women’s Studies launched in 2013 as a bridge to gain access to UCC and higher education. International research has shown that this type of programme has a transformative effect not only on the individual but in their roles as key influencers on the value of education for family members (children, siblings, and other relatives) and the wider networks of people they interact with. It also has significant tangible impact in terms of their own employability, their identities and their roles as active members of their communities. ETS Launches HEIghten™ Assessment Suite   Educational Testing Service (ETS) has used national frameworks and the latest research from the higher education community to develop a suite of six modules that measure key general education skills identified by educators and designed to be used alongside institution-developed assessments. Institutions can tailor their mix of assessments to their unique mission and goals. Earlier this year, a variety of institutions participated in the new ETS HEIghten™ Outcomes Assessment Suite pilot program. The suite enables colleges and universities to obtain data about their students' skills, benchmark and track student performance at a national level, and identify areas for potential curriculum enhancement. Three HEIghten™ modules are currently available: Critical Thinking, Written Communication and Quantitative Literacy. Three additional modules will be available in 2016. To learn more: http://www.ets.org/s/heighten/32820_heighten-overview.html GAPS in the News Watch this space:  A GAPS-authored article has recently been accepted for publication in an upcoming edition of the Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education (JSPTE), a journal of the Informing Science Institute.  For more information, go to: http://InformingScience.org GAPS Calendar January 7-8, 2016:Breaking Boundaries: Interdisciplinarity, E-Learning, and Universities without Walls, Kolkata, India. This conference is part of E-QUAL (Enhancing Quality, Access and Governance of Undergraduate Education in India), a European Union funded international collaborative project aimed at enhancing the quality, access and governance of undergraduate education in India. For more information, click here.   January 20-23, 2016: Association of American Colleges and Universities’ 2016 Annual Meeting: How Higher Education Can Lead—On Equity, Inclusive Excellence, and Democratic Renewal. To find out more, click here.  February 21-24, 2016:  2016 Association of International Education Administrators Annual Conference. Building a Better World:  The Academy as Leader, Montreal, Quebec.  More information available here. March 9-12, 2016: European Students' Convention 31 (Amsterdam, Netherlands). For details click here. March 16-18, 2016: Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC). Global Grand Challenges: Channeling International Collaboration, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. For information, click here.  May 29-31, 2016: European Access Network’s 25th Anniversary Conference, Dublin. For more information, click here. June 1-3, 2016:  48th EUCEN Conference, Dublin (IE). Dublin City University and the Higher Education Centre. Crossing borders through lifelong learning:  Enhancing quality and equity in higher education. For more information, click here. August 31-September 3, 2016: 35th Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) annual conference, San Diego, California. More information available here. September 19-21, 2016: National College Access Network NCAN) annual conference in Detroit, Illinois. For additional information, click here. November 14-17, 2016:  The next IAU General Conference will be held in Bangkok, Thailand. Co-organized in partnership with a Consortium of Thai universities lead by Siam University, this 15th General Conference will focus on Higher Education: a catalyst for innovative and sustainable societies. For more information, click here.   About GAPS GAPS Theory of Change   The partners in the GAPS Initiative believe that the pace of change on access issues must be accelerated if major ongoing gaps in equality of opportunity are to be addressed for young people across the globe by 2030, to use the yardstick of the new Sustainable Development Goals.  Access networks, policies and programs have shown their effectiveness at the local institutional and community level, and, in some cases, more broadly in state and national efforts.  These examples can serve as change models by sharing knowledge, and evidence-based policy and practice globally, adaptable and transferable as appropriate to local needs and aspirations.  Our theory of change holds that the best means of making a quantum leap in the scaling of effective policies and practices is to enable local capacity through a global network that leverages the knowledge and resources in the existing access community at various levels: peer-to-peer, institution to institution, system to system, and community to community.  Connectivity through the web and social media will provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and resources, and the organization of a series of world congresses and regional forums will further facilitate opportunities for global networking and multi-sectorial partnerships. As this global network takes shape, network partners will begin to align their vision and objectives based on new insights gained from collaborative projects and begin to develop an agenda for collaborative action on a global scale.   Online Library Our Online Library has the following new postings: Open Educational Resources: A Catalyst for Innovation Teacher's Guide for Inclusive Education The diversification of post-secondary education The Bologna Process: Its impact in Europe and beyond Motivation Matters Digital Services for Education in Africa To access the GAPS online library, click here. To share initiatives or news with access and success colleagues from around the world email Florian Kaiser or tweet @gapseducation Disclaimer All links in this newsletter are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only. They do not constitute an edorsement or an approval by GAPS of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organisation. GAPS bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of external sites or for that of subsequent links. Please contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.