American InterContinental University has been put on probation for a year by its accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The for-profit university, which is owned by the Career Education Corporation, has bounced in and out of trouble with the accreditor over the last few years.
A watchdog official at the U.S. Education Department last week urged lawmakers to "go slowly" on proposed legislation that would relax some rules that for-profit colleges must follow to participate in federal student-aid programs.
If you had typed "Grantham University" into Yahoo's search engine last week, what would have appeared at the top of the page, above the actual search results, was not a link to Grantham's Web site but an ad for the University of Phoenix -- a "sponsored result," in search-company parlance. Sponsored links to other companies offering online-degree programs also appeared to the right.
TAMPA, Fla. -- For-profit colleges are booming. But a new fight between these upstarts and the education establishment raises a key question: How much are degrees from for-profits really worth?
Thousands of Malawian graduates may soon be stripped of their qualifications as the government moves ahead with a plan to crack down on unregistered learning centres.
Minister of Education, Professor Fabian Osuji, following the significant rise in the number of universities in the country, has given the National Universities Commission (NUC) a two weeks ultimatum to submit its agenda for improved quality assurance of the Nigerian University system.
The emergence of Nigerian private universities is seen as an attempt for marketization. There are concerns over the quality of such universities, their lecturers and students. Rarely producing research, private university owners are charged with being interested only in profit, targeting admissions with high tuition and fees.
The Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, has cautioned private institutions of higher learning against charging students exaggerated amounts of money.
All students enrolling at private tertiary colleges and sitting for examinations set by the Zimbabwean Higher Education Examinations Council (Hexco) must have at least five "O" levels in terms of a new Government directive.
State agencies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are reviewing the recruiting or financial-aid practices of two colleges owned by the Career Education Corporation, according to a quarterly report the for-profit higher-education company filed last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Politically and financially, the $15.4-billion for-profit higher-education industry is on a roll. The legislative environment is friendly, enrollments and profits continue to grow, and demographic trends suggest strong opportunities for further expansion and profitability.
Many for-profit colleges do not make their students' job-placement or program-completion rates readily available, or else give out inflated numbers, according to a report by the National Consumer Law Center.
For-profit higher education has continued to grow at a pace that once seemed unsustainable, thanks to an influx of capital, a favorable regulatory climate, and the industry's own nimble reaction to the changing demands of students.
With its endless expanse of bleak, cinder-block tenements, this city north of the Mexican capital seems an unlikely setting for a business success story. But within days of opening a new campus here in 2002, the privately run Technological University of Mexico was mobbed with more than 2,000 applicants. The reason: It offered a mix of practical, job-oriented education and brand recognition, at a price residents could afford.
Since 1989, Mongolian higher education has undergone a phenomenal privatization. Part of this involves private finance and governance for the public institutions. The other part involves an extraordinary proliferation of private institutions, to over 200 in just a decade. Prior to 1989 higher education consisted of only a handful of institutions, all public. Much of the impetus for the private proliferation comes from the overall marketization of the economy as well as the increased proportion of secondary-school graduates who head to higher education. Typical private institutions are small and poorly funded.
In a judgment that could limit access to professional education, India's Supreme Court ruled last month that colleges that do not receive government aid are not required to use state admission quotas for students from minority groups and lower castes.
India's Supreme Court quashed a provision of a state law this month that allowed the establishment of private universities in the State of Chhattisgarh, in central India. The court called the three-year-old provision "unconstitutional" and canceled the registrations of all 108 private universities in the state, Some 20,000 students are enrolled in the institutions.
In an apparent first, the for-profit higher-education industry has begun collecting data on the salaries of its college administrators. Last month, at the Career College Association's annual meeting here, it released some of the initial findings -- with some strong caveats.
Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan announced not to force private universities and colleges to change names after opposition lawmakers threatened to freeze a huge portion of the ministry's budget. The ministry had sent a letter to all universities and colleges with the words "China," "Chinese" or "Chunghwa" (Chinese) in their names and asked them to change their names to underscore Taiwan's identity and avoid confusion with mainland China following Taiwan's executive cabinet plan of changing the names of all of the nation's overseas missions and state-owned enterprises before the Dec. 11 legislative elections, which raised sharp criticisms from legislators of the opposition party.
Three Shanghai private colleges will be allowed to admit students without national college entrance exam score requirements this year, marking a major change in the city's decades-old higher education admission system.
A Japanese university has filed for bankruptcy protection, citing a decline in its enrollment. The case, the first of its kind, could mark the start of a trend in Japan, where the birthrate -- and, along with it, the pool of college-age students -- has steadily shrunk for more than a decade.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has partnered with the Afghan Government and other private donors to establish the private American University of Afghanistan set to open in 2006. Targeting 1,100 undergraduates from Afghanistan and neighboring countries, the university will offer programs in management, liberal arts, and communications, all taught in English. Additionally, President Karzai has emphasized that educational development is crucial to national development.
In a judgment that could limit access to professional education, India's Supreme Court ruled last month that colleges that do not receive government aid are not required to use state admission quotas for students from minority groups and lower castes.
In a setback to the Centre's proposed legislation for regulating admissions to and fee structures in private professional educational institutions, which also provides for reservation, a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday ruled out quotas in them.
Member of Punjab Assembly and standing committee S&GAD; Mrs. Rabia Aliya Khan has stressed the need of more effective contribution of the private sector in the promotion of education in the country.
An annual nationwide survey of campus facilities, now in its second year, shows that private colleges and universities typically have far more usable space per student than their public counterpart
The Georgia Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court's ruling that a private university does not have to make its campus-police records available to the public.
The Georgia Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court's ruling that a private university is not required to make its campus police records available to the public.
New York's private colleges will be able to tap into public funds to pay for construction projects under an unusual new program in the $106.6-billion state budget that lawmakers...
Investors poured more than $161-million into private companies that run colleges for a profit and into other businesses in the higher-education industry in 2004, an amount that was nearly double...
Findings of a nationwide survey of campus facilities, now in its second year, show that private colleges and universities typically have far more usable space per student than their public...
India's Supreme Court on Thursday quashed a provision of a state law that allowed the establishment of private universities in the State of Chhattisgarh, in central India.
In a judgment that could limit access to professional education, India's Supreme Court ruled last week that colleges that do not receive government aid are not required to use state...
Yet another private-equity investor has entered the for-profit higher-education industry. Liberty Partners, a $1.8-billion fund based in New York City, announced on Wednesday that it had acquired...
The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education rejected a controversial proposal on Thursday for the University of Massachusetts system to acquire the Southern New England School of Law and establish...
After campaigning to win recognition of their union for over a year, professors at Carroll College, in Wisconsin, scored a major victory last week, when the National Labor Relations Board ruled...
A state consumer agency in California has restricted the operating license of a photography college owned by the Career Education Corporation, alleging that the institution systematically misled...
A California regulatory agency has threatened to withdraw the Brooks Institute of Photography's approval to operate unless the institute's parent company, the Career Education Corporation...
State agencies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are reviewing the recruiting or financial-aid practices of two colleges owned by the Career Education Corporation, according to a quarterly report the...