Links for 12/1/10

Burck Smith

higher education's unwillingness to accept new business models, inherent conflicts of interest between course delivery and credit assessment, and the ability to use subjective educational standards to keep competitors out…

accreditation is not an indicator of course quality, but an indicator of institutional dependence on taxpayer support…

As recipients of taxpayer dollars, will colleges see themselves as stewards of students and allow equivalent credit for equivalent courses? Or, will colleges invoke arbitrary quality standards and whisper campaigns to preserve their narrow business interests?...

Yash Gupta

For too long, business schools have largely defined their mission as the teaching of a set of specific abilities. This how-to approach has focused on accounting, marketing, finance, and similar disciplines, defining leadership as expertise based on certain skills. Certainly these "hard" skills, the "science" of business, are important and necessary components of a degree program. But perhaps even more essential for the business leaders of the 21st century are the "soft" skills and qualities representing what I would describe as the "art" of business. Chief among them I would place:

• Intellectual flexibility…
• Cultural literacy….
• A strong grounding in ethics…
• The ability to communicate ideas well…
• Optimism, creativity, a collaborative outlook…

EduBubble

focusing on graduation rates assumes that there’s something magical that happens between earning the 119th credit hour and earning that 120th. Whooosh. Before you’re a simpleton who can only dig a ditch if there’s a smart, college-educated supervisor tapping a pencil on a clipboard and pointing the way. After, you’re a genius. If you’re not Einstein, you’re close all thanks to that superpowered 120th credit hour…

Robin Wilson

job-placement information… departments don't collect it. And in this vacuum, some departments say they are reluctant to be the first to put their records out there, because they don't know how they would compare…

the question is: Will prospective students pay any attention?...

"they still think they'll be the exception."…

Mr. Mulvey started a blog on dropping out of graduate school called selloutyoursoul.com. He wants it to be a place where graduate students can go for an injection of skepticism about whether earning a Ph.D. is worth it, and for support if they're considering giving it up…