CHEA, UNESCO Recommend Steps to Close Diploma Mills
A new report on the increasingly international problem of higher education “degree mills” offers a number of suggestions to combating such organizations, including creating more specific definitions of diploma mills and encouraging countries not to provide public funds or financial aid to such providers.
Developed by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the report, “Toward Effective Practice: Discouraging Degree Mills in Higher Education,” notes that diploma mills have been around for many years but that the worldwide growth in demand for and access to higher education means that more and more people may be lured into using these providers, which typically lack any type of certification, require little or no coursework or attendance, and issue degrees not acceptable for entry into graduate or professional programs at legitimate schools.
Little regulation exists to stop diploma mills, the report says, and students under pressure to get jobs or promotions either unknowingly or willingly turn to these providers. The rise of the Internet has made access to diploma mills particularly easy.
The report suggests solutions to the problem could include extensive public outreach to the public, including publicizing efforts to expose diploma mills, and developing laws to make establishing, licensing and operating diploma mills illegal.
For more on the proposed standards for defining diploma mills, the net harm such providers have on students and society, and suggestions for combating the problem, the full report may be viewed at www.chea.org/pdf/ degree_mills_effective_practice.pdf.
Study Suggests Blend of Online, Face-to-Face Instruction
A new study by the U.S. Education Department of past research on online and face-to-face instruction found that a “blended” approach that includes elements of both appears to produce more improvement in student achievement than either approach by itself.
Researchers found more than 1,000 studies on online learning published between 1996 and July 2008, and based their analysis on 46 of those that they deemed of sufficiently high quality. While a blend of the two approaches appears to be best, according to the analysis, instruction conducted entirely online appears to be more effective than instruction done entirely in person, the study found.
“This new report reinforces that effective teachers need to incorporate digital content into everyday classes and consider open-source learning management systems, which have proven cost-effective in school districts and colleges nationwide,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a press release.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based SRI International conducted the study under contract from the Education Department. The full report is available at www.ed.gov.
More Pells for Survivors of OIF, OEF
President Obama at press time was expected to sign into law new legislation passed by Congress that makes the children of soldiers killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 eligible for the maximum Pell Grant regardless of whether their incomes exceed the levels otherwise prohibiting their eligibility. Previously, under the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act, only survivors with incomes not exceeding a certain level were eligible for the maximum amount the award allows, which for the 2008–2009 school year was $5,350 per year for up to four years.
In addition, the new legislation gives the Education Department the authority to purchase “rehabilitated” student loans. These are loans through private lenders that students have previously fallen behind on with monthly payments but on which, with the assistance of guarantee agencies, they have subsequently made nine consecutive, on-time payments. Guarantee agencies had in the past sold these loans to other lenders, allowing the debt to be removed from the students’ credit report, but the downturn in the financial markets has led to a shortage in buyers, hence the move to allow purchase by the Education Department.
The new legislation also includes a number of other provisions as well, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators noted, including expanding the subjects to whom guarantee agencies and lenders are prohibited from offering inducements from “any institution of higher education or the employees of an institution of higher education” to “any institution of higher education, any employee of an institution of higher education, or any individual or entity.” ♦