LWRT October 6, 2014

Fresh from a hiatus for the Rocky Mountain Association for Institutional Research Conference, this week's Last Week in Retweets covers for-profits, competency-based education, Academically Adrift, tuition, and (like you didn't see it coming) rankings.

For-Profit Giant Starts Competency-Based ‘Open College’, Chronicle of Higher Education

Kaplan Higher Education is launching "Open College@KU," a new subscription-based program aimed at helping adults pursue degrees through competency-based courses. The Chronicle reports that the program is designed to "help people identify and organize prior experience and skills that could count toward a degree or move them closer to a new career." It will also be a gateway to paid services including additional courses from the existing Kaplan University. Kaplan has opted not to pursue Title IV eligibility for the program, which would cost a full-time student without prior coursework about $15,000.

Christopher Newfield on Aspiring Adults Adrift: Is College Still Worth It? Los Angeles Review of Books

Arum and Roksa's Aspiring Adults Adrift, like its blockbuster predecessor Academically Adrift, "now completely entangled with the miseducation of America about the problems of American education," argues Newfield in a compelling review of the former book. Unlike critics who have taken issue with the validity of the data, Newfield focuses on the authors' interpretation of it, arguing that it in fact shows not that students don't learn or fail to move into adulthood but that learning is uneven, strongest in liberal arts and sciences rather than those most closely connected to jobs and when faculty members worked closely with students in demanding classes; in adulthood students are not spoiled by permissive education but adapting to a fundamentally different economy (one with fewer, lower-paid, and less stable jobs and far higher levels of debt at graduation).

(And yes, this is so good I invented a feature for it. When you see the sign, you know it's worth the read.)

Ranking and Networking, Inside Higher Ed

Since we clearly don't have enough rankings, LinkedIn announced its own ranking system based on job information reported by its members. The system identifies the top 25 institutions in each of eight career paths, giving extra credit for "desirable" jobs (based on whether companies within the profession attract and retain employees). This takes the measurement beyond just wages and employment rates, but excludes the vast majority of institutions by only reporting the top 25.

Last German state to do away with university tuition fees, The Australian Higher Education

Higher education is now free of charge throughout Germany, after the state of Lower Saxony eliminated fees. The conservative Christian Democratic Union state government had implemented fees of up to €1,000 in 2006. The CDU lost control of the state last year, and the new coalition government targeted the fees as a problem of social justice. "We got rid of tuition fees because we do not want higher education which depends on the wealth of the parents," said Science and Culture Minister Gabriele Heinen-Kljajic.

Thanks to this week's contributors: @audreywatters, @tressiemcphd, @shermandorn, @cnewf, @todmassa, @AspenHigherEd, and @Robwilliams71.