Over the last few years, we’ve seen a movement in higher education to do a better job supporting student success and graduating students across the socioeconomic spectrum - particularly low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color. Here at the UIA we’ve been leading that effort, but change is difficult, especially at large institutions. So, along the way, we’ve picked up an array of insights about what makes change possible in the higher ed environment.
Check out this great conversation with Dr. Jennifer Brown, the Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Education at University of California Riverside. Dr. Brown is the UIA liaison for UCR and in this interview she helps us understand how they have eliminated race and income as a predictor of outcome.
Unlikely is a new documentary arriving in theaters this week. The film is an important tool to galvanize momentum, and inspire student success teams to take action. Check out this short interview with Director Jaye Fenderson, and bring your team of administrators, faculty, staff, and students to see it in theaters! For more information and tickets.
When we talk about how to make higher education more student centric, we talk a lot about innovation. Innovation, however, isn’t synonymous with technology. In fact, a lot of the improvements we test and adopt across the UIA are simple, low tech changes aimed at simplifying the systems students navigate every day.
Earlier this year, several students at University of California, Riverside (UCR) found themselves stuck in a difficult situation. They had failed to register for a full-time course load, so they hadn't received their financial aid, but a hold on their accounts prevented them from enrolling in a full-time course load. It was what you might call “a financial aid loop”.
While just a few semesters ago, these students would have likely fallen through the cracks, UCR now tracks students proactively through a project called Monitoring Advising Analytics to Promote Success (MAAPS).
Portland, Ore. – September 25, 2017 – College completion data released today by the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) shows that the number of low-income graduates has increased by 24.7 percent among participating universities over the past three years, marking significant progress toward the Alliance’s goal of graduating an additional 68,000 undergraduates by 2025.
When it comes to the classroom, we don’t want just one winner, which is why in the past we've used the Final Four as an analogy for the kind of thinking higher education should avoid.
We argued that while rounds of elimination may be exciting when it comes to sports, it’s misplaced in higher education where an unrealistic “beat the odds” mentality has traditionally held too much sway and is particularly out of place with respect to low income and first generation students.
When Villanova’s Kris Jenkins hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to win the men’s NCAA basketball championship last month, the nation erupted in cheers. America loves an underdog, and Villanova — a small private school competing against perennial powerhouse North Carolina — wasn’t expected to win. The championship was their first in 31 years and just their second in history.
Underdog stories are inspiring in college athletics because we love to see ordinary people achieve extraordinary success through hard work and determination. And in sports, there can only be one champion.
PORTLAND, Ore. – March 3, 2016 – The University Innovation Alliance (UIA) today announced an additional $3.85 million in new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, and USA Funds to support its work to improve college completion rates.
“This additional support highlights the philanthropic community’s enthusiasm for effective collaboration among colleges and universities to share and scale student success innovation,” said UIA Vice Chair and Georgia State University President Mark Becker.
For low income and first generation students, cost is often a barrier to college, but deeply entrenched cultural elements of the university experience can act as obstacles as well. How are innovative higher ed leaders shaking things up and which new values are they embracing?