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What you need to know about higher education

UNESCO, as the only United Nations agency with a mandate in higher education, works with countries to ensure all students have equal opportunities to access and complete good quality higher education with internationally recognized qualifications. It places special focus on developing countries, notably Africa. 

Why does higher education matter?  

Higher education is a rich cultural and scientific asset which enables personal development and promotes economic, technological and social change. It promotes the exchange of knowledge, research and innovation and equips students with the skills needed to meet ever changing labour markets. For students in vulnerable circumstances, it is a passport to economic security and a stable future. 

What is the current situation? 

Higher education has changed dramatically over the past decades with increasing enrolment, student mobility, diversity of provision, research dynamics and technology. Some 254 million students are enrolled in universities around the world – a number that has more than doubled in the last 20 years and is set to expand. Yet despite the boom in demand, the overall enrolment ratio is 42% with large differences between countries and regions. More than 6.4 million students are pursuing their further education abroad. And among the world’s more than 82 million refugees, only 7% of eligible youth are enrolled in higher education, whereas comparative figures for primary and secondary education are 68% and 34%, respectively ( UNHCR) . The COVID-19 pandemic further disrupted the way higher education was provided.

What does UNESCO do to ensure access for everyone to higher education? 

UNESCO's work is aligned with Target 4.3 of SDG 4 which aims, by 2030, “to ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university”. To achieve this, UNESCO supports countries by providing knowledge, evidence-based information and technical assistance in the development of higher education systems and policies based on the equal distribution of opportunities for all students. 

UNESCO supports countries to enhance recognition, mobility and inter-university cooperation through the ratification and implementation of the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education and regional recognition conventions . To tackle the low rate of refugee youth in higher education UNESCO has developed the UNESCO Qualifications Passport for Refugees and Vulnerable Migrants , a tool which makes it easier for those groups with qualifications to move between countries. The passport brings together information on educational and other qualifications, language, work history. UNESCO places a special focus on Africa with projects such as the Higher Technical Education in Africa for a technical and innovative workforce supported by China Funds-in-Trust.  

​​​​​​​How does UNESCO ensure the quality of higher education? 

The explosion in demand for higher education and increasing internationalization means UNESCO is expanding its work on quality assurance, helping Member States countries to establish their own agencies and mechanisms to enhance quality and develop policies particularly in developing countries and based on the Conventions. Such bodies are absent in many countries, making learners more vulnerable to exploitative providers.  

It also facilitates the sharing of good practices and innovative approaches to widen inclusion in higher education. As part of this work, it collaborates with the International Association of Universities to produce the World Higher Education Database which provides information on higher education systems, credentials and institutions worldwide. 

​​​​​​​How does UNESCO keep pace with digital change?  

The expansion of connectivity worldwide has boosted the growth of online and blended learning, and revealed the importance of digital services, such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Higher Education Management Information Systems in helping higher education institutions utilize data for better planning, financing and quality. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this transformation and increased the number of providers and the range of degree offerings from cross-border to offshore education.  The Organization provides technical support and policy advice on innovative approaches to widening access and inclusion including through the use of ICTs and by developing new types of learning opportunities both on-campus and online. 

How does UNESCO address the needs of a changing job market?

Labour markets are experiencing rapid changes, with increased digitization and greening of economies, but also the rising internationalization of higher education. UNESCO places a strong emphasis on developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, indispensable to sustainable development and innovation. It aims to strengthen skills development for youth and adults, particularly literacy, TVET, STEM and higher education to meet individual, labour market and societal demands.  

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Light the Way: The Campaign for Berkeley

Berkeley discovery: the foundation of the student experience, at a time when higher education demands innovation, uc berkeley is perfectly positioned to set a new standard in participatory, engaged, and inclusive learning. the discovery initiative aims to do just that by working to ensure that every undergraduate student has the opportunity to pursue creative, independent projects that build the foundation for brilliant careers that change the world..

Collaboration is key to fostering inquiry-based discovery.

In 2018, Chancellor Carol Christ and campus leaders identified Discovery as the flagship approach to deepening the impact of a Berkeley education. Discovery redefines higher education as a transformative journey that begins the moment students arrive on campus, informs every aspect of their academic path, and culminates in unique projects that evolve from the process of student-led inquiry. By enhancing mentorship and deepening access to Berkeley’s vast and varied resources — from libraries and laboratories to internships and public service projects — the Discovery Initiative is poised to ensure that all students develop skills that will position them for success on campus and beyond.

Discovery ushers in a new era in higher education where students not only engage with the most impactful programs available but become agents in their own destinies. Berkeley’s distinctive history as the epicenter of social, political, artistic, and scientific change informs this ambitious initiative.

“We envision Discovery as the foundation of the Berkeley experience and the heart of our campus identity.” — Chancellor Carol T. Christ

Discovery aims to support all Berkeley undergraduates to cultivate their deeper talents and interests, preparing them to participate in and lead the most important enterprises of our time — whether in business, STEM, art, or an area yet to be discovered. Here are some of the ways this initiative will serve the next generation of leaders:

• Foster Discovery-informed curricular innovation across campus: A flagship component of the Discovery Initiative is the Discovery-at-scale award program, a campus-wide effort to embed immersive learning into the heart of the entire undergraduate curriculum. This award program guides departments and colleges through a multi-year curricular design process that aims to create programming that invites all students into the Discovery experience.
• Create a Discovery Hub: A new center, located in the heart of campus, will serve as the touchpoint for students to launch their Discovery journey. Offering both online and in-person advising and support, the Discovery Hub will facilitate the deep collaborations among students, faculty, and the broader Berkeley community that help students turn their dreams into independent projects.
• Expand access through student grants: Discovery grants remove barriers for students who are the first in their families to attend college, are low-income, or are from traditionally underrepresented populations. With this support, students from all backgrounds can have immersive and culminating experiences — whether by engaging in an internship, writing a symphony, participating in a business plan competition, or pursuing a research project that ignites their passion.

Discovery helps undergraduates to cultivate their deeper talents and interests, whether in business, STEM, or the arts.

Discovery gives students from all backgrounds the chance to have an immersive experience.

When you support the Discovery Initiative you: invite creative responses to complex problems; serve an increasingly diverse student body attentively and responsively; and prepare students for career success at a pivotal moment in history. Join us to advance Berkeley’s highest goals of equity and excellence, serve the well-being of the global community, and light the way toward a new era in higher education.

By Elizabeth Costello. If you are interested in supporting the Discovery Initiative, please contact [email protected] or 510.664.4195.

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Discovery Center for Evaluation, Research, & Professional Learning

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About the Discovery Center

In spring 2015, the Discovery Center for Evaluation, Research, and Professional Learning was created through the formal merger of Ohio’s Evaluation & Assessment Center for Mathematics and Science Education and The Discovery Center.

Housed at Miami University, the “new,” unified Discovery Center serves as Ohio’s only comprehensive center for research, evaluation, and professional learning in science, mathematics, technology, computer, science, and engineering education.  The Center’s mission, which is to provide high-quality research, evaluation, assessment, and professional development services to improve teaching and learning and promote equity in opportunity, access, and outcomes for all learners, is accomplished through a focus on collaboration, advocacy, and strategic innovation.

The Center routinely evaluates more than 20 externally-funded initiatives, located at institutions of higher education and local education agencies across the US, and provides over 30 mathematics and science professional development experiences for more than 650 urban, suburban, and rural teachers across Ohio, annually.

The Center has extensive experience in the evaluation of systemic reform, with strength in the evaluation of P-20+ STEM education initiatives and, to date has conducted more than 165 program and project evaluations, served more than 20,000 Ohio teachers, and received more than $47 million in grants from state and federal sources. Current Center funding is more than $4.4 million and the Center is committed to project work through 2019. Primary funding agencies for Center work include the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, Ohio Department of Higher Education (formerly the Ohio Board of Regents), and Ohio Department of Education.

To achieve their work, the Discovery Center formally collaborates with peer institutions in Ohio and nationally and taps the specific expertise of more than 30 state and national experts and affiliate faculty. The Center also strategically partners with individuals and institutions who have demonstrated the potential to make significant contributions to STEM teaching, learning, and assessment.

To learn more about the Centers’ recent merger, please check out some of our recent posts; or if you would like to contact the Center to learn more about their work and the services they offer, please email  [email protected] or call (513)529-1686.

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The State of Higher Education 2024

A valuable, but obstructed path to great jobs and lives.

The 2024 State of Higher Education study includes responses from over 14,000 U.S. adults aged 18 to 59 without a college degree

Since 2020, Lumina Foundation and Gallup have partnered to produce the State of Higher Education study, an annual survey of thousands of U.S. adults without a college degree. Each year, Lumina and Gallup measure their attitudes toward education beyond high school, interest in pursuing a degree or credential, the barriers they face to enrolling or completion, and the experiences currently enrolled students report having in their programs.

Critical findings from the 2024 State of Higher Education study include:

• Nearly all adults without a college degree say at least one type of credential is “extremely” or “very” valuable.
• Career outcomes — such as earning a raise, promotion or a more fulfilling role — are the primary motivators for pursuing higher education.
• Meanwhile, the primary barriers to enrollment are cost and a lack of financial aid.
• More than one in three currently enrolled students have considered stopping out of their degree or credential program within the last six months.
• About one in six currently enrolled students say they have at least occasionally felt disrespected, discriminated against or unsafe in their program.

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The Economics of Higher Education

Participation in higher education has never been greater, and governments around the world continue to invest huge sums of money in the sector, not least to encourage even more enrolment. Meanwhile, many countries are moving away from centralized, taxpayer-funded systems to more ‘marketized’ models. For these and other reasons, the intersection of economics and higher education has never been more apparent. Increasingly, economic principles are applied to analyses of education and education policy, as scholars and policymakers grapple with difficult questions, such as: how should the costs of higher education be shared between stakeholders? What are the ‘drivers’ of inequality in higher-education participation? And what is the appropriate role for government?

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Edge at Hudson Yards and Discovery Education Launch New Partnership Empowering Students to Engineer STEM Dreams

Silver Spring, Md. (Monday, November 1, 2021)  –  Edge at Hudson Yards and Discovery Education today announced a new educational initiative –  Reach for the Sky  – that shows students nationwide the transformative power of STEM during a virtual trip to the tallest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.  

This new initiative –  Reach for the Sky  – features engaging digital educational resources and a Virtual Field Trip for students in grades 4-12. With an array of no-cost content, students discover how big ideas and cutting-edge technology can be combined to improve lives and revolutionize communities. Premiering November 4 th   at 1 PM ET,  The Future is Now  Virtual Field Trip takes students on a virtual adventure into NYC’s newest and most forward-thinking neighborhood and the incredible observation deck where marvels of modern engineering elevate the possibilities of everyday life to extraordinary heights. Students will explore new horizons in community-building as they journey 1,131 ft into the air to Edge, the highest outdoor skydeck in the Western hemisphere, for an unparalleled 360° view of the city and a behind-the-scenes look at amazing innovations of architecture and engineering. Throughout the Virtual Field Trip, students will hear from various leaders about the STEM, history, and social impact of the new gravity-defying structure. Learn more about this event and register  here .  

“Hudson Yards was always envisioned as an innovative center for engaging sustainable neighborhoods of the future and a place for discovery and adventure,” said Haley Ward, Vice President of Sales at Hudson Yards Experiences. “We are proud to partner with Discovery Education to inspire the next generation of inventors and visionaries through this one-of-a-kind STEM learning experience at Edge.”   

Accompanying digital materials created by Discovery Education’s expert curriculum and content designers help educators integrate this engaging virtual experience into any lesson plan. Included in the resources are an instructional educator guide, an at-home activity, and a visitor toolkit to take the learning even further .  The Virtual Field Trip and all the resources are available at  www.reachfortheskynyc.com  and on Discovery Education’s  K-12 learning platform .  

The Future is Now  Virtual Field Trip   is part of a new series of Virtual Field Trips engaging students and supporting educators in any learning environment .   Every month, Discovery Education adds hundreds of new resources—from ready-to-use activities to immersive videos and Virtual Field Trips to podcasts and curated channels found in its recently enhanced  K-12 platform .  Each resource is culturally authentic, reflects the diversity of today’s world, and includes embedded supports, such as closed captioning, text-to-speech, and language translations.    

“ We are proud to partner with   Hudson Yards, to take learning to new heights. Now, no matter where a student lives or their learning environment, they can explore the incredible feat of engineering that is Edge at Hudson Yards and discover STEM’s unique ability to transform neighborhoods ,”  said Lori McFarling, President of Social Impact at Discovery Education.   

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit  www.discoveryeducation.com , and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through  Twitter  and  LinkedIn .  

About Discovery Education   Discovery Education is the worldwide EdTech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading EdTech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at  www.discoveryeducation.com .   

About Edge Edge is the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere, a marvel of architecture, engineering, and technology with panoramic views of New York City. Suspended in mid-air, this one-of-a-kind blend of thrill and hospitality gives guests the feeling of floating in the sky with unparalleled 360-degree views. Edge combines the pulse-quickening excitement of leaning out over a 100-story outdoor balcony with the warm welcome of elevated food & beverage service in a unique social space.  

Contacts Grace Maliska | Discovery Education |  [email protected]

Higher Education

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Who wants higher tuition.

Will Corona Boost Online College Competition?

The global public health crisis hastened by an outbreak of COVID-19 threatens student flows to colleges and universities and other forms of personal collaboration. Just how stark the impact will be will be depends on many unknown variables–among them: how long the outbreak lasts, to what extent it can be contained, and to what degree local and international travel will be restricted. While there is an unfortunate potential for some students to lose out on college experiences, the unique reaction to the disease also raises an intriguing question:  Should families now consider alternatives to the in-person college experience?  Will many choose the cheaper option on an online school? Online learning is poised to be a big winner here.  It is Read More ›

New Higher Education to Incentivize Educators

The supply of public education leaders is greatly outstripping the demand. The demand comes from parents, teachers, and students—that is, groups immediately impacted by leadership, or lack thereof. Don Nielsen, Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute sums up the cause of this leadership shortage in his book, Every School: “School leaders, whether they are principals or superintendents, are not trained to lead their school/district. They are trained to manage their school/district.” This is a consistent issue across all school levels. Nielsen argues, “The difference is that a leader will look for ways to improve performance, will innovate and will not be satisfied with the status quo. Managers, on the other hand, are trained to take what they have and make sure Read More ›

The real crisis in higher education

Open-ended inquiry made us universities the envy of the world. but now lawmakers, donors, and even college administrators denigrate research without obvious near-term applications..

O n April 30, shortly after protesters occupied Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, they held a press conference and asked the university to provide — or at least allow the peaceful provision of — food and water for the occupiers. A short video of the event quickly went viral, and the speaker, PhD student Johannah King-Slutzky of Columbia’s English and comparative literature departments, was called “ Keffiyeh Karen ” — to cite only one of the less offensive terms — in the conservative press. Before long the subject of her research came in for mockery.

According to her profile on Columbia’s web page, King-Slutzky’s dissertation is about “fantasies of limitless energy in the transatlantic Romantic imagination from 1760-1860″ and Karl Marx’s concept of a “metabolic rift.” The Times of London published a column describing anyone who would write such a thesis as “of no use to society at all.” A Democratic member of Congress, Representative Ritchie Torres of New York, joined the pile-on; he posted on X (formerly Twitter) a screenshot of King-Slutzky’s description of her research and added, in his words, “higher education in four words: garbage in, garbage out.”

These histrionic reactions are part of a larger trend: A deep anti-intellectualism has settled in across the political spectrum in our country. If the events of the last few months have taught us anything, it is that the very thing universities do — create, debate, and disseminate knowledge — is under attack. That is a crisis that has little to do with a single war or incidents of plagiarism, important as those things are. Attacks on the very autonomy of disciplines that produce knowledge augur a larger collapse of the backbone of American society as open, rational, and democratic.

Anti-intellectualism on parade

I’m a professor of literary studies, and my specialty is exactly the area that King-Slutzky is working in. I wrote a book about how the literary movement called Romanticism was actually filled with practicing scientists and philosophers who reimagined the cosmos and human reason after the twin shocking events of Newton’s discoveries and the French Revolution. I concluded with a chapter on the influence of this Romantic imagination on Marx.

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The period in which we usually situate Romanticism — about 1770 to 1840 — precedes the discovery of the laws of thermodynamics, the physical equations that allow us to understand how diffusion and other molecular processes work. These discoveries were tied up with the development of the steam engine, that general-purpose technology that is almost synonymous with the Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent use of coal.

The historian of science and philosopher Thomas Kuhn argued that the Romantic imagination of energy played a direct role in the discovery of those physical laws, which were also, as the historian of science Anson Rabinbach has shown, central to the way that Karl Marx thought about labor, matter, and economics.

These discoveries, however, led to our use of carbon fuels, which over the course of the last century and a half, has thrown the balance of human life on the planet off kilter — the very situation that “metabolic rift” describes.

In other words, King-Slutzky’s research is part of a vital larger effort to understand crucial historical aspects of our world. Yet a brigade of small-minded people — columnists, congressmen, and other hobgoblins — decry this work.

Such pressure against research that cannot be obviously instantly “applied” is mounting, which constitutes a crisis of self-understanding for the nation. I’ve written about the alarming cuts at West Virginia University, which recently shut down whole departments — including languages and literature. Even the mathematics PhD is being eliminated. Cuts of this kind are likely coming at other places soon, with the help of consultancies that specialize in “trimming fat” that does not earn revenue for a university.

This calls into question whether America wants to be a global leader in producing knowledge rather than just products.

Knowledge takes a long time, involves a lot of misfires, and requires a lot of investment to produce. Even thermodynamic research had no direct “applications” — seminal figures such as Michael Faraday and Hermann von Helmholtz were motivated by knowing about the world, not by productivity gains or profit. The pundits and donors who think they know what new knowledge should look like in advance are damaging not just higher education but America’s comparative advantage as home to one of the greatest university systems in the world. Knowledge that is supposedly “useless” cannot be subtracted from the academic enterprise.

But that assumes universities, and the public, are really interested in the advancement of both scientific and humanistic knowledge at all. Today an anti-intellectual attitude exists across the political spectrum. Conservatives regularly argue that universities — the same ones that just sent militarized police in to brutalize their own students — are radically “left wing.” But Democrats, too, have suggested academic work is not valuable if it cannot be monetized more or less immediately. Torres’s shameful attack on King-Slutzky might have been less politically palatable if Barack Obama had not derided the market value of a degree in art history some years ago ( he apologized later ).

Democrats are acquiescing to and participating in the slashing of investments in universities: SUNY Potsdam followed West Virginia’s procedure, cutting nine degree programs , and Pennsylvania State University is facing budget deficits it might well respond to in the same way. There is widespread talk in these circles of “ enrollment cliffs ” (as the younger population gets smaller, fewer students will go to college ) and a general tendency to talk of degrees in terms of “return on investment” (often crude measures of immediate earnings after college , ignoring longer-range data that shows a more complex picture).

But this framework presents the university as a service organization only . There are different reasonable views of this issue, but in my view the university is primarily a research and knowledge-production institution, and teaching is downstream from there — students go to college because that is where new knowledge is produced. We have, however, slid into a strange position of seeing the students as consumers and eventual workers, and making research market-dependent.

University administrations contribute to the problem of anti-intellectualism when they accept this framework, signaling that they do not value the deep, broad production of knowledge. In response to the situation at Columbia, law professor David Pozen recently wrote of the “ presidentialization ” of higher education: the widespread sense that the executive branch of a university — which is not, as many perhaps are unaware, directly related to its research mission — has superseded faculty governance to the point of authoritarian control.

Yet even the rising power of college presidents doesn’t quite capture what’s going on. Increasingly, as we see in the reactions to the student protests, it is the trustee and donor class that seems to control most universities. Presidents who call the police on their students are in a precarious position between faculty who disapprove (but have little power) and an extremely wealthy group that increasingly feels empowered to dictate to universities what they should be doing. The billionaire Bill Ackman, for example, has been aggressively campaigning since late 2023 to “fix Harvard.” It’s less important what his specific proposals are than it is to consider why he (or anyone) thinks he has any standing on the question whatsoever. The entrepreneur Marc Andreessen tweeted , “What does it say about the modern university that it doesn’t simply promote the Dean of its management school to President of the university?” The message is clear: There should not be investment in research that contributes to the open-ended search for knowledge unless that knowledge “pays for itself” in the form of grants or other revenue.

Every time elite universities are dragged into the public eye — because of their bizarre DEI policies, because of plagiarism in the administrative class, or because of protests, familiar culture-war talking points are volleyed back and forth. And each time, the underlying crisis of knowledge gets a little worse, as we see in the case of a serious dissertation about Romanticism.

The value of ‘useless’ knowledge

Abraham Flexner, founder of the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton, penned a treatise on the “ usefulness of useless knowledge ” in 1939. That was a time that demanded a lot of knowledge with urgent, near-term applications. Yet not even then, Flexner pointed out, could knowledge be predetermined to be useful or not — it takes time, investment, and a lot of false starts to produce what eventually becomes useful. Today this would be written off as “waste” or “inefficiency.” But Flexner put his money where his mouth was, and the nuclear and digital revolutions came more or less directly from the research that his hires carried out in New Jersey. As the tech mogul Peter Thiel likes to note, there is a lot of “innovation” today that is just shuffling around known results to create new apps. To get to something deeper, you need to give up on the idea of what something will be used for — even if only for a while, just as a guiding idea — and produce knowledge that builds on, or changes, what we already collectively know.

I often see, in reaction to research like King-Slutzky’s dissertation, a divide between people who are drawn to math and science and those who think primarily about culture, ideas, and literature. One side claims rigor and logic while the other claims that the world isn’t rigorous or logical enough to be knowable in those terms, or at least not only in those terms. To my dismay, my colleagues in data-centric disciplines often join the fray against the humanities (which, to be fair, have frequently done a poor job of presenting themselves as serious about knowledge). But this debate misses the mark. The battle in the present situation is not between science and humanistic knowledge but about the lack of support for “useless” or fundamental knowledge as such.

Flexner played no small role in making the US system of higher education, flawed as it is, the envy of the world. He also noticed something that has been decried by generation after generation of intellectuals since the 1940s: that our knowledge of the world we live in has become too dependent on what, in administrative speak, is called the “funding environment.” There are, of course, hard realities about cash flow in any organization. But if oblivious politicians, pundits, and donors sabotage the core tradition of liberal education, we stand to lose much more than the Columbia commencement ceremony.

Leif Weatherby is associate professor of German at New York University and founder of the university’s Digital Theory Lab.

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• university of new orleans
• campus news
• uno-delgado partnership to enhance transfer student success in biology

CAMPUS NEWS: MAY 21, 2024

Transfer student success, uno-delgado partnership to enhance transfer student success in biology.

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The University of New Orleans has received a more than $550,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents to create an academic pilot program in biology that eases the transition from Delgado Community College to UNO.

The University of New Orleans has been awarded a $553,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents to create a pilot program in biology that would help ease the process for students transferring to UNO from Delgado Community College.

A recent student found that 80% of students entering community college indicated they want to earn a bachelor's degree or higher. However, only 32% of community college students actually transferred to a four-year institution within six years, said Jack Horne, UNO biological sciences professor and the principal investigator on the grant.

“One of the main reasons community college students do not finish their degrees is due to a loss of credits after transfer,” Horne said. “Thus, it is important to identify programs and mechanisms that facilitate this transfer pathway.”

The existing partnership between Delgado and UNO provides an ideal test case for enhancing the transfer pathway, said Horne. In addition, Delgado has the largest enrollment of Louisiana community colleges, and historically, UNO is the number one transfer destination for Delgado students.

“This proposal aims to build a program that minimizes credit loss and increases the number of transfer students in biology as a test case, and to assess each aspect of the program as a means to determine best practices to be applied across all majors to maximize the impact,” Horne said.

Horne, along with co-principal investigators Wendy Schluchter, UNO professor and chair of biological sciences, and Amanda Rosenzweig, assistant dean of Delgado’s STEM school, will collaborate to enhance and develop a student-focused, program-specific pathways for transfer students that begin with the associate degree, and prevent the loss of credits in the transfer process.  

It will be a three-prong approach, Horne said. Researchers will develop student-focused advising materials that ensure students fulfill their UNO general education requirements while earning their associate degree, and provide a plan for them to complete the science requirements necessary to prepare them for the bachelor’s degree in biological sciences at UNO. A significant part of this goal is to build an online virtual transfer portal that will be developed in collaboration with Vassil Roussev, computer science professor and director of UNO’s Cyber Center. Roussev is also a member of the grant team. Advisers and faculty from both institutions will be a part of this process and will organize the training and distribution to the advising staff, Horne said.

The second specific aim will be to implement programs to improve student success, Horne said. A working group consisting of biology faculty from both campuses will align introductory biology course work, including a significant technological enhancement.

Finally, a transfer student peer-mentoring program will be established at UNO where more senior Delgado transfer students serve as peer mentors for incoming transfer students, Horne said.

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Kkr invests in leading filipino higher education group phinma education, transaction marks kkr&closecurlyquote;s first global impact investment in the philippines.

KKR, a leading global investment firm, and PHINMA Education Holdings, Inc. (‘PHINMA Education’ or the ‘Company’), a leading private higher education group and the education arm of Filipino conglomerate PHINMA Corporation, today announced the signing of definitive agreements under which funds managed by KKR will invest in PHINMA Education, with participation from existing shareholder Kaizenvest. PHINMA Corporation will remain the majority shareholder in PHINMA Education.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240520933429/en/

Established in 2004, PHINMA Education seeks to provide quality, affordable tertiary education to underserved youth, equipping them with professional and vocational training that supports gainful employment. Guided by PHINMA’s mission to ‘Make Lives Better Through Education,’ it is one of the largest private higher education groups in Southeast Asia, serving around 150,000 students through its fast-growing network of colleges and universities, including nine in the Philippines and one in Indonesia.

KKR is investing in PHINMA Education from its Global Impact Fund II, which targets companies whose core business contributes meaningfully towards one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PHINMA Education’s mission directly contributes toward SDG 4 (Quality Education).

George Aitken, Managing Director and Head of Global Impact for Asia Pacific at KKR , said, “PHINMA Education’s mission of delivering quality, affordable education to underserved communities aligns strongly with our Global Impact strategy. We will look to leverage KKR’s deep experience investing in education companies globally to support the management team’s vision to scale the company and become a leading education platform across Southeast Asia.”

Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PHINMA Corporation , said, “When PHINMA first entered the education business two decades ago, we wanted to help improve the lives of young Filipinos in need and in turn, their families. Our commitment to this mission remains steadfast to this day. This collaboration between PHINMA Education and KKR, a like-minded strategic partner, puts us in a better position to serve and uplift the youth of the Philippines and Southeast Asia.”

Dr. Chito B. Salazar, President and Chief Executive Officer, PHINMA Education , added, “While our network has grown significantly over time, there continues to be so many more prospective students to reach, existing students to help keep in school and so much more to do to make college education more accessible to those who need it most. We are fortunate, therefore, to have an investor of KKR’s quality to help us make the lives of the underserved youth in Southeast Asia better. Their investment will support our ability to scale our systems, enter new markets, and empower our students to achieve the future they want and deserve.”

PHINMA Education marks the latest education and workforce development investment by KKR Global Impact, in addition to: EQuest Education , an education group in Vietnam with offerings covering K-12, edtech and vocational training; Education Perfect , a leading learning, assessment, and analytics platform in Australia and New Zealand; Graduation Alliance , which works with students of all ages through partnerships with educators, government agencies, community leaders, and employers to provide versatile pathways to graduation and employment in the United States; Lightcast , a provider of labor market analytics software that delivers real-time data and planning tools to educators in the United States; and Master Distancia , a leading vocational education provider in Spain, Portugal and Italy.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024, subject to approval of the Philippine Competition Commission.

About PHINMA Education

PHINMA Education Holdings, Inc. part of PHINMA Corporation, started operating in the education services sector in 2004 through the acquisition of PHINMA Araullo University in Nueva Ecija. It has since expanded its presence across the Philippines, serving more than 150,000 students across a school network which includes: PHINMA Cagayan de Oro College, PHINMA University of Pangasinan, PHINMA University of Iloilo, Southwestern University PHINMA in Cebu City, PHINMA Saint Jude College in Manila, PHINMA Republican College in Quezon City, PHINMA Rizal College of Laguna, and PHINMA Union College of Laguna. It also aims to expand across Southeast Asia beginning with Horizon Education in Indonesia. For more information, please visit: https://www.phinma.edu.ph .

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com . For additional information about Global Atlantic Financial Group, please visit Global Atlantic Financial Group’s website at www.globalatlantic.com .

About PHINMA Corporation

PHINMA Corporation is a Filipino-owned conglomerate that seeks to build the nation through successfully run businesses that make lives better for nearly 70 years now. The Group provides communities in the Philippines and beyond the essentials to a dignified life through its education, construction materials, property development, and hospitality businesses. As it champions using business as a force for good, PHINMA believes in mutually serving the needs of society and the aspirations of shareholders. For more information about PHINMA Corporation, please visit www.phinma.com.ph .

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240520933429/en/

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