For decades, educators and policy makers have decried low graduation rates at U.S. colleges, advocating policies and making investments to improve graduation. We analyze a decade of Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data for four-year colleges to investigate how much institutions have improved their graduation rates from 2008 through 2018, once controlling for institutional and student body characteristics. We find substantial improvement to graduation rates at public colleges, modest improvement at private not-for-profits, and a decline in graduation at the for-profit sector. We then investigate whether improvements to graduate rates are associated with variation in student-body composition, selectivity, and institutional expenditures, using pooled cross-sectional, Prais-Winsten, and college fixed effect models. We find that most between-college variation in graduation rates over time reflects variation in the composition of a college's student body and in instructional expenditures. Our Bending the Curve metric utilizes the cross-sectional models to calculate predicted graduation rates for each college and determines how much they exceeded or failed to meet expectations. Unadjusted graduation measures, such as IPEDS' rates that fail to adjust for these compositional factors, are poor indicators of institutional effectiveness and can mislead stakeholders who use them as an indicator of college performance.

To help students cope with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions offered students flexible grading policies that blended traditional letter grades with alternative grading options such as the pass-fail or credit-no credit options. This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the flexible grading policy at a medium-sized university in the USA. We studied the differential selection of flexible grading options by course characteristics and students' sociodemographics and academic profiles between Spring 2020 and Spring 2021. We also examined the impacts of the policy on sequential courses. Our analysis utilized administrative and transcript data for undergraduate students at the study institution and employed a combination of descriptive statistics and regression models. The analysis revealed that the flexible grading policy was utilized differently depending on course characteristics, with core courses and subjects like mathematics, chemistry, and economics having higher rates of usage. Additionally, sociodemographic and academic profile factors led to varying degrees of utilization, with males, urban students, freshmen, and non-STEM majors using the policy more frequently. Furthermore, the analysis suggested that the policy may have disadvantaged some students as they struggled in subsequent courses after using the pass option. Several implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Research excellence is one of the key missions of universities and an important engine for socio-economic development. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected academic research in many ways. This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the research performance of science and engineering faculty members in China's top research universities. It is found that the pandemic caused a decline in the numbers and quality of published articles, and the effects persisted over time. The negative effect of the pandemic on research excellence was more pronounced in the older faculty groups and departments of science. In addition, the pandemic has harmed international research collaborations among academics, which is likely to obstruct research excellence in the long run. In the end, this paper proposes several policy recommendations to reinvigorate universities' capacity for research innovation in the post-pandemic era.

In recent years, new expectations have been placed on universities, demanding academic contributions towards solving large-scale, interdisciplinary challenges. This is in conflict with existing insights from university governance research, which emphasises that scientific communities focus on reproducing disciplinary practices that are unsuitable in addressing societal challenges, because the problems associated with them are usually large-scale, complex and interdisciplinary. In light of this seeming paradox, we revisit the question of how-and on which theoretical grounds-universities may still be able to develop suitable internal governance mechanisms that allow them to address complex societal challenges effectively. Because university leaders are usually unable to coerce individual researchers to address such challenges in their research simply through their bureaucratic powers, we will argue that university leaders can, however, leverage individual researchers' agency to deviate from routine and disciplinary practice by developing novel or legitimising existing interdisciplinary scripts necessary to deal with such societal problems. Specifically, we outline that university managements can create a dual role consisting of the communication of legitimising interdisciplinary research on societal challenges, as well as providing for the necessary degree of interdisciplinary coordination by convening researchers around these topics.

University faculty are called upon to address complex, contemporary problems using interdisciplinary approaches. But do appointment, reappointment, promotion, and tenure (ARPT) criteria reflect and reward this fundamental change in the nature of scholarly inquiry? We conducted a content analysis of ARPT criteria at one university to determine how interdisciplinary work is valued across disciplines and over time. We found noteworthy differences between colleges and disciplines: generally, creative disciplines placed higher value on individual contributions while the sciences supported interdisciplinary work. The emphasis on interdisciplinary work over time increased in only a few disciplines, as criteria became more current.

Housing is a major concern for many international students. This is especially so in those countries where students are mostly dependent on the private market for their accommodation. Australia is one such country, and is one of the world's major destinations for international students. This article analyses governmental failure to address problems relating to international student housing affordability and conditions. Using theory on 'policy inaction' to frame the analysis, we draw on 20 interviews with policy stakeholders to explain the Australian government's reliance on: (1) market-based housing provision for international students, and (2) a longstanding policy preference not to provide support. Interviewees were widely critical of the lack of action to address international student housing problems and understood inaction in relation, rather than in opposition, to the dominance of market-based action in housing and higher education. However, analysis of stakeholder perspectives also illuminates how policy-making benefiting some emerges as for others left behind or overlooked by the status quo. The interview data points to the need for government to overhaul its policy framework, and in doing so, to collaborate with higher education providers in revising the market-based regulatory approach. The main implications for theory and policy are discussed.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1057/s41307-022-00272-2.].

This article analyzes the China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) education policy using a critical policy discourse approach. At the textual level, this paper focuses on policy framing by identifying how diagnostic (problem definition), prognostic (solutions), and motivational (rationales) framings are described in two foundational BRI education policy documents. Next, six additional policy documents are selected to construct a discursive totality to understand how framings are linked to and embedded within the broader discursive practice of policy documents. The interpretations of these framings are viewed through the lens of policy driver, lever, and value. Finally, a macro-sociological analysis aimed at explanatory and normative critique shows that BRI education is embedded in the discourses of national rejuvenation and China's aspirations to become a global leader of an alternative global governance and order. The paper ends with a discussion postulating that the BRI education policy's success depends on various shifting domestic and geopolitical factors, from the growth of the Chinese economy and ideological struggles among the world's major powers to grassroots reception or resistance to Chinese influence in BRI countries.

The balance wheel hypothesis-a classic tenet of USA state-level policy analysis that suggests state funding for higher education varies in response to macroeconomic cycles-has held up to scrutiny over time. However, new social conditions within the Republican Party, namely growing hostility toward independent institutions, call for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between state budgets and higher education. Drawing on recent research in political science and political economy, we conceptualize declining state appropriations to higher education in Republican-dominated U.S. states as an instance of democratic backsliding. Using a panel of state-level data we found that political partisanship conditioned state appropriations to higher education during and after the Great Recession. Our finding that the balance wheel operated differently in states with and without unified Republican control not only suggests partisan hostility toward higher education is a potentially worrisome indicator of democratic backsliding, but also the importance of updating models to consider the extent to which they still hold as contexts change over time.

Universities are rethinking their teaching and research programs and their whole third mission in response to the framework provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But how do universities walk the talk? What are the main strategies and activities undertaken by universities to implement the 2030 Agenda? While the higher education literature has documented the growing number of practices and strategies around SDGs, there have been few attempts to synthesize these scholarly resources. Moreover, the knowledge base revolves around an array of activities, which makes the literature seem fragmented. To fill this gap, the present paper conducts a systematic literature review and derives a method of categorizing activities that can support further knowledge growth. We classified 130 selected papers based on the type of university activities considered (research, teaching, third mission, and managing operations) and the level of the implemented action (macro, meso, and micro). Subsequently, we identified the main gaps in the literature and discussed future research avenues for addressing higher education's role in accomplishing SDGs.

Resilient organizations and academic institutions have been identified as contributing immensely to resilient communities. The majority of organizations showing preparedness to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 have deployed an efficient organizational resilience framework. Yet, there is little research on organizational resilience, and the conceptualization of resilience as a complex variable has not been achieved. Focusing on the higher education sector in the UAE during the COVID-19 pandemic, the current study aims to contribute to this promising research area by exploring and expanding a theoretical model on organizational capabilities that constitute organizational resilience. A qualitative phenomenological research design was utilized, where a total of 13 executives from reputable universities were interviewed, followed by a thematic analysis of the data. Findings provided deep insight into the status of universities in the UAE that are currently in the early adaptation stage of the current crisis. Organizational resilience was conceptualized as a process that comprises three successive stages (anticipation, coping, and adaptation), five key antecedents (knowledge, resources availability, social resources, power relationships, and innovative culture), and two main moderators (crisis leadership traits and employee resilience). Important findings were also identified on the needed crisis leadership styles. Recommendations for practice and research are discussed.

Higher education can be considered an industry comprised of mobile students attending institutions worldwide (Findlay et al. in Int Migr 55(3):139-155, 2017). The global pandemic, COVID-19, has significantly impacted the mobility of these students. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have attracted students using international student recruiters, various marketing materials, websites, and educational agents (de Wit in Int High Educ 59:13-14, 2015). When COVID-19 began to unfold around the globe the disease impacted many sectors of the economy, but the impact of disease on the higher education industry is not well documented. The purpose of this study is to explore how higher education institutional student recruitment staff responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores the perspectives of international student recruitment staff in eight small to medium-sized institutions in Canada to understand the impact of the pandemic on their practice and to generate insights for policymakers to consider when planning the future of international student recruitment (ISR). The study found that these recruiters perceived their size to be a disadvantage and that the pandemic highlighted the inequities within higher education. Furthermore, recruiters feared the competitive position of small to medium-sized institutions is potentially deteriorating with implications on policy, resources, and internal relationships within HEIs.

Numerous higher education institutions apply a full costing system in their accounting model due to the imposition of formal agents (governments/funding institutions), or by suggestion of informal agents (associations). This paper analyzes whether the rationale applied by these agents to justify the use of the full costing rather than the direct/variable system is consistent with the theoretical bases underlying both costing systems. Methodologically, we review the mainstream literature that explores the links between the management accounting model and the use of its informative outcomes for the decision-making in higher education institutions. We conclude that there exists a gap between the theory-based statements and the information needs of these institutions. Remarkably, the full costing system falls short of adequateness for these institutions, which need information for their managerial decision-making process rather than for other industries' decisions such as stock valuation. Thus, this paper contributes to a critical view on the use of full costing systems and calls for redirecting current practices towards other more effective partial costing systems. Our findings have implications for academic, managers and policymakers interested on the implementation and improvement of managerial accounting in public higher education institutions.

As part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (2007), the USA funded the TEACH Grant to incentivize earning a degree in a high-need content area (e.g., STEM fields, language-related areas, and Special Education) and to help meet teacher supply needs in low-income schools. Our analysis investigates the impact TEACH has had on the production of undergraduate education degrees overall and in high-need content areas. Using publicly available datasets and propensity score methods, we compare undergraduate education degree production at institutions of higher education, making comparisons between adopters and non-adopters of TEACH. Our findings suggest the adoption of TEACH had no impact on the overall production of undergraduate education degrees or production of education degrees in STEM, language-related fields, or special education. We situate our findings in the context of unrelenting demand for teachers in the USA.

The COVID pandemic has had dramatic effects on higher education worldwide, but the impact has been very uneven. The gap between rich and poor has widened further, aid to education has been cut, and abrupt changes introduced to pedagogy, international student and staff mobility, research laboratories, and institutional bottom lines. Anglophone systems with a high dependence on international students (Australia, Canada, UK, New Zealand) have been particularly affected. In Australia, the fact that the COVID crisis occurred in the context of rivalrous US-China relations influenced how the pandemic was understood and its effects, including in higher education. But the specific context was also influential, including lingering tensions between Australia's geography and history. A further complication was that higher education had become overly dependent on international student fee income, with higher education becoming Australia's largest service-sector export. It is argued that the longstanding underfunding of the higher education system, the abrupt closing of international borders, and the impact to the rising US-China Culture War have combined to produce major effects on the higher education system, the results of which will continue for some time.

The study aims to examine how higher education institutions (HEIs) in three countries responded to the challenges of COVID-19 over a six-month period at the outbreak of the global pandemic. Employing document analysis, we examined 732 publicly available communications from 27 HEIs in Canada, China, and the USA. Through theoretical frameworks of crisis management and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), we explore how HEIs respond to the pandemic and protect campus stakeholders. The study revealed common patterns in communication strategies during different stages of the pandemic that include accepting responsibility, emotional reassurance, and compensating victims. It also revealed key differences across social contexts and environments and distinct leadership styles. Findings offer insight into how HEIs communicated at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and inform the application of SCCT and crisis management theory to institutional behavior in the context of prolonged and intersecting disasters.

The impact of COVID-19 on higher education and quality assurance (QA) has already elicited global attention and discussion. QA agencies and networks quickly learned to adapt in order to carry out assessments, accreditations, recognitions, and reviews in a full virtual mode. These practices include using shared folders for virtual desk review, video conferencing platforms for interviews, and virtual site visits. In order to respond to the 2020 pandemic, The International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) swiftly adopted a virtual mode of the GGP review exercise for the GGP alignment applicants. The Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT) was the first case that underwent a thorough virtual review process of GGP alignment during the 2020 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to outline the impact of the pandemic in Taiwan higher education as well as provide the meta-analysis of the virtual review process of the INQAAHE GGP alignment by using HEEACT as a case study.

Universities around the world are facing unprecedented challenges as a result of the corona virus. There has been global devastation of the entire education sector with long-term closure of schools. The health crisis and the accompanying education crisis continue, and the end of the crisis is not certain. The immediate response everywhere to the outbreak of the virus was closure of university campuses, disrupting almost all academic activities everywhere. After the immediate reaction, as a short-term response, universities began offering some core programmes in education and research by adopting digital technology. While some feel that online methods have improved overall access, many argue that they exacerbate existing inequalities in access to higher education and research among several groups of population. As the global health emergency is still continuing, it is widely noted that we need to develop, after initial immediate responses, short-term, medium- and long-term plans for developing robust higher education and research systems that contribute to knowledge development, reducing inequalities, and which can face future uncertain emergencies. The paper reviews some of the important developments that have taken place, and different perspectives that are emerging on the responses needed for the transformation of higher education in the post-COVID era.

This Special Issue has chosen the major focus to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected higher education development and governance. The collection of articles in this Special Issue is organized with three key sub-themes, namely, student mobility, teaching and student learning, and university governance. Papers selected in this Issue were presented at different international conferences examining how the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 has affected higher education development from international and comparative perspectives. During the international research events, authors contributing their papers to this Special Issue indeed benefitted from the exchanges and dialogues from international peers. Drawing insights from the papers collected in this Special Issue, this introductory article concludes by drawing the implications for future development of international education.

Neither world leaders nor leading medical professionals would have anticipated the adverse impacts of the global health crisis resulting from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on multifaceted aspects of contemporary society. Set against the broader political economy context, this Special Issue focuses on examining the impacts of the present global health crisis on higher education development. Addressing the major objective of the Special Issue, this article chooses the theme of reimagining higher education in the post-COVID-19 era, critically examining Chinese students' desires and motivations for overseas learning. Based upon a few waves of surveys conducted since 2020, after the outbreak of the pandemic, this article assesses the impacts of the unprecedented global health crisis on Chinese students' future overseas study plans. Having experienced various forms of disruption during the COVID-19 period, this article also critically reimagines higher education development in the post-COVID-19 era.

Non-local students have been one of the worst affected groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of them live in foreign countries/regions with limited social and economic support. This study examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its control measures on the well-being of non-local students globally. It also examines the effectiveness of university support for the well-being of non-local students. Data were derived from a global survey on which was conducted in April 2020 ( = 583). A significant proportion (42.6%) of the students had low well-being. We found that being worried about COVID-19 ( = - 0.206, = 0.048), perceived disruption of academic activities ( = - 0.155, = 0.024), perceived disruption of social activities ( = - 0.153, = 0.044), and feeling lonely ( = - 0.340, = 0.000) were negatively associated with the students' well-being. However, informational support from universities was positively associated with their well-being ( = 0.225, = 0.004). These findings are discussed in the context of higher education governance and practical changes necessary to promote non-local students' well-being during and after the pandemic.