Notes in the Margins: World rankings, dropout ceremonies and Quebec

As student loans grow, so does university leadership pay Students graduating with mountains of debt this month might want to ask why their university presidents make so much money. (CNNMoney via University Business)

This graduation season, should there be a ceremony for dropouts too? While the graduates are treated as people, the rest of us are treated as statistics.  Every year, analysts write about why some of us failed to complete all four years of our degree.  Nobody writes about all the work we did to make it through one year, or two, or three.  If we celebrate the hard work of those who graduate, why not celebrate that of those who don’t? (USA Today)

College rankings: Which countries have the best education systems? A new higher education ranking focuses on evaluating quality by countries as a whole, as opposed to specific academic institutions. Universitas 21, an organization of 23 research universities across 15 countries, published its first ranking of countries “which are ‘best’ at providing higher education.” (The Christian Science Monitor via University Business) In Quebec, University Strike at Crucial Stage A tuition dispute has paralyzed many of Quebec’s French-speaking universities and colleges, and sometimes erupted into violence on Montreal’s streets. (The New York Times) Too much agreement means more entitlements Congress is absent-mindedly creating a new entitlement for the already privileged. Concerning the “problem” of certain federal student loans, the two parties pretend to be at daggers drawn, skirmishing about how to “pay for” the “solution.” But a bipartisan consensus is congealing: Certain student borrowers — and eventually all student borrowers, because, well, why not? — should be entitled to loans at a subsidized 3.4 percent interest rate forever. (The Washington Post via NAICU)

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