Notes in the Margins: Prof advice, transgender students and tech schools

College Health Plans Respond as Transgender Students Gain Visibility Over the last decade, as activists started pushing colleges to accommodate transgender students, they first raised only basic issues, like recognizing a name change or deciding who could use which bathrooms. But the front lines have shifted fast, particularly at the nation’s elite colleges, and a growing number are now offering students health insurance plans with coverage for gender reassignment surgery. (The New York Times)

Obama unveils major changes to higher-ed policy US president Barack Obama has said that taxpayers “cannot continue to subsidise higher and higher and higher costs of higher education” in his annual State of the Union Address, and published proposals that would require colleges to meet performance thresholds to qualify for federal funding. (Times Higher Education)

Global education market reaches $4.4 trillion — and is growing The fastest-growing sector, not surprisingly, is e-learning, which is expected to grow some 23 percent by 2017. (The Washington Post)

Politicians, Business Leaders Ask High Schoolers to Consider Community College Industry leaders want high school students to know two-year technical schools are a legitimate path. (U.S. News & World Report)

Letters to a young academic Regrets? They've had a few...but with the frustrations have come joys and satisfaction, too. Here, six scholars reveal what they wish they had known at the beginning of their careers and offer some sage advice to would-be professors. (Times Higher Education)

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