ACTA commissioned GfK Custom Research to gauge the public’s perception of higher education and the role of trustees. Americans are worried about the state of higher education, and they believe boards need to take more responsibility. Nearly three out of four respondents believe boards should not allow their institutions to surrender to pressure to withdraw speaking invitations to controversial speakers. 89% of respondents believe college is becoming out of reach for the middle class. Nearly three-quarters do not believe that students get their money’s worth. And an astounding 91% said it is the board’s responsibility to “take the lead in reforming higher education to lower costs and improve quality.”
ACTA teams up with Roper to survey Americans’ attitudes towards the nation’s system of higher education. The results show that many Americans don’t believe that students are getting their money’s worth from attending college or that colleges prepare students for the job market. The survey also found that most Americans believe that colleges and universities […]
ACTA teams up with Gfk Roper OmniTel to conduct a new survey on American historical literacy. Again, the results are troubling. Less than half of the college graduates surveyed could identify George Washington as the general at Yorktown. Only 20% could identify the “Father of the Constitution.” Less than half of college graduates surveyed could identify the […]
ACTA teams up with GfK on a new survey on American historical literacy just in time for the premiere of Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.” The study found that over half of American adults don’t know Franklin D. Roosevelt spearheaded the New Deal, and 59% don’t know Theodore Roosevelt had a […]
Trustees have grown significantly more concerned about the future of higher education in the last year, according to new polling released today that points to financial sustainability and the prices students pay as top sources of anxiety. And trustees aren’t just worried about the sector as a whole. A majority are also concerned about the […]
The concept of shared governance is in serious jeopardy at American colleges and universities, four scholars said Friday during a panel discussion here at the annual meeting of the American Association of University Professors. That might sound like a dog-bites-man story; the AAUP’s central reason for being, of course, is to defend faculty rights against […]
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has launched a new web-based tool that makes it easier to track and compare college expenditures. It’s called HowCollegesSpendMoney, and it promises to be an invaluable, user-friendly, source of information that will allow higher education leaders, students and policymakers to evaluate and compare institutions’ performance on financial matters as […]
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