Improving higher education

Time lists eight ideas to improve higher education: leading off with our Governor's suggestion to tie funding to graduation rates.  Of interest to continuing educators is Molly Corbett Broad's suggestion to Do More for Adult Learners.

8 Ideas to Improve Higher Education

There are 18 million undergraduates attending U.S. colleges and universities, but a surprisingly small portion of them fall into the category of “traditional” students: just 27 percent are fresh out of high school and studying full-time at a four-year school. Yet that’s where the national focus is, and that’s a problem. The vast majority of undergrads are older, taking longer to finish, working more and seeking credentials to help them get or retain a job. Many of them are juggling the very real demands of work and family and struggle to find the time and energy to devote to education. 

By 2018, 63 percent of all jobs will require at least some postsecondary education, according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. This is why policy makers need to start focusing on adult education: some 34 million Americans started college but didn’t complete their degree. Another 62 million have a high school diploma but never went to college.

ETSU to offer veterinary assistant training

East Tennessee State University’s Office of Professional Development, in partnership with Boston Reed College, is offering a veterinary assistant training program.

The course will meet on the ETSU main campus from Nov. 5 to Dec. 17 on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-9:30 p.m., with no class meetings the week of Nov. 19.

The program combines 35 hours of classroom instruction with a 24-hour volunteer experience that students will coordinate in their local area. Over the course of five weeks, participants learn to clean and disinfect cages and work areas, as well as sterilize laboratory and surgical equipment in laboratories, animal hospitals and clinics.

The program fee of $1,099 (which is subject to change) includes textbooks, program materials and a certificate of completion.

Veterinary assistants can pursue employment in a veterinary clinic or animal shelter by helping with procedures, caring for animals, performing simple laboratory tests and administering medications. The course will prepare students to assist veterinarians or veterinarian technicians in their daily tasks such as feeding, watering, and examining pets for signs of illness, disease or injury.

For more information, contact the ETSU Office of Professional Development at (800) 222-3878 or http://www.etsu.edu/professionaldevelopment.

Meanwhile, just over the mountains in North Carolina

State government is investing in community college retraining for unemployed adults.  That's refreshing. Greensboro Technical Community College is one of the institutions participating. From The Greensboro News-Record.

GTCC will retrain workers for free

GTCC is recruiting unemployed residents for free training that could have them in jobs within months. 

The college is among several community colleges in the state to get money from the N.C. General Assembly to help put the long-term unemployed back to work in new careers. 

GTCC received $880,000 as part of the state’s new Back-to-Work program. The college is now recruiting students for the program, which will end June 30. 

The General Assembly this year gave a total of $5 million to the community college system to train people who have been out of work for a long time. GTCC was one of 10 schools to receive money.