Penn in the News

As the frenzied college application season draws to a close, and students across the country mull their choices, many colleges are trumpeting that it was the most selective year ever. But high school guidance counselors and admissions experts say the heightened competition has turned the process into a anxiety-ridden numbers game. Except for those that offer rolling admission, colleges generally mailed out the last of their acceptances for the class of 2020 by April 1.

The president’s No. 1 on higher education gave the Obama administration an “incomplete” on the subject of college access, completion and equity. Undersecretary of the Department of Education Ted Mitchell said that while his team has made some significant progress, their efforts “probably won’t be understood for several years.” “It’s easy for me to give grades: incomplete,” he said, speaking at the Arizona State University Global Silicon Valley Summit in San Diego, California.

President Amy Gutmann is quoted about the inaugural President’s Innovation Prize winners.

Christina Simeone of the School of Design’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy comments on how Philadelphia’s ozone levels do not meet federal standards.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tasked with examining the future of online education have returned with a simple recommendation for colleges and universities: focus on people and process, not technology. Back in 2013, an MIT task force presented a vision of undergraduate education at the institute in which students spend half as much time on campus as they do today. Freshman year would be fully online, and instead of a senior year, students would take online continuing education courses to refresh their knowledge and add new skills.

As the threat of MOOCs and for-profit education fades, so too does the sense of urgency that drives innovation. Yet anyone who thinks that a decade from now higher education will look much as it does today is sadly mistaken. A host of trends are already well underway that spell the end of one era and the beginning of another:

Collaborative research about diversity and bachelor’s degree awardees from the Graduate School of Education’s Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy is cited.

John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on research that investigates whether sterile laboratory mice are good models for the human immune system.

Eighty leading colleges announced in September that they were creating a new basic application, which they in turn would customize, moving them away from reliance on the Common Application. At the time, members of the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success said the new application would be released this summer, and coalition leaders acknowledged the possibility that not all members of the coalition would use it the first year out.

Joyce White of the Penn Museum is interviewed about the Ban Chiang Project.