Colleges should compete for students

I guess it's a consumer oriented thing

Transforming Higher Education | Steven M. Gillon

 

I wander if all degrees should have independent third party examinations, then colleges can compete for students but confering degree will be contingent on passing some external third party examinations.

 

I see bad outcomes with this idea:
1. The college teaches the test as a required senior class.
2.A student spends much time and money and does not pass the examination(of course they could retake the exam but it would involve more time and money). If it happened too often the college may refer back to 1.
3. Who pays for the exam? Most likely even if the school were to pay it they would charge the student. The student would pay more money in a system that already charges too much.
4. The continuance of test prep industry into yet another emerging market people who want to graduate and need to take a test. People will pay, if I have already spent 30,000 to be able to sit for my degree and this company is charging me 3k to pass the test. You will pay the additional money for the insurance.

Essentially what the article is more or less advocating for is a big three type system. Where you can accumulate your credits at any institution and bring them back to your home institution for graduation. One issue I see is that the colleges are going to want to guarantee a certain level of consistency through their graduates. How do you maintain that consistency? My guess would be a system close to what already exists, the college will except 75 credits towards graduation and you must complete all major and certain general classes at the university.

 

I think we let the dog guard the bone.
Third party attestation of the university is a great mechanism and an external one that can validate the level of school and should be a layer above accreditation.

Otherwise you see grade inflation and athlete automatic passing etc etc.

I use different licensing board exams as a type of indicator, while at times I see statistics of Law Degree graduates passage I would like to see statistics per school of Engineering (EIT, FE), and similar exam takes.

for example in CA

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/4/documents/gbx/FEBRUARY2014STATS_R.pdf

LAW SCHOOL
FIRST-TIMERS REPEATERS
Took Pass %Pass Took Pass %Pass
CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW 53 38 72 65 40 62
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW 12 9 75 46 31 67
GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW 29 15 52 100 50 50
LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL - LOS ANGELES 41 30 73 67 44 66
McGEORGE SCHOOL OF LAW 31 23 74 89 49 55
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW 13 12 92 31 24 77
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW 27 17 63 71 48 68
SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL 58 37 64 84 49 58
STANFORD LAW SCHOOL 9 7 78 9 8 89
THOMAS JEFFERSON SCHOOL OF LAW 68 34 50 130 51 39
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY 10 8 80 29 16 55
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS 5 5 100 31 14 45
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – HASTINGS
COLLEGE OF THE LAW 20 14 70 102 65 64
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – IRVINE 3 3 100 13 7 54
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA –
LOS ANGELES 6 4 67 35 23 66

It can be left up to the potential students to ask the university for their pass rate. If the university does not want to divulge it, this should clue-in the potential student about the quality of education offered?

Maybe engineering schools should strongly encourage all of their students to take the FE exam in April, prior to graduation. You never know where your career will take you and it's best to acquire the FE certification while the information is fresh. Many engineers that until a few years removed from school usually find passing the FE exam much harder.

The information can be used to improve the school's engineering program to meet high level standards and attract potential engineering students.

Also to have some kind of practical on job survey.

Med school is a prime example of this. Ask any doctor and they would say that University of XYZ students are excellent test takers and can answer a large number of questions before becoming a doctor. When asked to perform medical tasks; however, they may be far less experienced than someone who got a lot more hands on experience at a different institution.

I'm for university attestation system that will take us beyond accreditation.