News

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    UC to develop online undergraduate degree program

    Byadmin

    Published Thursday, Jul. 15, 2010, Sacramento Bee http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/15/2892158/uc-developing-online-undergraduate.html SAN FRANCISCO — University of California regents have agreed to develop an Internet-based undergraduate degree program that will save money and expand access to tuition-paying students. Regent Sherry Lansing told regents at Wednesday’s meeting in San Francisco that the leading-edge online program gives the university system an opportunity to show everyone else how to do it. Regents Chairman Russell Gould says it’s one of the ways UC might thrive in an era of shrinking financial support from the state. An estimated $6 million in private donations is planned so faculty can begin…

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    Moving Towards the “Michigan Model”?

    Byadmin

    UC freshmen to include record number of out-of-state and international studentsSuch undergraduates will rise from 6% to over 8% of the class. The change is concentrated mainly at UC Berkeley and UCLA.http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-enroll-20100715,0,2160250.story Note: The “Michigan Model” is generally seen as high tuition/high aid with out-of-state students paying full freight and cross-subsidizing a discount for state residents. The local term seems to be “self sufficiency” as in: Chancellor Block: UCLA must be more self-sufficient http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/block-ucla-must-be-more-self-sufficient-149310.aspx

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    Dean Edley Presentation on Online Courses to Regents

    Byadmin

    Dean Christopher Edley of the UC-Berkeley law school made a presentation to the Regents on online courses. Slides available at: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/documents/online_pilot_presentation_regents_0710.pdf The UC press release related to this presentation of 7-13-10 is reproduced below: UC online instruction project proposed The University of California is exploring the use of online undergraduate instruction through a proposed pilot project. Christopher Edley, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law and special adviser to the UC president, will introduce the project to UC Regents for discussion at their meeting tomorrow (July 14) at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus. Read Edley’s presentation. The pilot project will…

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    Phone Fraud Aimed at UCLA: 310-794-6699

    Byadmin

    Phone calls are coming to UCLA people, present and past, purportedly from the number 310-794-6699. Possibly, this is related to the theft of a UCLA info database a few years ago. According to various web sources, often calls are received from this number but no one is there. However, in some cases, individuals purporting to be from UCLA have been reported to ask for donations or for personal information. If you call the number, you get the general UCLA medical center operator. Apparently, unused numbers belonging to the medical center – when called – go to that operator. The usual…

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    UC must put emphasis on education, not brand

    Byadmin

    UC must put emphasis on education, not brand Timothy Hampton, Garrison Sposito Tuesday, July 13, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle The UC Board of Regents will discuss this week a proposal by the University of California president’s office for an ambitious plan to market UC online. The proposal entertains the vision of an eventual online bachelor’s degree that could tap new students throughout the world, from “Sheboygan to Shanghai.” In fact, the track record for online higher education is very uneven. It requires enormous up-front investments and continual investments for upgrades. Given these high stakes and the financial pressures on UC…

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    UC-Berkeley Reports/Concerns About Costs of Athletic Program

    Byadmin

    Various reports on the issue are listed below. Chancellor’s response to reports:http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/07/12_athleticsreport.shtml Report of Chancellor’s Advisory Committee:http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/07/IA-Council-Report.pdf Report of Academic Senate Task Force:http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/pdf/Task_Force_on_Intercollegiate_Athletics_Interim_Report.pdf A news account of the Berkeley controversy is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/07/13/MNED1ED854.DTL Note: At an Academic Senate forum on the budget last year, VC Olsen indicated that UCLA does not spend general fund monies on its athletic program. Prof. Don Morrison of Anderson, who has been much involved with the UCLA athletics program over the years, tells me the UCLA senate committee that oversees the athletics program was consulted by the Berkeley senate committee in preparing its report.

  • Controversy at UC-Berkeley over expansion of online course offerings

    Byadmin

    From www.twitter.com/CalPolicy: Reported controversy at UC-Berkeley over expansion of online course offerings http://bit.ly/c4FNdB And if you think the idea of some version of distance learning is new:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Q-Mw6qH9k These “Sunrise Semester” programs offered courses for credit in New York City beginning in the 1950s.

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    Important: Effect of DC vs. DB Pensions at Universities on Retirement

    Byadmin

    The article below indicates the problems universities have with defined contribution pension plans (such as TIAA-CREF) which provide no incentives to retire. UC’s defined benefit pension provides a strong incentive to retire for long-service employees.=======================Stanford University confronts the graying of academia By Lisa M. Krieger San Jose Mercury-Newslkrieger@mercurynews.com Posted: 07/10/2010 08:00:00 PM PDTUpdated: 07/10/2010 11:29:02 PM PDThttp://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_15480908?source=rss&nclick_check=1 Note: The original article includes a graphic. Click on the url above. Many workers yearn for retirement — the goodbye parties, the golf course, maybe even a gold watch. But Stanford University has the opposite problem: Nobody wants to leave. Hoping to create…

  • State Books Balanced for 2009-10 (Well Sort of)

    Byadmin

    The latest and last cash report for the fiscal year 2009-10 that ended June 30 has been released by the state controller. You can find it at: http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy0910_june.pdf To cut to the chase, revenues were around $87 billion and disbursements were around $87 billion. (I have excluded inflows of non-revenues which are mainly grabs from various funds and reserves outside the general fund.) So a rough balance was achieved. Now, it is true that the revenues included the outcomes of tax increases that are scheduled to expire in the future. And it is true that gimmicks such as moving the…