20 Million Degrees and Rising: Meeting the Demand for More College Graduates
Lights, cameras, action! On Nov. 4-5, 2011, the Education Writers Association will hold its annual Higher Education Seminar for journalists in Los Angeles, hosted by UCLA. Click here to view the agenda.
EWA offers travel subsidies for reporters who need assistance to attend our conferences. Click here to apply.
America’s colleges and universities will need to produce as many as 20 million more graduates by the year 2025 in order for the nation’s workforce to continue to succeed in the global economy, according to new research. This year's journalists-only gathering will focus on what higher education institutions are doing to try to meet this demand, examining how the rising expectations of the nation's business leaders and government officials intersect with the abilities of higher education institutions to adapt to such rapidly changing needs in a climate of increased austerity.
Session topics will include:
- Productivity: With increasing pressures and decreasing funds, what can colleges and universities do to produce graduates more efficiently?
- Workforce: In order to grow the economy and position it to prosper in the future, what types of graduates and skills do employers need from higher education now?
- Technology: How some schools are using technology to help students earn degrees more easily.
- Diversity: In order to produce more graduates, colleges will have to do a better job of recruiting and graduating underrepresented minorities.
- Retention: Statistics say that half of the students who enroll in college never finish. How can schools graduate more of them, with a look at the particular challenges community colleges face
- Data Research: A discussion and tutorial on UCLA’s Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), which collects data on the opinions of college freshmen and university faculty nationwide.
- Beat Reporting: Ideas for the most important higher ed stories you should be covering this year.
- Budget Crisis: The latest updates on what government budget cuts mean for colleges and students, plus a look at new federal tools for calculating student costs.
- Adult Learners: A look at the evolving options for non-traditional students to further their educations, including new developments in online education.
- Is College Worth It? A bachelor’s degree is a big investment, in multiple ways. Are some young people better off on other paths? A lively discussion
For hotel accommodations, please call the UCLA Guest House at (310) 206-3751 and ask for Maydene Balasal, who will give you the EWA rate ($148 for Queen Bed/ $153 for Queen/Twin beds). The Deadline to make reservations is October 7, 2011. The address for UCLA Guest House is 330 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1466.
The conference will be held at the De Neve Plaza, 351 Charles E. Young Drive West on the UCLA campus.
EWA's Higher Education Seminar is made possible by a grant from the Lumina Foundation
Sponsored by Pearson
Hosted by UCLA
