This volume uses case studies and students' lived experiences to document the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) on international students and explore future challenges and opportunities for student mobility within higher education.

Responding to the growing need for new insights and perspectives to improve higher education policy and practice in the era of COVID-19, this text analyses the changing roles and responsibilities of institutions and international education leaders post-2020. Initial chapters highlight key issues for students that have arisen as a result of the global health crisis such as learning, well-being, and the changed emotional, legal, and financial implications of study abroad. Subsequent chapters confront potential longer-term implications of students’ experiences during COVID-19, and provide critical reflection on internationalization and the opportunities that COVID-19 has presented for tertiary education systems around the world to learn from one another.

This timely volume will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in online teaching and e-learning, curriculum design, and more specifically those involved with international and comparative education. Those involved with educational policy and practice, specifically related to pandemic education, will also benefit from this volume.

This timely volume documents the immediate, global impacts of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on teaching and learning in higher education. Focusing on student and faculty experiences of online and distance education, the text provides reflections on novel initiatives, unexpected challenges, and lessons learned.

Responding to the urgent need to better understand online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, this book investigates how the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) impacted students, faculty, and staff experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. Chapters initially look at the challenges faced by universities and educators in their attempts to overcome the practical difficulties involved in developing effective online programming and pedagogy. The text then builds on these insights to highlight student experiences and consider issues of social connection and inequality. Finally, the volume looks forward to asking what lessons COVID-19 can offer for the future development of online and distance learning in higher education.

This engaging volume will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in online teaching and eLearning, curriculum design, and more, specifically those involved with the digitalization of higher education. The text will also support further discussion and reflection around pedagogical transformation, international teaching and learning, and educational policy more broadly.

As the cost of college tuition has increased, policymakers and practitioners have begun to examine the proliferation of college promise programs (i.e., tuition-free grant programs, debt free college programs) across the United States. These initiatives typically aim to lower or eliminate the cost of college attendance and in doing so increase college completion among underrepresented groups: predominantly low-income, first-generation, students of color. While several states and cities have announced or launched promise programs designed to improve college retention and completion, scholars of education policy and practitioners know relatively little about the implications of these initiatives, and whether certain policies or procedures are best suited to specific contexts.

The purpose of this study is to determine what effect a statewide 30-credit hour annual completion policy had on the academic outcomes of college promise program recipients at two 4-year public research universities, Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) and Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI). The policy, which has been emulated in many states, aims to encourage students to take 15 credits per semester (or 30 credits per year) and thereby remain on course to complete a bachelor’s degree in 4 years (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2015; Lumina Foundation, 2017; SHEEO, 2008; U.S. Office of the Press Secretary, 2009). While the new legislation adopted in Indiana is an attempt by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) to improve college completion and on-time graduation of students, very few scholar-practitioners, aside from a few within the University of Hawaii system and Complete College America (CCA), have provided evidence that attempting to complete 30 credits per academic year significantly improves academic performance and subsequently, degree completion rates among underrepresented students. This study examines the implementation of and subsequent policy change to the early-commitment college promise program, Indiana Twenty-First Century Scholarship (TFCS) Program.

Using administrative data from the Indiana University’s University Institutional Research and Reporting (UIRR) office, representing 7,842 low-income students who enrolled shortly before and adopt the policy was implemented, this observational study employs a quasi-experimental, difference-in-differences (DiD) approach to explore the impact of the Indiana Code Title 21 (IC-21-12-6-7) (30 credit hour annual completion policy) on students’ academic outcomes. Specifically, this quantitative study examines the heterogenous treatment effects of this policy change on the academic performance (e.g., cumulative credit hours accumulated, cumulative grade point average [GPA], degree completion status) of Indiana TFCS recipients at IUB and IUPUI, compared to non-TFCS Pell recipients from the same time period (Fall 2011 through Fall 2014 cohorts). The study will be guided by the following research questions: (1) Did the 30-credit hour annual completion policy (15 to Finish) achieve its intended effects: increasing credit accumulation, improving student progress and increasing graduation rates? and (2) Are any of the identified policy effects moderated by demographic factors (race, gender, generation) and pre-college characteristics (high school GPA, SAT score)? Does the policy appear to have differential effects for various types of students?

Results suggest that the 30-credit hour annual completion policy showed a positive significant effect on credits and grades but had no effect on degree completion status at IUB (a small town, primarily residential, more selective, flagship research university). In addition, the study found a significant interaction effect for Gender and Generation Status when accounting for pre- and post-policy groups. Specifically, Gender yielded significant interaction effects on TFCS recipient academic outcomes in terms of Year 1 Cumulative Credits, Year 2 Cumulative Credits, and Year 1 Cumulative GPA, suggesting that female students at IUB appear to have significantly benefited from the 30-credit hour annual completion policy. The policy had no interaction effect on low-income, first-generation students enrolled at IUPUI (an urban, primarily nonresidential, moderately selective research university) for both the academic progress continuous variables and the college completion status binary variables. These findings demonstrate that the policy, which was related to a broader, national 15 to Finish initiative did not produce its intended effect, nor did it have any adverse consequences for low-income, first-generation students.

The results of this policy evaluation research have important implications for policymakers, politicians, university administrators, and advanced practitioners who seek to design college promise programs for completion. This research contributes to the empirical literature on state policies aimed at increasing student progression and completion. Moreover, this study extends beyond the CCA’s 15 to Finish initiative and highlight the broader effects of required academic performance policies on student success. The study will inform public debate about and adjustments of the policy and will also highlight several directions for future research.

With Taking It to the Streets: The Role of Scholarship in Advocacy and Advocacy in Scholarship, higher education scholar Laura W. Perna provides a comprehensive introduction to the central issues affecting higher education policy advocacy between academic researchers and policymakers. The seventeen chapters of this edited volume present narratives written by nationally and internationally recognized leaders that explore the professional pathways and methodological approaches used by faculty to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education. The book arrives at a pivotal time for the field of higher education during which scholars have been increasingly criticized for their inability to impact real-world policy problems with their policy research scholarship (Gordon da Cruz, 2018; Hillman, Tandberg, & Sponsler, 2015; Post, Ward, Long, & Saltmarsh, 2016; Tandberg et al., 2018).

Colleges and universities are historic institutions in the U.S. that have sprung up since the founding of Harvard College in 1636. Though their evolution and development is quite simple, the involvement of numerous organizations and groups with philanthropy and higher education is quite complex. Utilizing resource dependency theory and institutional theory, this chapter reviews the historical, sociological, and organizational overview of the practices of philanthropy as it relates to American higher education. Two conceptual frameworks are developed and proposed by the author for teacher-scholars and advanced practitioners seeking to conduct formal research on institutional advancement in higher education. The paper argues that the fundraising professionals (e.g., board of trustees, the president, development officers) role on securing major resources and private gifts within the organization and field level is the result of coercion, imitation, and conformity to institutional rule, institutional isomorphism, and normatively based decision making in higher education.

“World-class” research universities have long been a priority in the educational, corporate, and political spheres in China. With the establishment of the Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long Term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020), China seeks to develop globally competitive research universities that are based on position in the global rankings. In this article, the author examines the role of college environment (e.g., academic, campus, interpersonal) on college student’s learning and development relative to China’s quest for “world-class” universities. Utilizing Jamil Salmi’s (2009) theoretical framework of ‘world-class universities,’ this article introduces Chan’s conceptual framework of ‘Environment-Learning-Resources (elr)’ to suggest how the college environments influence the imposition of structure, processes, and student learning at emerging global research universities in mainland China.

The literature on leadership in higher education is focused mainly on senior academic leaders with managerial roles. It largely excludes informal and distributed forms of intellectual leadership offered by full professors among others. This article explores the concept of intellectual leadership using academic obituaries. A total of 63 obituaries were collected from Times Higher Education published between 2008 and 2010. These identify the importance of personal characteristics and academic achievements in the formation of reputation. Four elements of intellectual leadership are suggested, linked to academic obituaries: a passion for transformation, possessing a balance of personal virtues, a commitment to service, and overcoming adversity. Despite the limitations of obituaries, it is argued that they provide a valuable and under-utilised ‘last judgement’ on intellectual leadership.