在线英语听力室

美国大学合作帮助贫困学生

时间:2017-11-19 16:35:36

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

US Universities Working Together to Help Poor Students

Michigan State University has long worked with and competed against other colleges and universities in the United States.

Michigan State, a public research university, often works on joint1 research projects with other schools. It also belongs to the college sports conference called ‘the Big Ten,’ which actually has 14 member institutions.

Yet in the world of higher education, competition can seem more common than schools working together. That is the opinion of Kristen Renn, a professor of higher education at Michigan State. She says that all of the over 4,000 colleges and universities across the country have different goals to meet.

Unlike governments in some countries, the U.S. federal government does not completely organize higher education. Renn notes that some states even have trouble organizing the public schools they are supposed to operate. Every college and university competes for students, as well as the best teachers and money for research programs.

But one thing almost every institution has in common, Renn says, is the difficulty they face in serving low-income and first generation students.

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that low-income college students are less likely to complete their study programs than other students. In 2015, the center reported that just about 16 percent of the poorest students were able to graduate college. By comparison, about 60 percent of the wealthiest students graduated.

Renn says it was only natural that the leaders of Michigan State and ten other universities discussed this issue when they met in 2014. The 11 schools are spread across the United States and serve different populations and needs. But their leaders all saw improving graduation rates for all students as the biggest problem facing U.S. higher education.

So the group created an organization for sharing information related to this problem. It is called the University Innovation Alliance, or UIA.

Its main goal is to get 68,000 more students at the member institutions to graduate by 2025, with at least half of those students being low-income. The 11 schools now say their number of graduates has increased by over 7,200 in just three years. This includes an almost 25 percent increase in the number of low-income graduates.

How were they able to make this happen? Renn says it began with each university looking at its own situation and finding out what it had been doing right and what it had been doing wrong.

For example, before joining the UIA, academic advising at Michigan State mostly involved reacting to problems students faced after the problems had already arisen. Then school officials heard about a computer program that fellow UIA member Georgia State University was using.

This computer program follows decisions students make about their classes and the progress they are making in their studies. It then sends academic advisors2 messages whenever a student shows signs they are making mistakes or facing difficulties. That way the advisors can try to help students before the problems become too serious.

Michigan State began using the computer program. Renn says it has meant a world of difference.

“If I’m an academic adviser3 in chemistry and one of my students drops calculus4 in the middle of a semester, in previous, advising it was very difficult to identify those students,” she told VOA. “But currently, that student dropping a class would send an alert to the adviser, who then can contact the student and say ‘Why did you drop the class? Did you know this is required? Can we talk about what’s going on?’”

Michigan State has not only received useful information from its partners. It has also shared helpful information of its own, says Renn.

Her university began looking at how it communicated with students. The administration discovered that it was sending so many emails to students that they often overlooked ones with important information. So the school decided5 to greatly reduce the number of its messages to students, giving more attention to the important ones.

The University of Kansas began doing the same, says DeAngela Burns-Wallace. She is the university’s Vice6 Provost for Undergraduate Studies.

She says Kansas shared information about its work-study programs with the other UIA members. Her school had been offering paid research jobs to undergraduate students so they could support themselves financially and develop an early interest in research.

Burns-Wallace notes that several other schools have begun to do the same. She says it is the free flow of information back and forth7 between institutions that makes the UIA program so successful.

“I have colleagues that are in financial aid or student affairs or research who can pick up the phone and have a colleague at 11 other institutions give immediate8 feedback on a project or … understand how the others have done it and maybe identify other opportunities,” she told VOA.

Bridget Burns is the executive director for the UIA. She says efforts like this have never been as successful because of the way American higher education is designed. For one thing, change does not come quickly to colleges and universities, especially large, public ones. This is not necessarily a bad thing, she argues. After all, it is important for institutions to direct much of their time and energy toward other responsibilities.

But, Burns notes, schools do need to change how they estimate the value of their efforts. Colleges and universities use a lot of different measurements when competing with one another. Yet these often pay more attention to the number of college applicants9 they deny, instead of noting how many they help, she says.

“There are rankings that measure all kinds of things,” she told VOA. “But how well you do for low income students has not historically been … highlighted. We know that progress is possible, that we can do better. But we need to actually create … rewards to highlight this kind of behavior.”

Burns hopes sharing the successes of the UIA schools will help other colleges and universities think more about their similarities. This includes the problems many of them face.

In the future, Burns does not just want other schools to join her organization just to belong to it. She wants them to learn from the UIA, create their own partnerships10, and come up with even more improvements for all college students.

I’m -Pete Musto. And I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

institution(s) – n. an established organization

income – n. money that is earned from work, investments, or business

graduate – v. to earn a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

academic – adj. of or relating to schools and education

semester – n. one of two usually 18-week periods that make up an academic year at a school or college

alert – n. something, such as a message or loud sound, that tells people there is some danger or problem

colleague(s) – n. a person who works with you

feedback – n. helpful information or criticism that is given to someone to say what can be done to improve a performance or product

applicant(s) – n. someone who formally asks for something, such as a job or admission to a college

highlight(ed) – v. to make or try to make people notice or be aware of someone or something


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 joint m3lx4     
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合
参考例句:
  • I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤,肩膀脫臼了。
  • We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
2 advisors 9c02a9c1778f1533c47ade215559070d     
n.顾问,劝告者( advisor的名词复数 );(指导大学新生学科问题等的)指导教授
参考例句:
  • The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网
3 adviser HznziU     
n.劝告者,顾问
参考例句:
  • They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
  • Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。
4 calculus Is9zM     
n.微积分;结石
参考例句:
  • This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题,微积分一点也用不上。
  • After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后,你们就能够解这些数学题了。
5 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
6 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
7 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
8 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
9 applicants aaea8e805a118b90e86f7044ecfb6d59     
申请人,求职人( applicant的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
  • He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。
10 partnerships ce2e6aff420d72bbf56e8077be344bc9     
n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 );合伙人身份;合作关系
参考例句:
  • Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。