Open Access Legislation and Regulation in the United States: Implications for Higher Education

Accessing quality research when not part of an academic institution can be challenging. Dating back to the 1980s, open access (OA) was a response to journal publishers who restricted access to publications by requiring a subscription and limited access to knowledge. Although the OA movement seeks to remove costly barriers to accessing research, especially when funded by state and federal governments, it remains the subject of continuous debates. After providing a brief overview of OA, this article summarizes OA statutory and regulatory developments at the federal and state levels regarding free and open access to research. It compares similarities and differences among enacted and proposed legislation and describes the advantages and disadvantages of these laws. It analyzes the effects of these laws in higher education, especially on university faculty regarding tenure and promotion decisions as well as intellectual property rights to provide recommendations and best practices regarding the future of legislation and regulation in the United States.

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Challenges Facing Contemporary Community Colleges

Global Adaptations of Community College Infrastructure - Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5861-3.ch013 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 186-200

Author(s):

Shah S. Ardalan

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Community Colleges ◽

Open Access ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

The United States ◽

Workforce Training ◽

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged ◽

Increasing Demand ◽

Student Completion

For over a century, American community colleges have delivered on their mission of open access and now educate about half of all undergraduate students in the United States. Recognized as primary providers of higher education and workforce training, especially to non-traditional and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, community colleges serve as transformative engines of prosperity and democratization of education. Contemporary community colleges face many challenges. Mainly, while community colleges are persistently underfunded, their leaders are under ever-increasing demand to improve student completion.

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Utah Tuning Project

Tuning Journal for Higher Education ◽

10.18543/tjhe-2(2)-2015pp235-251 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 235

Author(s):

Randall S. Davies ◽

David Williams

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Best Practices ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

The United States ◽

The State ◽

Degree Programs ◽

Quality Of Higher Education ◽

Individual Institution

<p>Tuning is a faculty-driven initiative designed to improve the quality of higher education by establishing transparent and fully assessable learning outcomes and proficiencies for degrees, discipline by discipline. Unlike many other initiatives in the United States which function within an individual institution, the Utah Tuning Project involved all institutes of higher education within the state of Utah. The purpose of this paper is to document the findings from an evaluation of a multiyear project targeting four undergraduate degree programs involved in a tuning initiative. A summary of recommendations and best practices is provided, along with the challenges and benefits to individuals and programs engaged in this process.</p>

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Essential pathways: An examination of how community colleges compromise their unique contributions to American higher education

Higher Education Politics & Economics ◽

10.32674/hepe.v5i1.1141 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 54-69

Author(s):

Khadijah Zakia Ali-Coleman

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Community Colleges ◽

Labor Market ◽

Open Access ◽

The United States ◽

American Higher Education ◽

Unique Position ◽

The Future ◽

Effective Community

Community colleges in the United States have historically held a unique position within the system of higher education because of three characteristics. These characteristics include their doctrine of open access, their consistent affordability in comparison to other higher education options, and courses that are directly applicable to the workforce. However, over the years, contradictions have arisen that compromise the practice of these ideals. Focusing on three policy priorities, this analysis determines how effective community colleges are today in offering students an education that is accessible, applicable to the labor market, and affordable. The concluding points include predictions of what the future of community colleges looks like within the next twenty years.

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Redesigning U.S. Intercollegiate Athletics to Better Conform with UNESCO’s Best Practices in Student Affairs

Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport ◽

10.18060/23240 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 186-196

Author(s):

Marc Edelman

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Best Practices ◽

Student Affairs ◽

Intercollegiate Athletics ◽

Business Model ◽

The United States ◽

Educational Needs ◽

General Purpose ◽

Bona Fide

This paper calls for the massive redesign of intercollegiate athletics departments in the United States (U.S.) in light of their widespread and fundamental failure to serve a bona fide student affairs mission, and their prevalent practice of placing the college’s commercial motives above the financial and educational needs of studentathletes. The first section of this paper discusses the general purpose and functions of student affairs departments within the broader context of higher education. The next two sections of this paper then explore the shortcomings of U.S. intercollegiate athletics departments to conform to these general purposes and functions. Finally, this paper proposes a bifurcated solution to reform U.S. intercollegiate athletics, which enables a small number of U.S. colleges to shift toward a true commercial sports business model, with the overwhelming majority of U.S. colleges, by contrast, adopting a true, non-commercial sports model.

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Inventory of Statewide STEM Education Networks: Final Report

10.31219/osf.io/z2hj4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Susan G. Magilaro ◽

Jeremy V. Ernst

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Best Practices ◽

Stem Education ◽

The United States ◽

Final Report ◽

Community Stakeholders ◽

Stakeholder Support ◽

Education Business

This inventory of statewide and regional STEM education networks in the United States is a resource for P-12 schools, higher education, business and industries, and other community stakeholders to advance collaboration, engagement, stakeholder support, and further understanding of best practices to sustain these partnerships.

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Different Perspectives on Higher Education

Journal of International Students ◽

10.32674/jis.v9i2.645 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 727-731

Author(s):

Shannon Dean ◽

Amber Sevart

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Student Services ◽

Higher Education Institutions ◽

The United States ◽

Voluntary Association ◽

Service Organizations ◽

Student Service ◽

Societal Level ◽

Similarities And Differences

After visiting four higher education institutions within Germany, reflections on the similarities and differences among the student services counterparts in Europe – both at institutional and federal levels are discussed. Studentenwerk serves as a voluntary association of Germany’s 58 student service organizations, known individually as Studentenwerke. This reflection explores the variety of student services offered in the United States and in Germany through these Studentewerke organizations. Additionally, reflection on the differences in the way higher education is viewed at a societal level is also explored.

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The Phenomenon of University Americanization: A Critical Review by Max Weber

Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology ◽

10.21301/eap.v16i4.4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 1083-1100

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Education Reform ◽

Max Weber ◽

Research Question ◽

Historical Context ◽

The United States ◽

Higher Education Reform ◽

Theoretical Concepts ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages

The paper discusses the phenomenon of Americanization of European universities in a historical perspective, referring to the critical comparison of higher education in Germany and the United States, conceived by Max Weber after the experience of his stay at American universities in 1904. In accordance with the subject and goal, the paper is divided into several thematic units that include the historical context of European university development, defining the research question, the historical and theoretical context (his trip to the International Congress of Arts and Sciences in St. Louis and defining two of Weber's key theoretical concepts (rationalization and bureaucratization) which are necessary for understanding his analysis of higher education), consideration of Weber's most important work on this topic (Wissenschaft als Beruf), and presentation of the conclusions of our analysis. The paper provides an overview of Weber's comparison of two university models: (a) the American model, which he sees as market-oriented, democratized and meritocratic, and (b) the German model, which he sees as critical, holistic and humanistic. Despite the prevailing opinion in modern Weberology that Weber was an apologist of the way in which American higher education works, in this paper we try to show that Weber in his deliberations offered a far more balanced view of the situation at universities in the two countries (United States and Germany), and that he managed to show different aspects, i.e. the advantages and disadvantages of these two, in many respects different, models of higher education and academic communities derived from them. Although the paper deals with a part of Max Weber's legacy and in that sense with a discussion that is part of the history of sociological ideas, the basic ideas that Weber argues in it have not lost their relevance in contemporary discussions on higher education reform in Europe.

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Latinx Communities and Academic Trajectories

10.1007/978-3-030-85668-7_7 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 125-140

Author(s):

Lisceth Brazil-Cruz ◽

Laura Grindstaff ◽

Yvette G. Flores

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Best Practices ◽

The United States ◽

Institutional Diversity ◽

Academic Trajectories

AbstractThis chapter will focus on why the Latina experience is critical to understanding current efforts to diversify the academy in the United States. We discuss the demographic realities of Latinx representation in higher education, the various ways in which Latinx scholars are marginalized, and what’s currently known about “best practices” when seeking excellence and inclusion through institutional diversity. We stress the importance of intersectionality in understanding and addressing the underrepresentation of Latina scholars in STEM.

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