The Chronicle of Higher Education in its annual Almanac gives an overview of HE in the US. A few interesting facts from the publication:
Of the 4 635 HE institutions, a mere 295 (6.4%) are PhD granting universities (research institutions in the Carnegie classification). Of course some of the 4 year colleges are also world class.
Largest PhD granting universities (not counting for-profit HEI’s) are: Arizona State (72 254), Central Florida (58 465), Ohio State main campus (56 867), Minnesota-Twin Cities (52 557). 30 PhD granting universities and 19 Master’s granting universities have more then 50 000 students.
Across the board, 4.4% of all staff at US HE institutions are non-resident foreigners. But among instruction and teaching assistants, the percentage is as high as 27.2%.
Of the full time academic staff in US universities, 40% have a full time teaching brief – no research – and do not have tenure.
Access is less than it seems in the US: Where the overall national completion rate in 2- and 4-year colleges is 54% within 6 years or less, a mere 21% of the part time students managed to graduate within 6 years. Financial problems are pressing; one third of senior students and 25% of freshmen report they hadn’t purchased all required academic materials because of the cost.
From: The Chronicle Almanac 2013-2014.
Almanac available through kees.kouwenaar@vu.nl.
