higher ed

Students at Tufts University continued their hunger strike Monday to save janitorial jobs at the University. Thirty-five janitors expect to be let go early next month as Tufts tries to control its costs.

The University of Massachusetts has selected its next president: former congressman Marty Meehan. Meehan will become the first UMass graduate to lead the system, and he’ll face a unique set of challenges.

And then there were two. The University of Massachusetts is one step closer to choosing its next president, as a presidential search committee has named two finalists: UMass-Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan and Harvard business professor John Quelch.

After coming under intense federal and state scrutiny, the for-profit giant Corinthian Colleges says it will shut down its more than two dozen remaining campuses. Massachusetts and other states have accused the career college of recruiting students with inaccurate job placement rates.

MIT scientists are presenting a report Monday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science that describes what they call America’s growing innovation deficit.

On Thursday at the University of Massachusetts Boston, higher education leaders met with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to discuss ways to control the cost of college and help students graduate with less debt. WGBH's Kirk Carapezza was there:

Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland also attended yesterday's event. Listen to Kirk's extended interview with him and Senator Warren. 

Even though it's been weeks since a major snowstorm, New England’s college campuses still lay buried under a deep layer of snow and it doesn't look like it will disappear before Opening Day at Fenway. The weather, though, hasn’t deterred prospective students from taking campus tours in Boston.

Students expelled from the University of Oklahoma after they were caught on video singing a blatant racist song have hired a high-profile lawyer, keeping their legal options open. But are the students being exploited?

The University of Massachusetts Amherst has banned Iranian international students from enrolling in certain graduate programs, including engineering and natural sciences. UMass says its policy is dictated by U.S. sanctions against Iran, citing a federal law - the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012. Still, some academics argue the policy goes too far and the university may be discriminating against Iranians.

The U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says the nation needs the support of Congress to be able to make  community college accessible to everyone, giving all students, young and old, an opportunity to become part of the middle class.