Benefit-cost analysis of becoming certified pollinator friendly.

Despite significant drop in pollinator abundance, no studies exist on the benefits and costs of pollinator conservation in the public domain. An in-person survey was conducted at three large, public US universities to estimate benefits to become Bee Campus USA certified. We test whether different types of reminders on existing student sustainability fees affect Willingness to Pay. Costs of achieving this certification per university were obtained. Net Present Value demonstrates that the net benefits to each school are largely positive, except under the most restrictive assumption. Information reminders of existing fees lead to little change in support of pollinator conservation.

COVID-19 threatens faculty diversity: postdoctoral scholars call for action.

Despite substantial investment and effort by federal agencies and institutions to improve the diversity of the professoriate, progress is excruciatingly slow. One program that aims to enhance faculty diversity is the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences. IRACDA supports the training of a diverse cohort of postdoctoral scholars who will seek academic research and teaching careers. The San Diego IRACDA program has trained 109 postdoctoral scholars since its inception in 2003; 59% are women and 63% are underrepresented (UR) Black/African-American, Latinx/Mexican-American, and Indigenous scientists. Sixty-four percent obtained tenure-track faculty positions, including a substantial 32% at research-intensive institutions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis threatens to upend IRACDA efforts to improve faculty diversity, and academia is at risk of losing a generation of diverse, talented scholars. Here, a group of San Diego IRACDA postdoctoral scholars reflects on these issues and discusses recommendations to enhance the retention of UR scientists to avoid a "lost generation" of promising UR faculty scholars.

Universities' Scientific and Technological Transformation in China: Its Efficiency and Influencing Factors in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Universities are important sources of knowledge and key members of the regional innovation system. The key problem in Chinese universities is the low efficiency of the scientific and technological (S&T) transformation, which limits the promotion of regional innovation and economic development. This article proposes the three-stage efficiency analytical framework, which regards it as a complex and interactive process. Avoiding the problem of considering the input and output of university S&T transformation as a "black box" and neglecting the links among different transformation stages. The super efficiency network SBM model is applied to the heterogeneous region of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Empirical research proves that university S&T transformation has not been effectively improved and the scientific resources invested in universities have not been efficiently utilized in recent years. Generally, Despite the correlation between regional economy and transformation efficiency, the exclusive increase in resources is not enough. Regional openness and the quality of research talents are key factors for the application of technological innovation and technology marketization. Universities should not only pursue the number of research outputs but pay more attention to high-quality knowledge production to overcome difficulties in research achievements transformation.

Características sociodemográficas, económicas y de salud de los beneficiarios de los Servicios Educacionales Complementarios Básicos / Sociodemographic, economic and health-related characteristics of the beneficiaries of Basic Complementary Educational Services

Introducción: La nueva Ley Universitaria 30220 permite mejorar las condiciones básicas de calidad universitaria en Perú, y es pertinente conocer las condiciones del estudiante y su procedencia para la mejora continua de su progreso académico. Objetivo: Determinar las características sociodemográficas, económicas y de salud de beneficiarios de los servicios educacionales complementarios básicos de la Universidad Nacional de Frontera, Sullana Perú. Métodos: Se trata de un estudio descriptivo. Se revisaron los cuestionarios socioeconómicos, familiares y de salud de los beneficiarios. La población fue censal y ascendió a 1285 estudiantes. Resultados: Del total de estudiantes, 64 por ciento fueron mujeres y 35 por ciento hombres; asimismo, se determinó un elevado porcentaje de estudiantes con servicio de agua por horas, y se observó que algunos trabajaban en ocupaciones de ventas, en trabajo independiente y como mototaxistas. También se determinó que la mayoría de los estudiantes percibían un sueldo mensual entre 250-500 soles. En cuanto a la vacunación, se determinó que los estudiantes se colocaron la vacuna antitetánica, la vacuna contra el sarampión, la vacuna contra la hepatitis B, y la vacuna contra el virus del papiloma humano. Además, se halló un bajo porcentaje de estudiantes con asma, con algún tipo de alergia, y con padecimiento de alguna discapacidad, depresión y abuso sexual. Conclusiones: El servicio complementario de salud que brinda la universidad es pertinente para reducir riesgos de deserción por motivos de salud durante el pregrado. Aunque se necesita articular esfuerzos con los Gobiernos locales para establecer programas de salud(AU)

Introduction: The new University Law 30220 allows improving the basic conditions of university quality in Peru, insofar it is pertinent to know students' conditions and origins in view of the continuous improvement of their academic progress. Objective: To determine the sociodemographic, economic and health-related characteristics of beneficiaries of basic complementary educational services of the National University of Frontera in Sullana, Peru. Methods: This is a descriptive study. The socioeconomic, family and health questionnaires of the beneficiaries were reviewed. The population was of census type and amounted to 1,285 students. Results: Of the total of students, 64 percent were women and 35 percent were men. Likewise, a high percentage of students with hourly water service was determined, as well as some were observed to work in sales occupations, self-employment and as motorcycle taxi drivers. Most of the students were observed to receive a monthly salary between 250-500 soles. Regarding vaccination, the students were observed to receive vaccines against tetanus, measles, hepatitis B and human papillomavirus vaccines. In addition, a low percentage of students with asthma, with some type of allergy or suffering from some disability, depression and sexual abuse was found. Conclusions: The complementary health service offered by the university is pertinent to reduce the risk of dropping out due to health-related reasons during undergraduate studies. Although it is necessary to coordinate efforts with local governments for establish health programs(AU)

Applying the goal programming in the management of the 7P marketing mix model at universities-case study.

The decision-making relating to effective marketing is less supported by operational methodologies and optimizing methods in high education sectors than in the companies. This paper presents an application of goal programming as an aid for the optimizing marketing mix elements. It describes a project undertaken at one of the Universities in Poland considering the marketing mix includes all 7Ps elements at University. The constraints are first identified based on interviews with academic experts and survey. The analytic hierarchy process method is used to select the forms of promotional activities and Activity-Based Costing method are performed to determine the costs of the activities. Then, based on constraints, the multiple-criteria-programming model is built and applied to construct the marketing mix model at university, and it was solved using LP-Solve software AMPL. A comparison between the newly designed marketing mix and the existing one in terms of each of the criteria shows that the overall objective function could be greatly improved, optimized value can be obtained, and the model can be easily applied in any other high education sectors. The consequence of using the model is the optimal selection (with existing limitations) of promotional activities, taking into account their impact on the perception of the image of the university, significant from the perspective of students and impact on profitability, which is important from the perspective of the university management.

Systematic shifts in scaling behavior based on organizational strategy in universities.

To build better theories of cities, companies, and other social institutions such as universities, requires that we understand the tradeoffs and complementarities that exist between their core functions, and that we understand bounds to their growth. Scaling theory has been a powerful tool for addressing such questions in diverse physical, biological and urban systems, revealing systematic quantitative regularities between size and function. Here we apply scaling theory to the social sciences, taking a synoptic view of an entire class of institutions. The United States higher education system serves as an ideal case study, since it includes over 5,800 institutions with shared broad objectives, but ranges in strategy from vocational training to the production of novel research, contains public, nonprofit and for-profit models, and spans sizes from 10 to roughly 100,000 enrolled students. We show that, like organisms, ecosystems and cities, universities and colleges scale in a surprisingly systematic fashion following simple power-law behavior. Comparing seven commonly accepted sectors of higher education organizations, we find distinct regimes of scaling between a school's total enrollment and its expenditures, revenues, graduation rates and economic added value. Our results quantify how each sector leverages specific economies of scale to address distinct priorities. Taken together, the scaling of features within a sector along with the shifts in scaling across sectors implies that there are generic mechanisms and constraints shared by all sectors, which lead to tradeoffs between their different societal functions and roles. We highlight the strong complementarity between public and private research universities, and community and state colleges, that all display superlinear returns to scale. In contrast to the scaling of biological systems, our results highlight that much of the observed scaling behavior is modulated by the particular strategies of organizations rather than an immutable set of constraints.

Effects of double-dose algebra on college persistence and degree attainment.

In 2003, Chicago Public Schools introduced double-dose algebra, requiring two periods of math-one period of algebra and one of algebra support-for incoming ninth graders with eighth-grade math scores below the national median. Using a regression discontinuity design, earlier studies showed promising results from the program: For median-skill students, double-dose algebra improved algebra test scores, pass rates, high school graduation rates, and college enrollment. This study follows the same students 12 y later. Our findings show that, for median-skill students in the 2003 cohort, double-dose significantly increased semesters of college attended and college degree attainment. These results were not replicated for the 2004 cohort. Importantly, the impact of the policy on median-skill students depended largely on how classes were organized. In 2003, the impacts on college persistence and degree attainment were large in schools that strongly adhered to the cut-score-based course assignment, but without grouping median-skill students with lower-skill peers. Few schools implemented the policy in such a way in 2004.

Mock grant application roleplay as an alternative to lab-based activities in molecular biology.

Many universities resort to online teaching due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is a challenging endeavor, especially in Molecular Biology courses that require lab access. Mock grant application roleplay is one alternative to lab-based activities. Students are engaged in three aspects: (i) targeted literature review, (ii) research proposal writing and (iii) 5-min project pitching. The design of this module is flexible and, other lab-based courses can adopt it. This module encourages undergraduate students to explore the lab techniques they learnt and concisely present their research proposal.