Higher Ed Teacher Hires Outpace Admin.
According to a new report released by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, the 2003-04 year brought a 4.4-percent increase in the number of people entering careers in higher education, bringing the total number of people in the higher education field to more than 3.3 million. Most new employees were instructors rather than administrators.
The report, titled “Employees in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2004, and Salaries of Full-Time Instructional Faculty, 2004-05,” found that the number of employees at American colleges that grant federal financial aid through the Education Department’s Title IV programs rose by more than 140,000 people, and of those new employees, 80,000 were either instructional faculty members or graduate teaching assistants.
About two-thirds of the new employees worked full-time. The most growth occurred at public institutions, which enroll the greatest number of students in the United States. In total, about 90 percent of the growth occurred at public universities and for-profit institutions.
The report also released statistics regarding the average nine-month salaries for professors in fall 2004. Full-time professors earned about $88,000, while associate professors and assistant professors earned about $64,000 and $53,000, respectively.
Instructors averaged about $46,000 annually, and lecturers made about $44,000.
Average salary figures were higher in most categories at private institutions than public, and much lower for professors at for-profit institutions.
Bush Plan Gives Funds to Language Study
President George W. Bush pledged $114 million in next year’s budget to boost education of U.S. students in foreign languages, including Chinese and Farsi.
The president announced his plan, dubbed the National Security Language Initiative, during a summit in Washington. Bush will propose a $114 million budget for the program for the 2007 fiscal year, with about 75 percent of it funneled to the State and Education departments while the Department of Defense would allocate more than $750 million between 2007-2011 to go toward training teachers in languages categorized as important for national use.
Bush reasoned that the program would prove vital in foreign relations, bolstering foreign language skills of American students so that they can better relate to people overseas.
Among other things, money for the program would go to an exchange, paying for 300 foreign teachers to come to the United States to instruct students in languages deemed critical, while 100 U.S. teachers will go overseas to study those languages in the 2006-07 school year. In addition, Bush aims to use the money to create scholarships for up to 3,000 high school students to study overseas by summer 2009.
Regents to Meet at UCSD to Discuss Fees
UCSD will host the UC Board of Regents in a two-day meeting starting Jan.18. The regents will consider several actions in open session, including employee compensation and laboratory management issues. On the first day, the regents will also discuss updating UC student fee rates following the release of the governor’s 2006-07 budget.
On Jan. 19, the regents will act on a proposed divestment of UC holdings in companies with business operations in Sudan.
