Two years ago, PayPal founder and libertarian futurist Peter Thiel declared higher education "a bubble" and decided to give 20 bright young things $100,000 each to quit college and start a company instead. Harvard hasn’t exactly shut its doors since then. But over half of all private colleges in the country did just report flat or declining enrollment.
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Add North Carolina to the growing list of states working on intrastate investment crowdfunding legislation, especially as the equity crowdfunding proposal of the Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act (JOBS Act) won’t be brought up by the SEC for a three-month public commenting until the end of August at the earliest...A team of local entrepreneurs and investors in North Carolina looked closely at crowdfunding legislation that has already been passed in Kansas and Georgia.
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The Silicon Valley Bank Startup Outlook report is based on an annual survey of private startup companies across the U.S. in the software, life science, hardware and cleantech sectors…The reports found on this page break down the survey results and feature the issues that are of most importance to startup companies, such as hiring high skilled workers and dealing with the medical device tax.
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The Future of Manufacturing report (April 2012) identified a number of factors that will shape the future of competition between countries and companies. Three areas rose to the top as the most critical: human capital and talent development; innovation and technology advancement; and strategic use of public policy emphasizing collaboration between policy-makers and business leaders. This series of Manufacturing for Growth reports addresses these key competitive factors and defines ways to drive economic growth and high-value job creation through manufacturing industry sectors.
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The post-World War II global trading system has always favored the mercantilist nations, but the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and its World Trade Organization (WTO) successor were always more or less controlled by free trading countries and had as their Director a passionate devotee of free trade. Now, with the elevation of Brazil's Roberto Azevedo to the Director's position, the mercantilist foxes have taken charge as well as advantage of the WTO chicken house.
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Responsible corporations prioritize workplace safety. Building-structure codes, fire and smoke alarms, multiple exits, limited work hours and other standard safety regulations are documented to prevent accidents. Consumers may appreciate low prices, but will avoid brands that become associated with brutal workplace conditions. A factory fire in November and a building collapse in April have put Bangladesh under the spotlight.
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If you need a reason to contemplate what the urban landscape will look like 50 years from now, consider that construction of it is already underway. The median life span of a residential building in the United States is 53 years, and a large office building typically will last 65 years, according to the 2010 Buildings Energy Databook, published by the U.S. Department of Energy. That means the future will be characterized by the visions of today’s architects, developers, engineers, and urban planners. And their work will have to stand the test of a world that is likely to be very different from the one that existed when they first started sketching their designs.
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All communities know where their schools are, but few have thorough information on other resources: libraries, youth centers, out-of-school time sites and religious programs. The Forum's Ready Communities package helps leaders answer these questions with a powerful yet simple mapping technology solution. In this free webinar, scheduled for May 30 at 1:00 pm ET, learn how to leverage this technology to get a clear picture of the places where youth spend their time.
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Shrinking city syndrome is chronic, painful and basically incurable. Once a city starts losing its population—usually because it relied on an industry now in decline (see Detroit)—there is no proven strategy for stopping the bleeding. But there are some interesting unproven strategies. Case in point: Niagara Falls, New York, a city that just nailed down five more citizens by agreeing to pay back (some of) their student loans.
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The 2013 Kelly Global Workforce Index (KGWI) brings work and workplace insights sourced from more than 120,000 respondents from 31 countries across the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions. This first installment, on the topic of Career Development and Upskilling, explores the changing focus on training and skills development, as employees become more proactive and self-reliant in managing their careers.
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The New America Foundation and Education Sector recently released State U Online, a report that examines the history of distance learning at public colleges dating back to the 18th century. This paper not only reviews the online offerings at many public colleges and universities, but it also identifies consistent patterns that can help institutional and state-system leaders chart a path forward for the online future. The analysis identifies five steps that institutions and states can take to build a coherent systemwide State U Online. Each step builds on those before it, leading toward increasingly integrated systems in which students can move freely among institutions within a state and eventually beyond state lines.
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Historically, community colleges have served as an entry point to higher education for many students, particularly nontraditional older students as well as those from low-income households. Community colleges provide general education courses that often, but not always, are transferable to public four-year colleges and universities. For students who persist, the outcome at community colleges has traditionally been a two-year associate degree. Over the past 20 years, however, the line in the sand separating two- and four-year postsecondary institutions has begun to erode. Twenty states have begun meeting the demand for more bachelor’s degrees by giving community colleges an expanded role and allowing them to offer four-year degrees.
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