CONTENTS
- Associations Issue Statement on FTC Report on Patent Assertion Entities
- Administration Issues Final Teacher Preparation Regulations
- AAAS Releases Dashboard on Federal R&D Budgets
- AAU and APLU Lend Support to White House Active Learning Day
ASSOCIATIONS ISSUE STATEMENT ON FTC REPORT ON PATENT ASSERTION ENTITIES
A group of five higher education associations, including AAU, issued a statement October 11 asserting that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report on patent assertion entities supports the university community’s long-held position that efforts to reduce abusive patent litigation must be narrowly tailored to the small minority of abusers. The statement said that “overbroad patent reforms would substantially raise the costs and risks” of patenting and compromise university technology transfer.
ADMINISTRATION ISSUES FINAL TEACHER PREPARATION REGULATIONS
The Obama Administration on October 12 released its long-delayed final regulations governing teacher preparation programs. The rule preserves much of the administration's original proposal from 2014, including requiring states to develop a rating system for teacher-preparation programs.
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education has issued a statement saying it was reviewing the final regulations and urging others to do so as well.
The rule will eventually punish low-performing programs by cutting off their access to federal TEACH grants that help students pay for teacher training.
The final rule retains a particularly controversial component, which would hold teacher-preparation programs accountable, in part, for how their graduates perform as teachers, based on their students' academic success. States would have flexibility in how they measure student learning outcomes.
AAAS RELEASES DASHBOARD ON FEDERAL R&D BUDGETS
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on October 11 released a new, interactive dashboard on federal research and development (R&D). The Federal R&D Budget Dashboard allows users to explore data on federal spending on science and other priorities, including creating their own graphs on current and historical funding trends.
AAU AND APLU LEND SUPPORT TO WHITE HOUSE ACTIVE LEARNING DAY
AAU and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) on October 13 sent a letter to the White House in support of Active Learning Day, scheduled for October 25. The day recognizes the importance of improving teaching in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Both associations have ambitious projects to raise the quality of undergraduate STEM education in the nation’s top research universities: AAU’sUndergraduate STEM Education Initiative, and APLU’s SEMINAL project and Network of STEM Education Centers.