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US Universities Roll Out COVID Spit Tests

A health worker takes a nasal swab to test for COVID-19 in a government school in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. A simpler and quicker saliva test is being rolled out on U.S. campuses.
A health worker takes a nasal swab to test for COVID-19 in a government school in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. A simpler and quicker saliva test is being rolled out on U.S. campuses.

A recently approved rapid saliva test for COVID-19 is already being used on college campuses across the United States.

Also called spit tests, they produce results in less than 24 hours, cost about $10, and are less invasive than the standard swab that is placed deep into the nose.

Yale University School of Public Health in Connecticut partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players Association in June, the school said, to devise the test, called SalivaDirect.

“Direct saliva testing can address bottlenecks of time, cost and supplies,” said Dr. Martin Burke, a chemistry professor who helped design a saliva test at the University of Illinois in collaboration with Yale University.

“Once somebody is infected, the amount of virus in their system can rise very rapidly. Unless we have a test that can give them results very quickly, by the time somebody finds out they are infected, they will have spread the virus,” said Rebecca Lee Smith, a professor of pathobiology on the Illinois University website.

“The faster we can notify people, the faster we can stop the spread,” Smith said.

At the University of South Carolina, officials say they will test thousands of students and employees daily for COVID-19, with no limit on frequency. The simpler test is advised for those without symptoms. Those with flu-like symptoms like fever are advised to get a nasal swab test.

Colleges and universities across the U.S. have grappled with how to teach classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infected younger people have been less impacted by the virus than older people but are seen as asymptomatic spreaders.

Now that the fall semester for many U.S. schools is under way, school officials are seeking ways to manage the spread of infection while maintaining curriculum. While many initially said they would bring students back to campus for classes, and many students have moved back to their college towns, more and more are going to online-only programs.

Contributing to the academic effort to control the pandemic, Davidson College in North Carolina created the College Crisis Initiative, which tracks coronavirus cases, university responses, and subsequent innovation.

Of nearly 3,000 colleges and universities in the U.S., 784 are conducting classes primarily online, 584 are primarily in person, 460 are a hybrid or combination of the two, and 718 remain undecided, according to Davidson.

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Fewer students disclose race in applications to top colleges 

FILE - An unidentified person walks past Harvard yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 7, 2023
FILE - An unidentified person walks past Harvard yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 7, 2023

FAfter the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action in college admissions last year, fewer students are disclosing their race or ethnicity in applications to top colleges.

Writing in USA Today, Zachary Schermele notes that the data is preliminary, but it could signal a change in the way students are approaching college applications. (October 2024)

Overall college enrollment is up, first-year enrollment down 

FILE - A student delivers packages to the dormitory at DePaul University in Chicago, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024.
FILE - A student delivers packages to the dormitory at DePaul University in Chicago, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024.

For the second year since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, college enrollment has climbed in the United States.

But the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center noticed a substantial drop in the number of freshmen, which could be troubling for future enrollment, according to a report in Forbes. (October 2024)

South African universities embrace AI, seeing it as equalizing tool

South African universities embrace AI, seeing it as equalizing tool
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The rise of AI tools like ChatGPT has sparked debate in higher education, raising questions about ethics and integrity in teaching, learning and knowledge creation. In South Africa, some academic institutions are taking a proactive approach, integrating AI into their curricula. Experts say this step is not only innovative but also helps level the playing field among students. Zaheer Cassim reports from Johannesburg.

International students may be able to get jobs at school 

FILE - Northeastern University graduate student Shabbir Hussain, of Indore, India, left, views a computer screen at the entrance to the Snell Library on the Northeastern University campus in Boston on May 24, 2016.
FILE - Northeastern University graduate student Shabbir Hussain, of Indore, India, left, views a computer screen at the entrance to the Snell Library on the Northeastern University campus in Boston on May 24, 2016.

International students studying in the United States may be able to work on campus.

Jobs can include working in libraries, labs, food service and dormitories – but students will have to research the rules before applying for jobs, according to U.S. News & World Report. (September 2024)

Report says college rankings have the potential to mislead

FILE - Students walk at Main Quadrangle on the University of Chicago campus, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Chicago.
FILE - Students walk at Main Quadrangle on the University of Chicago campus, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Chicago.

Each year, prominent lists of college and university rankings are compiled and released to the public, but a report conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago says those rankings have the potential to mislead.

Writing in Forbes, Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier says changing methodologies can distort results, and profit motives can create doubt. He argues that rankings should be replaced by an objective rating system. (September 2024)

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