While U.S. colleges and universities are still the top choice of foreign students, the American share of the international education market has shrunk from 40% in the 1980s to 32% today. Educators and government officials are working to develop a strategy for increasing U.S. competitiveness. Australia, Britain, and Canada, the three top…

Faculty at nonprofit colleges and universities are concerned about the quality of faculty at the for-profit University of Phoenix, and about the personnel policies that support them. This institution's faculty lacks tenure, and most teach part time. Ninety percent are fully employed elsewhere. The fast-paced courses and regimented curriculum are…

Despite Democrats' and educators' concern over the first Republican-led reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this year, Republicans supported the bill. Some observers feel the support is a G.O.P. survival strategy, and will not continue; some conservatives feel the party is caving in to higher education interest groups' demands. (MSE)

The implications of the 1998 Higher Education Act Amendments for students and institutions are summarized, including those for federal student financial aid programs, loan guarantee agency reforms, distance-education programs, student and institutional eligibility, campus crime, college costs, federal outreach and student service programs,…

The University of Maryland Foundation is managing the endowments of three other Maryland state institutions and is negotiating to do so for two more. The foundation pools the endowment funds, decides on investment strategies, and hires companies to make the investments. The smaller colleges earn better returns, but some observers are concerned…

Tuition and required student fees for over 3000 public and private colleges and universities are listed by state. In-state student costs are presented for 1997-98 and 1998-99 and out-of-state student costs are presented for 1998-99. The figures represent charges to first-time, full-time undergraduates based on a nine-month academic year of 30…

The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students has passed resolutions calling for reforms intended to improve the lives of graduate students, including increasing health care and making faculty and institutions accountable for better advising. Although the association is not dominated by union activists, the issue of collective…

Participants in the January 1999 Internet World Conference on Biomedical Sciences will meet and communicate solely in cyberspace. In many respects, the conference will be traditional, with 56 symposia on 15 biomedical subjects, but participants avoid registration fees and travel costs. Japanese universities conducted four previous conferences,…

Because efforts to curb campus alcohol abuse have largely failed, some colleges are contacting parents when students violate campus alcohol rules. Some institutions fear that sharing disciplinary records with parents violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects student privacy, but a recent amendment to the Higher…

To comply with federal Title IX regulations concerning gender equity in college sports, colleges and universities are increasingly dropping men's athletic teams rather than support women's teams. By 1999, institutions must prove they have made progress toward compliance. The difficult decision to terminate teams is often also controversial; some…

The American Academy for Liberal Education, established in 1992, has gained a reputation for conservatism that is unpopular among the liberal arts professoriate, which is historically liberal, but the Academy insists its only cause is undergraduate education. The Academy recently won approval from the federal government to accredit entire…

Increasingly, college faculty trained in instructional design using advanced technology are providing full-time support to other faculty members, blending expertise in academic computing and college teaching. Most faculty do not have time or the skills needed to experiment with the World Wide Web, complex courseware, streaming video, or online…

A top aide to Vice President Gore has been chosen to lead the U.S. Department of Education's effort to modernize delivery of financial aid to students and colleges. His office is the first federal government entity to be run as a "performance-based organization." Some fear he may politicize the office that lawmakers specified be led by a…

Increasingly, states are establishing policies designed to decrease the time public-college students take to attain their undergraduate degrees, stimulated by private college claims of four-year degrees that actually take only four years. State financial aid for summer school attendance is a major part of the strategy. The approach appears to be…

In search of increased support for graduate students in plant science and upgraded laboratories, the College of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, offered the college's expertise in exchange for major financial backing from the single company making the best offer. The resulting five-year, $25-million alliance with one…