Temple University's program with Tsinghua University, now in its 10th year, is the oldest of its kind in China. It may take years to understand how a program that trains a few dozen legal professionals a year may affect the legal rights of 1.3 billion Chinese. But there is no question about the benefits that this program has produced for Temple's…

By just about every objective measure, the $88-million in debt that Wartburg College has carried since late 2005 poses a risk. The college's debt load--twice the amount that it takes in annually from tuition and other revenue--has raised red flags with its accreditor, alarmed some faculty members, and left Wartburg with a credit rating just one…

Two years into its new life as a private company, the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae) is both creating a division to handle the processing and clerical duties of college financial aid offices and backing away from a short-lived move into the business of underwriting college bonds. The agency also originates government-subsidized…

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education has adopted standards to guide colleges and universities in defining the purpose and length of fund-raising campaigns and in counting gifts. Debate over the standards has focused on the reporting of deferred gifts, government money, bequests, and other specific types of gifts. (MSE)

Describes how Temple University ended Virtual Temple, its for-profit distance education effort, saying that such companies cannot make money. However, universities with similar programs--such as Columbia, Cornell, New York University, and the University of Maryland--disagree. (EV)

State low-interest college loans programs for middle-class families have emerged in response to restrictions on federally subsidized Stafford Loans. The key difference between federal and state programs is that most state programs require student borrowers and cosigners to prove good credit risks, reducing loan default and making the programs…

The hometown of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has created the Blacksburg Electronic Village, a community-based computer network linking businesses, schools, and individual community members. The university, telephone company, and town established the system collaboratively in 1992, and additional grants have come to the…

In the 1990s, the giant mining company now known as BHP Billiton drew worldwide condemnation for the environmental damage caused by its copper and gold mine in Papua, New Guinea. Its mining practices destroyed the way of life of thousands of farming and fishing families who lived along and subsisted on the rivers polluted by the mine, and it was…

Describes how for-profit education companies are taking their turf battle overseas by buying colleges and creating networks with local partners. (EV)

Describes how a corporate deal made by the University of California at Berkeley with Novartis Corporation is not changing the school's research agenda, as critics feared it would. (EV)

A trend away from state support of university research with commercial potential is noted, because of state budget restraints, changes in political leadership, and the belief that support of university research is not an efficient way to help businesses and create jobs. Cuts in specific programs in Virginia, Illinois, Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska…

Sylvan Learning Systems, a company best known for its tutoring and testing operations, plans to create a network of private, for-profit universities in a dozen countries overseas, at the rate of about one institution a year. The director of the U.S. Information Agency will leave his post to head the venture. The plan has received mixed reactions.…

The message that campuses must use the data they are gathering about students to improve teaching and learning was presented at a conference on Assessment in Higher Education. More campuses are developing their own assessment tools rather than relying solely on standardized tests. Classroom assessment allows faculty to evaluate their own teaching.…

At the University of Arizona, institutionally-developed software is used in electronic classrooms in some mathematics courses. Students like the software, and faculty find it helps their teaching by making skill development easier and giving students a new appreciation for the subjects. The programs are distributed free to other campuses and…

Describes the growth of Argosy Education Group Inc., the nation's largest for-profit provider of doctoral programs, especially doctorates in clinical psychology, through its 10-campus chain of American Schools of Professional Psychology, as well as doctorates in education and business through the University of Sarasota (Florida). Critics focus on…