Americans depend largely on their community colleges to advance a form of democratic meritocracy in which all people--from dual-enrolled high-school and home-schooled students to traditional 18-year-old students to forty-something career changers, to retirees and octogenarians--have the opportunity to learn, grow, and excel. Yet despite the vital…

As the Obama administration takes office, educators involved in development work abroad look to the future with hope. Although the economic downturn may constrain the new president's ability to make financial commitments abroad, Barack Obama has said he wants to double the amount of foreign assistance provided by the United States to fight poverty…

Singapore is no longer content to produce only engineers and technocrats, says Tharman Shanmugaratnam, minister for education. The government wants to foster a dynamic environment that can attract thinkers and leaders in many fields, not just science. Singapore's planners envision their city as the "Boston of the East"--where the alchemy…

This article describes Israel's latest conflict--plummeting government spending and strikes by faculty members and students which are threatening the stability of the country's universities. The founders of the modern state of Israel considered higher education to be so important that they established the country's first two universities long…

Barack Obama agreed to answer a series of questions submitted via e-mail to his campaign. This article presents excerpts of "The Chronicle"'s exchange with the senator and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, in which he discussed his policy suggestions for student aid and college access; the appropriate role of the federal…

President George Bush's gathering of governors and cabinet members to discuss education brought together leaders of each party to establish goals for education but has also been criticized for its use for politics rather than impact. (MSE)

An instructional technology professor has created a documentary film about the killing of four college students at an antiwar protest at Kent State University (Ohio) in 1970. The film highlights the events and their social symbolism. It will be turned into an interactive exhibit housed at the university. (MSE)

Liberty University (Virginia) will send 3,000 students on a religious studies tour in Israel to visit sites important to Christianity. The program, the result of an alliance between Jerry Falwell and Binyamin Netanyahu, is designed both to show support for Netanyahu's policies and to raise the international profile of the university. (MSE)

Saudi Arabia has been developing at breakneck speed since the end of World War II, when oil production transformed this country of Bedouins into one of the richest polities in the world. Its higher-education system, however, has not kept pace. The Ministry of Higher Education was not established until 1975, and its task was to educate a population…

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…

Retiring Secretary of Education William Bennett answers questions about his statements on the quality and costs of higher education, current administration attitudes about minority access, and the politics of education at the federal level. (MSE)

The existence of a cabinet department for education has made education issues more prominent, but the Education Department is faulted for doing little to further the federal interest in providing education for minority and economically disadvantaged students. Educational policy making continues to be dominated by Congress. (MLW)

Hungary's political leaders are stepping up pressure on state-supported colleges and universities to make substantive changes in their organization, administration, and curricula, after several years of aborted experiments in consolidating the system. The government says it can no longer afford to support the existing higher education system, and…