The federal government could take a cue from its regulation of charitable organizations in monitoring the freewheeling fiscal habits of big-time college athletics, a leading tax lawyer says. The author reports on the ideas offered by John D. Colombo, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, for monitoring big spending on college…

For colleges in the United States seeking a foothold in South Korea's formerly insular higher-education sector, the lure seems to be part location, part alumni lobbying, and part desire to be part of the country's rapid transformation. The South Korean government's newfound openness to overseas universities is helping persuade American college…

Many college leaders are coming to understand that, in a global economy, they need to produce graduates and develop faculty members with strong international skills. The recognition has led them to take new, more deliberate approaches to work abroad. In the past, individual faculty members have had connections with colleagues overseas, but those…

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is no stranger to criticism. This article reports that during a meeting of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, some higher-education officials questioned the NCAA's handling of a CBS fantasy football league, announced over the summer, that would use college athletes' names. Many…

Community colleges everywhere are searching for experienced nurses with advanced degrees who are willing to leave their jobs and return to the classroom, usually for significantly less pay. People who fit that description have long been difficult to find, but the need for them is growing. The dearth of instructors has contributed significantly to…

The long-simmering debate over the commercialization of college sports reached a boiling point recently when CBS, the NCAA's key corporate partner, announced that it was creating a fantasy football league that uses college athletes' names. Not everyone however, is quite so enthusiastic. Some observers see it as part of a continuing assault on the…

Charismatic as well as politically astute, Ton Nu Thi Ninh is a patient woman--up to a point. As a high-ranking member of Vietnam's Communist Party, and regarded as the most powerful woman in the country, she had to be. But for far too long Ms. Ninh has watched the abysmal state of Vietnam's higher education handicap the country's future…

Tough times are encouraging colleges to share resources in a variety of areas, including campus security, research, and degree programs. Despite its veneer of cooperation, higher education is a competitive industry, where resource sharing is eyed warily. But the recession is chipping away at that reluctance, and institutions are pursuing…

A new report assessing the state of doctoral education in Europe says that, even as 47 European nations enter the final phase of harmonizing their degree programs, Ph.D.-level education across Europe suffers from a lack of coordination and cooperation. "There is an urgent need for greater consultation and coordination at the regional,…

A number of Iraqi-American academics, meeting this month for a conference on how to rebuild Iraq's battered higher-education system, said the Iraqi government's plan to send thousands of students abroad annually would lead to a "brain drain" of a new generation of the nation's top talent. Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki has proposed…

As large as Finland is small, as rich in natural resources as Finland is not, bordered by smaller, peaceable nations to the north and south and large oceans to the east and west, nobody has ever come to America and forced its people to rename and reorganize their colleges and universities--or, for that matter, to do anything else. Americans are…

In less than two generations, ambitious technocrats have transformed the southern half of the Korean peninsula from one of Asia's poorest nations into the 11th largest economy in the world. Now they want to turn South Korea into the East Asian capital of higher education. Several American colleges are in talks to set up academic and research…

In early March, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education was established under what is called the Bologna Process. The 46 countries involved in the process seek to improve the quality and assessment of higher education throughout Europe, thus facilitating students' mobility among institutions and countries and enhancing…

A group of major universities has been quietly working for the past two years to build one of the largest online collections of books ever assembled, by pooling the millions of volumes that Google has scanned in its partnership with university libraries. One of the most important functions of the project, say its leaders, who unveiled the giant…

The U.S. ambassador to India, in an interview with "The Chronicle" last week, criticized the opposition of some Indian government officials and politicians to legislation that would allow U.S. and other foreign universities to establish campuses or programs in the country. He spoke favorably, however, about India's willingness to take on…