During the Reagan and Bush administrations, many foundations supported causes they thought were being ignored by Washington. Now many of those causes are finding support in the Clinton administration, and foundations are turning to other issues. A ranking of the 50 largest foundations, based on 1991 grants and assets, is provided. (MSE)

A forthcoming report of the international Organization for Economic Development urges educators to provide better supervision of doctoral candidates and encourage them to take their research more seriously. (MSE)

Observers say the research effort to develop drugs to combat acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is increasingly well-funded but badly coordinated, with many universities not willing or not able to pull their weight. (MSE)

A court ruling that the University of California must ensure that all federal Hatch Act agricultural research funds go to projects benefiting primarily small family farms is seen as promoting special-interest politics, selective interpretation of federal legislation, and a romanticized view of farmers and may unduly influence research directions.…

One researcher mixes techniques of anthropological field work and statistical analysis in his studies of the cultural dimensions of business negotiation in different countries. (MSE)

As Congress prepares for the next cycle of appropriations, lawmakers and academics must consider what military research projects are doing to the universities and decide where the lines on academic freedom should be drawn, both by the government and by the universities themselves. (MSE)

The names, affiliations, destination countries, and subject areas of the 1984-85 American scholars receiving awards for teaching or research in foreign countries under the Fulbright Program are listed according to subject area. (MSE)

A report by the Economic Policy Institute suggests that states involving higher education in economic development efforts take care to structure their programs to prevent them from becoming dominated by college interests. (MSE)

Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program has inspired heated debate on campuses, and many scientists have pledged not to accept federal money for SDI research, for a variety of political, economic, and scientific reasons. (MSE)

Scholars in the University of Maryland's Afro-American studies program are studying the ways in which black communities have been left behind as white society found new ways to advance economically. They hope to reach into black communities to familiarize those populations with computers and use of the Internet while building a research base in…

A study found that a typical research university would raise its overhead rate significantly if it constructed a new building by borrowing or using its own money, but, if it won a congressional earmark, the overhead rate could decline slightly. This encourages colleges to seek construction money directly from Congress. (MSE)

As state budgets decline, colleges and universities continue to hire lobbyists as a cost-effective way to increase finances. Many institutions are lobbying for support of specific research projects, despite criticism of "pork-barrel science." Although small lobbying firms are popular, many larger firms are expanding to include higher education…

Intense competition for federal research funds in some areas of science is generating more narrow research training, conflict between research and teaching responsibilities, and alienation and frustration among young scientists, who must scramble for tenuous research positions that lead nowhere. (MSE)

Observers see signs that higher education is focusing increasingly on the moral responsibilities of administrators, professors, and institutions in the proliferation of books, reports, and conferences addressing the topic. (MSE)

Community-based research projects, a minute portion of the total amount government, industry, and foundations spend money on, are beginning to generate attention among policymakers because of their power to meet the needs of ordinary citizens, especially the disadvantaged. Currently, the incentives for researchers and institutions to pursue such…