No one doubts that globalization is one of the most important trends of today. As American universities expand their global footprint with branch campuses in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and elsewhere, many faculty are concerned about oppressive governance, human-rights violations, and lack of academic freedom abroad. Meanwhile administrators grapple…

The Luce Foundation has pledged grants over the next five years to support existing university-based Asian study centers by supporting efforts to strengthen faculties and library resources and to increase public understanding of the region and its countries. (MSE)

Scholarship on Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union has been influenced by the cold-war model of persistent competition between two monolithic superpowers. With Eastern Europe in disarray, that model cannot hold up much longer. Marxist theory is now questioned. (MLW)

Under its new president, the Ford Foundation, a key grantmaker in the social sciences, is placing more emphasis on global issues. Changes include closer links in program areas and revitalization of area studies through encouragement of international scholarship. Regional directorships for some areas are being abandoned in favor of more fluid…

A legislative proposal by the Association of American Universities calls for creation of a federal agency similar to the National Science Foundation to develop and promote a national policy of support for foreign language, area, and international studies research and instruction at colleges, universities, and other institutions. (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,…