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…

Annual reports aren't exactly beach reading, but for anyone interested in the current condition of scholarly communication, the just-published 2007 report of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation--particularly the essay on "Scholarly Publishing Initiatives" by Donald J. Waters and Joseph S. Meisel--is a page turner. The foundation's deep pockets and…

A group of seven private colleges in Oregon, frustrated with the erratic pricing of health care in the state, decided to band together, drop their health-plan providers, and create a consortium to self-insure their employees. The Oregon Independent Colleges Employee Benefits Trust came into existence on May 1, 2003 and offers a collective…

The US colleges are struggling with soaring tuition costs as state support is unable to keep up with enrollment growth, and college officials are becoming more creative in finding ways to reduce expenses. Higher education institutions are increasingly outsourcing non-academic activities, collaborating with other institutions to share goods and…

The United Negro College Fund faces questions about the quality of its institutions and questions from some of its own presidents about how well it represents their interests. The Fund now helps its members improve their management, get more federal aid, build their endowments, recruit students, and gain reaccreditation. (MLW)

A joint project of a United Auto Workers local and Hofstra University provides a liberal arts baccalaureate program for working-class adults, a broader based education than traditional vocational training programs, and trains union leaders. (MSE)

Programs allowing parents to prepay tuition at selected colleges and universities are gaining popularity among institutions but are found to be potentially damaging to the institutions' finances and reputations and to relationships among institutions. (MSE)

Describes articulation agreements, special recruiting efforts, special degrees, scholarships, and convenient locations as some of the ways for-profit institutions are actively pursuing community college students. For-profit institutions are increasingly "transfer friendly," as several examples illustrate. (SLD)

The Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education is a consortium of two- and four-year colleges that coordinates development of course designs used by 37 public and private institutions. Programs emphasize collaborative teaching, thematically grouped courses, and writing across the curriculum and have been well received.…

A statewide telecommunications network in New Mexico links research and educational institutions, government agencies, businesses, and public interest groups. Development of the system began a decade ago, primarily to promote economic development. New information services are added monthly, and use is expanding rapidly. Some other states have…

An eclectic group of 71 nonprofit organizations are urging policymakers to guarantee that the proposed national "data highway" serves the public interest by reaching poor and minority communities and including services that educators, librarians, people with disabilities, and others want. Higher education is represented by institutions and…

An electronic information service established by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries provides access by computer to 12,000 scholarly journals and periodicals. Facsimile copies are available for a fee, including copyright fee when required. The service is particularly helpful as reduced library budgets require that subscriptions be cut.…

A Massachusetts plan involving 67 colleges allows parents to invest in state bonds and redeem them later, at original value plus 2% above inflation rate, for a guaranteed percentage of tuition. Plan improves on strategies tested by other states. Supporters foresee more college applicants and less need for student aid. (MSE)

Representatives from 12 state universities have formed the Alliance for Undergraduate Education to prove that attention is being paid to undergraduates on their campuses. Participants expect to discuss how to avoid the depersonalization of large campuses and packed undergraduate classrooms. (MLW)

With little appropriate commercial software available, college faculty are creating their own specialized software and are willing to share it with colleagues. To fill the gap between creator and user, colleges, scholarly societies, grant-making organizations, and computer manufacturers have created a variety of software-dissemination programs.…