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The article reports that a U.S. government panel's report has asked the Congress and the President to create a new fellowship program to increase the number of American undergraduates studying abroad a decade from now to one million a year. The number of students who go abroad has grown strongly in recent decades. Almost three times as many students went abroad in 2003-4 as in 1991-92. The commission said its goal of one million students by the 2016-17 academic year is 50 percent more than the 640,000 students who would be expected to study abroad 11 years from now if current trends continued. The program would be known as the Lincoln Fellowships.

The article presents information on the study programs initiated by German state universities to help students whose campuses were washed out by Hurricane Katrina. Several public universities there have made available a total of 30 places for the fall semester with all expenses paid. The 12 universities of the German state of Hesse have accepted 15 students. Ludwig Maximilian University, in Munich, is taking 5, and the University of Dortmund is taking 10. In general, the offers include airfare, all fees, accommodations, health insurance and about $20 per day spending money. Students who have been studying German will take at least some classes in that language. But the others will choose from the growing number of courses taught in English that German universities have been developing to attract more foreign students.

The article reports on the introduction by the Educational Testing Service of a new version of its test for use by colleges to assess students' skills in reading, writing, critical thinking and mathematics. The new examination, called the Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress, replaces a test called the Academic Profile, which has been in use since 1987. Both tests focus on general academic skills rather than on subject-specific knowledge. ETS, the nonprofit organization that sells the exam, says the new version offers institutions more flexibility in delivery, since it can be taken and scored online, be customized, and it gives administrators more information, including demographic data. Institutions can purchase an optional essay section, which grades students' writing samples by computer.