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The article focuses on the lack of graduates in the U.S. who are not fluent in "critical languages." Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, colleges have been struggling to respond to demands from the government, businesses and students for more teaching of the Arabic, Mandarin and Persian languages. The federally funded National Flagship Language Program was created in an effort to meet the demands. Another approach is intensive language instruction in grade school which hopes to produce high-school graduates ready to enter college with the language skills equal or higher than those who have finished a foreign language undergraduate degree.

The article focuses on the developments in the higher education of the indigenous populations of Bolivia. The government of President Evo Morales began adopting policies that will make universities offer better services for the country's large indigenous underclass. The country joined several other Latin American countries in introducing changes in higher education designed to promote social and political agendas. Based on estimates, almost half of the students enrolled in Bolivia's 11 public universities are of indigenous origin.

The article examines reasons for which colleges in the U.S. are rushing to open degree programs overseas. In 2003, the State University of New York at Buffalo, opened a branch campus in Singapore, where 250 students are enrolled in bachelor's and master's programs in business and communications. Last month the university signed an agreement with an institution in Bangalore, India, to run two master's programs in information technology there. While a few American institutions have maintained small overseas campuses for decades, often as study-abroad locations for their students back home, the growth of overseas programs for foreign students has taken off only in the past decade. Foreign branch campuses also provide trouble-free destinations for American students. The Georgia Institute of Technology, which has degree programs in France and Singapore and one opening this fall in China, is discussing possible programs with authorities in two Indian states.

This section presents a table showing the compensation received by the chief executives at each of 589 private colleges, plus 120 specialized institutions.

Focuses on the efforts of the American University of Beirut to rebuild its identity following the civil war in Lebanon. Development of a distinct research profile for the university focusing on health, agricultural and water issues distinctive to the Middle East; Difficulties faced by the university in recruiting professors and study-abroad students from the U.S.; Impact of the civil war which broke out in 1975 on the university. INSETS: During the Beirut War Years, Professors Braved Bullets,Shelli..;Lebanon's Only Public University Mirrors a CountryStill Divided.

Presents information on the transformation of Trinity College in the U.S. Information on the sports facility for women opened by Trinity in 2003; Challenges faced by the college in its transformation; Comment from Monika K. Hellwig, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities on how the remaining Catholic women's colleges supported themselves; Condition of the college in the 1970s.

Gives a country by country guide for travel in Eastern Europe. Includes background on academic institutions, accommodations, walks through some cities, points of interest, costs; Countries covered include Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. INSET: Visa information and key contacts for travel in Eastern Europe..

Discusses the reorganization of universities of the former East Germany as they try to evolve from Communist institutions to western-style centers of higher learning. Percentage of schools in eastern Germany that have been reformed; Enrollment increases; Faculty and staff changes and dismissals; Vast number of scholars unemployed; Salary inequities between professors from eastern and western Germany; Humboldt University's revitalization.

The article examines the issue of higher education institutions offering professional doctoral programs, which are perceived by some to have lower standards than normal doctoral programs. According to the article institutions have been feeling pressure to offer more doctoral programs because more professions are requiring doctorates for employment. The article examines what doctoral graduates should be able to do once they earn their degree, which includes being competent in their basic discipline, having the ability to develop and evaluate new therapies and carry out clinical research, and assume a leadership role in their profession and set policy. The article focuses on how professional doctoral programs are effecting the discipline of occupational therapy.

The article reports on the treatment some foreign scholars receive when trying to get a visa to visit the U.S. The case of Iraqi cancer researcher Riyadh Lafta, who was denied entry, is presented. The U.S. State Department and civil liberties groups reportedly disagree over Lafta's case details. Civil liberties groups say U.S. officials keep some academics out of the country because of their political views. Scientific and technical experts reportedly can travel more easily than can social scientists. Bolivian professor Waskar T. Ari Chachaki allegedly has been restricted due to the U.S. government's dislike for Bolivian president Evo Morales. The article states many academic groups now hold conferences in Canada, so that all members may attend.

The article profiles Nobel Prize winning physicist Carl E. Wieman, who has given up his research career to devote himself to improving the way college science is taught. Wieman has joined the University of British Columbia, where he has been given the job of transforming the way it teaches science. Wieman will lead the university's science departments in testing alternative teaching methods, especially in introductory courses. They will try such measures as varying class size, introducing new types of group work, and adding interactive computer simulations.

The article discusses the report on higher education accreditation delivered to the U.S. secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, by the Commission on the Future of Higher Education and subsequent changes proposed by Spellings. She wants accreditation forms to ask colleges more specific questions about how and what students are learning and to find more accurate ways of measuring learning. Spellings has called for a meeting with accreditors to discuss the issue. Many accreditors are concerned that her methods for measuring student learning may be too simplistic. They also fear that the federal government may impose standards to directly control the accrediting industry.

The article highlights some of the findings reported in "Open Doors," an annual report on international students and scholars in the U.S., published by the Institute of International Education and supported by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The report indicates that the number of foreign students in the U.S. remained steady in the 2005 academic year, ending two years of declines. At the same time, the number of new international students increased by 8 percent, suggesting that total foreign enrollments may soon rise. Responses from various higher education officials and further details of the report are provided, along with information about issues that arise for international students when trying to obtain visas.

The article provides information on the operations of Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Colleges struggle to find the best way to assess student learning and then communicate the results to outsiders. Increasingly, calls are heard for standardized tests to measure college students' performance and to be able to compare institutions' educations with one another. As that push continues, Alverno College has been a surprising mecca for assessing what students learn. Its administrators and professors are regularly invited to colleges around the world to share their approach, and each summer scores of college officials come to Milwaukee for a workshop on the subject.

The article discusses issues related to the arrests of 133 protesters who had blocked the main entrance to Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. The arrests allowed classes to resume but did not end the crisis at the nation's only university for the deaf. In fact, students involved in the protests said the arrests and the decision of the university's president, I. King Jordan, to postpone homecoming festivities had rallied even more supporters to their cause. Faculty members, who met three days after the arrests, overwhelmingly sided with the protesting students. Student protest leaders vowed to boycott classes in support of their demands that the search for a new president be reopened.

The article explores how the Teacher Education Accrediting Council (TEAC) has withstood its older rival's, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), repeated attempts to beat it back. It asserts that TEAC championed an approach based on the idea of an "academic audit," raising the question of whether specialized accreditors should evaluate colleges by how well they conform to standards agreed to by the profession, like NCATE does, or if the organizations should allow colleges to set their own goals and require them to produce evidence that they are meeting them. According to the article, many educators feel the more important issue is not which agency is better but how to strengthen the many weaker colleges that have ignored accreditation altogether.

The article focuses on issues regarding the appointment of Jane K. Fernandes, president-elect of the world's only university for the deaf Gallaudet University, in Washington D.C. Following the board's announcement of Fernandes's appointment, protesters camped out by the entrance of the university proclaiming their opposition for the board's decision. Faculty members and students argues that the university needs a stronger advocate than Fernandes. They have strongly criticized her leadership style and the selection process that led to her appointment citing her incapability to perform the job.

The article discusses the debate over the best method for educating deaf children among educators and college departments in the U.S. Some educators advocate oral method, urging teachers to focus on speech and hearing skills, while others propose a bilingual approach, primarily teaching the American Sign Language and English as second language. Scientific research can make one method superior from the other, and with the advances of medical technology for hearing aids, oral method has greater advantage. One of the technological developments that have contributed a lot to the education of the deaf are cochlear implants. Daniel S. Koo is one of the successful deaf students who excelled in academics by the use of cued speech.

The article reports that accreditors and some college groups in the U.S. are aghast at a proposal to eliminate regional accreditors and replace them with a national accreditation body. The proposal is contained in a discussion paper released late last month by the secretary of education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. The news came just as the chairman of the commission allayed another concern of college officials by publicly promising that a mandatory test of college students would not be among the panel's final recommendations.

The article focuses on a U.S. federal bill that had some college accreditors in a state of high anxiety a year ago, has evolved into legislation. Many accreditors and educators were stunned when they read the details of the bill. According to the bill, college accrediting bodies would have been required to publicly disclose summaries of all their findings. Accreditation is just one of many higher-education issues in the huge bill, but it is one of the most controversial. The Congress wanted more transparency and openness in the accreditation process, said Terry W. Hartle, a senior vice president at the American Council on Education.

The article reports that at Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, not only does every freshman have to take a liberal-arts course, but almost all professors have to teach it. Lawrence University and Eckerd College have similar programs. Robert M. Dawley, a professor of biology. Yet, like most faculty members at Ursinus College, a small liberal-arts institution 20 miles outside Philadelphia, he teaches a core liberal-arts seminar that all first-year students take. Dawley admits the requirement takes time away from professors' work in their own disciplines.

This article presents information related to American groups who are accrediting a growing number of institutions and programs outside the U.S. Many of the foreign institutions are American-style, often sporting the word "American" in their names. Among those seeking accreditation--the entire public higher-education system of the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich country in the Middle East is becoming an educational powerhouse. Philip G. Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, calls the growing trend academic neo-colonialism.

This article presents information on an educational program of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which uses theater to teach professors sensitivity to women and minority groups. Since its inception in 2000, Michigan's faculty-development theater program, which the university says is the only one of its kind in the country, performs interactive sketches, on average three times a week, for faculty members at workshops, retreats, and conferences at Michigan and increasingly at other institutions. Constance E. Cook, director of Michigan's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, stated that the program's goals are to remove barriers to career advancement for women or minority faculty members and to create a classroom environment where all students feel safe and are able to achieve their full potential. Yet, although the theater program promotes a clear point of view, its nonlecturing approach appears to have kept most potential opposition at bay.

Focuses on the efforts of Pope John Paul II to strengthen the identity of Catholic schools and universities and support academic dialogue with other faiths. Background of Pope John Paul II; Impact of the Ex corde Ecclesiae, which requires the colleges accountable to local bishops and left it to the bishops of each country to define specific norms, issued by the pope on the institutions in the U.S.; Establishment of a foster dialogue between Christians and Jews in 1990s by the pope.

Focuses on the disputes between universities and colleges and conservative Christian student groups in the U.S. regarding the refusal of the group to accept gay members and nonbelievers. Views of David A. French, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, on the disputes; Opposition of law professors at Ohio State University in Columbus to changes in the policy of the university to exempt the student groups from nondiscrimination rules; Information on the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court on two cases related to the issue.

Discusses the Open Theism approach which declares that God and humans with their free will together determine the future. Implications of the approach for the confidence of people in God; Role of Darwinism in the rejection of the concept of God with absolute power; Actions taken by evangelical institutions regarding faculty members that support Open Theism in the U.S.

Reports on the decline in the number of foreign students at universities and colleges in the U.S. in 2003. Details of an annual report on academic mobility published by the Institute of International Education; Factors that contributed to the decline in enrollments of foreign students in the U.S.; Efforts of the Japan-United States Educational Commission to implement recruitment campaigns for students in Japan.

Focuses on the plan of investors for Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona to retain the college's religious character while earnings profits in 2004. Views of Robert C. Andriaga, president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, on the plan; Changes to be made in the university as part of the transition.

Reports on changes in the college-accreditation system proposed by U.S. Representative Howard P. McKeon (R-Calif.) in June 2004. Aim of the proposed changes according to McKeon; Views of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation on the bill; Support of Steven D. Crow, executive director of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, for the bill.

Focuses on the conservative Catholic colleges in the U.S. which were established in response to the failure of existing institutions to lead students to the Catholic faith. Background of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida; Comment from reverend Joseph D. Fessio, chancellor at Ave Maria, on the liberalism of some Jesuit institutions like the University of San Francisco in California; Impact of conservative Catholic colleges on Catholic higher education or the U.S. society; Information on how conservative Catholic colleges view the mainstream and liberalistic Catholic educators and colleges.

Reports on the market for pirated textbooks in China as of April 2004. Progress in the anti-piracy campaign after joining the World Trade Organization in 2001; Challenges in detecting textbook piracy; Concerns of foreign publishers in pursuing the fight against piracy.

Reports on the plan of European colleges to standardize academic degrees and course credits, as of September 2003. Benefits of the reform; Countries supporting the changes; Opposition from students and faculty members.

Focuses on the lack of cooperation between the ethnic Albanians and the Serbs to establish a multiethnic higher education system in Kosovo, Serbia in Yugoslavia. Background on the political conflict between the Serbs and the ethnic Albanians in the 1990s; Description of the higher education system in Kosovo; Various comments on the matter.

Reports on the move of Italian universities to launch advertising initiatives. Advertisement of the University of Florence; Total advertising bill for Italian universities in 2001; Move of other European universities to advertise.

Reports on the preference of colleges and university administrators in Sweden to hire female professors than male professors. Task given by the Swedish government to schools with regard to gender; Reason behind the determination in Swedish education to hire additional female professors; Percentage of women professors in the country in 1997.

Focuses on the condition of Nigerian universities which are facing violence, corruption and neglect. Initiatives of William Saint, the World Bank's chief education specialist for Africa; Significance of oil exports to the countries economy; Plans of action by the Nigerian government.

Focuses on foreign enrollments in the United States (U.S.) and its international competitors. Information on the states with increased number of foreign students; Strategies and efforts implemented by the international competitors of U.S. to attract foreign students; Details of a statistical report by the Institute of International Education concerning international students; Colleges in U.S. with the most numbers of foreign students in 2000 to 2001.

Reports that Arab students in the United States (U.S.) returned home after terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. How Arabs were treated in the U.S. after the terrorist attacks; Condition of American students in the Middle East; Withdrawal of students from various universities.

Focuses on the opening of the National University of East Timor in East Timor, Indonesia in November 2000. Learning conditions at the university; Historical background of East Timor; Role of the university in the independence movement; Restoration of peace and order in the country after a referendum; How the university was established.

Provides information on the murder of Safwan Idris, rector of the Ar-Raniry State University Institute of Islamic Studies in Banda Aceh, Jakarta in Indonesia. Background of Idris; Significance of the crime to the efforts of educators to act as mediators in the political conflict in Banda Aceh; Information on the armed rebellion against Jakarta's government.

Focuses on the transformation of the University of Dar es Salaam in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Amount of grant received by the university from the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Results of the university's Institutional Transformation Program; Rate of increase in the enrollment of female students at the university; Role of the school of engineering in leading the transformation.

Presents news concerning the higher education sector from around the world as of March 2001. Education offered by the Johannes Kepler University to rightist youth known as skinheads; Accusations of Russian President Vladimir Putin against the London School of Economics and Political Science. INSET: 2 Views of AIDS at U. of Zambia.

Discusses how college professors in the Basque Region of France are being attacked by ETA, or the Basque Homeland and Liberty, a guerrilla movement that demands an independent Basque homeland. Recount of how the region suffered repression; Information on the professors who have been killed or injured.

Focuses on the state of academic freedom in Iran. Professor of Persian studies at the University of Pennsylvania archaeology museum, Brian Spooner's study tours in Iran for graduate students; Reformers' pledged to allow satellite television in homes and to permit open debate of social and religious issues; Iranian president Mohammad Khatami's call for closer cultural ties with the United States.

Reports on efforts of Egyptian education officials to limit the influence of Islamic fundamentalists in schools and universities. Arrest of student protesters; Confrontations in and outside the classroom between Islamists and secularists; Imposition of strict religious behavior on male and female students; Need of modernizing the higher education system.

Reports on struggles faced by East European universities as government support declines. Independence and autonomy given since the fall of communism; Managing scarce resources; Meeting with business leaders; Few students per teacher; Charles University; Tuition charges.

Examines the numbers of American scholars and graduate students now working in the Czech Republic and, in lesser numbers, in Slovakia. Americans can be found teaching, helping write new democratic constitutions and laws, reviving law schools. List of some programs bring Americans to Czech and Slovak institutions; Aspects of academe organized differently; Shortage of library resources and research materials; Students never before encouraged to think for themselves; Comments.

Considers the European Community's document `Memorandum on Higher Education,' which is intended to be a basis for discussion on national difference, academic exchanges and student mobility, and instead has provoked considerable debate. Concerns the EC will exert too much control over higher education; Strong economic reasons for expanding postsecondary enrollments; Higher stipends offered to students in technical fields; The EC's ERASMUS program to promote mobility.

Features the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania. American approach to education; Stress on the acquisition of English; Description of the university as the antithesis of the intellectually conservative and ideologically rigid Soviet-style university.