Global communications newsletter.

The International Campus of Excellence (ICE) program, promoted by the Ministry of Education of the Spanish Government, is working to improve the quality and excellence of the Spanish universities and their environments. Similar programs have been carried out in France (with the Op?ration Campus program) and Germany (with the Exzellenzinitiative program). All of them are based on additional funding for the best universities, with the intention of achieving excellence and more international presence. Another common characteristic of the three previous programs is that they consider reinforcing research activities, by supporting Ph.D. schools and research institutions, the key to achieving the proposed objectives. On the other hand, other multinational organizations, like the European Commission, have also promoted similar initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]