Five academics from around the world plan to open a new kind of online university early next year, built upon professor star power and students learning from one another through online social tools. The teachers will be volunteers, the courses will cost next to nothing, and no official credit will be given. The organizers call it P2P University…

This article reports that last month at the NASA-Ames Research Center, a group of top scientists and business leaders gathered to plan a new university devoted to the idea that computers will soon become smarter than people. The details of Singularity University, as the new institution will be called, are still being worked out--and so far the…

This article talks about serious financial problems faced by the African Virtual University, the continent's largest online institution, forcing it to accelerate a major restructuring. The university was established in 1997 by the World Bank as a link between foreign and African institutions, and has been impeded by insufficient funds. As a…

With aggressive development and marketing, the University of Texas now has top-ranked women's athletic teams and an admirable academic record among its athletes. (MSE)

In 1996, Oregon State University had the highest athlete graduation rate in the country, at 95%. Neither faculty nor alumni are impressed with the rate because the athletic teams are not performing well. The athletic director is committed to improving athletics while recruiting bright athletes and rigorously maintaining academic standards. (MSE)

At Dillard University (Louisiana), federal financial support enables the university to make fledgling programs solid. The programs are supported by the Education Department's program for "developing institutions," known as Title III after the part of the Higher Education Act that authorizes them. (MLW)

The movement to reform college athletics programs has been least well implemented in the institutions at which it was aimed, those sponsoring the largest and most expensive programs. Some blame the institutions for lack of courage in making changes that would restrict their competitiveness. (MSE)

Describes how institutions in Britain are working together to create a national e-University, a government-sponsored effort to bring together an assortment of distance-learning programs and courses to be sold to students all over the world. However, some officials are skeptical of its need or its prospects for success. (EV)

The European Journalism Network, a United States-based nonprofit organization, methodically provides seed money and technical assistance to start newspapers produced by and for students in Eastern Europe and several former Soviet republics. The publications' impact is disproportionate to their size and frequency because they are unique in that…

A group of young scholars, frustrated by the difficult academic job market and dissatisfied with classroom instruction, is trying to establish a nontraditional university entirely through Internet, a major computer network. Prospective anonymous backers have pledged substantial start-up funds. The project will begin with simple computerized…

In the wake of a black-white student fight on campus, Columbia University administrators are investigating reports of racial bias and black students have filed charges of aggravated racial harrassment and demanded establishment of an Afro-American studies program, more black faculty, and a larger black student population. (MSE)