Describes two national-level collaborations among urban public universities: Restructuring for Urban Student Success (RUSS) and the Urban Universities Portfolio Project (UUPP). RUSS developed and studied approaches to improving performance and retention among urban college students, particularly first-years. UUPP was designed to enhance…

Experiences resulting from the merger of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University are described, including administrative and financial problems as well as their successes. (LBH)

Educational, economic, and political conditions in China now favor cooperative programs uniting Chinese and American universities in educational and revenue-producing ventures. Such sister-institution initiatives are just beginning to be studied, but have great promise. (MSE)

The papers of Thomas A. Edison will be compiled and published in a 20-year project under the sponsorship of the National Park Service, the New Jersey Historical Commission, the Smithsonian Institution, and Rutgers University. This effort, the Thomas A. Edison Papers Project, and its background are described. (JMD)

Describes the Consortium for Higher Education in Religious Studies (CHERS), a consortium of 6 colleges and 5 seminaries in southwest Ohio. (HS)

A five-college committee on international programs (University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College) is described. Most programs keep the cost to the student in the same range as normal tuition, etc. and students are enrolled in the normal courses of their overseas host institutions. (MLW)

Faced with unabated inflation, declining enrollments, and forbidding demographic trends, scores of small liberal arts colleges are restructuring to attract students and subsidize costs. Approaches taken by several specific schools are described including career oriented programs, mutual assistance partnerships with corporations, and luring of…

Yale's Media Design Studio, founded in 1974 with financial support from several foundations, aims to bring scholars and media people together to develop, design, and produce materials in forms other than print. A genuine collaborative effort exists between the academic and the media artist, creating films from submitted proposals. (LBH)

An agreement between the U. S. and the People's Republic of China to initiate some steps to a broader understanding between the two countries is described and some of the efforts so far undertaken are discussed. Difficulties in getting significant information exchanges are noted. (LBH)

Discusses New York's all co-op La Guardia Community College, an institution serving largely economically and educationally disadvantaged students. (HS)

Suggests strategies for campuses to use in building partnerships with online education providers that are complementary rather than competitive. Suggests that institutions begin by being clear about which model they are adopting for their online ventures. Discusses the direct and indirect costs of e-learning, and identifies "co-opetitional"…

Describes the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) program of recruiting minority high school students for engineering careers. The program includes Saturday and summer courses for juniors and seniors in engineering concepts and skills and reading and communication skills, on-the-job training, and placement in a regular 4-year engineering…

Pedantry and technology have damaged the ties between the university and the art museum, but several recent initiatives offer hope for a new alliance. Cooperative arrangements for teaching, museum training, and special exhibitions are discussed. (Author/LBH)

Productivity improvement, minority education, supplemental funding, joint venturing on national research projects, faculty development, market forecasting, information management, and a cohesive, national research and development plan are discussed in terms of increased opportunities for cooperation between business and higher education. (MLW)

The politics of petrodollars stands high on the list of academic concerns as universities wrestle with the ethics of accepting profitable Middle Eastern research and teaching contracts. Implications of the issues involved--political repression, discrimination, student selection, curriculum control--are addressed. (LBH)