In India's beleaguered higher-education system, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) stand apart. The seven institutions have turned out some of the world's finest engineers and computer scientists, eagerly recruited by top graduate schools in the United States. Many of the institutes' graduates have gone on to become the chief executives of…

Federal appropriations for fiscal 1991 for projects involving specific colleges and universities has set an all-time record for such spending. Actual totals are probably even higher. Spending is for research facilities and varied projects. The increases may reflect lawmakers' impatience for an administration policy on promoting technology. (MSE)

Increasingly, institutions are seeking money directly from Congress for new research facilities and other science projects, stirring criticism of "pork-barrel science" and special advantages given to land-grant colleges. (MSE)

Campus construction is projected to boom as colleges and universities catch up on deferred maintenance and replace outdated classrooms and laboratories. Severe problems identified include roofs, heating systems, asbestos removal, and electical systems. (LB)

The University of California at Santa Cruz has completed a successful test of a wireless computer network that would enable students and professors to get on line from anywhere on campus. The network, linked by radio waves, could save millions of dollars in campus wiring costs and would better meet student and faculty information needs. (MSE)

Congress seems serious about designing a new federal program to modernize campus research facilities, but the ultimate issue in dividing the funds will be whether the current distribution of federal resources for research best serves the national interest. (MSE)

In an effort to diversify their investments, colleges are pouring money into hotels, shopping centers, research parks, and apartment buildings. Institutional involvement in real estate takes a variety of forms, some considered risky, and has resulted in both profit and public-relations problems. (MSE)

A versatile new facility at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana) has doubled the number of classrooms on campus and provides centralized multimedia instruction, controlled by classroom consoles. A 24-hour computer room is available to students, and faculty are provided with grants to adapt instructional materials for the new technology. (MSE)

Increasingly, colleges and universities are building warehouses for little-used library books, which can be delivered to campus on request. Warehousing saves money and provides better climate control for books. Scholars and students today have access to needed information through electronic databases and online catalogues, often from home, thus…

A new state-of-the-art music technology center at the University of Northern Colorado features the latest systems for keyboard practice and composition, multimedia teaching tools, and recording studios. The technology has changed the teacher's role to that of coach, the student's to that of participant. Students learn at their own pace. (MSE)