Most of the federal agencies that support postsecondary education use a quasifoundation model. The agencies that support educational activities can be divided into categories depending on the focus of the grants awarded: direct support to institutions, agencies with a mission, and special concerns. (MLW)

Presents a brief history of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), launched during a period of growth and turmoil in U.S. higher education. Discusses FIPSE's successes as it celebrates 30 years of helping colleges and universities assess and improve the quality of their services. (EV)

Discusses why the current economic downturn for public institutions requires that policy makers respond with new financing policies that reflect the simultaneous convergence of state deficits, changing demographics, and the information economy's voracious demand for a more educated workforce. Presents strategies for states to behave as investors…

Federal involvement in higher education is due to increase if a cabinet-level Department of Education becomes a reality. Important issues about higher federal visibility and an increased share of the budget are addressed by the president of the Institute for Educational Leadership. (LBH)

The "Getaway Special" is NASA's semiofficial program for low-budget researchers, who can arrange bookings for their own space experiments on regular flights of the space shuttle. Information about arranging for NASA to take individual experiment packages is presented. (LBH)

Three summary judgments are rendered including many students are emerging from higher education without satisfactory intellectual skills and knowledge; higher education institutions aren't as efficient or productive as they should be; and the leaders of higher education have either misdiagnosed what its problems are or are trying to mislead…

A description of what it is like to move back and forth between the academic and the political worlds is presented. Ten "professor/legislators" and one ex-professor/governor are interviewed. Their responses indicate that the campus and the legislature are not inimical environments. (MLW)

Graduate schools require federal support if they are to produce the new knowledge and trained intelligence necessary to the security, prosperity, and cultural life of the nation. Recommendations of the National Commission on Student Financial Assistance are discussed. (MLW)

American society and culture is seen as being in an educational reform movement. Fresh ideas, renewed commitment to educational standards, rising expectations for teacher competence and student performance, impatience with trendy innovations and flabby practices, and a faith in the importance of high quality education are discussed. (MLW)

The Action Committee for Higher Education--a coalition of 19 Washington-based higher education groups that serves as a national information clearinghouse on student aid, keeping students, parents, the news media, campus officials, and others informed about the Reagan Administration's student aid proposals--is described. (MLW)

Describes how the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) has played a central role in sponsoring innovations in the medical and health sciences, including landmark medical projects to integrate women's health issues into the medical curriculum and to use lay people in the teaching and evaluating of medical students. (EV)

Describes how the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) has helped institutions reach out to groups they have historically neglected, including funding a project to formulate a global strategy for making computers accessible to disabled students. Includes a list of other projects. (EV)

The recent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposal to revise, in the name of uniformity, the cost principles for university grants and contracts under federal auspices is examined, and the negative implications for higher education are discussed. (LBH)

The need for a separate cabinet-level Department of Education is argued by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, who sees little priority currently being given to education in HEW. (LBH)

Higher education in India has returned to normal after cessation of the declared Emergency by Indira Gandhi, with increased student and faculty militancy as well as the emergence of strong pressures for increased governmental control over the university. (LBH)