As the United States and other member countries of the World Trade Organization continue negotiations on a new global-trade agreement in Geneva, about two dozen groups representing American colleges are beseeching U.S. officials to avoid making concessions that would threaten the autonomy of higher-education institutions. During the latest round…

When a jury convicted a Tennessee professor this month of illegally exporting information to foreign countries via his graduate students and a trip to China, it sent a message to colleges that they need to scrupulously monitor their faculty members' research and their compliance with the often confusing universe of export-control regulations. In…

Describes how many colleges are opposing a U.S. plan that they say favors for-profit distance education. The proposal before the World Trade Organization asks member countries to begin formal negotiations to reduce barriers that keep higher education institutions from offering courses in other countries. (EV)

Members of Congress charge that some universities are selling the results of federally financed research to foreign companies while they argue for more research money to increase American competitiveness in world markets. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology program is criticized for impropriety in sharing information too freely. (MSE)

Despite recent substantial losses through an investment adviser, mid-size universities are reducing their traditional low-risk investments and engaging in investments that are higher-risk but potentially higher-yielding. For some institutions, this translates into more investment in the domestic stock market and some ventures into foreign markets.…

Expatriates from India now living in the U.S. seek to establish a business school in their homeland that will hold its own in the global marketplace. (JM)

Support for an end to foreign investment in South Africa and a call to outsiders to sever all ties with institutions that serve the apartheid system was advocated by the leader of the African National Congress. (MLW)

Increasingly, colleges and universities are finding that investment in foreign stocks helps protect against downturns in the domestic market and provides benefit from growth in foreign ones. However, political and economic turmoil in foreign countries and criticism of foreign labor standards are concerns. The wealthiest American institutions have…

With American corporate investments abroad rising and world trade expanding, the need for managers who are knowledgeable about the culture and business practices of other nations is growing. Some programs in American business schools are described. (MLW)

On the theory that the state can attract more foreign industry and tourism if residents have more foreign language skills, Tennessee is establishing the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute with state and private funds, solely to improve foreign language instruction. (MSE)

Political, academic, and business leaders are urging adoption of a federal technology policy that would focus on helping American companies compete in international trade. They feel increased partnerships between government, business, and universities and reallocation of research resources could help speed new knowledge from academic laboratories…

Nearly 100 U.S. universities with high-technology research programs have received Japanese money in the last five years, suggesting to some that the United States is subsidizing technology transfer to an economic rival. Others find the figures inconclusive and the study's focus narrow. Other studies are forthcoming. (MSE)

The large, exclusive research deal the Scripps Research Institute (California) made with one drug company has drawn criticism for conflict of interest. Critics fear researchers will focus more on marketing than on pure science and will protect corporate interests. Much of the deal-making is with foreign companies, sending profits overseas. (MSE)

Declining involvement of American students and scholars overseas because of unstable currency exchange rates is causing concern at a time when American sophistication in international affairs is becoming more important to the nation's future. (MSE)

Secretary of Education William Bennett proposes that gimmicky federal programs are not the key to boosting American economic competitiveness, but rather that developing in American schoolchildren the qualities of honesty, responsibility, and regard for others' rights will help Americans compete in world markets. (MSE)