In Tunisian and Egyptian universities, scholars face a growing Islamist resolve to remake their countries on the basis of religious principles. Both Tunisia and Egypt face questions that could affect higher education across the Middle East and North Africa: Can their new Islamist governments spread conservative religious values and also create…

On June 4, 1989, the Chinese military, under orders from the highest levels of government, violently crushed peaceful civilian demonstrations in Beijing, most symbolically in and around Tiananmen Square. In the end, the Chinese government claimed that the death toll was approximately 200, but the Chinese Red Cross reported 2,000 to 3,000 deaths.…

Interest in Indian law is growing as the economic clout and political influence of the nation's 562 federally recognized tribes have expanded. Arizona State's Indian Legal Program allows students who are pursuing their J.D.'s to simultaneously earn certificates in Indian law. They study the differences between the legal systems of tribes and that…

In this article, the author discusses Europe's anti-Americanism stance. He observes that Europe's aversion to America has become greater, louder, and more determined, and that it has unified Western Europeans more than any other political emotion (with the exception of a common hostility toward Israel). The author contends that the many disastrous…

For more than 2,500 years, Confucian thought held sway in China, advocating a state guided by highly ethical scholar-bureaucrats and a society ruled by morality and a strong emphasis on hierarchical relationships. But by the end of the 19th century, the Chinese state, powerless to fight off foreign encroachment and growing public dissatisfaction,…

Georgia, along with a number of other former Soviet countries, is rapidly reforming its higher-education system. Russian is being replaced by English in classrooms and textbooks. Western-trained professors are flooding campuses with new methods of teaching and liberal-arts courses are replacing vocational training. This change is part of broader…

The government of Malaysia, whose universities are battling a reputation for mediocrity, recently announced plans to revitalize its lagging university system and turn the country into a center of higher education in Southeast Asia. At an August meeting of government ministers and higher-education officials, Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah…

Budget cuts, jurisdictional arguments among colleges, disputes over telecommunications hardware, rapid changes in technology, and sometimes complex state regulatory climates are making state distance learning initiatives difficult. Legislators are concerned that resorting to private ownership of an education telecommunications network would drive…

The British government has published a long-anticipated report containing guidelines designed to help higher-education institutions combat Islamic extremism. The report entitled "Promoting Good Campus Relations: Working With Staff and Students to Build Community Cohesion and Tackle Violent Extremism in the Name of Islam at Universities and…

Describes the difficulties faced by AmeriCorps. The laws that govern this national service program have not been updated. Although the Bush administration is expected to increase the number of participants, the long-term health and effectiveness of the program will depend on whether Congress and the administration can agree on legislation to…

Sheldon Hackney will step down as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities for personal reasons, and resume teaching college-level history. During his tenure at the federal agency, he contended with significant budget reductions by a Republican Congress and was sometimes criticized for his leadership style. The agency is still…

In addition to discussing many scholarly issues at its first meeting, the new Historical Society examined its own reasons for existence, including an interest in reinvigorating intellectual debate on history; reintegrating into the profession historians who have been pushed to the sidelines; and dissatisfaction with two major existing history…

Examines the controversies arising when scholarly associations must decide whether to meet in localities or hotels that have policies or practices, such as racial discrimination, with political implications. Evaluates differing decisions of various organizations (e.g., Organization of American Historians) concerning possible boycotts of specific…

Describes economic and professional difficulties experienced by scientists in Russia today and reports on efforts to reverse these trends in places such as Akademgorodok, a community with 35 research institutes, academies of agriculture and medicine, and a state university. Reports such positive trends as declining numbers of scientists departing…

State higher education officers agree that reforms of higher education have budgetary effects their supporters fail to consider, and they are in the position of having to explain the real costs of new programs and policies. (MSE)