The "General Agreement on Trade in Services" (GATS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) covers educational trade services. Hence, all the regulations of the GATS have to be followed in the international trade of educational services. Having acceded to the WTO, China is starting to fulfill the rights and obligations as a member by…

The author presents an investigation of patent-application filings made without external financial support, or "at-risk", based on inventions disclosed to the University of California from fiscal years 1991 to 2000. The success of the at-risk patent applications filed on these invention disclosures is examined from the perspective of…

Simply an idea for systematic incentives at all institutional levels necessary to implement institutional archiving of peer-reviewed papers produced by their faculty. Some of the key concerns are addressed outlining the roles of senior faculty, junior faculty, librarians and others in fulfilling what should be an administrative imperative in all…

Whether by choice or necessity, colleges and universities are in competition with each other for the burgeoning web-based course market. Spurred by the growth of the for-profits such as the University of Phoenix, institutions have reasons, both practical and philosophical,"...to secure a position in ownership and control of faculty-produced…

In this report, the authors describe results of a nationwide census of institutional repositories in U.S. academic institutions. The census is one of several activities of the MIRACLE Project, an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded research program based at the University of Michigan. The acronym MIRACLE means "Making…

Policy formulation and implementation is a highly contested domain within the South African Higher Education landscape. This contestation can be attributed to the lack of wide stakeholder involvement and the architecture of the policy-making process. The contestation is also born of an absence of a systemic monitoring and evaluation mechanism to…

Following the incorporation of Japanese national universities in April 2004, the ownership of university inventions is now similar to that in the USA. However, in contrast to the USA, joint research projects involving close collaboration with company researchers who are frequently named as co-inventors are common. A large proportion of university…

In a one-week voluntary summer course, students aged twelve to seventeen eagerly take ownership of their composing processes, learning to connect terms such as focus and point of view to the visual and verbal acts of photography and writing. High school teacher Mike Stracco grapples with how to channel the vitality of his summer course into…

In February 1993, the Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) was formed to articulate and implement the Clinton Administration's vision for the National Information Infrastructure (NII). The Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights was established within the Information Policy Committee to examine the intellectual property implications…

This digest focuses on a variety of issues confronting copyright law in the digital age. The current copyright law was adopted in 1976, and could not possibly have foreseen so many new technologies. However, it did attempt to cover all bases by using language which was intended to be somewhat elastic. A current report by the U.S. Department of…

This paper discusses the need for intellectual preservation which addresses the integrity and authenticity of information as originally recorded. This need arises with the advent of digital information where an identical copy can be quickly made with an undetectable change. The problem which confronts any user of an electronic document is how the…

The legal action brought by author J. D. Salinger against Random House Publishers to prevent certain letters--now the property of various university libraries--from being published in a biography illustrates how the long-standing accommodation between the Copyright Act and the First Amendment can occasionally break down. Although the biographer…

Legal experts doubt that special contract clauses will be able to protect institutions in negligence cases. (MSE)

University research results often lead to patentable inventions with significant possibilities for ethical conflict. University officials must be conscious of these conflicts, examine each situation carefully, and determine actions creating the greatest good for the greatest number. (Author/MSE)

This document presents some of the many ways schools are using online technologies. The report illustrates how Massachusetts educators are taking advantage of e-learning opportunities to improve student learning. Educators across the state are using online courses and resources, engaging in online events and projects, and showing interest in…