“Tonight we turn the page”, said Barack Obama during his annual speech on the State of the Union, delivered on 20 January. The announced White House policy agenda for 2015 marked indeed a shift in tone for higher education policy, including brand new proposals in the direction of a stronger federal role. However, other higher education reforms - such as the college ratings system (see ACA Newsletter Education Europe, Edition January 2015) were unmentioned in Obama’s speech. More...

By Santi Carneri. Thousands of Brazilian and Angolan students are heading to Asuncion to enroll in doctoral and other graduate programs offered by scores of private Paraguayan universities even though the academic standards of some colleges are being questioned by education officials.
Most graduates from these countries share the same goal: to earn a specialized diploma faster and less expensively than in their own countries, opening the door to advancement in public sector employment. More...

Par Sylvestre Huet. Les citoyens américains et les scientifiques de leur pays divorcent. C'est ce qui ressort d'une enquête du Pew Research Center qui a consisté à poser des questions identiques, selon les techniques des sondages d'opinion, à un panel représentatif de la population et un un autre composé de membres de l'Association américaine pour l'avancement des sciences (AAAS). Voir l'article...

By Lauren Lee-Johnson. The story of his selfless act went viral, but for Raymond Burse it was simply second nature.
"I'm not extraordinary," said Burse. "I've assumed that people do those kinds of things all the time."
In summer 2014, Burse, who is president of Kentucky State University, gave up $90,000 of his almost $350,000 salary so that 24 of the university's lowest paid workers could earn $10.25 an hour. The move gave them a 40% pay increase. More...

By Akane Otani. Brown University has banned alcohol from being served at parties in fraternities and certain student residence halls for the spring semester. The crackdown, which has been nicknamed "Prohibition" by the campus newspaper's editorial board, was put in place this week after two fraternities were punished for having booze-fueled parties that led to reports of "non-consensual sexual conduct." Read more...

By Janet Lorin. Elite colleges are suddenly extending their application deadlines, but some say they're juicing their numbers and giving students false hope. Read more...

By Alia Wong. The U.S. and Cuba are poised to restore diplomatic relations, which may lead to big shifts in higher education.
A record-high 289,000 U.S. college students studied abroad during the 2012-13 school year, a little more than half of them in Europe. More...

By Tara Siegel Bernard. President Obama is proposing a radical change to the 529 college savings plans held by millions of families, which would require those who use them to rethink their approach to college savings. More...

By Pamela Mills-Senn. “The biggest vulnerability is a lack of awareness across a distributed and diverse environment. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards cover everything related to processing credit card transactions, including software, hardware, networks and business processes. There have been several high-profile security breaches on campuses across the past several years, and trends indicate this type of malicious activity is increasing. More...