By Calvin TerBeek. Privatization -- the other side of the deregulation coin -- has long been a favorite watchword among economic conservatives. Indeed, we can go back all the way to 1981, when President Reagan warned us that government was the problem, not the solution. 
Thirty-plus years on, this rhetoric still has staying power. It seems like a number of well-known public universities want to get the government "off their back" and go private. For example, in Oregon, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Portland State University -- the three largest of the state's seven public colleges and universities -- will all be private schools as of next July. More...

By Michael Cohn. A pair of lawmakers have introduced legislation to simplify the Tax Code to enable families to more easily afford the cost of higher education. Reps. Diane Black, R-Tenn., and Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., introduced the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act on Wednesday. The legislation is designed to make it easier and simpler for families to afford the costs of higher education by consolidating four separate tax provisions into a single education tax benefit. 
The proposed legislation would consolidate the Hope Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit, and the tuition deduction into a single, but more robust American Opportunity Tax Credit.  The new AOTC would be permanent and partially refundable and would provide a 100-percent tax credit for the first $2,000 of eligible higher education expenses and a 25-percent tax credit for the next $2,000 of such expenses, for a maximum credit of $2,500. More...

By Motoko Rich. Amid growing alarm over the slipping international competitiveness of American students, a report comparing math and science test scores of eighth graders in individual states to those in other countries has found that a majority outperformed the international average.
But the report, to be released Thursday by the National Center for Education Statistics, an office of the Education Department, showed that even in the country’s top-performing states — which include Massachusetts, Vermont and Minnesota — fewer students scored at the highest levels than students in several East Asian countries. More...

EFMD Global Network Americas Annual Conference
EFMD is happy to inform you about one of the first activities of the EFMD Global Network Association, an key EFMD partner: The EFMD Global Network Americas Annual Conference.
The event will be held at Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo da Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-EAESP) on 27-29 April 2014 in São Paulo, Brazil.
The EFMD Global Network Americas Annual Conference has been designed for all those interested in management education and development with a particular interest in the Americas. It brings together EFMD Global Network members, companies, educational institutions and other associations. More...

In the event, universities from 6 different countries in Latin America as well as several students enrolled in Development studies debated on the importance of knowledge in Latin America for development.
The Asociación de Universidades Grupo Montevideo (AUGM) organized, jointly with the Comisión Económica para Latinoamérica y el Caribe (CEPAL), the Encuentro de Redes Universitarias sobre Nuevo Pensamiento Lationamericano en Desarrollo (University Networks Meeting on the new Latin American Thinking on Development), which took place in Universidad de la República (Uruguay) last 14-15 March.
The meeting was based on one of AUGM’s main objectives, which is to contribute to the integrating process through the creation of a common academic space, thus fostering development, strengthening and consolidation of higher education. The relationship and collaboration between AUGM and CEPAL were stated as essential in order to deal together with themes related to economic and social development, inequality, poverty and technological changes, amongst other themes. For more information, follow this link (in Spanish).