By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA. Every year, price increases at private colleges prompt a round of appalled responses and calls for corrective action. But even as some sticker prices approach $60,000 a year, the amount that students actually pay — because of increased discounts, grants and tax benefits — has barely changed over the last decade, according to a major analysis of college costs published this week. More...

By David Felsen. The administration has tackled energy reform to open up the country’s state oil monopoly to foreign investment and to develop global partnerships in the energy sector. The government also recently introduced an education reform with a view to raising teaching standards and holding Mexican teachers more accountable at the K-12 level, through changes such as the introduction of across-the-board performance evaluations. Furthermore, the government’s recent autumn tax bill seeks to improve efficiency in the country’s tax system. However, despite the positive measures undertaken during President Peña’s first year in office, numerous challenges remain across a range of sectors. These include issues that impact the country’s global competitiveness, not the least of which is higher education. In September the 2013 QS World University Rankings -- considered by many to be the gold standard of rankings in global higher education -- came out with its list of the world’s top universities. And the telling stat? Mexico did not have a single university represented within the top 100. Nor, for that matter, did Brazil or India. China produced only one Top 100 school. More...

By Shannon K. O'Neil. When people talk about what holds Brazil back, education tops the list (along with infrastructure). The poor quality of Brazil’s public education system limits students’ capabilities and adaptability, creates mismatches between workers’ skills and companies’ needs, and stifles productivity and entrepreneurship. These limits affect the entire economy—hampering economic growth, competitiveness, research & development, and even oil production (as Petrobras has struggled to find skilled workers for its pre-salt finds). More...

By Kate Allen. From Antarctic research tracking climate change to telescopes mapping the Milky Way, some research will be permanently lost even if lawmakers end the U.S. government shutdown immediately. Operation IceBridge, a NASA research project mapping changes to polar ice like this in the Antarctic Ocean, is at risk of losing valuable data unless the U.S. fiscal crisis is resolved soon.
Ottawa is not where Kevin Charles had planned to be on Thursday. The Canadian geophysicist was supposed to fly to New Zealand and on to Antarctica as part of Operation IceBridge, a NASA research project that is mapping changes to polar ice partly as a result of climate change. Because of the U.S. government shutdown, Charles and 50 other scientists and technicians are grounded, their research on pause while lawmakers duke it out in Washington, D.C. The window for Antarctic study is short — the team now tentatively hopes to depart on Oct. 31, shaving two weeks off a six-week experiment. More...