A report released Friday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified a need for greater oversight of the optional practical training program (OPT), which allows international students to stay in the U.S. and work for between 12 to 29 months after completion of their programs. The report found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, does not maintain complete records on which international students are actively working and whether they are working in their fields of study, as required by ICE regulations. Read more...

A new article in Educational Researcher develops a typology for government-sponsored international scholarship programs. The lead author, the University of Pennsylvania’s Laura W. Perna, and her co-authors identify 183 government-sponsored programs in 196 countries and find that 76 percent of these programs target graduate or post-graduate (rather than undergraduate) study, 78 percent focus on degree attainment rather than short-term exchange, and 85 percent limit the number of possible destination countries. Just 15 percent of programs allow scholarship recipients to pursue any field of study they wish. Thirty-eight percent of programs cover all expenses, and 59 percent require students to return to their home countries after completing their programs. Read more...

By Nancy L. Zimpher. We've got plenty of data to support the value of a college degree, but the value of higher education systems -- in contrast to single institutions both private and public -- more often lies in the eye of the beholder.  That is certainly the case in “Are Systems Bad for Flagships?” – a recent essay in this space arguing that state-operated systems are harmful to “the health of public flagship universities and to the states and regions they serve.” Read more...

By Ry Rivard. Colleges are asking students for untold thousands of dollars in nonrefundable fees for dorm rooms they may never live in.
Some of the fees, which recently caught the eye of the college admissions officials, may fall in an ethical gray area. Read more...

By Michael Stratford. The Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General on Tuesday became the latest federal investigator calling for stricter rules on the debit cards offered to college students to gain access to financial aid funds. In a report, the inspector general’s office said the department should enact new rules on colleges entering into agreements with financial institutions or other companies to provide debit cards on campus. Read more...

By Paul Fain. Education technology can help higher education up its game. But adaptive learning, digital badges and free online courses don’t spell doom for colleges. And plenty of yeomanlike work needs to be done before those innovations can reach their potential. Those were common messages at two recent higher ed conferences: the annual meeting of the American Council on Education here this week and, somewhat surprisingly, at last week’s SXSWedu in Austin. Read more...