By Jane Marshall. Frédéric Mion, general secretary of the Canal Plus audiovisual group, has been appointed as director of the Parisian Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po.
His appointment takes place after a difficult year for the institute, which started with the sudden death last April of its head, Richard Descoings, and included a scathing report by the state auditor on its financial management during Descoings’ time as director.
Mion (43) is a graduate of Sciences Po, as well as of two of France’s most elite grandes écoles: the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and ENA, the École Nationale d’Administration. He also studied at Princeton University in the United States.
He is a member of the Council of State, France’s highest legal body, and became general secretary of Canal Plus in 2007. Previous posts included, in the early 2000s, advisor to socialist education minister Jack Lang, and he was a member of the Attali commission on the harmonisation of European diplomas. Read more...

By Matt Krupnick. Latin American universities are taking steps to attract English-speaking students who may have ignored the region previously, by offering more courses in English and seeking accreditation in the United States. Universities from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego are part of an increased push to make campuses more inviting for students from the northern hemisphere, said Fernando Leon Garcia, president of Mexico’s private university, CETYS – Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superio. Read more...

By Yojana Sharma. Students from the UK and US have different reasons for overseas study. British students say a major motivation is to work abroad and prepare for a career with international companies, while most US students view a period abroad as an opportunity to travel and explore other cultures, with less emphasis on the academic experience or job prospects afterwards. Despite the oft-repeated notion that students in these English-speaking countries lack foreign language skills, four out of five respondents considering overseas study from both countries said they felt confident using a foreign language – and of the top 10 overseas study destinations chosen by UK and US students, seven were non-English-speaking countries. Nonetheless 29% of UK students considering studying overseas said the US was their first choice destination, while 22% of US students chose the UK, according to a new British Council survey, Broadening Horizons: Breaking through the barriers to overseas study, released on Wednesday during the council’s Going Global conference in Dubai. Read more...