The U.S. Department of Education today announced the creation of an experiment that will seek to encourage the expansion of dual-enrollment programs for students from low-income backgrounds. Read more...

Northeastern University will next year take its growing branch campus business outside the U.S., adding an outlet for professional graduate degree programs in Toronto. The university this spring opened its third branch campus in the San Jose, Calif., offices of Integrated Device Technology, giving Northeastern a presence in Silicon Valley. Read more...

Stratford University, a for-profit institution based in Virginia, this week announced that it has become a public benefit corporation. That move, which a handful of other for-profits have made recently, is a legal change to a company's charter, which allows it to focus more on activities that do not generate a profit -- including actions that are aimed at benefiting the public. Read more...

Cengage Learning announced Tuesday that it has purchased Pathbrite, which offers schools and colleges electronic portfolio services. Read more...

The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday finalized the regulations carrying out President Obama's expansion of the government's most generous income-based repayment program to more federal student loan borrowers. Read more...

The University of Southern Mississippi has become the second university in the state, following the University of Mississippi, to stop flying the state flag. Many people are urging the state to remove a Confederate flag from one corner of the state flag. Read more...

The Aspen Institute and the Siemens Foundation this week announced the first results of a new partnership focused on the projected shortages of skilled workers for high-demand jobs in manufacturing, energy, health care and information technology. Read more...

Two university associations plan to recognize institutions that engage in campuswide activity aimed at assessing and improving student learning, for the sake of internal improvement rather than accountability. The Excellence in Assessment designation is a joint program of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, working in conjunction with the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. Read more...

A majority of Americans surveyed by WGBH News said they would encourage high school students to attend community college rather than take out loans to attend a four-year college. Read more...

In an effort to prevent racial bias, university applications in the U.K. will be “name blind” starting in 2017, Prime Minister David Cameron wrote in an op-ed in The Guardian. Read more...