By John Hageman. GRAND FORKS - North Dakota legislators introduced a bill Thursday that would grant university students and student organizations the right to be represented by an attorney during university disciplinary proceedings. More...

By Sean Braswell. Imagine a democracy where the children of former public officials had a leg up for winning an elected office themselves — a 10,000-vote head start, perhaps, or a seat on the county council reserved especially for them.
Most Americans rightly would scoff at a system that so brazenly allocated rewards based on who your parents are. And yet most American colleges and universities do just that. More...

By Jessica Mazzola. The second-largest public college in the state is facing some criticism from students and graduates after agreeing to spend more than $200,000 on a 12-foot bronze statue of its mascot.
According to school officials, trustees at Montclair State University approved the purchase of a large sculpture of a Red Hawk at their October meeting. More...

By Douglas Belkin. Gabby Toro Rosa was a strong student in high school but she was lousy at standardised tests, killing her chances at some colleges. Then she heard that DePaul University here was willing to accept a series of short essays in lieu of test scores.
The questions were designed to elicit responses that would gauge traits such as perseverance, adaptability and discipline. More...

By Catherine Dunn. The Obama administration is proposing to make community college free for as many as 9 million students nationwide, with a plan modeled on a new program in Tennessee launched by the state’s Republican governor.
The White House says the policy would save students about $3,800 a year on average. But the viability of such a proposal hinges on the question that many U.S. community colleges are struggling with, as the New York Times reported: Even if you get students in the door, can you get them to graduate -- and with degrees that lead to good jobs? More...

By Jamil Salmi. Seen from an international perspective, the higher education systems of the Ibero-American countries present fascinating contrasts.  They can take pride in the very rapid enrollment increases in recent years and significant efforts to improve the quality of learning and research in a growing number of universities.  Several countries, especially in Latin America, demonstrate a high degree of institutional differentiation with a wide range of public and private universities and non-university tertiary institutions—from technical institutes to technology-focused universities, from small professional schools to large research universities. More...