Brazil

The Sandwich Undergraduate Program in Technology, Engineering and Agronomy is currently being implemented as part of a cooperative agreement on education between Brazil and the United States. The program is designed for third-year undergraduate Brazilian students in the fields of agriculture and engineering. Its overall objective is to establish links between Brazilian and foreign universities with the aim of facilitating technological and economic development in Brazil. Two important goals are to establish reciprocal academic exchanges between students and faculty, and to encourage the exchange of information between the students’ American and Brazilian advisors.

In 1999, a total of 43 undergraduates were selected to take part in the Sandwich Program (up from 24 students in 1998). Six American universities are participating in the program: Clemson University, Michigan State University, Rutger’s University, Texas A&M University, University of Arizona and University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In addition, German and French institutions of higher education will also participate this year.

— Reaching Partners in Education
1999/2000 Winter

Canada

According to a recent report, the number of American students crossing the border to attend universities in Canada is steadily growing. The report attributes the increase to the fact that tuition fees in Canada are often a quarter of what colleges and universities cost in the United States.

Canadian institutions of higher education are welcoming the influx of American students with open arms. For many years now, Canada has been promoting its schools as a more affordable alternative to American colleges and universities.

— Seattle Times
Jan. 4, 2000

Mexico

In 1998/99, the number of Mexicans studying in the United States climbed to an all time high of 9,641. Business and engineering continue to be the most popular academic fields for Mexican students who come to the United States for higher education. However, statistics show that the majority of Mexican students in the United States are enrolled in English language training programs. At the same time, the number of English language students decreased 13.4 percent in 1998/99. Concerns about the possible devaluation of the peso and tougher visa requirements for students account for the decline.

Mexican graduate students in the United States continue to receive funding from the Mexican government. In 1999 the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) sponsored 1,168 scholars conducting research in the United States: 62 percent of these students were doctoral students, 28 percent were master’s students and 10 percent postdoctoral. CONACYT has co-funding agreements with the following American institutions: the University of California system, University of Arizona, University of New Mexico, New School for Social Research and the University of Texas campuses in Austin, Mexico and El Paso.

During that same year, 24 percent of CONACYT’s international students were in Great Britain, 13 percent in France, 11 percent in Spain and 8 percent in Canada.

The number of Americans studying in Mexico has also increased in recent years. In 1996/97, there were 6,685 U.S. students in Mexico, 2,150 more than the two previous years (an increase of 46 percent). The growth can be attributed in part to NAFTA, which has greatly facilitated academic mobility between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

In addition to NAFTA, Mexican universities are focusing more on catering to the needs of international students while marketing their programs through international catalogs, videos and the Internet.

— 1998/99 Open Doors

United States

Companies are investing more time and money into training and development programs than ever before. At the beginning of the last decade, there were just 400 corporate universities in the United States. By late last year, however, this number had grown to1,600.

But what defines a corporate university seems to be a matter of debate. Kenneth Bardach, an associate dean at Northwestern University’s graduate business school feels that companies should not be calling their programs universities. “Universities create and disseminate knowledge,” he explained. “Corporate universities don’t create it. They just disseminate it.”

Although Bardach insists that companies are not taking away from business schools such as his, others contend that corporate universities are winning out over traditional programs on some levels. They point out that corporate universities offer a whole sector of executive education that the business schools do not provide. Short-term, focused courses on specific disciplines such as marketing, customer relations or information technology are mostly being run in-house now. Moreover, companies that used to send middle-level managers to executive education programs are now recruiting faculty members to teach their own courses in-house.

Big corporations are increasingly striving to meet the demand for company-specific programs and the need to keep employees at work. Hence, IBM, a proven leader in information technology, is offering distance learning courses. Likewise, Disney and Anheuser-Busch, known for their expertise in customer service and marketing, respectively, are concentrating on providing training in those specific disciplines.

— Financial Times
April 3, 2000

With the demand for freshmen places at competitive colleges rising each year, many accepted students now risk having their admissions revoked if they let their grades fall while finishing their senior year of high school.

As colleges and universities are flooded with applications, more and more students are being placed on waiting lists. Therefore, many of these schools are checking to see if the applicants they admitted to their upcoming freshman classes are continuing to submit quality work for the remainder of their senior year. Students who slump through the rest of their senior year could receive a warning letter, be put on early probation or have their admissions revoked entirely.

High school seniors who were accepted through early admissions have come under particularly close scrutiny. According to recent studies, these students often drop harder classes in favor of easier ones and turn in mediocre grades.

— USA Today
March 30, 2000