Brazil

Professors End Strike

Professors returned to teaching in January after staging a semester-long strike that closed federal universities and forced them to postpone the fall term. At least 42,000 faculty members went on strike last August to demand a pay increase and the hiring of additional teachers. The professors said they were grossly underpaid and understaffed in a federal university system that enrolls 482,000 undergraduate students.

A settlement was reached in late November, with the government agreeing to a 13 percent increase in wages for faculty and the hiring of 2,000 additional professors.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
Jan. 25, 2002

Canada

Ontario Schools Denied Tuition Deregulation

The provincial government has ruled that Ontario universities will not be allowed to set their own levels for tuition fee increases. Queen’s University was recently turned down for the right to decide its own fees.

Queen’s has been the most vocal advocate for deregulation of undergraduate tuition in the province. Detractors of the proposal say that such a move would cause tuition fees to go through the roof, making it difficult, if not impossible, for many students to pay for college.

Although Queen’s was the only institution to formally issue such a request to the Ontario Ministry of Education, a few other universities, including Laurier and Waterloo, have also shown support for deregulation.

In 1997, tuition caps were lifted on some graduate professional programs such as business, engineering, medicine and law. As a result, medical school tuition at the University of Western Ontario, for example, went from CAN$4,844 to CAN$10,753 a year.

— The Star
Jan. 24, 2002

Peru

Students Take Over University

The Universidad Nacional de San Martin is currently in the throes of a student occupation. The takeover was sparked after student allegations of corruption among the university’s top officials.

The accusations resulted in an official investigation, which has the rector, vice rector, several faculty deans and heads of the legal and financial administration facing charges of embezzlement, fraud and contempt of court.

— Times Higher Education Supplement
Nov. 23, 2001

The United States

Student Exchanges On the Rise Despite Sept. 11

Many organizers of student exchange programs feared a significant decline in the number of U.S. students going abroad for study in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In fact, many exchange programs have actually received a surge in applications from high school and college students. The Rotary International Youth Exchange Program reported that the number of applications was up 110 percent in 2001 compared to the previous year. Likewise, AFS Intercultural Programs experienced a similar increase in applications for overseas study.

At State College, Pennsylvania, Rotary members recently handed out 50 applications for study abroad programs, compared to the usual five or six.

According to the Institute for International Education, approximately 130,000 U.S. high school and college students go abroad to study each year. A spokeswoman for AFS said many students want to show they are not afraid and want to increase their understanding of the world and the people who live in it.

— CNN.com
Nov. 26, 2001

International Student Enrollment Up

According to a recent report, 48 percent of colleges surveyed admitted more international students in 2001 than the previous year. About 23 percent admitted fewer in 2001 than in 2000, and 17 percent reported taking in the same number.

The survey showed that more international students were gravitating toward small liberal arts colleges and to schools in the American heartland. Colleges and universities that enrolled more international students in 2001 included:

Boston University (705), Bryn Mawr (72), Case Western Reserve (150), Claremont McKenna (14), Coe (177), Dickinson (47), Evergreen State, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Grinnell (150), Hampden-Sydney (7), Harvard, Hillsdale, Lake Forest (110), LaSalle, Lehigh (42), Macalester (163), Middlebury (158), Missouri Baptist (17), Northeastern Illinois, Northwestern (249), Oberlin (90), Ohio State University (471), Old Dominion, Pine Manor (50), Prairie View A&M (62), Providence (34), Purdue (300), St. Louis University (104), St. Michael’s College (26), Santa Clara University, Southern Methodist University (201), Swarthmore (21), Truman State, University of California-Santa Cruz, University of Idaho, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (115), University of North Dakota (414), University of Toledo (350), University of Tulsa (135), University of Utah (81), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wells (29), Westminster (72), Wittenberg and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (206).

— College Bound
January, 2002

Sylvan Acquires French College

Sylvan Learning Systems recently bought a French college that specializes in business and management programs. The École Supérieure du Commerce Extérieur is a four-year college and enrolls more than 1,000 students at its campuses in Paris and Lyon.

Sylvan, which paid US$8.1 million in cash for the school, now operates five international colleges in Chile, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and France, boasting a total enrollment of 49,000 full-time students.

The newly acquired institution offers practical-oriented programs focusing on international trade and quantitative management. In addition, the college provides internships with multinational corporations and requires that students learn two or three languages.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
Dec. 14, 2001