Make No Little Plans: NYU, Abu Dhabi, and John Sexton

John Sexton is the president of New York University. This article, which is quite a personal one focused on him as an individual, examines various perspectives on NYU's ambitious plan for its campus in Abu Dhabi: 

"Sexton envisions the Abu Dhabi campus as a kind of network hub that will operate in tandem with NYU in Manhattan to power a new “global university” comprising study sites on five continents. And as if all that were still too modest, Sexton believes these global moves will slingshot NYU into the ranks of the Ivy League."

Read:http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20090717/REVIEW/707169966/1008

Universities Reach Out to Potential Students Across Houston Area

A local focus on a national trend:

"Higher education is moving to where the students are, with satellite centers and branch campuses popping up all across traffic-clogged metropolitan areas. . . . Four area universities will join Prairie View A&M University in northwest Houston next spring, ending an ongoing turf battle over who will serve the fast-growing affluent area."

Read on:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6512628.html

Connotation, Quality, Accountability. . .

Inside Higher Ed's "Getting to Green" blogger muses about why "accountability" might be a term that is limiting our vision:

"Why is NCLB any less ridiculous a slogan than 'no car stuck in traffic' or 'no patient dies except from age-induced total organ failure' or'"no deaths of innocent civilians or from friendly fire'? In each of those cases, a certain number of suboptimal outcomes are expected, because they're seen as unavoidable."

Read more:
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/getting_to_green/connotation_and_quality

Kuali: Open Source Administrative Software, Coming to Your Campus Soon?

We're all familiar with Moodle and Sakai as alternatives to, say, Blackboard. But what about Kuali as an alternative to, say, SunGard or Datatel?

"There's no doubt that institutions going the traditional route are spending a lot and are at the mercy of the vendor, and no one wants to be at the mercy of a vendor."

Read on:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/07/06/kuali