Schools, Colleges | featured news

In their quest for the next big drug discovery, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly teaming up with some of the nation's top universities, recruiting campus scientists as partners and offering schools multimillion-dollar deals to work on experimental drugs in development.

Average reading and writing SAT scores for high school students declined to their lowest levels while math results stalled in the exam used for admission at most U.S. colleges. For the class of 2012, the average critical reading score fell 1 point to 496 from a year earlier, the lowest since data became available in 1972, according to a report released today by the New York-based College Board, which administers the test. The average score for writing dropped 1 point to 488, the lowest since writing was added to the exam in 2006. Math results were unchanged at 514. Scores can range from 200 to 800.

Colleges increasingly are banning smoking or tobacco products altogether from campus. The University of Oklahoma, the University of Oregon and Montana State University are among those which have enacted campuswide bans this year. The University of California system announced in January that by 2014 all of its campuses would ban use or sale of cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

Six people were killed and three wounded Monday when a gunman opened fire at a small religious college in Oakland... Pastor Jong Kim, who founded Oikos University about 10 years ago, told the Oakland Tribune he was unsure if the alleged shooter had been expelled from the school or dropped out voluntarily. He said he heard about 30 gunshots while remaining in his office for safety.

Police arrested 17 Texas Christian University students, including four football players, today on drug charges on and around the campus after a six-month investigation, The Daily Skiff reports.

A research assistant was fatally burned when chemicals burst into flame. Her death three years ago has focused attention on safety issues. Felony charges have been filed against the University of California and a UCLA chemistry professor in connection with a laboratory fire that killed a staff research assistant three years ago. On Dec. 29, 2008, Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji, 23, was severely burned over nearly half of her body when air-sensitive chemicals burst into flames during an experiment and ignited her clothing. Sangji, who was not wearing a protective lab coat, died 18 days later.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law on Monday a bill allowing illegal immigrants to receive privately funded scholarships to attend the state's public colleges and universities.

A building at Boston College has been evacuated after reports of a chemical explosion inside a classroom.

Mike Rose, a professor of education at UCLA, says it makes complete sense for people to be concerned about the economic benefits of college. But, he says, there are many other benefits that make going to college worth it.

College towns are prime spots for readers, according to a new study released by Amazon.com.