International

Officials in Ontario are considering a plan -- not yet made public but obtained by The Canadian Press -- under which students would take three of their five courses each semester online. "As the world of online learning expands, Ontario will be at the forefront of this digital, portable and low-cost alternative," the plan says. The plan also calls for more students to graduate in three years, and for colleges to improve their productivity by 3 percent a year. Student groups aren't impressed by the plan. "The fact that they're talking about such a massive overhaul without having reached out to faculty or students is cause for concern," said Sandy Hudson, president of the Canadian Federation of Students. "To think that three in five of all courses — the majority of courses in a year that students would be doing — would be online, that is definitely harming the quality of education."

Curtin University, in Australia, is defending itself against criticism of an honorary degree awarded Friday to Rosmah Mansor, wife of Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, AFP reported. The university says that the degree honored important work for early-childhood education. But critics say that Mansor is known for her expensive shopping, which is perceived as insensitive to the poverty faced by many people in her country. Following numerous critical postings about the honor on the university's Facebook page, officials blocked new comments.

Sudanese police raided the University of Khartoum Friday morning and arrested hundreds of students, Reuters reported. The university was closed two months ago, following protests, but many students have remained on the campus, waiting for operations to resume.

Heather Munroe-Blum, principal (president equivalent) of McGill University, will be leaving her position -- among the most prominent in Canadian academe -- next year, The Montreal Gazette reported. McGill's research programs and fund-raising capabilities have grown substantially during Munroe-Blum's tenure, which started in 2003. The university faced employee strikes and student protests in the last year, but Munroe-Blum said that those incidents had not led to her decision. She said she decided some time ago to serve two terms, which she is doing.