Faced with shrinking state support, Oregon’s Portland State University has found a way to bolster its bottom line: outsourcing, of a sort. The university is offering classes to students in Shanghai, China through streaming video feeds. Almost 30 Chinese students have earned degrees through the program, and nearly 300 more are enrolled in the online courses—a sign, campus officials say, that Portland State is gaining a foothold in a fast-growing higher-education market.
Some faculty members, though, are less than thrilled. Warren Harrison, a professor of computer science, says the university risks encouraging foreign students to show up in Oregon and take jobs that would otherwise go to local graduates. (Associated Press)
