The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved the disputed $81.4 million Human Resources System Project Friday and also received news for the first time regarding the Research to Jobs Task Force...

While most recent law graduates spent the summer poring over torts, rules of evidence and property law in preparation for the bar exam, there were hundreds in Wisconsin who marched straight to work as attorneys. Under Wisconsin's 139-year-old "diploma privilege," graduates of UW-Madison's and Marquette University's law schools can practice law in the state without passing a bar exam...But the long-standing privilege could be at risk. A spirited federal appeals court decision earlier this summer revived a lawsuit that challenges the diploma privilege on the grounds that it discriminates against graduates of out-of-state law schools...

...Although there are typically multiple building projects on the UW-Madison campus at any given time, new facilities on the campuses of other four-year UW System institutions are rarer. The last time UW-Whitewater built a new academic building was in 1987, when the majority of the school's undergraduates weren't yet alive. The new facility - a sleek, $41.5 million facility with a floor-to-ceiling glass atrium - is home to the College of Business and Economics...

UW-Whitewater visitors, including alumni, businesspeople and community members, are stopping and staring at a four-story headquarters for innovation and education. Timothy J. Hyland Hall, the new College of Business and Economics building, is changing the face of business education, college officials say...

A $4.7 million grant will help UW-Whitewater and the city of Whitewater start the Whitewater University Technology Park, a research facility and business incubator for students and faculty. The funding, awarded by the federal Economic Development Administration, will help fund the Innovation Center, the first building in the technology park...

Fewer than four out of 10 freshman who start at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside actually graduate, according to data from the University of Wisconsin System. Of full-time freshman who started in 2002 at Parkside, only 38.4 percent graduated by 2008 from any UW school, according to UW System statistics of six-year graduation rates. In comparison, the graduation rate for the UW System as a whole is 65.1 percent, with a 47.9 percent graduation rate at UW-Milwaukee and an 84 percent graduation rate at UW-Madison...

The 40th anniversary of the Badger Herald student newspaper was Thursday, and the paper celebrated with a special front page that included two articles on the Herald's founding and growth...

The UW Marching Band is moving on, a year after hazing allegations sidelined the group for a game. The UW football staple was silenced for the first time in 40 years last October, after  investigations revealed some members were participating in serious hazing rituals...UW Band Director Mike Leckrone says the band put those behaviors in the past, last year...

UW-Madison students who participated in the Associated Students of Madison’s textbook swap Aug 28-30 saved over twice as much as they did in past semesters, organizers of the event said Wednesday. According to a release, the net gain for students who chose to buy and sell their books at the swap was $23,054, which more than doubled last semester’s gain of $10,127...

...With 42,000 students at UW-Madison alone - plus those at Madison Area Technical College, Edgewood College and specialty institutions - it's not surprising that some financial institutions are working hard to cultivate the student market. More than half of large banks and more than one-fourth of medium-size and community banks offer checking accounts aimed specifically at students, said Carol Kaplan, spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C. In the Madison area, UW Credit Union says it has a big piece of the student market; U.S. Bank, of Minneapolis, and Associated Bank, based in Green Bay, also are among those more aggressive in trying to recruit students as customers...

Some in the military are already taking advantage of the education benefits offered by the new post 9/11 GI Bill in southwestern Wisconsin. The bill applies to anyone who has served at least 90 days in the reserve or on active duty since 9/11. La Crosse County Veterans Services Officer Jim Gausmann says the big difference is that the Post 9/11 GI Bill pays for tuition, up to $1,000 per academic year for books and pays the veteran a stipend to go to school based on the economy in the local area...

Harvard and Yale disclosed on Thursday just how many billions their endowments had lost in the last year, signaling yet more belt-tightening at the nation’s wealthiest schools...

...Call it eco-dining, or another sign of tough economic times in American academia. Pomona this fall joined a growing number of colleges in California and across the nation that have eliminated cafeteria trays in an effort to reduce food waste, cut water usage and save on energy bills...

...In many ways, Europe's interest in internationalization mirrors that of the United States. European universities want to develop closer ties in Asia and the Middle East, for example, two regions that American institutions have paid particular attention to in recent years. They also want to draw more students from across the globe, rather than rely on a handful of feeder countries. And they hope to build deeper partnerships with universities abroad, leading to more-sophisticated relationships that include joint degree and research projects, along with student and faculty exchanges. In several areas of internationalization, European universities rival or better their American counterparts. But in others, particularly international student recruitment, they want to capture a bigger share of the market...