EU Universities Could Lose Ground to Asia

Top-tier European universities like Oxford, Cambridge and the Sorbonne will fall behind competitors in China and India within 10 years, the EU's education commissioner warns. The Times of London reports underfunding and outmoded curricula could cost the mossier Western schools their international reputations, and international enrollments with them.

"We are shifting into a secondary position in terms of quality and attractiveness," Jan Figel said, adding that businesses and investment will follow talented recruits overseas. China is planning to increase education spending by a factor of eight, and, Figel says, plans on having several top-ranked universities by 2015. (More education stories.)