On the question of stats, mine come from Steven Youra, of Cornell, who was quoting the US report called the The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University REINVENTING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities. You can find it at http://notes.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf and the stats on education at http://notes.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf/webform/overview I can't speak beyond these numbers, so Laura go ahead and contest the figures. Rob