Higher education institutions trying to extend their reach internationally have launched study abroad programs and started satellite campuses in foreign lands. But have these trends now made higher education inaccessible and unaffordable for a broad base of students? 
 
UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh will join other UCLA leaders and their peers from across the Atlantic to tackle this and related issues during "Finding the balance: access, new models and internationalization," a daylong conference on Feb. 8 at the Faculty Center. The event — free of charge for UCLA faculty and staff — is the latest in a two-year series of conversational conferences taking place in 12 North American cities to address pressing issues in higher education. The series is presented by the British Council, the United Kingdom's international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Recent conferences in the British Council Higher Education Series included "The value of entrepreneurship in higher education" and "Driving development: higher education in the new economic order."
 
Waugh will join British Council USA Director Paul Smith in welcoming participants following a reception hosted by British Consul-General Dame Barbara Hay. The conference series is designed primarily for an influential audience of senior-level representatives from North American and U.K. universities, as well as U.S. foundations, corporations and local government agencies.
 
Kathryn Atchison, UCLA vice provost for new collaborative initiatives, will present an overview of the issues with Kathryn Mitchell, acting vice-chancellor and professor from the University of West London. Gary Rhodes, director of UCLA’s Center for Global Education in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, will moderate a panel discussion about rethinking the agendas of community colleges. 
 
Also taking part will be California assemblymember Das Williams, (D-Santa Barbara), chair of the assembly’s higher education committee, who will deliver a luncheon address. 
 
For information and the conference schedule, visit the event website. The $100 registration fee will be waived for UCLA faculty and staff. Register online here. You may also follow the conference on Twitter via @usaBritish, using the hashtag #HESeries.　
 
For additional information, email Sophie Nazerian in the Los Angeles office of the British Council.