Public Sector, Education & Research

BEIJING – October 29, 2026 -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: TAL) lifted second-quarter fiscal 2027 net revenues 15.5% to US$994.6 million and more than doubled operating income to US$235.9 million. Even so, it posted a net loss attributable to TAL of US$47.4 million for the quarter ended August 31, 2026, against net income of US$124.1 million a year earlier.

Gross margin widens to 59.8% as marketing spend falls 15.3%

Gross profit rose 21.1% to US$594.6 million, and gross margin reached 59.8% against 57.0% a year earlier. Cost of revenues increased 8.0% to US$400.0 million, below the pace of revenue growth.

Selling and marketing expenses fell 15.3% to US$226.4 million from US$267.3 million. General and administrative expenses rose 3.7% to US$132.4 million. Total operating costs and expenses declined 0.8% to US$758.8 million.

Wiesbaden – October 29, 2026 -- Procter & Gamble has awarded a total of €6,000 to three Hessian school teams at the 20th P&G MINT Award, plus a €500 special prize for an inclusive project.

Three schools share €6,000 for project development

The winners are the Weibelfeldschule in Dreieich with "Fly with Science Air", an experimental world tour, and the Grimmelhausen-Gymnasium in Gelnhausen with the outdoor escape game "Let's MINT Escape". The third winner is the vocational school in Dillenburg, with "Growing Together: Smart Greenhouse", an intelligently controlled greenhouse. The jury cited creativity, practical relevance and clear communication of STEM content. The teams will use the prize money to develop their projects further.

Hong Kong – September 08, 2026 -- The Yidan Prize Foundation named its 2026 laureates on the tenth anniversary of the award, granting HK$30 million (approximately US$3.8 million) each to Professor Paul W. Glewwe and a three-member team behind the Reach Up early childhood program.

Independent jury awards two prizes worth HK$60 million combined

The judging panel, chaired by OECD education and skills director Andreas Schleicher, selected Paul W. Glewwe for the Yidan Prize for Education Research and Professor Susan P. Walker, Professor Sally Grantham-McGregor and Dr Susan M. Chang-Lopez jointly for the Yidan Prize for Education Development. Each award comprises a HK$15 million cash prize and a HK$15 million unrestricted project fund. Since 2017 the foundation has distributed HK$600 million (approximately US$77 million) to 25 laureates working across nearly 60 countries and regions.

SHANGHAI – October 29, 2026 -- The Shanghai Technology Business Incubation Association (STBIA) and the World Laureates Foundation (WLF) signed a strategic cooperation agreement at the opening of the World Top-performing Incubator Conference 2026, held on October 26 at the Lingang Center.

Conference joins World Laureates Forum for the first time

The three-day conference runs from October 26 to 28 under the theme "AI-Driven Innovation Incubates the Future." For the first time, it is held in the same week as the World Laureates Forum. The two events are building a mechanism that links scientific discovery, technology transformation and industrial incubation.

A deep-tech transformation forum, staged together with the World Laureates Forum, follows on October 31.

New York – October 29, 2026 -- Two student ventures, a custom bag-strap cushion and a wearable LED social-battery pin, earned places at the U.S. National Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase on Nov. 18, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) named the winners from its Capital Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase.

Perfectly Padded and Social Charge advance from the Capital region

Celia Salsbury and Giabella Catello of Frances Scott Key Elementary-Middle School in Baltimore advance with Perfectly Padded, which makes custom strap cushions for heavy bags. Bria White of Oxon Hill High School in Prince George's County, Maryland, advances with Social Charge, a wearable LED pin that displays the wearer's social battery level.

The national event may lead to the World Finals on Nov. 19 at 787 Seventh Avenue in New York City.

New York – October 29, 2026 -- The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) has named two West region students to advance to the U.S. National Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase on Nov. 18, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. The finalists were chosen from NFTE's 2026 West Youth Entrepreneurship Showcases in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

Two student ventures win top honors in Los Angeles and the Bay Area

Elian Gutierrez of Florence Nightingale Middle School in Los Angeles advances with Little Miss, a period product pouch. Saumit Pathak of Silver Creek High School in San Jose, California, advances with LeftoSense, an AI-powered app that scans and analyzes food to determine whether it is safe to eat.

ARLINGTON, Va. – October 29, 2026 -- The American Institutes for Research (AIR), a Gold Conference Sponsor, will present in 10 panels, roundtables and paper sessions, plus two poster events, at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) Fall Research Conference, November 5-7, 2026, at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston.

The conference theme is "Fifty States, Fifty Systems: State Policy Variations and Impacts." AIR will also staff a booth in the Exhibitor Hall and a table at the APPAM Career & PhD Program Fair on Friday, November 6, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET in the Gloucester Meeting Room.

Concord, California – October 29, 2026 -- eTeamSponsor, a funding platform for K-12 and higher education that says it has raised more than $300 million, has launched eTeamSponsor Ticketing, a mobile-friendly digital ticketing product for game day that is available now.

Ticketing runs on the same supporter data as school fundraising

Ticketing is built into the existing eTeamSponsor platform. Every ticket buyer therefore connects to the supporter data behind a school's fundraising, giving days and sponsorships.

Fans buy tickets from any phone, and staff scan them at entry. Athletic departments see every sale in real time.

CEO Connors pitches single-vendor consolidation to athletic directors

CEO Sean Connors said athletic directors want one partner for every way their community supports them. He noted that schools have trusted eTeamSponsor with fundraising and financial transactions for more than 15 years.

BEIJING – October 29, 2026 -- New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE: EDU / 9901.SEHK) reported a 23.1% year-over-year rise in net revenues to US$1,874.5 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, ended August 31, 2026. Operating income rose 20.5% to US$374.7 million, and net income attributable to the company rose 13.5% to US$273.2 million.

East Buy and new education initiatives drive the revenue increase

New Oriental attributed the growth mainly to its new educational business initiatives and to East Buy's private label products and livestreaming e-commerce business. New educational business initiatives grew about 24.7%. Domestic test preparation for adults and university students grew about 22.3%. Overseas test preparation and consulting revenue grew about 7.7%.

Executive Chairman Michael Yu said the 23.1% growth was above the company's current full-year guidance range.

BEAVERTON, Ore. – – October 28, 2026 -- Vernier Science Education has launched the Go Direct Materials Test Frame, a tabletop system priced at an introductory $3,495 that measures forces up to ±4,000 N in college teaching laboratories.

Test frame measures force to 0.18 N and displacement to 0.51 μm

The system records real-time force data up to ±4,000 N and displacement across roughly 0–23 cm. Resolution is 0.18 N for force and 0.51 μm for displacement. Adaptable features accommodate specimens longer than 60 cm.

It supports multiple-station setups, so several student groups can run their own experiments at once. Students analyze data in the Vernier Graphical Analysis app on mobile devices, Chromebooks or computers.