Colleges in the U.S. are opening their doors — and their financial aid — to Syrian refugees. Over the past year, at least a dozen schools have promised to cover full or partial tuition for Syrian refugees who are accepted for enrollment. They join a coalition of more than 60 colleges that have started providing scholarships to Syrian students since the country’s civil war began in 2011.

The South Korean side said the China-South Korean relations are at their historical best, the two sides have enjoyed close high-level contacts, and cooperation in the sectors of economy and trade as well people-to-people exchange has yielded fruitful results.

In a message marking the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), highlighted that celebrating cultural diversity is a way of recognizing that “the wealth of cultures is the constitutive power of humanity and an important asset for peace and development, the promotion of which is inseparable from the observance of human rights.”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday said Japan will accept 150 Syrians over five years, treating them not as refugees but as exchange students. The initiative accompanies other efforts by Japan to help stabilize conflict-stricken Syria and its announcement comes days before Group of Seven leaders gather for a summit in Mie Prefecture.

Students from Nunavut will soon be able to take college classes in Greenland, as officials from Nunavut's Arctic College and Clyde River's Piqqusilirivvik school organize an exchange of programs and classes across the two Inuit regions. "These are two distinctive regions where Inuktitut is the predominant language, so students won't be just learning the trades but also the culture," said Paul Quassa, Nunavut's minister of education.

Undeniably, the use of soft power has become an important element of China’s contemporary foreign strategy, and has been embraced in its foreign policy over the last two decades. In this case, although China becomes increasingly optimistic concerning its future growth, there is growing discomfort in some parts of the world regarding the implications of the nation’s rise.