Rankings

USC has been chosen as one of “The Best 373 Colleges: 2011 Edition,” a list compiled by the

Princeton Review and published in a book of the same title. Besides making the cut for overall quality, USC is the country’s #3 jock school with the #17 best athletic facilities. The University of Georgia is the country’s best party school, ahead of #2 Ohio University and #3 Penn State. On a more serious note, South Carolina is the country’s #1 state for “Economic Growth Potential,” according to Business Facilities. Also, the same publication ranked S. C. as #4 for “Best Business Climate,” #3 for “Automotive Manufacturing Strength,” and #2 for “Wind Energy Manufacturing Leaders.”

Out of work but not out of money—not yet, anyway

Thanks to another $97 million in federal stimulus funds, the state’s jobless benefits can include part–time workers and people who can’t work due to demands from a sick family member. Overall, the $97 million can be used for payment of any jobless claim.

More money, this pile for housing

The U.S. Dept. of the Treasury signed off last week on the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority’s proposal for $138 million of federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds made available in the second round of awards from the Housing Finance Agency Innovation fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (Hardest Hit Fund). In S.C. this program will be known as the S.C. Homeownership and Employment Lending Program (SC HELP). This week Treasury announced an additional $58 million to help the state’s “hardest hit” homeowners. For more information, go to www.scmortgagehelp.com.

Research funding

For fiscal year 2010, ending June 30, USC research funding came to $218.8 million, a 4–percent gain over last year and a 26–percent increase over five years ago. The total includes $153.9 million in federal research funds. Since 1983, with the exception of 2002, USC has increased research funding every year.

Export seminar series

Clemson at the Falls, downtown Greenville where Clemson University has its graduate business school and the Clemson Small Development Center, is the venue on Thursday, September 30 for a series of talks on exporting to China. Participants will take part in an interactive market briefing with experienced representatives from the U.S. Commercial Service on current market opportunities in China. There is no cost to attend, but online registration is required. For more information and to register, contact Clarke Thompson at CThompson@SCcommerce.com or 737.0438 in Columbia at the S.C. Dept. of Commerce. China was S.C.’s fifth–largest export market in 2009, buying more than $867 million in S.C. goods, an increase of almost 10 percent from 2008.

Speaking of China...

John Ling, director of S.C.’s office in Shanghai, China, was recently named president of the Council of American States in China, an organization of representatives from U.S. state offices, tourism authorities, and ports authorities. China–affiliated and owned companies employ more than 1,900 South Carolinians.

Colliers Keenan becomes Colliers International

Late last year FirstService Corp. bought Colliers International, the major commercial real estate firm with offices in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville, where all three were called Colliers Keenan and where all three are now called Colliers International. Ownership of the S.C. offices remains local. Including 61 brokerage associates, the firm has more than 120 employees in S.C.

Port of Charleston

Charleston handled 741,208 pier containers in the fiscal year ending June 30, which was a drop of more than 5 percent from the year before. For the current fiscal year, though, Charleston expects a 7 percent container volume increase and plans on spending $77 million on improvements including a new container terminal on the former Navy Base and a new cruise terminal in downtown Charleston.

Numbers from Buffalo

Buffalo Business First newspaper has a computer program than can estimate the population of any state, area, county, city, or town. Using the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Buffalo Business First reported estimated populations as of August 4. The Columbia metropolitan area has 758,501 people; Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville, 674,659; Greenville–Mauldin–Easley, 651,631 (not including Spartanburg); Augusta–Richmond County, GA–SC, 544,626.

Intrastate passenger rail service

The tracks between Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.’s two largest cities, carried 65,956 people between October and June of this year, a gain of 26 percent over the same time period a year ago. S.C. has no intrastate train shuttle service among its largest cities, and planning for such has not been reported.