For universities, the biggest unresolved question is whether an online enrollment boom will bring extra prestige and global impact at little cost or will be a first step toward hollowing out the time-honored but expensive world of residential higher education.

FORBES: So Long Stuffy Lecture Halls: Coursera Just Tripled Its Digital Campus

If he does return to power of a kind at the national level, the European Union's 14 other governments are unlikely to isolate Austria diplomatically, as they did to little avail before, but many Austrians fear it would cost their country a lot of prestige and influence.

ECONOMIST: Austria's government

Now, the school is home to many American students who wished to enroll at a top-ranked British university, which carries the prestige of an elite, private American college at a tiny proportion of the cost.

FORBES: Influx of American Students Cross the Pond for Education

Smit, which in charge of salvaging Prestige before it sank, said the operation - to pump the oil back to the surface - would cost nearly 50m euros and take several months to complete.

BBC: French sub to try patching Prestige