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This paper explores how admissions tests are used in different higher education systems around the world. This is a relatively new area of research, despite the fact that admissions processes are a key component of university practices and given the ever- increasing globalisation of higher education. This paper shows that aptitude and achievement tests, for example, are used in many developed countries. In some of them, a specific test is nationally instituted and generalised, consequently, the function of the test is well embedded in the education landscape of the country. Elsewhere, tests exist but are administered in an ad hoc fashion with little consistency across the sector. This paper provides an important reference tool for national systems and individual institutions interested in examining their position within the realm of international practice in the utilisation of admissions testing for uniuersity selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines rationales, aspirations, assumptions and methods shaping an international assessment of learning outcomes: the OECD's Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) feasibility study. The first part of the paper is analytical, exploring formative rationales, and shaping contexts and normative perspectives that frame the evaluation. The discussion then turns to review scientific and practical challenges involved in an assessment of the study, which will be tested on an international scale, and to sketch ideas and innovations being created in response. In conclusion, the paper offers reflective suggestions for positioning AHELO in global higher education, should the initiative prove feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, economic and other factors are pressing institutions of higher education to assess student learning to insure that graduates acquire the skills and competencies demanded in the 21st century. This paper summarises the status of undergraduate student learning outcomes assessment at accredited colleges and universities in the United States. Three-quarters of institutions have established learning outcomes for all their students, a necessary first step in the assessment cycle. Most schools are using a combination of institution-level and programme-level assessments. Quality assurance requirements in the form of regional and specialised accreditation, along with an institutional commitment to improve, are the primary drivers of assessment. While there is considerable assessment activity going on, it does not appear that many institutions are using the results effectively to inform curricular modifications or otherwise to enhance teaching and learning. The paper closes with recommendations for various groups that can advance the assessment and institutional improvement agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the need for adopting a more scientific approach to specifying and assessing academic standards in higher education. Drawing together insights from large-scale studies in Australia, it advances a definition of academic standards, explores potential indicators of academic quality and looks at approaches for setting standards. As learner outcomes need to be placed at the forefront of work on academic standards, this paper concludes by exploring the implications of this position for student assessment and institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within weeks of taking office, Australia's new Labor government commissioned two major reviews -- one of Australia's innovation system and one of Australian higher education. Taken together, these reviews will have major implications for the future of research and teaching in Australia for decades to come. This paper discusses the main recommendations of these reviews, puts them into context and examines the government's response. Although the innovation review was conducted first, this paper begins with the higher education review because its recommendations, at least in regard to universities, are broader. Those parts of the innovation review that are relevant to universities follow. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of what will happen next. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures of student learning are playing an increasingly significant role in determining the quality and productivity of higher education. This paper evaluates approaches for estimating the value added by university education, and proposes a methodology for use by institutions and systems. The paper argues that value-added measures of learning are important for quality assurance in contemporary higher education. It reviews recent large-scale developments in Australia, methodological considerations pertaining to the measurement and evaluation of student learning, and instruments validated to measure students' capability, generic skills, specific competencies, work readiness and student engagement. Four approaches to calculating value-added measures are reviewed. The first approach computes value-added estimates by comparing predicted against actual performance using data from entrance tests and routine course assessments. In the second approach, comparisons are made between outcomes from objective assessments administered to cohorts in the first and later years of study. Comparisons of first-year and later-year students' engagement in key learning activities offer a third and complementary means of assessing the value added by university study. Feedback on graduate skills provided by employers is a fourth approach which gives an independent perspective on the quality of education. Reviewing these four approaches provides a basis for their synthesis into a robust and potentially scalable methodology for measuring the value added by higher education. This methodology is advanced, along with its implications for instrumentation, sampling, analysis and reporting. Case studies are presented to illustrate the methodology's potential for informing comparative analyses of the performance of higher education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the development and application of a model used to estimate the costs of scholarly communication (i.e. scholarly publishing and related activities) in Australian higher education. A systems perspective was used to frame a review of the literature on the costs involved in the entire scholarly communication value chain and inform the development of a scholarly communication system cost model This paper presents estimated scholarly communication costs for higher education institutions in Australia, based upon the modelling, local data collections and stakeholder consultation, that may prove useful in the management of institutional budgets and priorities. It represents the first systematic attempt to estimate the costs of scholarly publishing related activities in Australia, and it could be easily applied elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three major drivers of internationalisation in higher education are student mobility, staff mobility and offshore delivery. All have increased rapidly over the last 20 years and a high-end estimate suggests that 6 million students will be studying abroad by 2020. Anglophone countries have dominated this process: four English-speaking countries deliver more than 50% of programmes involving students studying abroad. English-medium universities also have a strong influence in particular geographical regions: 70% of all Asian students studying abroad are received by three main English-speaking countries (Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States). This leads to questions of equity and quality at national, institutional and individual levels. At national level, non-Anglophone countries may be unable to attract and retain the "brightest and best". For institutions, the skewing of the market by language affects both intellectual property capacity and financial health. Finally, for the individual, educational achievement may be constrained by the capacity to function in an alien language and academic culture. Institutions without a robust language policy, adequate preparatory training and ongoing support may, therefore, damage more than the quality of teaching or their own global brand. Building on the work of Hatakenaka (2004) this paper discusses the issues involved in the Anglophone asymmetry outlined above. In particular, the implications of the move towards teaching in the medium of English in non-Anglophone countries are outlined. The paper draws on work carried out at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China, by the Centre for English Language Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses changes in the governance of universities as a result of growing demands from society as well as of a strong penetration of management ideology into all kinds of institutions. For this purpose the paper uses a theoretical framework focusing on two governance mechanisms in social systems: entry control and performance control. These belong to a larger set of homogenising forces, which the new institutionalists label as 1) coercive, 2) normative and 3) mimetic. Using this theoretical framework to analyse the development of Swedish universities, the author concludes that their governance has undergone a considerable change. Coercive forces that were previously exercised through detailed budgeting have, in recent years, been operating through representation in leading bodies and through the selection of university leaders. This has occurred through a crowding out of normative forces. At the same time there have been strong mimetic forces based on modern management ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the battle for "world class excellence" accelerates, competition for students, faculty, finance and researchers between higher education institutions, nationally and internationally, has intensified. In this environment, the results of formally and relatively benign benchmarking exercises have taken on increased prominence and importance elevating the popularity and notoriety of league tables and ranking systems. To date, critical attention has focused on assessing the methodology behind these different systems and asking whether the resultant tables provide reliable information or denote quality. In contrast, this paper examines what impact, if any, league tables and ranking systems are having on higher education institution decision making. Drawing on a comprehensive survey of higher education leaders and senior managers worldwide, the paper aims to better understand the influences on strategic and operational decision making and choices, and institutional reputation and prestige. The study raises important challenges for both institutional leaders and governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sketches the impact of globalisation and internationalisation on the terrain of values and ethics in higher education. The first part of the paper discusses values and ethics in higher education in relation to the "Idea of a University", and identifies the ethical regimes essential to the functioning of higher education institutions as knowledge-forming organisations. The second part draws out implications of globalisation. Globalisation together with the strengthening of executive steering are associated with the partial "disembedding" of higher education institutions from their national governments, along with a pluralisation both of their spheres of operation and the range of private goods and public goods they produce and of the public they serve. This raises new questions about the governance and management of the values and ethical regimes associated with global goods, e.g. the obligations of communicability, mutuality, academic freedom, the protection of persons in higher education suggested by cross-border relationships, and the modes whereby these values and ethics are promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the debate on the third cycle of European higher education. Currently, much attention is paid to improving the structure and quality of doctorate education in the European context of the Bologna process and the Lisbon objectives. However, alternatives to the traditional doctorate are hardly addressed in the policy documents of governments and other agencies. The promise of one of these alternatives -- the professional doctorate -- is discussed. Without suggesting this alternative to be the ultimate solution to problems in the third cycle, the paper argues that a dual policy strategy seems appropriate: improving the traditional doctorate and allowing alternatives to flourish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on seven national reports on national policies concerned with entrepreneurialism in universities as the context for a more detailed study of entrepreneurial behaviour in universities in the seven countries. It claims that the entrepreneurial university is a useful generic epithet to describe the manifold changes in mission, management and funding that many universities in Europe have experienced in the past two decades. The concept of university entrepreneurialism in most countries is linked to the "third mission" that is supplementing the long established teaching and academic research functions of universities and other higher education institutions. However, some governments are also concerned to encourage universities to embody the teaching of entrepreneurialism in at least some of their conventional courses. Five main drivers of entrepreneurial activities in the countries taking part in the "European Universities for Entrepreneurship: their role in the Europe of Knowledge" (EUEREK) study are identified: ideology; expansion in the number of institutions; the knowledge society; globalisation; financial stringency. In some countries, especially in Eastern Europe there has been rapid growth in numbers of private higher education institutions. There are questions about whether this is an indication of entrepreneurialism, or of lack of entrepreneurial dynamism in the established public universities. The paper concludes with a preliminary review of managerial and governance changes in universities and colleges accompanying the growth of entrepreneurial and third mission activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the development of policies designed to widen access to higher education policy in the United Kingdom. These policies have evolved in the context of the devolution of political authority to the Scottish Parliament and Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, which has resulted in some policy variation. The paper examines the "post-code premium" paid by the funding authorities to universities based on the students from poorer areas. By using Northern Ireland data the paper demonstrates the major problems to this approach arising from the "ecological fallacy". The paper concludes by expressing surprise that policy developed with little apparent awareness of these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author examines the implementation of key performance indicators in Canadian post-secondary education institutions. More specifically he charts their implementation from the perspective of students and the effect they have on the quality and delivery of education. Key performance indicators (KPI) in Canada are administered by the ten provincial governments. In each of the jurisdictions in which they have been introduced KPIs have tied various forms of institutional performance to core funding and capital funding allocation. The paper offers a comparative analysis of how certain criteria are promoted by the establishment of KPIs. It examines the introduction of KPIs in three provinces: Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. In each case the complex set of politics and institutional relations at stake in the establishment of KPIs are examined. A comparative examination of each case provides signposts for best practices as well as instructive lessons in where and how quickly the very definition of accountability becomes a highly politicised term of contention. Finally, the paper makes proactive policy suggestions, from the standpoint of students, about the criteria that should be used in the establishment of KPIs. At all points the paper (re) inserts the perspective of students into the ongoing dialogue about accountability and the changing identity of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The substantial pressures upon higher education systems and institutions are impacting upon individual roles and career paths. Yet recent research on academic identities (Henkel, 2000) suggests the responses are largely adaptive and evolutionary. This article starts by briefly revisiting some of the key aspects of the study by Kogan, Moses and El-Khawas (1994), and the paper by Gordon (1997), before turning to a short discussion of the principal trends which have affected the scene subsequently. It then explores three scenarios in terms of roles and career paths: evolution, selective restructuring, and step-change restructuring. The possible characteristics and implications for various stakeholders of each are considered, as is the connection to current trends, and indicators of change. The paper concludes with suggestions as to how institutions and systems might strategically plan for, and manage, changes in roles and career paths in order to ensure that individuals are motivated and perceive the changes positively and creatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the history of the management of the higher education sector in Tanzania. It reveals that government policies and management styles throughout the period from 1961 to the early 2000s created a culture of resistance within the higher education institutions, leading to struggles and many attempts to change the management of the sector. The authors analyse the effects of management practices in higher education and propose a model of institutional change that yields positive outcomes based on institutional needs and those of the academic faculty members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decades have witnessed an increased concern in higher education over accountability, quality and productivity, and a struggle to meet increasingly complex challenges. This is more so in Middle East and North African (MENA) economies that witnessed a large expansion as a result of a high social demand and massification policies adopted by governments in public institutions. These policies also allowed the private sector to expand to meet the increasing demand. As a consequence, higher education institutions were faced with serious challenges related to quality because the quantitative expansions took place at the expense of quality (UNESCO, 2010). Although 14 out of 20 MENA economies established national bodies for quality assurance and accreditation, quality issues are still challenging higher education institutions in the region. The author presents the achievements, challenges and issues in quality in higher education in the region. She also briefly presents several international organisations' initiatives and perspectives on quality in higher education in the region, and attempts to propose a set of suggestions and recommendations to move the systems to higher standards that are compatible with international ones. This paper covers the following 20 economies in the MENA region: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan*, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen. Please note that wherever the term "the region" is used in the article, it refers to these economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions take strategic decisions regarding their engagement with gouernment policy, with choice of strategy structured by the character of the national system and notions of what is appropriate in giuen contexts for the institution. In this study a series of factors influencing institutional strategy in response to the higher skills policy of the New Labour gouernment in England during the period 2006-10 are briefly examined. How the policy was interpreted by institutions is discussed, in the context of the uarious forces that impact on strategic decision making at the institutional leuel, in addition to the influence of sectoral, regional and employer links. The significance of cultural change within institutions is highlighted, and the paper concludes with a suggestion as to why strategic engagement with this policy particularly suited certain institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the drivers for knowledge exchange in British research-intensive universities, at a time when research impact is coming to be seen as an increasingly important outcome of research in all disciplines. It provides evidence of an over-emphasis of the economic benefits of knowledge exchange in the policy sphere and of a quite different value system amongst academics. Academics' commitments having been described as occupying a single bounded space, this enhanced understanding of the motivations and needs of academics as they engage in knowledge exchange points to a new way of approaching the facilitation and promotion of knowledge exchange activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ireland, policies destined to create a reconfigured binary higher education system are evolving; in the coming years institutes of technology may be redesignated as "technological universities" following a process of voluntary amalgamations and independent reviews against stringent criteria. This overhaul of the sector would satisfy institutions' ambitions to have their status upgraded, and would underpin national policy to address fragmentation and sustainability issues. Drawing on international literature on mergers in higher education, this paper proposes a distinction between push and pull factors as the drivers for exploration and decision making. These two categories of drivers are reviewed in the context of Irish policy development and are applied to an example of a merger that was effected after the publication of the new National Strategy for Higher Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a study of the principal issues involved in the governance of public universities in Catalonia. It was based on four stylised dilemmas that were drawn up to facilitate an understanding of the challenges facing university governance reforms. This paper discusses each of these dilemmas in the Catalan context and highlights a number of challenges facing managers of higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex effects of the global financial crisis (GFC) have affected countries differently. The concept of stimulus packages to enable economies to withstand its full effects was widespread, as were decisions by several countries to invest in higher education as a means of stimulating the economy while placing workforce development and research on a firmer footing. While the GFC increased awareness of the need to invest in the knowledge economy, governments adopted approaches reflecting their different fundamental priorities. Arguably Ireland was left with little leeway, whereas Australia's far better economic position might have provided an opportunity to invest in higher education through its stimulus packages. This paper examines the policy choices that Australian and Irish governments made both before, and in response to, the GFC to assess how these decisions have prepared higher education for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competiveness of the diverse sector of higher education sees universities increasingly reliant on marketing to position themselves within their main stakeholder groups. In doing so, the use of marketing techniques developed for the service industry are being adopted at strategic and tactical levels with little research to support such undifferentiated action. This paper discusses a number of issues joining marketing with the moral leadership of the university in a persistently competitive and commercial market place. We seek to offer practical actions to ensure that marketing remains a service to the institution and does not convert the mission of all institutions to one of consumerisation. We do this by discussing how a relationship model of engagement with stakeholders might be grounded in a virtue ethics imperative and how this might contribute to brand development and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finnish universities are about to enter a period of radical change. This paper considers the reforms expected of a new Universities Act currently before parliament and a set of institutional mergers. When passed, the new act will provide universities with independent legal status, change their relationship with the government in several ways, affect university governance arrangements, and alter the relationship between staff and their university employers. Although these reforms will be radical for the university sector itself, many of the changes will be all but invisible to those outside the106 sector. The change that will be noticed is the creation of the new Aalto University through a merger between three existing institutions. The new university will be highly visible to all as it tries to meet the government's aspirations for it to become a world-class university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global rankings are creating a furore wherever or whenever they are published or mentioned. They have become a barometer of global competition measuring the knowledge-producing and talent-catching capacity of higher education institutions. These developments are injecting a new competitive dynamic into higher education, nationally and globally, and encouraging a debate about its role and purpose. As such, politicians regularly refer to them as a measure of their nation's economic strength and aspirations, universities use them to help set or define targets mapping their performance against the various metrics, while academics use rankings to bolster their own professional reputation and status. Based on an international survey (2006) and extensive interviews in Germany, Australia and Japan (2008), this paper provides a comparative analysis of the impact and influence of rankings on higher education and stakeholders, and describes institutional experiences and responses. It then explores how rankings are influencing national policy and shaping institutional decision making and behaviour. Some changes form part of the broader modernisation agenda, improving performance and public accountability, while others are viewed as perverse. Their experiences illustrate that policy does matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are increasing pressures for universities to commercialise their research and increase their contributions to their local and regional environments. For those institutions located in areas of low demand, this can lead to a low-impact equilibrium of universities working with external partners, and having relatively low impact. In such circumstances, universities have to "build up" local demand for their knowledge. But this is long-term, costly and volatile, and so partnership and collaborative models of capacity building may be one way for universities to maximise the benefits whilst minimising the risks. In this paper, we explore how capacity in such situations builds up, and whether university regional associations (URAs) can help universities to develop regional capacity in such situations. The case study demonstrates that URAs can become a focal point for a community of regionally engaged university actors. It is this community which can help universities to rationalise and make sense of local uncertainties, and thereby increase total university regional contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The policy debate on accountability in higher education has been vigorous in many countries, but it has focused primarily on broad objectives or approaches. Limited attention has been paid to the mechanisms by which universities would implement accountability objectives and to the critical role of academics in developing ways to assess learning outcomes. Yet, giving members of the professoriate a central role in accountability is vital: implementing accountability requires decentralised implementation linked to the differing circumstances of study fields and levels. Academics must be involved in a sequence of tasks - developing assessments, testing and refining them against new evidence, making sense of accountability results, and responding with changes in programmes or delivery. This paper outlines a process showing how universities and other tertiary institutions could develop and use outcome measures for student learning. It also recognises that professional and disciplinary associations (e.g. business, education, chemistry, literature and social welfare), nationally and internationally, could contribute to these developments in their specialty fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the global knowledge economy (the k-economy), comprised by: 1) open source knowledge flows; and 2) commercial markets in intellectual property and knowledge-intensive goods. Like all economy the global knowledge economy is a site of production. It is also social and cultural, taking the form of a one-world community mediated by the web. The k-economy has developed with extraordinary rapidity, particularly the open source component; which, consistent with the economic character of knowledge as a public good, appears larger than the commercial intellectual property component. But how do the chaotic open source flows of knowledge, with no evident tendency towards predictability let alone towards equilibrium, become reconciled with a world of governments, economic markets, national and university hierarchies, and institutions that routinely require stability and control in order to function? The article argues that in the k-economy, knowledge flows are vectored by a system of status production that assigns unequal values to knowledge and arranges it in ordered patterns. The new system for regulating the value of public good knowledge includes institutional league tables, research rankings, publication and citation metrics, journal hierarchies, and other comparative output measures such as outcomes of student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the highly competitive international world of learning, universities make full use of favourable league table positions to strengthen their reputations. Yet are they, in so doing, entering into a Faustian bargain in which the long-term cost outweighs the short-term gain? Success in league tables comes at a cost in terms of accepting the orthodoxies of others instead of pursuing particular institutional missions linked to the particular priorities of the local community. Based on recent surveys of institutional experience and on a new analysis of the impact of league tables on English higher education, this paper argues that if, as seems likely, rankings are here to stay, the shortcomings of the present approach must be acknowledged and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian government uses numerous strategies to promote specific agendas -- including continued efforts to deregulate the higher education sector. These strategies comprise the reduction of government funding to universities in real terms to oblige institutions to seek alternative sources of income; the targeted deployment of government funding (including growth places and infrastructure funding); the use of reward-based incentives; the actual or threatened re-distribution of funding based on performance; competitive grants; and amending funding mechanisms to support desired behaviours. In addition, strategies not involving direct funding are also used through special policy provisions, the establishment of bodies and forums to promote issues; the publication of position papers and protocols; the publication of performance information or review outcomes; the employment of reporting and accountability processes and frameworks; and various approaches to promote, encourage or oblige sector restructuring. A major thrust of the Australian government's higher education policy is to encourage sector diversification through encouraging individual institutions to adopt their own clear and unique identities. This poses many challenges and opportunities for new generation regional institutions trying to position themselves in an increasingly competitive higher education market while continuing to meet their obligations and remain relevant to their local communities. The University of Southern Queensland's experience in pursuing its vision as a leader in open and flexible higher education is explored within the context of these potentially competing agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that it is the condition of the university for the time being to live with incompatibility of identity and purpose, and to tolerate an intolerable breadth of mission. This predicament is frequently masked, mercifully perhaps, by confusion of language used to analyse the role of the university, and unclear thinking about how this is best portrayed. As will quickly become evident, this is relevant and important both to the leadership and management of individual institutions and for policy in respect of mass higher education as a system, in particular to the subject of diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve student satisfaction and success, higher education institutions (HEIs) need to find their niche, establish their own identity and get on with doing what they do best. Strategic enrolment management (SEM) is a comprehensive process that requires understanding markets, supply and demand, programme development, and student recruitment and retention. SEM involves the entire institution, relies heavily on institutional research and ultimately establishes strategic goals that are placed within the framework of the overall institutional planning model. In this process, the HEI also creates a mission that distinguishes it from other institutions. This paper will examine the key components to a SEM model and discuss how this process is interfaced with institutional planning. It will also present a research project to gather data on HEIs throughout Portugal in an effort to show what must be done to create a SEM process in institutions there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores four interrelated issues: access and equity, the role and the legitimacy of the emergent, market-driven private sector in higher education, the relationships between reforming public services in general and changing public and private higher education, and entrepreneurialism of the emergent private sector in higher education. The four issues are closely related in those transition countries in which the market orientation of public institutions is strong, and in which new private institutions have considerable share in student enrolments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the results of a detailed study relating the performance of undergraduate students admitted to Brazil's State University of Campinas (Unicamp) from 1994 through 1997 and their socioeconomic and educational background. The study is based on a hierarchical model for the relevant variables involved. The main result is that students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, in both educational and socioeconomic aspects, have a higher relative performance than their complementary group. We report on an affirmative action programme established at Unicamp for undergraduate admissions, partially motivated by those findings, and present evidence from an initial evaluation showing the programme's positive impact. Finally, we comment on the effect this study and the Unicamp programme have had on the present debate about affirmative action access policies in Brazilian higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based mainly on responses -- hearty 300 -- to a web-based survey of academic staff in UK higher education. The survey examined their personal and professional values and their views on the values that should underpin higher education. Their perceptions of current reality in terms of national policy and processes and of institutional management expectations, with examples provided of events that disturbed them, raise questions about the longer term health of higher education as it has been understood. The project was seen as a pilot aiming to provoke debate about how well traditional values and standards "fit" with mass levels of higher education provision, and government emphases on the economic role of higher education. The findings are set in a theoretical context drawing on models by Clark (1983), Becher and Kogan (1992) and the author (McNay, 1995, 2005a). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resource capacity has become a critical issue for contemporary universities as a result of increasing pressures from governments and global markets. As a consequence, particularly where the institution is the employer, changes are occurring in the expectations of staff and institutions about employment terms and conditions, as well as the broader aspects of working life, and this is affecting academic and professional identities. Even under different regimes, for instance, in Europe, with the government in effect as the employer, institutions are giving greater attention to ways in which they might respond to these developments. This paper considers key issues and challenges in human resource management in higher education, and some of the implications of these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role and usefulness of league tables that are increasingly used to measure and compare the performance of tertiary education institutions. The article begins with a general overview and a typology of league tables. It continues with a discussion of the controversies they have generated, including the basis and the range of criticism they have invited, the merit of indicators they use as measures of quality, and the potential conditions that place universities at an advantage or a disadvantage in ranking exercises. The paper ends with a discussion of implications of league tables for national policies and institutional practices both in the developing world and in industrial countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National and international rankings of institutional performance are playing a growing role in contemporary higher education. It is critical that researchers develop pragmatic, educationally sensitive and methodologically informed approaches for managing this aspect of higher education. This paper compares three approaches for modelling key indicators which underpin a national evaluation of university education in Australia: rankings of aggregate institutional performance; comparisons of institutional change over time; and performance variations within fields of education. The results show that simple institution-level aggregations are misleading, and that contemporary analytical methods must be used to account for the influence of fields of education. More broadly, the findings expose the need for a more robust methodological development of university rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to explain how the German higher education system strategically used quality assurance, through the new system of accreditation, to offer globally recognisable degrees such as the Bachelor's (Bakkalaureaus) and Master's (Magister) degrees. We also discuss the types of effects that this strategy has produced on the current structure of the German higher education system. In order to strengthen this discussion, the fundamental impacts of quality-related funding on the system's structured are scrutinized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the authors describe the outline of an analysis of disruptive technologies presented by Christensen in his book, The Innovator's Dilemma. They go on to argue that the analysis can be applied to the practice of e-learning as it has been developed in higher education in the United Kingdom, and possibly elsewhere. They suggest that current moves away from fully developed e-learning and towards "blended learning" can be understood in terms of Christensen's analysis, and that the move may be an indication that large, established organisations have difficulty in adjusting to disruptive technologies. They conclude that much research needs to be done in the area ore-learning, especially small scale studies of how e-learning can be used away from the established culture of formal education. This is an approach to market research that is also contained in Christensen's analysis. In summary, they argue that Christensen's analysis offers some important insights into the process of adopting e-learning solutions in higher education, and also suggests some fruitful directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of four major Canadian universities' strategies for generating revenue in the face of prolonged cutbacks. The universities are placed on a continuum of higher education funding, institutional types and organisational attributes. The study produced new hypotheses about how universities' organisational attributes change as a result of the need to generate revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between the diversity within a higher education system and five key factors, namely: the environment, policy intervention, funding, competition and co-operation, and ranking. The exploration is based on the extent to which higher education systems, particularly those of Australia and New Zealand, have accommodated distinctive forms of higher education institutions characterised by the older traditional university at one extreme, and the newer university of technology at the other. Twelve interdependent propositions on diversity are proposed and discussed. These propositions indicate the ways in which each of the five key factors may influence institutional diversity or convergence. In the majority of circumstances, the convergent tendencies of institutions will predominate unless very specific environmental and economic conditions prevail, and/or specific directed policy is implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the theoretical foundations of the concept of entrepreneurialism in universities and the contribution it can make to the knowledge society. It reviews the concept as an economic phenomenon and draws a distinction between the use of the term in economics and its use in higher education and that in higher education it can be seen as a contested idea which can in some circumstances be destructive of academic values. On the other hand it can strengthen institutional autonomy and can be an enabling process which stimulates research and innovation. Barriers to entrepreneurialism at national and institutional levels are noted and the important area of risk. Two particular ideas are discussed, the concept of the academic entrepreneur and the relationship between the new emphasis on universities' regional role and the nature of the entrepreneurial university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prima facie, in the context of higher education, "entrepreneurialism" offers an example of globalisation: the idea presages a sense of systems of higher education converging across the world. However, entrepreneurialism is not undifferentiated but is to be found in different modes. Various axes identified in the paper offer spectra of entrepreneurialism and two are picked out for close inspection: these are, on the one hand, hard-soft forms of entrepreneurialism; and, on the other hand, forms of entrepreneurialism that are set in the context of strong states or strong markets. Set against each other, these two axes produce a grid that depicts four forms of entrepreneurialism: civic; hesitant; unbridled; and curtailed. These forms of entrepreneurialism can be understood as making possible or limiting alternative modes of knowledge travel. Accordingly, it may be judged that, far from heralding convergence, entrepreneurialism turns out to be a metaphor for differences of academic identity and even of academic being. These differences are so profound that they point to value choices as to the desirable forms of academic life itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research-intensive and competitive knowledge society is putting HEIs (higher education institutions) under the spotlight. While many HEIs around the world do not proclaim or wish to be research-intensive institutions the majority desire to intensify their research activity because it is seen as a sine qua non of higher education. Accordingly, HEIs are busy making critical strategic choices concerning human resources, the research environment, the teaching-research nexus, organisational and management structure, and funding. Governments are also making choices, using policies and financial instruments to help shape institutional mission, priorities and HE systems. But if governments genuinely desire to widen access to the knowledge society and achieve a greater contribution from higher education to economic and social development more is required. This paper applies Porter's diamond of competitive advantage to illustrate the complex relationship between institutional mission and policy constraints, proposing changes in strategy and policy to unlock potential. There are important lessons for both institutions and government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the tensions resulting from the transformation processes going on in research and teaching, typical at traditional universities that have been actively developing their research mission. We will also look at universities that only recently decided to focus on research and wonder if they will be able to better manage or even avoid such tensions. More specifically, we will reflect on the possibility of unbundling the teaching and research missions and the resulting tasks of professors. A growing number of newcomers in higher education are taking up parts of the activities of traditional universities. How will they develop? What are the possible answers from traditional players? In addressing these questions, we will look at the value chain for each of the activities and see if and how reconfiguration can provide the answer. The analysis will enhance our understanding and provide inspiration for new management approaches. In traditional institutions, unbundling seems to have started at the structural level but support systems are lacking and at the individual level academics are still expected to engage in research and teaching besides many other tasks, such as administration and service to the community at large. We will discuss these issues in the context of the broader literature on the topic and draw conclusions that should be relevant for everyone in the higher education sector involved in managing tensions between research and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an analysis of policy contexts in several OECD countries, this article examines the rapidly changing policy environment in Japan exemplified by the 2004 transformation of national universities into "incorporated" entities. The role of universities in the knowledge society is examined in light of the emergence of new research and learning systems, conditioned by forces of both globalisation and regionalisation. This historic legal change affects state-university relations in a number of distinctive ways. It is generally assumed that universities will find themselves in a more competitive environment accompanied by cuts in public funding and that there will, therefore, be a growing need to find external sources of funding as well as more efficient and responsive management approaches. The Japanese Government is further opening the higher education system to society and industry, which has resulted in new forms of competition and collaboration among local and global strategic partnerships. The impact of these new relationships can be perceived in four principal dimensions: economy, human resource, governance and community. Based on the conceptual notion of "constructed advantage," this paper highlights spatial knowledge networking capabilities between institutions/agents at local, national and global levels. Universities are formulating new strategies in networking knowledge, whilst future state policy and evaluation mechanisms warrant close investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the OECD, discussions are taking place amongst policymakers, educational managers and educationalists about the future of higher education. More and more is being demanded of higher education at a time when the funds available are shrinking and the costs are rising. Internationalisation and globalisation have transformed the once benign educational market place into a much more competitive environment today. These forces are influencing in a very directive way how individual institutions are organising and managing themselves. Art Schools are not immune from either these developments or challenges. While many have their origin as (and remain) small, independent, publicly (or privately) funded schools, others are entering into formal (and informal) collaborative arrangements sometimes resulting in merger with universities, while others are building upon their enduring "membership" of an interdisciplinary university. Nevertheless, they all share the need to respond to a common set of characteristics and emerging trends of our age, inter alia globalisation and internationalisation; changing demographics and enrolment patterns; technological revolution; stricter regulatory environment; new educational sites and formats; changing nature of the workplace. As HEIs are reorganising and restructuring themselves to meet new economic, political and fiscal priorities, the academy has also come under pressure. Based on a Keynote Address to the IMHE conference, "Managing Art Schools Today" (August 2003), this paper presents an overview of some issues impacting on art schools today and asks how they are responding and trying to shape their future. It will focus on some key management issues, e.g. research, curriculum and organisational models, and suggest some strategic choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational systems worldwide still continue to rely heavily on public sources of funding. Nearly 80% of the expenditure on higher education comes from public sources in OECD countries; the share is even larger in developing countries. There is a concerted effort in many countries to reduce the reliance on state funding and move towards market-friendly reforms. This involves adjustment in the macro-policy framework to induce change at the institutional level. Institutional changes could be brought about either by relying on "mandates" or on "rewards". Mandates demand a particular form of institutional behaviour that is accompanied by the threat of punishment for a failure to comply. Rewards, on the other hand, provide incentive and motivation to change. Both rewards and incentives become effective when public policy provides a choice in behavioural changes at the institutional level. The motivation for a change of behaviour will depend on the level of performance that conditions a reward on the one hand and on the expectation for obtaining a reward, on completion of the task, on the other. In general, mandates are more easily complied with when institutions are struggling to survive, whereas incentives and rewards are preferable when institutions are striving to revive and grow. Incentives and reward systems are relied upon in many countries to induce changes in higher education. This paper will focus on the potential of effecting institutional changes through incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]