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Growing pressure to restructure and reform tertiary education is encouraging university academics to use innovative practices that assist students to develop 'employable' skills. The hybrid approach described in this paper stimulated students to be self-directed adult learners who maximized their learning of content and skills by means of problem-based learning and action research strategies. The lecturer also operated as a reflective practitioner and role model by using an action research approach. This paper demonstrates the value of student empowerment, communication and leadership in autonomous learning groups. It outlines methods by which academic teaching staff can build continuous improvement into a university unit's curriculum design and processes. These can be powerful additions to lecturers' teaching strategies and to students' learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent opportunities for communication, collaboration and experiential learning in an online and global network create the impetus for the new network paradigm in higher education. A strategic knowledge network in education was designed and developed to build 'Mode 2' knowledge capabilities; create new knowledge for innovative application; and help to shape, influence or create professional practice. This paper presents a case study of a masters program at a large university of technology in Australia, in which students undertook industry-based coursework as part of a strategic knowledge network. Complexity of projects increased throughout the program; and the real-world projects included working with local and international mentors, thus positioning coursework within the industry. In this flexible learning environment, graduates developed 'Mode 2' knowledge capabilities for the networked world of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the crossroads of current innovation policies towards a European Research Area (ERA) and a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) lies an important province of higher learning and research: doctoral training and the further careers of PhD graduates. A considerable number of higher education systems across Europe shift their paradigms for doctoral training away from the traditional so-called Humboldtian model towards the so-called professional model. On this background, the paper discusses (1) the German pattern of a strong link of the PhD to the labor market outside academe that is based on a traditional academic-disciplinary mode of apprenticeship training, and (2) approaches that argue for a new mode of knowledge production replacing an academic-disciplinary model of research training by a hybrid model that crosses disciplinary and organizational borders. The paper argues that a diversity of organisational and structural forms as well as different validation criteria and procedures will probably determine the future face of research training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reflective paper is an account and analyses of the change process forced upon a university’s education department in the light of unexpected financial downfall. Rather than rehearse the well documented research on innovation and change it focuses on the process from the head of department’s prospective. The issues raised highlight that there remain aspects of the change not yet fully documented and understood. These are discussed and used to illustrate how departments might prepare themselves for the changes they will inevitably face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the relevance of the studies related to role of the education policies. The author refers to a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego, which debates that quasi-markets in education and training has settled into ritual. The author comments that as with an ongoing ideological struggle about the intensification of market forces and market culture in the realm of education in various societies the ritualistic aspect has nothing much to do with the changes in the culture of education. The article examines the views that the government intervention in the realm of education as natural because it is for social or public good. It comments that such views support the intervention as the best mechanism for the provision of educational services. But in reality it is liable to reduce freedom of choice and thereby curtail the sphere of responsibility of the citizens. The market culture in the field of education attempts to make it a commodity, which provides increment to knowledge and the curriculum. The role of the government is to roll back it with rules and jurisdiction to check the hidden hand of marketized individual competition.

The article discusses the development, activities and achievements of the Committee on Institutional Collaboration-Pharmacy Assessment Collaborative (CIC-PAC) in higher education. Its formal goals include establishment of an organizational structure, creation of a research agenda and formation of assessment instruments which may be useful within an academic pharmacy. The benefits obtained from cross-institutional work include innovation in assessment practices and accreditation preparation.

One element of the recent reforms of higher education sectors across Europe is the formation of new governance structures in universities. Supervisory boards are part of these reform processes. However, despite the importance of these boards, surprisingly little is known about their actual work. This article discusses the situation of boards in three European countries: the Netherlands, Austria and the UK. It compares the boards' constitutions with respect to composition, independence, accountability and transparency. Several problems and dilemmas come to the fore. The article concludes by indicating potential areas for improvement in the current board structure and working practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]