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In the 1990s, most US states adopted new forms of performance-based accountability, e.g., performance-based budgeting, funding, or reporting. This study analyzed changes in institutional performance following the adoption of these new accountability standards. We measured institutional performance by representative education and research indicators—graduation rates and levels of federal research funding. We collected data from 1997 to 2007 and used a hierarchical linear modeling growth curve analysis. The main finding was that states which adopted performance-based accountability did not see a noticeable increase in institutional performance. In addition, we highlighted a critical policy issue—whether state and institutional factors contribute most to institutional performance in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study launched by the European Commission's Directorate General for Research in 2000. The study discusses the structural similarities and differences between European and the U.S. biotech research centers, their performances, and

The article reports on the impact of the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to the health-care reform in the U.S. It states that NICE has been regarded as a world leader in comparative-effectiveness studies. Moreover, the best-practice guidelines of NICE from early testing for breast cancer to child nutrition is welcomed by most medical professionals. The author emphasizes that several Americans are dying with cancer and losing their homes due to their inability to afford treatments that are not covered by a health insurance plan.

The article reports on the changing of several controversial proposals that has been made in February by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of a year-long effort to overhaul the agency's peer-view system in the U.S. The author stated that the agency will spend at least $200 million annually over the next five years to foster groundbreaking, investigator-initiated research as part of the Enhancing Peer Review. Moreover, one of the controversial proposals shelved by the agency is the recommendation that all applications will be treated as new, without reviewer access to prior reviews.

This article discusses the plan to increase hiring at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has received permission to skip certain rating and ranking steps in the hiring process and hopes to hire more than 1,300 new employees. The new hiring system would place people on the job within three weeks of receiving an offer. Most of the positions will be for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.