Background: Science Olympiads and science fairs are effective instruments to foster interested and talented students. However, at most schools competitions are not systematically integrated into the school mission statement so that students are unaware of these opportunities. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness…

There is now a great deal of experience across different countries as they act in their own ways to improve the productivity and excellence of their higher education institutions. Each nation wants to create an international reputation for excellence that will attract students, academic staff and business. This involves change at the national…

This article contains an analysis of policies aimed at increasing the participation of adults in higher education (HE) in seven countries (NL, DK, SE, UK, BE Flanders, DE and the state of California in the USA). In order to maintain their economic competitiveness, many countries have developed policies to increase the participation of adults in…

In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), one of the German states, catchment areas for part-time vocational schools were abolished in 2008. With the intention to foster competition between schools in order to improve school quality, training companies now may freely choose the school of their choice. NRW is the first German state to take this step. In the…

An experimental literary contest in Germany has been highly successful in instructing and encouraging students of French as a second language to write their own short stories. Teachers begin with a key phrase and use it to generate ideas for later small-group and paired writing and interactive comprehension exercises. (MSE)