This paper is motivated by the premise that little is known about the use of requestive strategies in request emails in Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) context. Specifically, the paper examines and compares requestive strategies in request emails between two groups of university students, namely English majors (EM) and non-English…

In anticipation of the European Union (EU) Year of Intercultural Dialogue, 2008, Clarissa Menezes Jordao interviewed Jose Eustaquio Romao, Director of the Paulo Freire Institute in Brazil. Her edited translation of that interview is presented here. In the interview Romao, guided by the legacy of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, discusses the…

The academic department is viewed as a form of cartel, a model of monopolistic behavior characterized by control over a particular differentiated product. The development and operation of this academic cartel is explored. (MSE)

This paper addresses Appadurai's challenge to expand the research imagination. It follows Boaventura de Sousa Santos in suggesting a need to separate analytically the trajectories of capitalism and modernity. For Santos, this involves the recognition that we cannot solve the problems of postmodernity with the tools of modernity. The paper…

Outlines eight ways in which the management of schools is different from the management of private businesses. (IRT)

A business executive who is a trustee of a small college describes the world of college management. Three sources of differences between the college and a business are: (1) the absence of profit, (2) the "colleague authority," and (3) the tyranny of entitlements. (MLW)

Free response question (FRQ) #5 in the 2002 Advanced Placement (AP) European history exam read as follows: "In what ways and to what extent did absolutism affect the power and status of the European nobility in the period 1650 to 1750. Use examples from at least 2 countries." This question, which is aimed at encouraging a comparative…

Identifies and discusses six specific factors that distinguish group therapy from family therapy: epistemology, goals, membership, continuity, rules/norms, and power. The implications of these differences for therapist training and practice are discussed. (TE)

The importance of a comparison of national systems of higher education is argued. Examples of how cross-national comparison can be instructive are presented. The importance of studying academic power or authority comparatively is discussed and several guides for future research are offered. (Author/MLW)

Discusses activism among college and university trustees, characterized by assertion of authority in administrative matters, often in direct conflict with academic leaders. Suggests a parallel with investor capitalism, in which corporate owners may become active in organizational governance, and warns that constituent passivity in these…

The structure of the law school curriculum is a product of the structure of the law school faculty, which may explain why the law school curriculum neither has changed very much over the years, despite repeated calls for reform, nor will change much in the future. (MSE)

A study of the social origins and career paths of Greek university faculty found few gains for women in the last twenty years, with those gains resulting from university democratization. Women faculty tend to be older and from more middle-class backgrounds than their male peers. (Author/MSE)

Compares national higher education quality assessment systems in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, focusing particularly on the balance between internal and external societal needs in the systems' design and organization. Results indicate that systems are highly adjusted to each country's specific governance strategies, resulting in very…

"Student Powered" research, defined as a comprehensive reliance on or involvement of students as research staff members in all or most phases of a serious research effort, is discussed. It is suggested that there are several conditions necessary for student powered mail survey questionnaire research projects to be initiated, that there…

Developments in Australia's system of higher education and institutional and policy control in the last 20 years are compared with Great Britain's. It is concluded that the current Australian arrangement of authority between state and commonwealth has helped regulate higher education, but some improvements should be made before adaptation in…