The Chinese National Quality Course Plan is a large-scale project by the Ministry of Education, which has led to the production of more than 12,000 courses from some 700 universities since 2003. This paper describes in detail the purpose of the project and how it is organized at all levels, including how individual courses get selected at…

This paper considers professional development in a context that is familiar and problematic to teaching teams in tertiary education everywhere, that of delivering online programmes with an ever-decreasing complement of staff. The Teaching Qualification Further Education (TQFE) teaching team at University of Dundee confronted the reality of reduced…

During the first decade of post-socialist transformation in Eastern Europe, the majority of education reform projects focused on in-service teacher education. Governments, international agencies and non-governmental organizations prioritized various in-service teacher education programs to help teachers deal with rapid changes in schools. This has…

Where the continuing professional development (CPD) process is being increasingly articulated and circumscribed by policy and central specification, the initial year of teaching may significantly shape career-long expectations of CPD. This article contrasts the early experiences of beginning secondary teachers in Scotland and Hong Kong and the…

In order to successfully match students and jobs in the medical profession of their choice, and at the same time meet the country's health care needs, it has become evident that access to medical schools and the various medical professions should be tightly regulated, in particular by a "numerus clausus." In most Western countries,…

Compares La Junta Nacional de Jardines Infantiles (JUNJI), Chile's federally funded preschool system, with the United States' Head Start program. Notes that, unlike Head Start, JUNJI is administered at the national level; requires preschool teachers to have four-year university degrees; follows a national curriculum; and, due to budget…

The mechanics of the Soviet library system, the availability of libraries to the citizenry, organizational components, and the development and planning principles of librarianship as they follow Leninist national policy are discussed in this paper by V.V. Serov, Head of the Main Library Directorate, USSR Ministry of Culture. A program of library…

Describes a three-year project (1985-88) which established a training center for peer counseling that serves three school districts. An evaluation of the citywide project is reported, and the limitations of centralized training are discussed, along with speculations about expanding services and populations. (TE)

The organization and development of the library education system in the USSR is described by K. I. Abramov of the Moscow State Institute of Culture and is summarized in a comment paper by Charles D. Churchwell, Washington University. Abramov begins by stating the philosophical basis for the existence of libraries and librarians in the USSR, and…

Presents an overview of a governmental (centralized) program for the application of computers in Hungary and the education of computer specialists. Outlines steps for solving modelized problems and discusses computers and computer education in the schools. (DC)

In describing the role of Soviet libraries in the satisfaction of information needs of specialists, I.K. Kirpicheva has provided a comprehensive picture of the extensive system for the State System Scientific and Technical Information (SSSTI) in support of the accelerated development of Soviet science and technology. Information needs arising at…