This study explores the library needs of students and tutors of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), utilization level of the library facilities and resources, the problems in the use of library, and suggestions for improvement of library facilities for students and tutors. Data collected from 4080 students and 526 tutors belonging to 15 different…

This essay examines the impact of the Bologna Process on the development of short-cycle higher education in Europe, noting that the integration of short-cycle qualifications within the Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area, combined with the critical place allotted to those programs in national lifelong learning…

In 1984 and 2000, respectively, the Party Central Committee and the state council decided to establish the Tibet Class and the Xinjiang Class in some interior provinces and municipalities ("neidi") to promote economic development and social progress in the motherland's frontier regions as well as to ensure state security and consolidate…

This chapter traces the development of short-cycle higher education in Bulgaria. An emphasis is placed on (a) the evolution of nonuniversity short-cycle institutes and (b) the challenges of bridging the gap between secondary and higher education and creating links between vocational and academic learning pathways. The case study of Bulgaria may…

Student Retention is a function of a number of factors, the most important among them being--the academic response mechanism of an institution, effectiveness in handling administrative queries, counseling at learner support centres, effectiveness in handling practical session and so on. The current paper is an attempt to study the effectiveness of…

Initial teacher education (ITE) has attracted the attention of many researchers worldwide aiming at discussing its curriculum and rationale, but essentially its impact on the education and professional socialisation of pre-service teachers. This paper looks at the major trends in the recent ITE curriculum in the Portuguese context, as a…

The word "bastard" has a richly ambiguous resonance in the Australian meaning-making tradition. It is a term that is variously affectionate, neutral, deleterious and corrosive. This is an ambiguity whose clarification relies almost entirely on the communicational context where its utterance is implaced. Right across the globe the idea of…

Beginning with a view of the role of tertiary-level educational institutions in the globalizing world and the condition of the Polish higher education system in 2007, the author presents the factors affecting the regional development as well as those that exert the strongest influence on long-term regional development. While examining current…

This paper traces the evolution of The University of the West Indies' Open Campus (UWIOC), which is expected to expand service and increase access to the underserved communities of the Eastern Caribbean. At present, UWI, which caters to the needs of the 16 far flung countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean, has not been able to fully serve these…

At a time when the OECD (2007) is advocating more local engagement for higher education institutions, this study looks at a number of community initiatives in Australia where local universities have played a key role. All were studied as part of the PASCAL Universities and Regional Engagement (PURE) project, which involves a total of 19 regions…

The case for Lifelong Learning Networks (LLNs) was made by Sir Howard Newby, then Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), in the Colin Bell Memorial Lecture in March 2004. Their purpose was to widen participation by combining the strengths of diverse higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education…

A recent independent review of Australian higher education has made a series of recommendations that the government has largely accepted and that have the potential to alter dramatically that country's university system. In combination, some of the consequences of the review have significant implications for regional education, particularly new…

Virtual worlds are highly immersive, engaging and popular computer mediated environments being explored by children and adults. Why then aren't more teachers using virtual worlds in the classroom with primary and secondary school students? Reasons often cited are the learning required to master the technology, low-end graphics cards, poor…

This paper discusses the results of a case study exploring perceptions of selected administrators and instructors at a Ukrainian state institution regarding the effectiveness of the Bologna Process at their institution. Data were collected from focus group interviews with five volunteer instructors involved in the implementation process. The…

Bologna reform eulogies and protests tend to focus on the benefits and shortcomings of the new two-tier curricula, their implementation and orientation. In this article, an assessment of the Bologna reforms is made in terms of their larger and less widely discussed systemic and institutional effects--which go far beyond the original reformers'…