This is the first briefing in a new European University Association (EUA) series focused on evolving university governance. The present publication explores the governance set-up of the European University Alliances formed under the EU's European Universities Initiative. For the first time, the document presents a comparative overview of the…

This paper addresses one of the major confusions in the study and practice of problem-based learning today, namely the use of the term "problem-based learning" to refer to both the small-group tutorial method pioneered by McMaster University and Maastricht University in medical education, and the problem-oriented project-work method…

The United States has long struggled with the challenge of educating children experiencing extreme disadvantage, including the poor, ethnic and racial minorities, English language learners, and foster children. In this article, we argue that solutions to this problem lie not to the east or west, but to the south. Specifically, we offer the…

This article undertakes a comparative study of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) thematic reviews on "equity in education" for Spain and Norway. The author investigates whether there may be a similar orientation to equity expressed in the two reviews and discusses how social stratification may occur…

In this article, the characteristics of five test review models are described. The five models are the US review system at the Buros Center for Testing, the German Test Review System of the Committee on Tests, the Brazilian System for the Evaluation of Psychological Tests, the European EFPA Review Model, and the Dutch COTAN Evaluation System for…

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…

Many schools in South Africa are dysfunctional, or at least do not function optimally. This statement could be substantiated by just citing statistics about failure rates, school drop-out rates, school violence, matric pass rates, learner absenteeism, educator absenteeism or the incidence of discipline problems and the effect thereof on educators.…

This article provides a critical examination of a variety of approaches to induction focusing especially upon Australia and other Pacific Rim countries. The question of the purposes induction serves for graduate teachers, experienced teachers and education systems is addressed in terms of whether it is a technical exercise which preserves the…

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…

Anxious to maintain student enrollments, geography departments have placed greater emphasis on the applied nature of the discipline. Described are (1) the advantages of internships in college geography curricula that enable students to gain firsthand knowledge about the usefulness of geography in real world situations and (2) operational models…

Reports on the curriculum development process used as part of teacher education, identifying problems of teacher time and effort, relationship to the practical demands of classroom teaching, and links with other aspects of teacher's work. (Author/CK)

This article describes the process used by elementary and secondary schools in Lincoln County, Ontario, Canada, to evaluate their schools' curricula. Over 40 external evaluators and as many as 300 K-12 teachers are involved in the process. (Author/RM)

This model is an abstraction of a content and process model proposed and partially implemented at Southern Connecticut State College for establishing a Graduate Center of Cross-Cultural Studies. Outlined in the model are: (1) major objectives for the Graduate Center of Cross-Cultural Studies; (2) college inputs (organization, resources to be…

The university for the third age (U3A) began in 1973 when a professor organized a summer program for retired persons at the Universite des Sciences Socialies, Toulouse, France. The Toulouse model included a weekly public lecture on a major topic of concern for older persons, discussion groups, seminars, and recreational facilities, taking…

Based on a model of local curriculum development, but incorporating the ideas first expressed by Goodlad in establishing a league of co-operating schools for the improvement of learning, this curriculum development project successfully infused the study of technology into the science courses of several British secondary schools. (RM)