Over a decade has gone by since the report of the Widening Participation Committee--"Learning works"--was presented to the Further Education Funding Council. Ten years on, this report asks how far have we come in the decade since "Learning works"? What progress have we made? And what barriers have we yet to overcome? Bringing…

Like any good story, the Sufi tale places the listener squarely in the midst of life; that is, precisely where learning takes place. The tale pointed out that learning can be both exhilarating and painful. In college classrooms, teachers (and their students) are spared neither of these emotions when they engage in the learning process. In this…

In the report entitled "Educating School Leaders," Arthur Levine (2005) criticizes leadership preparation programs as "inadequate to appalling," citing, among other issues, the proliferation of off campus programming, the weakening of standards, and an unwillingness to engage in any measure of "systematic…

Institutional stature, its development and determination, and strategies for its enhancement in colleges and universities are discussed. Focus is on the fundamental dimensions of stature, how it is affected by the external environment, and what colleges can do to improve it. Chapters are as follow: "Definition and Dimensions of Stature" (higher…

Views of members and key pension plan administrators concerning the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) were assessed. Attention was focused on perceptions of the organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the importance of these characteristics in creating its reputation. Telephone interviews…

A questionnaire containing items on personal history, reasons for section selection, and sources of information about the instructor was administered to undergraduate students. The time at which class was scheduled and teacher reputation were the primary reasons for section choice. Other variables, considered less important by students, also…

The characteristics of medical schools that predict their ratings are associated with basic science and clinical research performance: faculty productivity, eminence of the leading members of the faculty, and resources available for research. (Author/AM)

Quality rankings of undergraduate institutions and programs do exist although they are hard to find and often ignored. The accuracy of these ratings and how they can be improved are discussed. (MLW)

Because editors influence the professional lives and research efforts of faculty, the assumption of their distinguished credentials need to be verified. The correlates that distinguish between editors and noneditors in higher education are examined. Correlates include: research productivity, allocation of time for research and teaching,…

The relative and independent influence of students' undergraduate achievement, social class, sex, and race on rank of graduate school they attend is examined. Anlaysis of covariance techniques indicates that undergraduate achievement is the strongest predictor of rank of graduate institution attended. (Author/MLW)

This study examined differences in ratings between students in a metropolitan university system and traditional university freshmen on a set of factors that influence college choice. Data in regard to factors influencing college choice was collected from a sample of 1,795 University of South Florida (USF) freshmen and 1,108 USF students at various…

Assessed the impact of managerial behavior and manager reputation on perceptions of power in two studies. Behavior significantly influenced perceptions of reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, and referent power; reputation significantly influenced perceptions of legitimate, referent, and especially expert power. Suggested the existence of an…

The five-volume Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States, the most authoritative academic quality ranking ever done, is discussed. The Assessment covers 2,699 programs in 32 disciplines and assesses a faculty's reputation for scholarly quality. Improvements in programs' reputations are also discussed. (MLW)

Five approaches to measuring higher education quality are outlined and criticized as incomplete: the nihilist, reputational, resources, outcome, and value-added approaches. Feedback from students and faculty is the key to discovering and improving institutional contributions to student development. (MSE)

Reports on a study ranking the prestige of 26 journals in the field of mass communication. Reveals a wide range in the perceived prestige of these periodicals. (RL)