Colleges and universities must recognize that they exist in a competitive environment and view strategic planning as pivotal in the management of change, of their competitive positions within the education industry, and of resources. Higher education's new competitive aspects lend themselves to strategic planning models useful in business. (MSE)

Recent establishment of degree programs in quality and reliability at several leading American academic institutions provides evidence that quality is making ivory tower in-roads. One critical difference in the orientations of U.S. and Japanese firms is in the shouldering of responsibility for product/service quality and reliability. (MLW)

Responding to Joe Nathan's praise of Minnesota's school choice programs in the same "Kappan" issue, this article cites teacher opinion poll deficiencies; mistaken correlations involving open enrollment, rural district cooperation, and enabling state legislation; and insufficient program implementation and evaluation data. The hidden…

Increased use of merit pay is attributed to growing competition among institutions to attract and retain faculty, demands for accountability of faculty, and a reflection of a trend in private industry toward providing more financial incentives for employees. (MLW)

Describes a high school chemistry competition at the University of Maryland (College Park). Basic guidelines, organization, events, and evaluation of the competition are provided. A list of events is presented. (YP)

The national examination administered to prospective lawyers in Japan for entry into the last training phase before licensing is discussed. The history of the legal profession in Japan, the examination itself, preparation for taking it, and postexamination training are addressed. (MSE)

Melbourne (Australia) independent schools often advertize their high academic standards, quality curriculum, and competent and caring teaching staff. American public schools should highlight their own strengths by aggressively marketing their college-bound to vocational curricula, their expert and caring faculty, and their disciplined environment.…

Describes the planning and conducting of snow sled competitions as a means to teach concepts in classical mechanics. (JRH)

Reports the performance of grade six students in the Australian Primary Schools Mathematics Competition for 1990 to 1992 and provides general comparisons across states. Results showed that, overall, boys outperformed girls. Appendix contains selected competition questions. (MKR)

Summarizes school-choice developments in several states and outlines various choice categories (intradistrict, interdistrict, and controlled). Discusses privatization efforts, the effects of choice, and the role of parental involvement, competition and productivity, regulations, bureaucracies, educational finance, unions, and implications for…

Conflict over the authorship of scientific research into schizophrenia in an international collaboration is discussed. Issues of access to research data and laboratory samples, competition for research results, and attribution of scholarship are considered. (MSE)

Two field day activities use homemade equipment to provide movement and fun. Super Kids Day is a 15-activity, individual versus individual event. Classic Games is a team versus team relay competition. For both field days, participation, rather than winning and losing, is emphasized so all students can feel successful. (SM)

Recently, higher education policy and practice has become dominated by materialism, individualism, and competitiveness, at the expense of attention to the affective aspect of student development and, in a broader perspective, to the emotional and spiritual divisions that threaten humanity. Higher education can and should be more constructive. (MSE)

The Parental and School Choice Interaction (PASCI) study is investigating how English secondary schools are responding to an environment characterized by heightened competition and increased parental choice and how school decisions affect parental choice decisions. Plans to study four consumer empowerment models (competitive market, personal…

International challenges facing adult education point to a need for expanded provision, emphasizing work skills. Political and managerial challenges imply that adult and community educators need to collaborate to ensure appropriate resources. (SK)