As colleges and universities seek to raise attention to teaching, peer review offers distinct advantages, especially for faculty eager to reduce classroom isolation and collaborate in improvement. It also presents political and methodological challenges and presumes significantly different roles for faculty in improving quality of student…

The organizational development strategies used in the Sydney University (Australia) physics department, designed to bring about a reassessment of the role and practice of teaching and to support the implementation of teaching reforms, are described. The roles of leadership, devolved responsibility, and consultation in effecting change in both…

A discussion of educational reform in Central and Eastern Europe in general, and Romania in particular, suggests four distinct reform stages: destructuring (1990); stabilization (1991-92); restructuring (1993-95); and counterreform (after 1993). Political, social, and economic attitudes and actions characterizing these stages are examined. (MSE)

Describes the 10-year process in which Hagerstown Junior College (HJC) (Maryland) underwent a transition from a passive institution to a proactive agent for community renewal. Indicates that HJC redefined its civic purpose and executed its agenda through community-based programming and the facilitation of community problem solving. Includes 15…

Evaluated effects of a nine-month project that paired fourth graders with elderly volunteers for a number of shared interdisciplinary activities. The Children's Perception of Aging and Elderly inventory posttest scores indicated the experimental group had significantly more positive attitudes toward the elderly than the control group. Results held…

Suggests that any model of washback must include insights from the theory of educational innovation to help explain why tests do not always have the desired or feared effect. Key concepts in educational innovation are reviewed, showing how these concepts are manifested in a case study in washback and outlining how they are being applied in recent…

A discussion of reform in Australian higher education in the current context of rapid social, economic, and administrative change looks at several areas of concern: the direction of the institutions; an imbalance of management and substance; and a new conformism that encourages generic institutions based on an international model and inhibits…

Describes the establishment of Oklahoma's public two-year colleges and the decrease in state funding in the 1980s following the collapse of the oil industry. Details the colleges' responses to the challenges presented by decreasing resources and increasing enrollments, including cooperation with vocational-technical schools. Addresses concerns for…

A survey of 121 internal medicine residents at Mount Sinai Hospital (New York) investigated students' career plans and decision timing, the effect on their residency of applying for a fellowship, and the timing of the fellowship process. Results indicate the current medical fellowship application system is generally experienced negatively. A…

Expresses concern about recent trends in financing higher education in India. Outlines several proposals for finance reform and considers national and international experiences with them. Argues that reform suggestions being made for developing countries are not empirically valid for the contexts in which they are to be implemented. (Author/MSE)

Controversy over limited representation of women on a key committee of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Division I Management Council, has renewed concerns that big-time football conferences are not committed to diverse membership on such panels. The division's board of directors rejected the first female nominees and suggested…

Introduces several papers on reform in preservice education, addressing the nature and place of such reform within broader educational reform and discussing schools of education and their relationship to the reform agenda, schools of education as contexts for reform, teachers and their work, and beginning professors' role in preservice reform. (SM)

Focuses on the contrasting discourse practices and occupational cultures of engineers and marketing representatives. The article argues that strong occupational cultures have different value systems and discourse practices. The article stresses the need for an interdisciplinary approach combining linguistic and cultural analyses to reduce…

Colleges and university administrations must recognize and accommodate change more quickly and efficiently if the institutions are to remain competitive. Trustees must examine the policies they create from this perspective, also keeping in focus the institution's mission, strategic direction, and future. Institutions need periodic professional…

The process of restructuring a higher education institution does not end with creation of a strategic plan; the plan's objectives and strategies must be monitored for effectiveness. Phases of creative strategy-making and plan formulation should be alternated with periods of assessment. The process is not a direct course, but dynamic progression…