To capture some of the benefits of small-scale schooling, educators are looking for ways to downsize, including dividing large schools into subunits or "schools within a school." This approach establishes within the school a smaller educational unit with a separate educational program and its own staff, students, and budget. This digest…

The thesis of this discussion is that a vital system of universities and colleges comes forth and endures when it achieves and maintains a balance between institutional and academic autonomy and societal relevance. (Author)

After a comparison of institutional autonomy and government influence patterns in Australian and United States higher education institutions, it is concluded that variety in balances is possible and does exist. These balances can be altered to suit state needs and also free independent institutions for their own purposes. (MSE)

Since individual urban parochial schools have the local autonomy necessary to implement organizational change, they may be better able to benefit from renewal than urban public schools. (JD)

Summarizes some of 2001's more interesting and important court cases regarding disciplinary and academic decisions by higher education institutions, commenting on their effects on case law. (EV)

Proposes a classification scheme based on institutional control, geography, governance, and size in order to capture the diversity of two-year colleges in the United States. Argues that development of an easy-to-use classification system could serve to improve the precision of research on the community college. (Contains 16 references.) (NB)

Argues that, of the schemes described and proposed in this journal volume, Katsinas' proposal, which is based on institutional control, geography, governance, and size, meets the largest number of criteria and may have the best utility. Asserts that a system for classification of community colleges is needed. (NB)

Describes how Massachusetts' governor and the politically powerful head of the state university are grappling over a plan to revamp the system, reduce its budget, and do away with the president's job. (EV)

In any public university system, the relationship between the state's demands for utility and accountability and the universities' needs for academic freedom and autonomy create serious tensions. Coordinating boards have not reached the positive potential that was foreseen in the author's book "Statewide Coordination of Higher Education." (MLW)

The forms and strategies of institutional self-regulation used in Europe for program assessment and improvement are viewed as partial structures, not integrated systems designed to fully realize the potential of the self-regulatory system. A self-regulation program review model for use in ministerial or other centrally administered systems is…

State legislators who consistently challenge higher education on one or more issues are seen as both allies, for bringing issues to the forefront, and as foes, for their sometimes strident criticism. Many such legislative critics focus on accountability vs. autonomy. (MSE)

A discussion of Australian higher education looks at the nature of institutional autonomy and academic freedom, the interaction among pressures for educational quality, institutional autonomy, and academic freedom, and suggests a way that universities can reconcile the three through faculty participation in governance. (MSE)

Explores notions of what democracy might be at the university. suggesting that university autonomy and democracy need never be in opposition, though limitations on autonomy are sometimes defensible. The university's interactions with a surrounding society are viewed as potentially part of a democratic process. (SM)

Reviews the case law of academic abstention (issues that the courts consider beyond their expertise) in the following areas of higher education: (1) student qualifications; (2) faculty qualifications; (3) student substantive rights; (4) faculty substantive rights; and (5) discovery of information. (199 references) (MLF)

Discusses how the relationship between governments and higher education has been changing in Europe over the last few decades, with governments using an array of market and market-like mechanisms instead of traditional regulation mechanisms. Suggests that despite the changes, institutional autonomy is still facing significant government…