While Microsoft Corporation officials state unequivocally that the company does not want to get into the business of higher education, the company and its chairman have been quietly acquiring rights to intellectual property and creating software rich in academic content. College administrators, nervous about competition for students, are concerned…

Small regional colleges are bracing for a battle to protect their profitable continuing-education programs from competition with distance-learning programs at research universities. Concern is particularly for part-time students who may choose distance programs that are less expensive, more convenient, and offer diplomas from better-known…

Summarizes the results of a study of 40 high school students with grade point averages of 2.5 or greater who had never received formal training in economics. The students worked on problems involving basic economic concepts including productivity, profits, opportunity costs, and supply and demand. Discusses their misconceptions. (MJP)

Includes eight articles that discuss issues related to special corporate libraries in Australia. Highlights include change, competition, and marketing; customer service in a value-added information environment; the need for librarians to organize and locate relevant information; and health libraries. (LRW)

While U.S. colleges and universities are still the top choice of foreign students, the American share of the international education market has shrunk from 40% in the 1980s to 32% today. Educators and government officials are working to develop a strategy for increasing U.S. competitiveness. Australia, Britain, and Canada, the three top…

Mission statements of 168 United Kingdom universities and colleges were examined to determine to what extent the institutions were making an effort to differentiate themselves in a context of expanding demand for higher education. Analysis focused on institutional status and market position, intentions regarding differentiation, and managerial…

A recent court ruling that the proportion of intercollegiate athletes who are women must equal the proportion of undergraduates who are women is criticized on the grounds that it may compel colleges and universities to distort resource allocations for college athletics and thereby overvalue them. It is argued that such a change would serve no one…

The historic relationship between higher education and economic development in the United States is analyzed, and the implications of current economic changes for the individual's need for higher education are examined. It is suggested that liberal educators must provide the more autonomous and skilled workforce required in the new economy, and…

The debate over the future of the student loan program has often been so rancorous that it obscures rather than illuminates the issues. The college student loan program of the future will be characterized by the acute need for excellent customer service, dependence on advanced communications technology, and intense competition among service…

The negative impacts of immigration are felt most strongly by nonwhite Americans. The significant problems with today's immigration policies can only be solved by reducing immigration levels, something many minority groups support. Immigration is not the root of social problems, but in its present form, it exacerbates them. (SLD)

Selfishness has spawned a new breed of racism, driven by fear, fed by scarcity, and manifested through economic imperatives. California's Proposition 187 and Herrnstein and Murray's book "The Bell Curve" are built on racist foundations. Our current obsession with race is driven by an economy and an elitist social system that is…

Uses recent data and new theoretical perspectives to reexamine hypothesized links between academic competition and adolescent suicide in East Asia, particularly Japan. Finds no direct connection, discusses possible indirect effects on individual motives, and suggests a more complicated model. Analyzes how cultural and historical factors may…

The language of school reform is rooted predominantly in the technological perspective. Reviews technological, psychological, ideological, and sociological (descriptive and prescriptive) perspectives and elaborates on the technological, highlighting the need for competitive education, especially in math and science; efficient programs (physical…

Discusses the changes that occurred in the English education system beginning with the Educational Reform Act of 1988 due to the policies of the Conservative government, such as market competition and the National Curriculum. Addresses the policies of the New Labour Party since the reign of the Conservatives has now ended. (CMK)

Discussion of the impact of distance education on academic libraries focuses on marketing aspects. Topics include the rapid expansion of educational computing; the maturing of higher education; the World Wide Web as competitor to academic libraries; business purposes of academic libraries; distance education strategies; servicing market segments;…