This article provides organizational charts and brief descriptions of the public relations (PR) offices operated by Boston University, Webster University, and Austin Peay State University. The descriptions focus on staff size, staff titles, staff organization philosophy, strong and weak points, and advice for PR people in similar-size offices.…

This article presents an interview with Robert Deware, associate professor of organization behavior at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who offers advice on setting up and managing a university public relations office. It focuses on issues of office size, staffing, structure, and strategy. (MDM)

Brigham Young University (Utah) has addressed the need for maintenance and support of distributed computing systems on campus by implementing a program patterned after a national business franchise, providing the support and training of a centralized administration but allowing each unit to operate much as an independent small business.…

Performance measures are discussed for assessing organizational effectiveness in nonprofit organizations including institutions of higher education. With hundreds of possible measures, ratios, and data available, the nonprofit manager must select measures that portray the institution's condition and performance. A process and rationale for…

The nature and organization of continuing education within the higher education systems of Canada, Finland, and the United Kingdom are examined and compared. Although there are considerable differences between the systems, there is also significant variation within them. Little stability is seen, and change is foreseen as pressures increase.…

It is argued that, in France, the role and status of continuing education in the university are unstable and are not accommodated well by the university system. Although the universities serve the greater community and public good, the focus of continuing education is individual advancement and the relationship remains problematic. (MSE)

This discussion of the responsibilities of an English as a second language (ESL) program administrator in a university setting focuses on issues in four areas: (1) program; (2) students; (3) faculty; and (4) administration. In the first area, the ESL administrator establishes and maintains the curriculum, decides the combination of components…

This study examined the extent to which a sample of 533 colleges and universities offer child-care services and whether they self-operate them or contract them out. It found that almost half of the institutions provided organized child care and that nearly 75% of such institutions operated the facilities themselves. (MDM)

The evolution to date of the United Kingdom's Administrative Computing Initiative for universities, a program funding development of institutional management systems for both operations and planning, is described. The program divides universities into four families, each of which has adopted a different approach to systems development. (Author/MSE)

The Colorado School of Mines' experience illustrates that with good planning and enough money, a small university can provide a high level of waste management service, complying with government regulations. Considerations in developing the plan include a segregation scheme for incompatible materials, vehicle selection, and costs of ongoing…

Thirteen trends in university computer system development are identified, system user requirements are analyzed, critical system qualities are outlined, and three options for organizing a computer system are presented. The three systems include a centralized network, local network, and federation of local networks. (MSE)

In moving Syracuse University (New York) administrative computing applications from mainframe to a client/server environment, challenges have come not from technological transition but from changes in the ways both information systems are organized and clients work. Cultural initiatives were necessary, including organizational restructuring,…

Reports of nine workshop participants on the interactions between universities, their medical schools, and their teaching hospitals are summarized. Focus was on balancing academic requirements of teaching and research with patient care. The functioning of the various institutions is examined in the broader context of community and government…

The self-imposed external evaluation of a university grants office is reported, including discussions of the office's and administrator's roles, comparison with similar-sized institutions and programs, the review process, and its results. (MSE)

Most of the hospital beds available to the University of Liege (France) for training purposes are in a public teaching hospital with an autonomous legal structure and privileged relationship with the university. Other beds are in other facilities. The financing, supervision, and management structure integrates the institutions and supports medical…