The past years have witnessed a growing trend in applied research in Vocational Education and Training (VET), which refers to investigative activities and services conducted by VET organisations which have a strong practical focus on solving real-life problems. Insights from applied research can be used to develop or improve products and services,…

The systems view of quality postulates that product or service quality comes as the result of interactions between various components that comprise a production process. In view of this, most problems in the organization, like an institution of higher education, can be attributed to the system. To be effective, any quality improvement initiative…

The last two decades have witnessed an increasing intensity of quality management in higher education institutions and quality discourses which were followed by debates about and attempts of evaluating the efficacy of quality management in the sector. Accordingly, the article presents a SWOT analysis of impact evaluation of quality management in…

The purpose of this paper is two fold: to look at Mornington U3A in organisational terms and then look at U3AM as a loosely coupled system. One outcome of the study would be to undertake further analyses of U3As in Victoria to determine the levels of bureaucracy under which each operates. Questions to be asked: are U3As in Victoria operating as…

Deloitte Consulting LLP conducted a review of publicly available data sources with the goal of identifying the pre- and post-award systems used in higher education. The number and type of pre- and post-award systems identified not only show that higher education institutions (HEIs) use a variety of methods to facilitate research activities, but…

Ireland's demographic profile has changed significantly in the past 20 years, being now characterised by increasing cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. However, primary schooling in Ireland has remained highly denominational, mostly Roman Catholic, in nature, with a small number of minority faith schools and multi-denominational schools.…

As social behavior moves increasingly online, the study of social behavior has followed. Online traces of social systems, whether to study online behavior directly or the online traces of offline activity, have made possible previously unavailable empirical analyses of people, groups and organizations. However, practically observing any social…

Even though transformations have been made in Turkey, schools have turned into places where partners are unhappy. Recently, education has moved into a new dimension called the system of objects in consumer society. The consumer society has become devoted to the system of objects, as people are not consuming for need but for want. Model schools and…

Innovation is a key goal of many tertiary education and distance learning providers. This research explores how teachers and educational designers across three New Zealand tertiary institutions worked to innovatively achieve teaching goals. A longitudinal design using the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework explored the influence…

Support for producing systematic reviews about health systems is less well developed than for those about clinical practice. From interviewing policy makers and systematic reviewers we identified institutional mechanisms which bring systematic reviews and policy priorities closer by harnessing organisational and individual motivations, emphasising…

The Skills for a Changing World project presents evidence of a movement of education systems globally toward a more explicit focus on a broad range of skills that our 21st century society needs and demands. This movement can be seen in the vision and mission statements of education systems as well as through their curricula. Although clearly…

Following Snow's (1973) description of an "inductive" process of theory formation, this article addresses the organization of the knowledge base on school effectiveness. A multilevel presentation stimulated the conceptualization of educational effectiveness as an integration of system-level, school-level, and classroom-level…

This paper is devoted to changes in the structure of the higher education system in Russia, analysing both historical context and current institutional diversity. The review starts from the Soviet quasi-corporate system when the state combined demand-side and supply-side roles in higher education. The post-Soviet transformation brings new forces…

The science curriculum is a focus of repeated reform in many countries. However, the enactment of such reforms within schools rarely reflects the intended outcomes of curriculum designers. This review considers what we know about the experiences and reflections of teachers in the enactment of externally driven school science curriculum reform.…

The implementation of quality assurance (QA) is one of the most challenging reform areas for Turkey due to the unique organization of its higher education system. This paper explores the development of QA systems in Turkish universities. Using a qualitative case study approach, the authors examine how Turkey accomplishes the goal of implementing…