Public service in higher education is an important function of American colleges and universities. The nature and purposes of higher education can be revealed through three popular metaphors--ivory tower, social service station, and culture mart. It can best be fulfilled through ideas of value, social criticism, social problem solving, or social…

This study provides an extensive review of the literature on distance education and of representative distance education projects and institutions in the United States and abroad, emphasizing those using telecommunications technologies. The introductory section includes a sketch of the information age and its implications for adult education and…

This brief report summarizes a longer document with the same title. It reviews the reshaping of the college undergraduate curriculum in order to meet the new and compelling issues of the future such as accommodating diverse races and ethnic groups, incorporating global perspectives on the environment, and dealing more effectively with the human…

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 digest is based on a full-length report (with the same title) on advisory committees to universities and colleges. Under decreased resources and increased pressures for more accountability, advisory committees are an effective way for colleges and universities to connect with their environments. An advisory committee is a group of volunteers…

This report addresses the advisory committee's role in the administration of institutions of higher education. Under decreased resources and increased pressures for more accountability, advisory committees are an effective way to help connect universities and colleges to their environments. Advisory committees may range from those that consult to…

Distinctive colleges and universities, as opposed to the great majority which fit into a more or less standardized mold, possess a unifying theme or vision which is expressed in all their activities. They often respond to newly emerging societal or community needs unmet by existing colleges and universities; they challenge conventional ideas about…

This brief report summarizes a longer document with the same title. Distinctive colleges and universities possess a unifying theme or vision that is expressed in all their activities. They also usually respond to newly emerging societal or community needs unmet by existing schools of higher education. Distinctiveness, however, can limit the…

This digest of a full-length report provides a review of state level budgeting for higher education in terms of the underlying interplay of human and external forces coupled with factors that are present in the budgeting process itself. The environmental context includes historical, political, economic, and demographic factors. These factors…

Due to data released in several reports in recent years, concern has been growing regarding the status of undergraduate science in two-year colleges, four-year colleges, and universities. Recommendations of reports on this topic are summarized. Types of programs and activities that have been developed with precollege schools and students; current…

This brief report summarizes a longer report with the same title. It examines the problems of the increasingly severe shortage of qualified teachers in American higher education and the need to recruit large numbers of new faculty during the next decade and, as the potential solution to both problems, the recruiting of women to fill these faculty…

This report presents a discussion of articulation and transfer between community colleges and four-year institutions and points to future directions for transfer education. Chapter I examines the current situation regarding transfer education including background information on transfer enrollments; a summary of the literature on transfer…

This issue of a quarterly journal, concerned with community colleges focuses on relations between community colleges and four-year institutions, their perceived differences in status, and approaches to overcoming those differences. The issue contains seven articles beginning with "Tradition and Transformation: Academic Roots and the Community…

Appropriate and inappropriate uses of the strategic planning concept are identified, and significant literature on the subject is reviewed that gives both conceptual and practical guidelines. Included is a series of very simple to more complex planning models that colleges and universities can adopt or modify, depending on their circumstances, to…

Because colleges and universities create and disseminate knowledge, and because of the power knowledge creates, these institutions of higher learning possess a moral responsibility to society. The scholar's role is crucial because of his or her power to define reality for and exercise control over society in general and students in particular.…