Higher education in the UK espouses to develop intelligence and critical skills in undergraduates. To do this requires exposing students to challenge and thus risk. However, current models of quality assurance are risk-averse and thus potentially limit the scope of creative learning and teaching strategies. Using two case studies, this paper…

Proposes a holistic model for quality management in higher education which incorporates both service and academic functions. Discusses the crucial role played by organizational culture in implementation of any quality strategy, and asserts that ideal organizational behavior embodies the "learning communities" concept. (EV)

The University of Southern Queensland's Centre for Further Education and Training, which offers distance teaching and training courses to a wide range of mature students, developed a quality assurance framework to guide its efforts to improve the quality of its distance courses for teachers and trainers with little or no training in educational…

Argues that a holistic approach to defining quality is helpful to technical communicators, who often must ensure quality without knowing what is meant by quality in a given instance. Describes a holistic model of quality that includes four emphases: internal, external, subjective, and objective. Notes that the definition of quality differs…

This paper reacts to previous symposium papers (EC 604 155-161) concerning regulations and quality assurance in Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICF/MR). Contributions of the Home and Community Based Services program model, which is seen as a partial solution to overregulation, are highlighted. (DB)

Proposes a quality control model for education directed toward three major groupings of indices--antecedents, processes, and operational settings. (FL)

Robert Birnbaum argues that higher education tends to adopt management fads -- newly conceived techniques enjoying brief popularity but which fail to live up to their promoters claims at the point when the corporate sector and government are discarding them. Although fads may have failed in these sectors because of various reasons, their failure…

The "reflective practitioner" approach to professional training is applied to teacher education, with emphasis on quality control. The relationship between industry's technical rational model, currently in favor in higher education, and the professional artistry model of professionalism, which have different conceptions of quality…

Reply by the current author to the comments made by R. A. McWilliam, R. N. Roberts and Andy Gomm on the original article. All three commentaries are addressing a common theme that service coordination is not receiving the attention it deserves by state and local early intervention systems and programs. The responses contain a number of key points…

Presents a methodological model for orienting teacher researchers. The grounded theory approach is examined, noting it may not be a valuable paradigm. An alternative is proposed which uses quality criteria for professional action as the criteria defining research. Teacher research must concentrate on developing reflective features of professional…

Economic concerns dominate hospital planning and policy decisions as hospitals seek to become more productive, competitive, and profitable. Quality care and public service may conflict with the profit-motivated business model. Nurse administrators will have to be politically astute to promote the integration of a professional model of service.…

The idea that different meanings of "quality" in higher education (meritocratic, social, and individualistic) may influence the assessments of college presidents of their institutions is explored. These three dimensions are combined in a model that allows a more complex view of institutional quality. (MSE)

The self-study has been increasingly used as an aid to accrediting reviews but has rarely been used as a tool for ongoing systematic internal quality assurance. Attention to the purposes and functions, the processes, and the dynamics of self-studies so used can yield great benefit for modest cost. (Author/MLW)

This paper explores the idea that conceptualizing academic supervision (at Honours or graduate level) as a fiduciary relationship can assist supervisors in enhancing student learning through quality decision-making. In this paper I reflect on my conceptions of supervision in the light of the growing scholarship on supervision. My conceptions of…

Observations on general Japanese culture, business culture, specific business missions and strategies, characteristics of individual workers, and business operations emphasize production processes and policies, organization structure, performance support systems, general management practices, and attention to quality. A table comparing the human…