Describes the sharp swing toward devolution at one South African University, followed by a sharper swing back toward centralization, discussing factors to consider, in terms of the national context of South Africa's higher education and the university's institutional dynamics, to explain these swings. The reasoning behind recommendations for this…

School-site management embodies the concept that decisions should be made at the lowest possible level in organizations and intends that no decision be made without the input of those affected by them. The concept also suggests the empowerment of individual units of the system, particularly, the teachers. Centralization versus decentralization is…

The Irish education system is a privatized, state-funded patchwork, with five separate types of secondary schools whose governance structures vary according to church, state, or local authority ownership. A 1995 government white paper recommends a more coherent governance structure with state, regional, and school-site decision-making levels.…

Regarding Australian educational administration, the more it changes, the more it remains the same. When Freeman Butts studied Australian education in 1955, centralization was the dominant, much-criticized mode. Butts proposed devolution to improve educational decision making. His thoughts are once again topical, as Australian states and other…

A tongue-in-cheek, point/counterpoint discussion between a user and a computer professional is presented. Personal computing, it is suggested, can help strike a balance between what users can do for themselves to gain control and responsibility and what computer professionals can do to support that. (Author/MLW)

An Ontario school board found the factors necessary for the establishment of an effective decentralized energy management program to be training, a program of reinforcement, and the development of an overall attitude that encourages involvement. (MLF)

Discusses organizational change strategies that school districts can adopt to help all students achieve at high levels. Provides a chart classifying organizational strategies. Draws implications for superintendents using these strategies. (PKP)

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.…

This paper uses the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Management in the 1990s Research Framework as a basis for examining the challenges of managing information technology in higher education, with particular reference to open and distance education. Budgeting, technology trends, centralization, prototyping, staff, and competition versus…

Theories concerning the organizational dynamics underlying the dispersion of institutional research activities within colleges are proposed. Two theoretical arguments concern whether or not a centralized, monopolistic institutional research office will be found on a given campus: the informational legitimacy argument and the limited attention…

The recent history of the Israeli educational system, particularly its trend toward decentralization, is used to test some common assumptions about the need for centralization to achieve control in times of fiscal constraint, need for improvement, and non-implementation of central policies. (MSE)

Discusses computer networking and the cost effectiveness of decentralization, including local area networks. A planned experiment with a centralized approach to the operation and management of file servers at the University of South Carolina is described that hopes to realize cost savings and the avoidance of staffing problems. (Contains four…

Examines the provision of child welfare services in Alberta over the course of the 20th century. Focuses on the trend toward centralization during most of this period and current efforts by a local citizens' organization to decentralize services and return control of child welfare to the community level. (MDM)

In many countries, education legislation embodies contradictory pressures for centralization and decentralization. In the United Kingdom, there is growing government control over policy and direction of schools; schools are also being given more responsibility for resource management. "Moving" schools within Improving the Quality of…

Discusses the background and salient characteristics of Japan's educational reform movement. Until recently, Japan's formal education system was uniform, centrally controlled, and geared to developing character and cultural sensitivity. To counter uniformity, inflexibility, and an overly competitive examination system, schools are moving toward…