Enumerates different ways federal regulatory and legislative actions affect higher education as a business, social, and educational enterprise. Challenges the postsecondary community, particularly its associations, to carefully monitor legislation, alert institutions, share information, and take a united stand on important issues. (JT)

University hospitals came into existence as an ancillary activity, providing future physicians with important educational experiences, then became established as an expected part of the institution. Technological advances and rising costs caused universities to sell hospitals, potentially changing their role in the educational system. Universities…

The author analyzes the problems of state agency and institutional interaction in efforts for statewide coordination of colleges and universities. He discusses institutional autonomy, government involvement, accountability, and national pressures, concluding that some conflict can be constructive in producing a system of checks and blances. (JT)

Accreditation must resume its status as a voluntary system that responds to, rather than demands response from the institutions and programs it was and is intended to serve. Some suggestions are offered that allow institutions to be active rather than reactive to accreditation. (MLW)

The author delineates major changes needed in the regional accreditation of postsecondary insitutions--a redefinition of terms, a clarification of purposes, and the implementation of new service-oriented programs--and outlines how regional agencies can accomplish these changes. (Editor/JT)

Noting that the concept of postsecondary education is changing the idea of what an institution is, the author summarizes the various means of evaluating institutions (by federal government, state governments, private agencies, and the institutions themselves) and emphasizes the need for institutions to define expected outcomes and work toward…

It is suggested that institutions, professional programs, and accrediting agencies would be better served if the staffs of statewide governing boards were more involved in the accrediting process. This opinion is shared by administrators in central offices of multicampus college and university systems, but institutions and accrediting agencies…

If quality assurance is a primary responsibility of accreditation, reviewing an institution in terms of richness of resources and personnel is inadequate. Student work products must be assessed against the meaning of the degrees awarded, and more direct ways of evaluating the quality of student achievement must be developed and implemented.…

This article argues that higher education accreditation is in disarray and that institutional leaders are not active in resolving self-regulation or accrediting problems. Central issues needing attention include public involvement in governance of the accreditation process, meaningful recognition of accreditation, uniform standards, and…

An examination of the function of state boards for planning and coordinating higher education concludes that they will have a more difficult task in the future of preserving their autonomy and protecting higher education while responding to economic and political necessities. (JT)

Four years after the establishment of the Maryland State Board for Higher Education, its structure, authority, and problems are outlined and the agency's ability to cope with current higher education problems in the state is discussed. Problems include declining enrollment, school closing, program duplication, accreditation, and financing. (MSE)

A discussion of the state of higher education in South Africa looks at the economic context, the structure of the higher education system, including the role of apartheid and languages (English and Afrikaans), the government's role in governance and funding, and the actual and potential roles of professional associations in education. (MSE)