Aspirations of research and other doctorate-granting universities are growing, both from internal pressures and expectations of alumni, states, and related industries and professions. The next two decades will present an increased likelihood of institutions moving up or down in academic ratings, and pressures for regional economic advancement…

Describes findings from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education's "Measuring Up 2000: The State-by-State Report Card for Higher Education," which grades all 50 states' higher education systems. Five categories of performance were evaluated, compared, and graded for each state: preparation, participation, affordability,…

Franklin and Marshall College has ranked 867 private undergraduate institutions according to the number of students who received their doctorates between 1920 and 1980. A study of institutions ranked in the top 101 in terms of the number of students who subsequently received a doctorate in chemistry is reported. (MLW)

Although colleges and universities do sell goods and services, make them with purchased inputs and hired workers, use plants and equipment, and compete for customers and faculty inputs, they are fundamentally economically different from businesses in a number of ways. The unique costs, prices, production technologies, and markets of higher…

Almost one of every seven persons who gets a high school-completion credential does so through the tests of General Educational Development (GED). A study based on figures gleaned from the annual reports of the GED Testing Service is reported. (MLW)

Opinions about quality are seen as the only relevant measures of quality that can be collected. A different view of quality in higher education, and a different set of university rankings are proposed. A system that draws pairwise comparisons of university performance across nine disciplines is described. (MLW)

Used 20 years' of data from colleges of arts and sciences at a set of selective private research universities to examine whether the proportion of faculty positions and salaries going to science increased. Contrary to expectations, found that it did not. (EV)

An approach to analysis of educational reform on college campuses that focuses on movement toward, rather than organizational manifestations of, change is described. Four stages include (1) the decision to act consistently with principles; (2) establishment of internal organizational support; (3) going public with intentions; and (4) emergence of…

Mary Berry's speech suggesting that America had much to learn from Chinese education prompted a sharply critical letter from Albert Shanker, head of the American Federation of Teachers. Parts of the speech and the subsequent exchange with Shanker are reprinted here. (LBH)

Though American attitudes and beliefs have held remarkably constant over 200 years, inconsistencies are now chipping away at the old profile, giving it a new look for the third century. Political, social, and moral changes are discussed. (Editor/LBH)

Charts compiled by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching show the pattern of support by foundations and how foundation support compares with support from the federal government. American foundations are seen as an important counterweight to government influence in higher education. (MLW)

Enrollments, it is suggested, have not dropped, in part because the decline in the total pool from which colleges enroll their students has been compensated for by increased enrollments of older students. (MLW)

Cost per student disparity is examined with focus on: the concept of educational cost per student; dispersion of unit cost; cost comparisons among similar institutions; cost comparisons among the states; and institutional differences in the internal allocation of expenditures. Academic freedom, program variety, and institutional objectives may…

British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's policies for higher education in Britain are compared with the influences of Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown on California's higher education history. (MSE)

A discussion of college guides reviews the older, standard resources briefly, looks at more recent and less well-known guides in greater detail, and discusses the methods used for institutional comparisons. Two surveys of high school seniors concerning their use of the guides are also summarized. (MSE)