Research conducted by Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs) is frequently driven by professional practice where researchers are challenged with finding solutions to real-life problems. These real-life solutions are significantly enhanced by the participation of stakeholders. Through this inclusion and the resulting interactions, activities, and…

Changes, improvements and innovations in university organisations regularly end up in sluggish processes and get stuck 'somewhere' in the organisation. It is argued that cooperation and mutual influencing of work processes between academic and professional employees of different departments can have a positive effect on these innovations. Because…

Little is known about how the complex notion of higher education quality is understood and (strategically) handled by a specific group of key university actors: directors of educational programmes. A framing analysis of in-depth interviews was conducted to explore how bachelor-programme directors in Dutch social science departments understand and…

This article describes how the Dutch Department of Education incorporates New Public Management (NPM) principles in educational policy, and whether conflicts of interest between the Department and schools cause deviations from NPM. We reviewed policy documents and performed secondary analyses on school data. Educational policy focuses on output…

Within the unique and complex settings of university hospitals, it is difficult to implement policy initiatives aimed at developing careers in and improving the quality of academic medical teaching because of the competing domains of medical research and patient care. Factors that influence faculty in making use of teaching policy incentives have…

Teacher educators' collaboration plays an important role in the improvement of teacher education. Many studies in educational research focus on collaboration from 1 particular perspective. A focus on 2 perspectives, a qualitative (focusing on collaborative activities) as well as a quantitative (focusing on relations) perspective, and relating both…

This qualitative research examines the similarities and differences between three teaching departments within Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) in the Netherlands that provide effective and three that provide less effective quality management. What are staff members' conceptions and perceptions of quality, quality management and…

Secondary school teaching is organized in departments and effective departments functioning as collaborative teams have been associated with effective schools. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship of mathematics departments perceived as professional communities and student achievement in Dutch secondary schools. Cluster analysis and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore faculty's perceptions of quality management activities (QMA) within their departments, attention being paid to relevant quality aspects and whether quality management contributes to control or improvement of higher education. Furthermore, it examines differences between departments and relationships…

This study focuses on aspects of the Changing Academic Profession survey of 2007-08 that describe the place of faculty in their institutions. The authors examine the following aspects of institutional life: (1) the faculty role in institutional governance; (2) who evaluates their teaching and research; (3) the locus of their loyalties as between…

Here, we look at the enrolments of students in undergraduate mathematics courses in a number of countries. The data show various increases and decreases and we suggest some common reasons for the fluctuations. These include students' goals of a secure and well-paid job, government actions and the state of the economy in the country concerned. We…

This study examined forms of collaboration existing between Dutch secondary teachers within different departments, noting reasons for any differences. The paper begins by examining the literature on teacher collaboration, then describes the study. Researchers collected data from three secondary schools using interviews, observations, documents,…

A Netherlands study shows that differences in student achievement between parallel classes taught by different teachers may be very small. Teachers' coordination efforts relate primarily to instructional goals and content. Regarding classroom instruction, large differences among teachers may be detected. Teachers may need more information to…

Research methods for analyzing university learning environments are discussed along with the potential use of such analysis, and a study of one university in the Netherlands is reported indicating distinctive atmospheres found in various departments, each with its own kind of educational problems. (JT)

Based on the experience of reorganization of adult education departments in Dutch universities, the notion of adult education as a distinct discipline is rejected in favor of a pluralistic use of social sciences theories. It is argued that discipline-based, fundamental research can contribute more to the development of a knowledge base than…