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,…

Describes a new form of academic quality assurance, the academic audit. Reviews use of academic audits abroad and experimental use of such audits in the United States. Identifies issues in academic audits, including focus of audits, auditor selection and training, institutional preparation for an audit, interaction between institutional policies…

This review draws on William Massy's recent book--"Honoring the Trust: Quality and Cost Containment in Higher Education" (Anker Publishing, 2003)--to establish the case for change and to suggest some of the tools to better manage institutions. Also included are two disparate resources to help reach that goal--resources that are used by…

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)

Three articles on accreditation by Richard M. Millard, Robert A. Scott, and David E. Sumler cover ensuring the quality of programs and institutions, the accreditation process and what accreditation is needed by higher education institutions, and the cooperation between the Maryland state agency and a regional accreditation body. (MLW)

Assessment is intended to raise in value what the public gets for the dollars it invests in education, not to raise new dollars for educational institutions. To many people within universities, assessment is perceived as a threat. Ways to reduce anxiety that comes with assessment are discussed. (MLW)

Reports an exploratory study of the relationship between faculty publishing rates in basic and applied-research journals and institutional ranking based on 1995 data for 1,318 four-year colleges and universities. Results reveal a strong, positive association between scholarship and institutional ranking, with some interesting exceptions. (MSE)

Discusses, in the context of the National Research Council's next study of research-doctorate programs, arguments over continuing use of reputational surveys as the primary measure of program quality, as opposed to more objective measures of research performance. Eleven tables rank institutions for specific fields by reputation, citation density,…

The image of business colleges held by many liberal arts faculty members is challenged by a former teacher in a business school. Issues discussed include academic standards, teaching quality, student recruitment, student financial aid, and support services. (LBH)

The period of time for which a college is reaccredited, a hotly debated issue at the annual meeting of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, is discussed. Ten-year terms have been shortened, putting a burden on institutions least able to afford the lengthy and costly process. (MLW)

The reasons college and university administrators dislike institutional rankings and ratings of academic quality published in the popular press are examined, and college attributes commonly used in the ratings are discussed. Virtues and flaws of the assessments are noted, and variations in the evaluations over time are illustrated in charts. (MSE)

The thrust of most state initiatives is to encourage higher education institutions to undertake their own local assessment. Two kinds of state-wide testing are emerging: (1) basic skills assessment of entering students for access, placement, and remediation, and (2) testing to improve the curriculum. (MLW)

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is a controversial management award program seen variously as a catalyst for organizational transformation and as a destructive influence. The core values of the program, award criteria, concerns about its impact, and implications for education are examined. (MSE)

The performance funding approach mandated by the Texas state legislature and devised by the higher education coordinating board to appropriate resources to colleges and universities is explained, and the responses of institutions to it are discussed. Focus is on problems encountered and lessons learned. (MSE)

This article argues that the capacity for innovation in American higher education is at risk. Colleges and universities are persistently slow in accepting advancing technology, increasingly labor-intensive, and resistant to evaluation by their customers or in terms of efficiency. A rethinking of the roles and tasks of faculty and staff is…