Background: Conceptualisations of what it means to use evidence in policymaking often appear divided between two extremes. On the one side are works presenting it as the implementation of research findings - particularly evaluations of intervention effect. In contrast stand theoretically informed works exploring the multiple meanings of evidence…

This paper introduces the Teachers' Research Exchange (T-REX), an online community of practice that is currently being deployed on a pilot basis nationwide in Ireland as a response to the "research-practice gap". The system includes collaborative, educational, and technical components. The technical aspect is the social networking and…

Start-up incubators are one of a number of micropolicy interventions used by states to support their technology entrepreneurs. Since 2000, the number of incubators in the United States has almost trebled while that in Europe has more than doubled. This article outlines the challenges involved in attempting to evaluate the contribution of the…

As described in "Go8 Backgrounder 24: Answering the Global Challenge--Experiences from European Excellence Initiatives," Germany began a debate about how to strengthen its position as an excellent location for science and research in 2004. This debate focussed in particular on the competitiveness of the country's universities and…

Higher education, an integral part of China's nation-building project, is a critical element in China's strategic policy initiative of building national strength through science and education. One way to achieve this goal is to develop a higher education system of international stature. Perhaps more than any other country, through national…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyze international and national research and development (R&D) programs and roadmaps for the manufacturing sector, presenting how agile and lean manufacturing models are addressed in these programs. Design/methodology/approach: In this review, several manufacturing research and development programs and…

There is now a great deal of experience across different countries as they act in their own ways to improve the productivity and excellence of their higher education institutions. Each nation wants to create an international reputation for excellence that will attract students, academic staff and business. This involves change at the national…

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the performance of the National Science and Technology Program (NSTP) by targeting the Taiwan National Telecommunication Program (NTP) initiated in 1998. The Taiwan telecommunications industry has prospered, currently occupying key positions in global markets even though NTP seldom contributes positively…

In Australia, there has been a tendency to rely on quantitative indicators of university teaching quality. This has occurred partly because the indicators are perceived as objective and reliable and partly because they are relatively simple to gather and collate. A national project currently underway is based on the assumptions that teaching…

Taiwan government has initiated a five-year program since 2002: the National Science and Technology Program for e-Learning. The national program started from 2003 and was completed at the end of year 2007, involving thirteen government agencies. This paper describes the results that the national program has accomplished at its first phase, 2003 to…

This report reviews the research and development (R&D) structures and practices for vocational education, training, and employment in the United States, Germany, France, Sweden, and England. The organization and management of each country's R&D system as well as R&D agendas and priorities are analyzed. General observations and…

This occasional paper is a summary of what the staff of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) Dissemination Initiative learned about how to connect research, policy and practice in ways that promote evidence-based practice in the field of adult learning and literacy. NCSALL Tools for connecting practice, policy,…

Nineteen articles on the status of the relationship among educational research, policy, and practice around the world are collected in the 1985 edition of the "World Yearbook of Education." Contributors address the development of national policies on educational research in countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and…

In the late 1990s, the Korea Ministry of Education and Human Resources, in response to concern over the relatively low standing of the nation's universities and researchers, launched the Brain Korea 21 program BK21). BK21 seeks to make Korean research universities globally competitive and to produce more high-quality researchers in Korea. It…

The purpose of the bill (S. 343), as reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, is to establish a federal commitment to the advancement of high-performance computing, improve interagency planning and coordination of federal high-performance computing and networking activities, authorize a national high-speed computer…