The purpose of this paper is to highlight the complexities involved in higher education provision and how systems thinking and socio-technical systems (STS) thinking approach can be used to understand the education ecosystem. Systems thinking perspective is provided using two case studies: the development of European Learner Mobility (EuroLM)…

This pamphlet discusses the original rationale for university systems, points out some of the problems existing because of the definition of that rationale, and proposes a new responsibility for university systems and a new challenge for their leaders. The pamphlet affirms that the system chief executive officer (CEO) and board of governors are…

This document conceptualizes the university as a living social system with technical, managerial, service, and institutional subsystems that have specialized goals. The document discusses models of university compliance systems--the compliance of university participants in different models such as formal, semiformal, and informal. In developing…

Describes the characteristics and application of a methodology for developing a strategic, long-range organizational information plan that will permit coordination of information subsystems within a university's computerized information system. The University of Minnesota's application of such a methodology provides illustrative examples. (PGD)

An outcomes orientation is examined as the dominant focus for formulating improvements in a college's planning, management, and evaluation (PME) system. Outcomes are seen as individual (produced by college personnel or students), program related, or institutional. An outcomes orientation to PME has the advantages of relating to the quality of…