The Dutch quality improvement model in higher education has successfully maintained the delicate balance between internal improvement and external accountability, but the faculty's clear ownership of the system (as contrasted with government ownership in some nations) has made continuous quality improvement a dominant feature of the current Dutch…

Provides an overview of the initiatives and development of policies to establish a workable quality assurance system for institutions of higher education in South Africa in the last decade. Notes challenges such as the government's emphasis on programs of study and its requirement that quality assurance systems include institutional auditing,…

A study investigated the experiences of 14 people with visual impairments in attempting to exercise their civil rights to equal access to print. Results found they experienced long waits for large-print accommodations, negative reactions to requests, a lack of quality in the materials, and misinformation about accommodations. (Contains 13…

Examines a new approach to measuring service quality--conducted at Yale University's libraries--one that produces findings useful for local planning and decision making. The goal is to probe the service attributes of greatest potential to both actual customers and service providers. The setting for this study was Yale University. (AEF)

Discusses the background, concepts, and problems of the recent debate on quality within Germany's school systems. Questions the internal and external scientific experiences that have led to the concentration on quality maintenance and how far these issues can transfer from the private sector. Pleads for an offensive approach to the issue of…

Responds to the article, "Separating Wheat from Chaff: Why Dirty Pictures are not the Real Dilemma in Using the Internet to Teach Social Studies." Maintains that creating a safe Internet environment is the responsibility of the adults not students and developing student skills in evaluating and validating information is not the answer. (CMK)

Describes the creation of the catechetical document, The Catechist in the Third Millennium: Call, Mission, and Formation, which addresses the new urgency and concern for both the quality of catechesis and those who are called to this ministry. Discusses challenges identified in the document and relates the enthusiasm for implementing a new vision.…

South Africa has embarked on a process of education renewal by adopting outcomes-based education (OBE). This paper focuses on the linkages between total quality management (TQM) and the outcomes-based approach in an education context. Quality assurance in academic programmes in higher education in South Africa is, in some instances, based on the…

Higher education in the UK has been through a period of major change since the mid-1980s. A massive expansion in the number of students has been coupled with a reduction in the unit of resource, increased inter-institutional competition and greater accountability. Within this demanding context, pressure has also been applied to institutions to…

Multiple jurisdictions engender variegated governance procedures for improving quality in the universities of Canada.

Hundreds of family life education Web sites are available on the Internet, allowing individuals and families unprecedented access to family life education information. Evaluation is critical to ensuring the quality of and improving these Web sites; yet, few Web site evaluations have been conducted. We formatively evaluated a new family life…

In this article, the author describes how the California's lowest-achieving schools are routinely visited by inspectors on the lookout for, among other things, inadequate textbook supplies, dirty drinking water, and evidence of vermin. Following the settlement from the case "Williams v. California," the laws known as the "Williams…

Using a patented drug during clinical trials is not infringement [35 U.S.C. 271(e)(1)]. Merck v Integra enlarged this "safe harbour" to accommodate preclinical use of drugs and patented "research tools" if "reasonably related" to FDA approval. The decision allowed lower courts, should they wish, to find any use of a research tool, except for…

Recent initiatives by the AACSB International--The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have resulted in the creation of an alternative "experimental" process and a new set of standards to achieve reaffirmation. The experimental accreditation maintenance process is designed to achieve three outcomes: quality, continuous…

For many students and lecturers evaluation is confined to some form of survey. Whilst these can provide useful feedback, their focus is likely to reflect the values and norms of those commissioning and undertaking the evaluation. For real improvements in quality to occur both lecturers' and students' perspectives of factors that are important need…