Many wonder whether teacher gender plays an important role in higher education by influencing student achievement and subject interest. The data used in this paper helps identify average effects from male and female college students assigned to male or female teachers. In contrast to previous work at the primary and secondary school level, our…

The introduction of tuition fees of up to 3,000 British Pounds a year for full-time undergraduates in England in 2006 has revitalised the debate about the benefits of a degree to the individual. As a contribution to this discussion Universities UK commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers (in association with London Economics,) to produce a report on…

One of the most vehemently discussed questions in the process of restructuring traditional long study programmes according to the Bachelor/Master model is how to develop first cycle curricula and degrees which are a meaningful preparation for a following Master programme as well as for the labour market--as stressed in the Bologna Declaration. It…

In an attempt to capture the diverse experience of undergraduates at the University of Washington (UW), the authors designed and conducted the University of Washington's Study of Undergraduate Learning (UW SOUL), a longitudinal study that tracked 304 students (about five percent of the entering freshman and transfer class) through their…

This article examines a six-year process of reforming the core curriculum at a midsize public research university, showing how a seminar for first-year students, a lengthy campus-wide dialogue, and a multidisciplinary community of faculty produced a new core curriculum focused on inquiry, communication, and undergraduate research. (Contains 1…

The utilization of biology research resources, coupled with a "learning by inquiry" approach, has great potential to aid students in gaining an understanding of fundamental biological principles. To help realize this potential, we have developed a Web portal for undergraduate biology education, WormClassroom.org, based on current research…

This paper presents a model for teaching an undergraduate social work macro practice course utilizing an experiential learning paradigm. The model provides a campus-based project with social work majors in simultaneous dual roles of students and grassroots leaders, focusing on rape and sexual assault prevention training for college students. This…

Quality assurance in medical education is a complex matter. Institutions and external critics of accreditation processes often question the objectivity of peer judgements. Members of accreditation panels similarly often feel at a loss for a lack of mechanisms to help them arrive at a collective assessment of the performance of an institution. In…

Colleges are focusing increased effort--and money--to improve the physical condition of existing facilities and address a huge backlog of deferred maintenance. According to "American School & University's" 36th annual Maintenance and Operations (M&O) Cost Study, the median college spends 16.4% of total college budget on M&O, up from 11% the year…

For a number of years, colleges and universities have been making efforts to amend past discrimination and noninclusion of underserved minority students through targeted admissions, financial aid, and other programs. Now, these programs--in their original incarnation and, some would say, their original intent--are on the line. The big push to…

This paper reports a comparative analysis of case studies of seven prospective secondary mathematics teachers. The individual case studies described the participants' experiences in an undergraduate preparation program during the implementation of a portfolio-based credentialing process. The researchers studied how the participants' electronic…

In this article, the authors discuss the need for integrative, multidisciplinary courses in value creation. They describe the design and implementation of courses in 2 different schools at the master of business administration (MBA) and undergraduate levels. Both courses involved schematic models in the teaching methodologies, but each emphasized…

This paper presents the findings from an evaluation of SUCCEED (Southwestern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education), a National Science Foundation (NSF) coalition. The presentation is made in several stages: (1) a review of the background and goals of the NSF coalitions, SUCCEED in particular; (2) a discussion of the methods…

The inclusion of diversity in the teaching of undergraduate psychology, as is presented here, can transform both the discipline of psychology and the larger society it influences. Details of why the lack of representation is a problem are outlined. These problems include exclusion, misrepresentation, methodology, disengagement, stagnation, and…

This paper addresses the issue of defining the concept of core curriculum by first examining some of the literature on the subject, discussing why there is resistance to defining "core," citing common uses for the term "core curriculum," and exploring the historical roots of core curriculum. Next, the paper describes eight…