This article discusses the ongoing effort of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to bring higher education services within the purview of the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS). One result of the anticipated liberalization of trade in education, the author explains, is the headlong rush of Anglophone universities into the global market…

In recent years there has been a remarkable proliferation of ballet competitions. This prompts a number of questions, in particular how much are they affecting current training and performance practice and, more fundamentally, whether the notion of competition may be antithetical to dance as art. Underlying these questions is the issue of…

Since higher education reforms were started in the mid-1980s, higher education in China has experienced significant transformations. Changes have not only been revealed by the increase in numbers of undergraduates, but also by a significant expansion in postgraduate education in mainland China. In order to enhance its global competitiveness, the…

This historical case study explores the twin forces of collaboration and competition within independent schooling by examining the merger of two long established and well respected independent schools in Cincinnati, Ohio: (1) College Preparatory School; and (2) Hillsdale-Lotspeich School. Their merger in 1974 led to the creation of The Seven Hills…

Just before the start of school in 2006, the author discovered that boys' scores trailed girls' across every grade and in every racial subgroup at her school. In this article, she describes her efforts to increase boys' participation in her annual reading promotion activity by incorporating an element of competition and tracking weekly reading…

For the forty-second time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains 37 papers dealing…

This study examined the perceived value of leadership development programs (LDPs) provided by continuing education for administrators in colleges and universities. Included in this study were questions about the perceived value of non-credit, credit, and blended (credit and non-credit) programs at the individual, institutional, and higher…

We find an individual's rank within their reference group has effects on later objective outcomes. To evaluate the impact of local rank, we use a large administrative dataset tracking over two million students in England from primary through to secondary school. Academic rank within primary school has sizable, robust and significant effects on…

The 2009 college football season is here, but there has been a continuing controversy swirling over how the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) selects its national champion. College football uses a multi-criterion decision matrix (MCDM) evaluation technique to determine which two teams will play for the national championship. We analyzed the BCS…

This paper is part of a stream of research dealing with customer and market orientation within higher education, specifically within business schools holding membership in AACSB-International. A market orientation strategy leading to a customer and market-oriented organizational culture is based upon the acceptance and adoption of the marketing…

Race to the Top represented a new paradigm in federal education. Instead of spreading relatively modest dollars evenly across all jurisdictions through funding formulas--as virtually all federal education funding has been and continues to be spent--a small number of successful states received all of the available funding, and in turn made it…

Understanding present barriers to choosing a STEM major is important for science educators so that we may better prepare and inspire future generations of scientists and engineers. This study examined the relationships between participation in competitive science events, gender, race, science self-efficacy, interest in science, and choosing a STEM…

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced the finalists for the second round of the Race to the Top (RTT) competition, with the winners to be announced in September. Round one of the competition yielded just two awards earlier this year, with Delaware and Tennessee claiming approximately $600 million of the available funds. Thirty-five…

Across the United States, policymakers are increasingly adopting education policies that give families the power to choose their children's schools. Nonetheless, the idea of providing school vouchers to allow children to attend private schools remains controversial. For instance, congressional leaders and the Obama Administration have tried to end…

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, a significant amount of funding has been targeted to improve state and local education systems. The Race to the Top Fund in particular is providing $4.35 billion in competitive grants for states. The U.S. Department of Education designated two phases for the Race to the Top grant…