Reports results of a 1990 survey of 33 British university libraries regarding current funding patterns. Following a discussion of recent political and funding trends in higher education and major issues facing university libraries, data are provided on student enrollment, number of academic staff, payroll and nonpayroll budgets, and acquisitions…

Priority setting is examined from the perspective of planning practitioners operating in a major federal regulatory agency. Causes of ambivalence in setting priorities are considered, and ways to reduce ambivalence are suggested. Three models are proposed for setting priorities in the public sector. (SLD)

A method is presented for determining the optimal number of conditions to use in multivariate-multifacet generalizability designs when resource constraints are imposed. A decision maker can determine the number of observations needed to obtain the largest possible generalizability coefficient. The procedure easily applies to the univariate case.…

Learning activities that expose students to the concepts of economics are presented, using concrete examples involving the daily activities of zoos and their visitors. The activities call for students to identify zoo expenses, evaluate decisions about zoo spending, and consider the financial and moral costs of treating animals humanely. (JDD)

College science education is at risk of becoming mired in the "reform culture" that has long been problematic in precollege science. A single universal solution to student underpreparedness and lack of sustained interest cannot be found, but a departmental level commitment to change and reallocation of resources is necessary to achieve program…

Ten deans of continuing education identified external threats to their programs as funding, competition, and professionalization. More serious were threats from their universities: reduced resource allocation, change in their unit's position in the hierarchy, perceived lack of academic credibility, and decentralization. (SK)

The derivation of discipline cost indexes, developed to permit accurate interinstitutional comparisons of relative costs among disciplines, is explained using expenditure data from five peer institutions. How the indexes have been used in one research university's budget allocation process is then described. (Author/MSE)

A survey of 203 colleges and universities investigated disparities in spending on men's and women's sports. Survey data on the distribution of men and women students and athletes and differential spending (amounts and percentages) on athletics scholarships, programs, and recruitment are displayed in tables and analyzed. (MSE)

This interview with Research Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago discusses a wide range of education topics, including improving school science, allocation of finite human capital, factors contributing to educational productivity, effect of social obstacles on higher education achievement, use of cooperative learning,…

A group of 17 independent colleges and universities in Virginia combine their long distance telephone traffic and network services for an expected savings of $4.65 million over 3 years. The 12-institution consortium that negotiated the plan prioritized service and system criteria and solicited bids from long distance carriers. (MSE)

Discusses four major conflict areas in contemporary librarianship: service versus teaching, resource allocation, the extent of professional autonomy, and the allocation of duties and responsibilities between professionals and support staff. Topics addressed include conflict as a normal part of organizational life and creative responses to…

Colleges and universities have devised a number of strategies to raise money for computers, including borrowing, courting foundations, reallocating funds from such things as financial aid and libraries, and general fund raising. Knowing the appropriate amount to spend on technology is difficult. (MSE)

Examines history of discrimination within U.S. agricultural programs, specifically in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Compares USDA employment and grant allocations for Blacks and Whites since Civil Rights Act of 1964. Cites other examples of institutional discrimination in federal agriculture programs. Calls for development of policy…

Uses Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study data to estimate gender and socioeconomic status effects on reading and mathematics achievement for a sample of second and fifth graders. Boys learned significantly more in mathematics, whereas girls learned more in reading. Instructional time allocations were not significantly related to gender.…

Reviews the impact of local-management-of-schools funding formulae on schools of different size. Examines the ways that over 80 local education authorities (LEAs) have defined formulae to protect their small schools and reports the effect of the change to formula funding from 27 LEAs to describe the pattern of "winning" and…