Despite the number of arguments in support of or against the value and relevance of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), there is little literature that takes an in-depth look at the diversity among HBCUs and the students who choose them. The purpose of this study was to explore the college choice motivations and academic…

Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research has demonstrated that academic self-concept is negatively affected by attending high-ability schools. This article examines data from large, representative samples of 15-year-olds from each Australian state, based on the three Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) databases that focus on…

The authors expand on research evaluating public school response to school choice policies by considering the particular influence of voucher programs for disabled students--a growing type of choice program that may have different implications for public school systems from those of more conventional choice programs. The authors provide a…

Recently, the need to turn away from technological education in general education schools and go back to labor training has been expressed, particularly by: (1) long-term teachers in the "Labor" (Trud) general education school who do not want to change their ways, go through retraining, and increase the amount of their work efforts in…

The author, a former headteacher and now a county councillor, argues that the structural changes to the education system put in place in the first weeks of the new government in the summer of 2010 will exacerbate the gap between the highest and lowest achieving schools, will destabilise the state-funded education system, will expose it to…

This paper examines opportunities to improve student achievement by examining teaching effectiveness. It suggests practices that instructors use in their course delivery to encourage interest in the subject and create a connection between the subject and global competitiveness. This paper examines the challenges that post-secondary instructors…

With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their university systems, the Singapore and Malaysia governments have made attempts to develop their societies into regional hubs of education. Specifically, they have invited foreign universities to set up their campuses to offer academic programs or to establish private institutions…

This article examines the public services component of digital and virtual libraries, focusing on the end-user experience. As the number and types of "places" where library users access library collections and services continue to expand (now including cell phones, iPods, and three-dimensional virtual reality environments populated by avatars),…

The production of research output has become a complex and competitive pursuit. Basic, experimental and strategic research compete more for scarce state and donor funding. In the Republic of South Africa (South Africa), research output is recognised through government subsidy-earnings guided by the policy for the measurement of research output of…

In June last year, "Adults Learning" described how a small learning centre, based in an old storeroom at a bus depot, was working to transform the workplace and the lives of its staff. To boost English learning among workers, the centre launched a short story competition. The resulting stories were collected and published in the book…

Affordable housing is an elusive commodity for students in Paris and much of the rest of Europe. Many European universities are in cities where property values have soared in recent years--along with higher-education enrollment figures and the number of students vying for rooms. Few of the universities have dormitories, and students are left…

Given a reasonable resolve to learn from the best that the Bologna Process has to offer, the author contends that one might also respond to the challenge it offers by standing up for the singular strengths of U.S. higher education: (1) long-standing commitment to broad access; (2) embrace of diversity as an educational good; and, most notably, (3)…

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…