Decorah, Iowa (pop. 8,172 in 2000), is, in many ways, a typical small Midwestern community facing many of the same issues as most other areas such as a brain drain and a continuing struggle to find ways to stimulate the local economy. Perhaps the strengths and successes of the approaches used in Decorah can be attributed to its ability to identify…

This paper presents the keynote speech by Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK, delivered at Universities UK Annual Conference last September 2010. In this speech, Professor Smith focused on two sets of issues: firstly, the future of the UK economy and, secondly, the potential pitfalls of the decisions that are shortly to be made by…

In debates about the admission of state school pupils to Oxbridge various individuals within those institutions have challenged the idea that universities should be vehicles of social change. At the same time, Oxbridge and other universities have accepted the responsibility of "enabling" entrepreneurship and other market-led initiatives.…

Ten to twelve percent of the world population is identified as having one or more types of disability. This ecodeme has been historically known to be discriminated, marginalized, and disempowered by the lack of access to resources and to education. This article discusses the importance of adding special capital to the global human capital in the…

In this paper, the authors examined health related challenges facing Nigeria. They argued that the relationship between literacy and health in today's knowledge-based economy further puts pressure on countries like Nigeria to raise its literacy rates if it is to compete in the global market. This line of thought is based on the fact that in…

This paper describes the results of a participative planning class held in economically dis-advantaged communities in east Tennessee. The class follows a structured method, which includes community workshops and project development, in dealing with the communities. Among many observations gained in eight years of running the class are that…

This article investigates the changing state-university relations in Japan and Malaysia. Its main objective is to identify and examine possible lessons for Malaysia, based on the Japanese experience. Notably, since the late 1970s, Malaysia has been looking towards Japan as a model for socio-economic development (the "look-east" Policy)…

This article concerns the provision of for-profit higher education in the Republic of Ireland (RoI), particularly in Dublin. It briefly sketches the general development of university/college provision in the RoI and, more importantly, it describes certain aspects of the current state of play and makes a tentative prediction for the future--namely,…

This paper investigates the cross-country distribution of the relationship between economic conditions and well-being. Using a large sample of individuals from 94 countries worldwide, we find that the effect of income on well-being is larger in countries with lower GDP per capita, while the negative effect of being unemployed is stronger in…

There has been increasing interest on the role of private foundations in education finance and delivery. We argue that this is due to a macro-policy context of stagnating levels of official development assistance for education and an uncritical acceptance of a logic of neutrality and the efficiency and effectiveness of of partnerships and…

Since the 1988 passage of the Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act (IGRA), American Indian tribal communities have rapidly opened up casinos. American Indian participation in recreational gambling has increased, resulting in an increase in problem and pathological gambling. However, increased revenues from gaming have significantly benefited tribes.…

In today's knowledge economy, collaboration and competition are critical in success. New postsecondary organizations have emerged in the higher education landscape, including consortiums and inter-institutional and interdisciplinary partnerships. One new organization is the Higher Education Center (HEC) in which multiple institutions partner to…

This article proposes the concept of an extractive regime to understand Indonesia's developmental trajectory from 1966 to 1998. The concept contributes to world-systems, globalization, and commodity-based approaches to understanding peripheral development. An extractive regime is defined by its reliance on extraction of multiple natural resources…

Universities are often enjoined to "get" with the "real world". In this article, Mary Evans gives an account of interpretations of literary realism in order to consider the "coercive realism" of the contemporary university. The prevailing assumptions that universities must contribute to the "real" world are…

The South Carolina Higher Education Statistical Abstract is a comprehensive, single-source compilation of tables and graphs which report data frequently requested by the Governor, Legislators, college and university staff, other state government officials, and the general public. The 2017 edition of the Statistical Abstract marks the 39th year of…