Reports the implementation of a quality assurance program in Colorado mental health facilities, designed to help managers know how they were doing on operational issues. The program was simple, low cost, and easy to implement. All levels of management found it a useful tool. (Author/WAS)

Five approaches to measuring higher education quality are outlined and criticized as incomplete: the nihilist, reputational, resources, outcome, and value-added approaches. Feedback from students and faculty is the key to discovering and improving institutional contributions to student development. (MSE)

Lost disciplines, lost scholars, a lost generation of new disciplines, and lost facilities for the knowledge business are threatened. There is a clear danger that the experiential nature of the academic doctorate is being interfered with through excessive attention to didactic teaching in the classroom. (MLW)

Two aspects of the administrator evaluation process--internal institutional politics and quality--as a dimension of both the evaluation process itself and the performance of administrators are discussed. A case study of administrator evaluation at the University of Toledo is described. (Author/MLW)

Issues raised by the conduct of institutional review processes in the context of public policy are addressed, and some examples of reviews and outcomes are discussed. The significance of the practice for public policy, interinstitutional and intrainstitutional arrangements, and individual staff member activities is examined. (MSE)

Describes problems involved in making Swedish language versions of foreign films. (CHC)

After examining the major tasks in designing and implementing a performance-based teacher certification system, the author concludes that it is not practical to do so at this time or in the near future. (Author/SJL)

To bring about demonstrably useful changes in education, educational researchers need to be more selective in defining problems and solutions and must communicate their findings and opinions in the clearest possible way. (JD)

After seven years of conducting the National Association of College and University Business Officers' benchmark program, designed to establish standards for institutional administration, the association reviews the lessons learned and the challenges ahead in higher education. Representatives of four participating universities offer their…

The nature and effects of Australian efforts to create and maintain quality higher education are examined, focusing on specific government initiatives and on international trends and influences. It is suggested that even the best quality assurance processes do not guarantee good results, and that quality is a complex phenomenon depending on an…

A systems approach that stresses functional relationships among persons and units and examines transactions and processes provides a useful foundation for understanding, assessing, and improving academic advising. Implications of this approach in college advising for fostering system quality and meeting the institution's mission are examined. (MSE)

Describes a new kind of electronic scholarly journal in which the standard submission-review-publication process is replaced by an approach based on judgments expressed by the readers, where each reader is potentially a peer reviewer. Shows how to compute, on the basis of expressed judgments, values of scores and steadiness of papers, authors, and…

Reviews the debate over using Total Quality Management (TQM) in the college classroom. Argues that TQM can be effective if it is properly used. Discusses five phases for easing TQM implementation, and argues that most teachers already use some or all of the five phases when they teach. (AJL)

Most Web site rating systems overemphasize technological "bells and whistles." The University of Georgia's information quality criteria address site access and usability; resource identification and documentation; author identification; authority of author; information structure and design; relevance and scope, validity, and accuracy and…

Presents practices from post-training performance evaluation for continuous quality improvement in developing countries. Highlights include performance specification and analysis of performance factors; guidelines for planning follow-up performance evaluations; human performance models and cross-cultural portability; and an example from Togo, West…