In this article, the author describes how the California's lowest-achieving schools are routinely visited by inspectors on the lookout for, among other things, inadequate textbook supplies, dirty drinking water, and evidence of vermin. Following the settlement from the case "Williams v. California," the laws known as the "Williams…

Using a patented drug during clinical trials is not infringement [35 U.S.C. 271(e)(1)]. Merck v Integra enlarged this "safe harbour" to accommodate preclinical use of drugs and patented "research tools" if "reasonably related" to FDA approval. The decision allowed lower courts, should they wish, to find any use of a research tool, except for…

Recent initiatives by the AACSB International--The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have resulted in the creation of an alternative "experimental" process and a new set of standards to achieve reaffirmation. The experimental accreditation maintenance process is designed to achieve three outcomes: quality, continuous…

For many students and lecturers evaluation is confined to some form of survey. Whilst these can provide useful feedback, their focus is likely to reflect the values and norms of those commissioning and undertaking the evaluation. For real improvements in quality to occur both lecturers' and students' perspectives of factors that are important need…

The principal concern of this paper is the implication of the increasing diversity of higher education provision in South Africa for equity of access and opportunity for historically disadvantaged social groups, high-quality provision, and social and economic responsiveness in distance higher education. This diversity is signalled by a variety of…

Based on interviews with 18 UK women academics and managers on quality and power in higher education, this article interrogates the impact of quality assurance discourses and practices on women in higher education. Micro-level analysis of the effects of audit and the evaluative state seem to suggest that hegemonic masculinities and gendered power…

The SCOTLANG-based research project on modern languages benchmarking in the post-compulsory sector investigated aspects of the highly sensitive and politicised issue of benchmark standards in modern languages. This article looks at the results of focus-group discussions held with higher education practitioners in Scotland at a time when the…

The article deals with the necessity of the development of higher education institutions, improvement of their performance and management in the context of constant changes and reforms. The outcomes of the research carried out at Kaunas College in 2003 while implementing the college performance quality improvement plan are presented. Research…

Quality assurance and evaluation research, like other fields of social research and its application, are confronted with a series of problems. In the present paper, I want first to give a list of such problems, although necessarily incomplete. It is then claimed that while there is no "perfect" solution to these problems, critical multiplism may…

Higher education quality improvement is a constant and continuous university activity and its implementation should be given a priority. This article analyses the most important tasks set at three Lithuanian universities seeking to improve higher education quality: the improvement of higher education quality assurance system, teacher professional…

Within the context of traditional quality management principles, a program designed to enhance soft skills of College Algebra students was piloted in fall 2001. Results of the pilot project include increased retention, persistence, note-taking ability, and positive responses concerning course expectations. Quality enhancement efforts in this…

Following national adaptations to the Bologna-declaration, accreditation is increasingly becoming the most dominant form of quality assurance of higher education in Europe. Over the last decade, national authorities have set up both institutional and programme accreditation procedures, currently accompanied by a growing number of private…

This article attempts to explore why and how student involvement is a necessary, but under-developed and under-utilised strategy for enhancing quality distance education in South Africa. Any critical analysis of education in South Africa needs to consider the historical and current social contexts, and in this case the analysis needs to explain…

Purpose: To provide a history of the emergence of quality systems from the mid-1980s. To show how quality became a primary policy concern in higher education policy. To map the development of quality processes and raise questions about dominant approaches and express concerns for the future. Design/methodology/approach: Historical document…

This account of internal audit is set within the context of higher education in the UK and a fictitiously named Riverbank University. The study evaluates the recent introduction of "Internal Academic Audit" to the University and compares the process with that of the internationally recognized ISO 19011 Guidelines for Auditing Quality…