The purpose of this research was to identify the service factors that influence judgments of customer satisfaction in the academic library/media center. The study, conducted at Florida State University examined the relative importance of these determinants of service quality and compared these results to earlier studies conducted with customers of…

Discusses the need for an international approach to quality assessment and assurance in higher education that goes beyond national efforts, and proposes a European Centre for Substantial Equivalence in academic standards. Argues that a European or international-quality hallmark will play an important role in student, faculty, and employee…

Discussion of quality assurance in Australian higher education focuses on a case study of a university sector college. Identifies an "implementation gap" between the intentions underpinning "quality policy" and actual outcomes. Argues that institutions and external quality bodies need to consider the conditions and context of…

Explains how South Carolina has linked service learning to teacher education, strategic planning in schools, and educational accountability. Planners should establish a policy council, align service-learning initiatives with policy goals and programs, state academic standards, and teacher education programs; and create a network of trained…

Presents evidence from the British Universities Council for the Education of Teachers to the House Commons Select Committee on Education regarding the current Office for Standards in Education inspection process for preservice teacher education, presenting arguments regarding cost, timing, and frequency of inspections and biases within and effects…

Describes Translation Quality Assessment (TQA), an approach to evaluating translation that incorporates aspects of textlinguistic, pragmatic, and discourse models of translation and focuses on text as a communicative occurrence, within a specific context, rather than a series of words and grammatical structures. A functionalist approach to…

Peer mediation programs' flexibility is their major strength and a potential weakness. The article examines positive and negative aspects of peer mediation programs; discusses implementation, evaluation, and funding mechanisms; and explores ethical concerns, highlighting accessibility, acceptance, accountability, supervision, training, and…

U.S. college faculty salaries are based on merit and market factors, not a fixed scale. This article proposes a structural model for faculty performance evaluation that considers quality and quantity of output in teaching, scholarship, and service, awarding merit pay in proportion to an instructor's contribution to overall departmental…

Reviews approaches to quality management in the private sector from an evolutionary perspective. Focuses on two critical dimensions: product versus system, and objective versus intersubjective orientation. Experiences within the private sector can be relevant for the public sector, and the complexity of evaluation has implications for the…

Presents a list of accredited Canadian and U.S. programs that offer professional preparation in the fields of parks, recreation, and leisure, explaining why accreditation is important, what the standards are, what the options are, how programs become accredited, who does the accrediting, and what is new in accreditation. (SM)

Although both the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) accredit teacher education, the public's confidence in higher education has suffered from reports of supposedly good schools graduating poorly qualified teachers, prompting this reevaluation of how these agencies…

Various theories of organizational structure are examined for agreements, divergences, and evidence that illuminate the effectiveness of the quality management function generally and for higher education institutions in particular. Issues discussed include the concept of service quality, categorization of organizations, and specific structures…

Review of methodology for assessing the employment "success" of higher education graduates finds that graduate and employer surveys generally to do not serve this purpose well. It finds, however, that despite substantial methodological problems, institutions can implement expert guidance to obtain targeted feedback related to…

For the past decade, the teaching profession has been building a system of quality assurance incorporating seven elements: advanced certification, licensing standards, curriculum standards, alignment, accreditation, professional-development schools, and state standards boards. NCATE-accredited institutions produce more qualified teachers than…

Improving a school's Q4C quotient (quality control, customer commitment, and communications) during election planning hinges on district mission, a culture of high expectations, basic skills mastery, commitment to customers, continuous feedback, healthy working relationships, broad community involvement, high- level strategic planning and…