Presents a comparative perspective regarding evidence from the British Universities Council for the Education of Teachers to the House of Commons Select Committee concerning methods of evaluating preservice teacher education in England and Wales by the Office for Standards in Education, assessing it from the context of the global village and…

Discusses the role of educational development units (EDUs), which support improvement of teaching in Australian universities, focusing on the tension between the individual faculty consultation function and the unit's role at an institutional level. Suggests these two levels of action should be considered complementary and necessary. Describes…

Examines the influence of a number of factors on quality assurance in the South African university system, including a new national system for standardizing training, national quality assurance initiatives, a new proposed role for universities, the shift from a monocultural to a multicultural educational environment, trend toward mass higher…

Describes the National Action Program for information and communication technologies in Swedish classrooms that was developed to help safeguard equivalent standards and quality between schools. Topics include the national curriculum; inservice teacher training; Internet connections; and email. (Author/LRW)

Argues that the legitimacy of accreditation in teacher education is rooted in political consensus, power, and scholarship. Because these roots are fragile, there is no accepted concept of educational malpractice. The legitimacy of accreditation should be rooted in scholarly evidence that the program has fulfilled the claim that its graduates are…

Outlines the course development of an introductory large-scale distance education course offered via the World Wide Web at the Open University in the United Kingdom. Topics include developing appropriate student skills; maintaining quality control; facilitating easy updating of material; ensuring student interaction; and making materials…

A new model for financing Spanish universities is examined, looking first at the changing context of higher education in Spain and then at the structure and objectives of the model. Salient features include increased institutional autonomy, standardization of service quality, linking of costs to constituencies, implicit and explicit incentives for…

A solution to the shortcomings of traditional corporate education and training includes interactive and/or multimedia tutorials and electronic performance support. The easiest way to deliver training at the point of need is by implementing a local area network. Organizational benefits include increased productivity, improved service and product…

Current developments in the delivery of advice, guidance, and counselling to students in higher education are outlined. A range of possible consequences for higher education of the introduction of occupational standards in the advice, guidance, and counselling field is identified. Issues that higher education institutions and awarding bodies will…

A survey of 67 external evaluators from professional associations, 80 department heads, and 162 department faculty investigated effects of a trial departmental-evaluation program in Taiwan universities, focusing on whether assessments conducted by professional associations were better and more appropriate than those conducted by the education…

Higher education systems in a number of countries are experimenting with programs that measure and enhance educational quality. Experiences suggest that the most successful quality assurance programs are initiated, maintained, and enhanced through the professional commitment of the faculty, not through quality assurance systems, administrative…

Examines English school inspection before and since 1993 reforms, observations procedures that some schools have adopted, and procedures of various colleges. The balance of accountability and support for improvement varies depending on the details and culture of inspection. In the United States, some experiments with inspection are occurring, and…

Discusses evaluation of higher education in Brazil, including the Institutional Evaluation Program of the Brazilian Universities (PAIUB) and its replacement by a National Examination of Study Diplomas. Describes background, early initiatives regarding quality, and the new governmental approach to quality evaluation (including the new political…

Reviews commercial online resources specifically discussing the quality of content and ease of classroom integration. Reports on current events, television meets the web, primary sources, virtual field trips, online activities, and annotated web links. States that teachers should take advantage of the free resources and trial services offered.…

Health care practices continue to evolve with technological advances integrating computer applications and patient information management into telemedicine systems. Telemedicine can be broadly defined as the use of information technology to provide patient care and share clinical information from one geographic location to another. Telemedicine…