Is public tertiary education really in a crisis, and, if so, what is the crisis about? This paper analyses international aggregated data and examines to what extent there has been a crisis of public tertiary education in OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries in the past decade. It first focuses on relative…

This article examines nanotechnology within the context of the public interest. It notes that though nanotechnology research and development investment totalled US$9.6 billion in 2005, the public presently understands neither the implications nor how it might be best governed. The article maps a range of nanotechnology dialogue activities under…

Improving the quality of Early Childhood Education has been a priority in Brazil, but it is still a challenging issue to be faced. The fact that an indefinite number of institutions exist on the borders of the educational system, the lack of systematic supervision, and incomplete official statistics are only a few of the challenges. The Millennium…

It is widely acknowledged that innovation will be necessary to dramatically improve public services in America. But innovation in the public sector doesn't happen in a vacuum; innovation happens at the nexus of policy, research, capital, and practice. This project looks at one case study--education--by analyzing some of the key aspects of an…

For at least 20 years, American universities, political scientists, and college students have each been criticized for holding themselves aloof from public life. This article introduces a pedagogical method--research service-learning (RSL)--and examines whether it can provide a means of integrating scholarly theory with civic practice to enhance…

Intellectual commons are intellectual resources, which anyone can use either without permission, or with permission granted in advance. Since intellectual commons are crucially important to creativity, innovation, and human development, the shrinkage of the intellectual-commons environment will be a profound loss for our cultural freedom.…

This article explores the core themes and issues of private residential service delivery for children and youth in Ontario, with a specific focus on staffed group care within this sector. Such exploration highlights the juxtaposition of the public rights of children with the private world of service provision. Based on twenty interviews with…

Research on the history of children and childhood in modern Japan (1868-1945) reveals that issues related to civil society, state, and the establishment of institutions for young children can be explored beyond the transatlantic world. In this essay, after briefly surveying historiography, a few basic terms, and earlier patterns of state and…

Recent legislation in New Zealand has placed statutory obligations on its government organizations to introduce sound records management practices and to ensure long-term access to their digital records. To obtain a base level of knowledge on current digital preservation practices and on awareness of digital preservation issues, an online survey…

A recent trend in public policy in many countries is the requirement for "joined up thinking" and "joined up working", including partnership within and between agencies, and between agencies and their publics. This in turn has led to a growth of interest in action learning as a means to bring about the organizational and…

In England, a "revised" educational code appears to be emerging. It centres upon the concept of "personalisation". Its basis is less in educational theory, more in contemporary marketing theory. Personalisation can be regarded in two ways. First, it provides the rationale for a new mode of public-service delivery, one which…

There are broad concerns in Italy about public sector efficiency. Within the public sector higher education (HE) has a major role, providing the economy with research outputs and graduates. Italian universities claim to have expanded teaching and research services to keep pace with the growth of the "knowledge society." An important…

The authors welcome and appreciate the comments of Eric Grodsky and Sigal Alon on their article "Shadow Education, American Style: Test Preparation, the SAT and College Enrollment." In their comments, Grodsky takes issue with several important theoretical and methodological aspects of their article and Alon highlights key processes…

Total quality management based governance models tend to focus on incremental improvements within the boundaries of a single organization. This may limit the benefits of information technology because they are not complex enough to address business or performance problems that extend beyond the boundaries of a single organization. The research…

Growing private-sector participation in basic education service delivery in many developing countries has led to calls for greater partnership arrangements with the public sector to improve access for poor and disadvantaged groups. In Ghana there is some interest in forging closer public-private partnerships to improve access for children who have…