Since the establishment of the University of Hong Kong in 1911, higher education in Hong Kong has been transformed from an elitist system to one that supports the Hong Kong government's vision of a highly educated workforce and widely accessible lifelong learning. Between the late 1970s and 1994 the system expanded from admitting 2% of college-age…

In October/November 2009, the Forum on Education Abroad conducted its third State of the Field Survey. This survey provides an annual or biannual assessment of key education abroad issues and topics of interest to Forum members and the field of education abroad at large. Previous State of the Field surveys were conducted in 2006 and 2008. The 2009…

Despite their apparent popularity among those seeking degrees and credentials, today's colleges and universities face several interrelated public criticisms and concerns. When these competing concerns about student success, productivity, cost, and educational effectiveness all collide at the campus level, they create an array of campus tensions…

The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 expressly gave colleges, universities, and other nonprofit entities the right, which had previously been presumptively held by the federal government itself, to patent inventions resulting from federally funded research and development (R&D) activities they conduct. In the nearly three decades since the Bayh-Dole Act…

Institutional research (IR) offices on campus are not all alike, any more than campuses are all alike. They may differ in their reporting line, range of responsibilities, level in the campus hierarchy, and work emphasis. Institutions differ in complexity (number and level of programs, colleges, and schools), size of the student body, affiliation,…

Universities are increasingly characterized as businesses, and higher education as an industry. Yet there has been little empirical work to support claims of growing corporatization--and no theoretical basis offered to test them. To motivate research and discussion from a cross-disciplinary perspective, I examine three analogies for the…

The past 25 years have witnessed an ebb and flow of the accountability movement in the United States as national interest in and concern about the quality and effectiveness of higher education have moved in and out of the forefront of public consciousness. Today Democrats and Republicans alike are critical of higher education and calling for…

Discusses one part of the institutional accountability process, namely, the identification and measurement of the services (instruction, research, public service) and outcomes of higher education. (Author/PG)

Institutional research (IR), defined as inquiry "directed toward data useful or necessary [for] intelligent decisions and/or for the successful maintenance, operation and/or improvement of a given collegiate institution," can be directly applied to soaring enrollment, greater administrative complexity, rising costs. The junior college…

This report gives guidelines for the organization of institutional research in the community junior college. They include the use of an overall systems approach to data needs and handling; the need for adequate financing; the need for faculty and administrative participation in planning, design, and conduct of research projects; and the…

This institutional self-study, prepared as an application for accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, may serve as a model for others making similar application. Introductory material includes a model of the new campus; names of trustees, administrators, state regents, and committee members; and a preface…

The open systems model of the university defines the function of institutional research to be a cybernetic one. The internal and external reality-testing function is a vital duty and a moral charge. Though policy makers and educational practitioners can carry on for a considerable length of time with organizational intelligence of low validity,…

This paper describes the processes and techniques used to improve and streamline the standard student reports used at Purdue University (Indiana). Various models for analyzing reporting processes are described, especially the model used in the study, the Shewart or Deming Cycle, a method that aids in continuous analysis and improvement through a…

Presents a chronology of events in the development of the Maryland Association for Institutional Research as it marks its 15th anniversary. (EV)