The supra-national level has become increasingly important in educational policy formulation. This paper describes and compares two settings in which growth in these supra-national policies is evident--in Europe and in Africa. Key themes arising in policy documents in each context are examined. A distinction is drawn in analysis between themes…

The author publishes and freely distributes three online textbooks. "Introduction to Physical Oceanography" is available as a typeset book in Portable Document Format (PDF) or as web pages. "Our Ocean Planet: Oceanography in the 21st Century" and "Environmental Science in the 21st Century" are both available as web pages. All three books, which…

A common characteristic in many quality assurance schemes around the world is their implicit and often narrowly formulated understanding of how organisational change is to take place as a result of the process. By identifying some of the underlying assumptions related to organisational change in current quality assurance schemes, the aim of this…

Public sector reform involving decentralisation and marketisation has led to "soft" indirect forms of governance aimed at steering more fragmented systems. Although based on information and guidance rather than hierarchy and legislation, these new methods of regulating through evaluation and quality control may be as powerful as more…

Among quality measurement systems, there is no clear description of how administrators are expected to move through the process. This is not necessarily a fault of the systems; it is not their intention to script a program's process. Yes, there are many tasks that are logically the administrator's responsibility--important things that must get…

Automated assessment is an emerging innovation in educational praxis, however its pedagogical potential is not fully utilised in Australia, particularly regarding automated essay grading. The rationale for this research is that the usage of automated assessment currently lags behind the capacity that the technology provides, thus restricting the…

Faced with the need of transforming the university structure, processes, and programs according to the Bologna reform, and in order to become more flexible and more responsive to the environment, the University of Rijeka management decided to enable e-learning implementation as an institutional, strategically planned operation. The manuscript…

In the techno-driven world, mobile learning is an indispensable element of teaching-learning activities. It helps distance learners in many ways by providing their required facilities. The paper discusses about these facilities in an eclectic and summary manner. Thus, by implication, it is popularized among distance learners across the globe.…

The purpose of the qualitative positivistic case study was to explore whether resource communication technology has helped or would help the marketing of textile products in the U.S. textile industry. The contributions of human capital in the marketing department, the marketing-demand information system function, and the product supply chain…

This study sought to understand and improve effectiveness in institutional research (IR) by interviewing, observing, and analyzing resumes of IR practitioners who have been identified by their colleagues as particularly effective in having an impact on decision-making, planning, and policy formation. Ten themes for effectiveness in IR were…

Last month, higher education company the Apollo Group, Inc. (Apollo) confirmed that it entered into an agreement with the United States (US) federal government to resolve a long-standing lawsuit concerning its subsidiary, the for-profit University of Phoenix (Phoenix). Originating in 2003, the False Claims Act lawsuit filed by university officials…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine which categories and indicators of quality are best suited to evaluating associate degree culinary arts programs (ADCAP). Design/methodology/approach: The researchers surveyed a national sample of culinary educators and industry chefs in the USA. The instrument asked the participants to rate the…

A multi-method active learning approach (MALA) was implemented in the Medical Biochemistry teaching unit of the Biomedical Sciences degree at the University of Aveiro, using problem-based learning as the main learning approach. In this type of learning strategy, students are involved beyond the mere exercise of being taught by listening. Less…

This descriptive case study reports on the positive impact of a consultative review methodology used to conduct quality assurance reviews as part of the Residential Treatment Center Evaluation Project. The study details improvement in the quality of services provided to youth in unmonitored residential treatment facilities. Improvements were…

Education institutions worldwide have and continue to seek opportunities to spread their offerings abroad. While the provision of courses to students located overseas through partner institutions has many advantages, it raises questions about quality control that are not as applicable to other forms of international education. This paper uses a…