Four developments have made strategic planning and information-based management necessary in higher education: changing external conditions; demands for accountability; deteriorating financial strength; and need for changes in leadership roles. Although institutional situations and needs vary, what is most important is to learn to manage with…

As Minnesota's experience shows, school choice is not the panacea that John Chubb and Terry Moe have proclaimed. However, introducing a marketplace into public education helps create the accountability that school reformers have sought, even as it diminishes the necessity for prescriptive mandates. When students choose their schools, they…

The Future Problem Solving Program develops students' problem-solving and thinking skills as student teams undertake a step-by-step process which involves assessing the teams' existing knowledge of the topic, determining the knowledge they need, gathering information, organizing their knowledge, and using the knowledge to solve specific problems.…

To remain competitive in world markets, the United States must boost the skills of its work force. Two attractive school-to-work approaches are apprenticeships (based on European examples) and high school academies promoting specialization in financial services and other fields. A sidebar discusses the growing momentum for building state workplace…

Scholars who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups are being actively recruited, feeding resentment and concern among White faculty, who feel squeezed out. However, minority professors find that, although the situation has improved for some, the trend does not extend to all minority faculty. (MSE)

Higher education is not acting on its values because of rampant competition, blaming others, and inappropriate reward systems. Shifting attention to serving others, respecting individuals, and liberating faculty and staff energies could give the Association for the Study of Higher Education a leadership position for positive change. (Author/MSE)

Colleges competing to offer distance education are using aggressive marketing tactics to gain visibility. Some observers wonder whether educational interests or marketing agencies are driving the trend. The agencies offer varied services, including course creation, course conversion to electronic format, faculty training for online teaching,…

Although intensive English programs (IEPs) in the United States have mushroomed in recent years, this trend may be slowing, an indirect result of changes in government policy toward immigration, reduced foreign student enrollment growth, and increasing competition from other English-speaking countries. In addition, evidence suggests some IEP…

While Microsoft Corporation officials state unequivocally that the company does not want to get into the business of higher education, the company and its chairman have been quietly acquiring rights to intellectual property and creating software rich in academic content. College administrators, nervous about competition for students, are concerned…

Small regional colleges are bracing for a battle to protect their profitable continuing-education programs from competition with distance-learning programs at research universities. Concern is particularly for part-time students who may choose distance programs that are less expensive, more convenient, and offer diplomas from better-known…

Summarizes the results of a study of 40 high school students with grade point averages of 2.5 or greater who had never received formal training in economics. The students worked on problems involving basic economic concepts including productivity, profits, opportunity costs, and supply and demand. Discusses their misconceptions. (MJP)

Includes eight articles that discuss issues related to special corporate libraries in Australia. Highlights include change, competition, and marketing; customer service in a value-added information environment; the need for librarians to organize and locate relevant information; and health libraries. (LRW)

While U.S. colleges and universities are still the top choice of foreign students, the American share of the international education market has shrunk from 40% in the 1980s to 32% today. Educators and government officials are working to develop a strategy for increasing U.S. competitiveness. Australia, Britain, and Canada, the three top…

Mission statements of 168 United Kingdom universities and colleges were examined to determine to what extent the institutions were making an effort to differentiate themselves in a context of expanding demand for higher education. Analysis focused on institutional status and market position, intentions regarding differentiation, and managerial…

A recent court ruling that the proportion of intercollegiate athletes who are women must equal the proportion of undergraduates who are women is criticized on the grounds that it may compel colleges and universities to distort resource allocations for college athletics and thereby overvalue them. It is argued that such a change would serve no one…