Major findings and recommendations of a report by the NRC Committee on Continuity in Academic Research Performance, "Research Excellence through the Year 2000," are presented. Two reactions by young academics are reprinted. The relationships of government support and young academics and of limited knowledge and public policy are…

Alternatives to faculty retrenchment requiring neither large amounts of added revenue nor plans to increase enrollment are examined. Suggestions include sabbatical leaves, use of part-time faculty, early retirement, and tenure modifications. An excerpt from a faculty contract is provided. (LC)

In the continuing conflict between liberal arts and vocationalism, important career axioms are suggested. Those who live only narrow vocational disciplines shall perish with them. Today's shortage is tomorrow's vocational surplus. One must not be unduly influenced by current vocational fads. Long-run intellectual adaptability produces maximum…

Women making career choices need to know what women want and get from their jobs to form realistic expectations and prevent disappointment. Intrinsic job facets (internal characteristics such as challenge and autonomy) and extrinsic facets (external characteristics such as pleasant coworkers, promotion, and pay) are described. (MLW)

Examines variables involved in the survival and failure of free schools. Areas discussed include the philosophy of the school and the application of it, the school organization, school financing, children's and parents' misunderstanding of the school's purpose, the role of the parents, and demands on the teachers. (DS)

For 400 years the National Autonomous University of Mexico has remained at the hub of the country's intellectual and political life. The history of the University from the Mayas and the Aztecs, University expansion, upward mobility of students, and student pressure groups and politics are described. (MLW)

Higher education is seen as undergoing significant changes in the next decade. Some suggestions for state boards include: review of existing degree programs, reexamination of clientele, and campus closings considered on nonpolitical grounds. The "people" component of institutional budgets may have to give way to other needs. (Author/MLW)

To make more tenured faculty positions available to young professors, a proposal that requires tenured professors to vacate their positions when they reach the age of 60 is presented. The financial implications of this proposal and possible roles for senior faculty are discussed. (SF)

Provides a brief overview of the Finnish educational system and examines the effects of family educational and socioeconomic background on access to and success in higher education. Data on 1985 and 1990 secondary school graduates and young adults indicated that children tended to aim at the same sort of education and jobs as their parents. (MDM)

Outlines results from a study of practical teaching experience in preservice education throughout Europe. The study recommended the development of a teacher training curriculum based on modular courses to overcome problems resulting from the mismatch of European teacher training programs. (SM)

A study of the mobility of students among the larger population of all foreign university students registered in European Union universities in academic 1993-94 found net outflows of students in several countries and some imbalances, by country, in gender distribution of mobile students. Implications for future trends in spontaneous (that is, not…

Patterns in college student mobility between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden are examined, with attention given to challenges posed by having three of these countries within the European Union and two outside it. The role of several formal agreements is discussed, and implications for policy needs concerning interinstitutional and/or…

The Teacher Followup Survey of 4,798 public school teachers found that teacher turnover decreased as the following variables increased: age, the number of dependent children, the level of certification, the number of years since the last degree was earned, teaching experience, and salary level. Strategies to maximize teacher retention are…

Discusses a survey of 41 states that investigated employment qualifications for orientation and mobility specialists working in public school systems. Results found that at least 17 states currently require that specialists meet specific qualifications for employment. A chart identifies the employment qualifications of individual states. (CR)

Discusses the issue of literacy as a gate keeper and how the interviewee's own experiences as a bilingual Latina and writing teacher aroused her interest in sociocultural understandings of literacy and language learning. She emphasizes the importance of discourse-based analysis and discusses the issue of high urban mobility as well as her other…