Looking at the rise of world-class universities through history, creating an institutional environment in which universities are relatively autonomous, while also ensuring effective material support from the government is essential for the formation of world-class universities. It is worth examining the deteriorating academic environment in China…

In November 2010, the British Government, modifying one of the proposals in the Browne Report published in October, decided to allow English universities to charge tuition fees of up to 9,000 British Pounds, while removing almost all the public funding previously provided in the form of a block grant. This had consequences the Government should…

The outcome of university ranking is of much interest and concern to the many stakeholders, including university's sponsors, administrators, staff, current and prospective students, and the public. The results of rankings presented in the form of league tables, analogous to football league tables, attract more attention than do the processes by…

Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) have been used to identify stimuli that are associated with reduced levels of problem behavior, presumably as a function of reinforcer competition. Following a standard CSA in which stimuli simply were made available, 2 more CSAs were conducted with additional components designed to enhance reinforcer…

Measurement invariance of the 8-factor Inventory of School Motivation (McInerney & Sinclair, 1991) between American and Chinese college students was tested using single-group and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. A Mandarin Chinese version of the ISM was developed for this study. Comparisons of latent means were conducted when…

By understanding what motivates students to learn mathematics, instructors can adapt their teaching strategies to help students achieve a level of engagement conducive to learning mathematics. There is a substantial body of research on motivations and academic achievement at the elementary and high school levels, but less is known at the college…

The authors examined the nature of dominant students in Grades 3-5 in a midwestern school system in the United States. Previous research has indicated 2 ways a student may gain dominance--through bullying and prosocial behaviors. A cluster analysis for dominant children was conducted using social interdependence attitude scores, children's…

The forces of globalization are finally hitting American postsecondary education. For nearly three decades, since the 1983 publication of "A Nation At Risk" launched a sustained focus on the mediocre, if not failing, K-12 system, American postsecondary education has avoided the accountability spotlight. Postsecondary policy debates have focused…

Glenn Smith, APPA's Vice President for Professional Development, had the honor of introducing the closing panel discussion at APPA's annual conference in Boston last July--a discussion centered on the theme "Inventing Our Future." Previous general plenary sessions and related breakout sessions had explored the challenges people face in these…

In three experiments, we examined lexical competition effects using the phonological priming paradigm in a shadowing task. Experiments 1A and 1B showed that an inhibitory priming effect occurred when the primes mismatched the targets on the last phoneme (/bagar/-/bagaj/). In contrast, a facilitatory priming effect was observed when the primes…

The present European higher education policy and research policy can be characterized as emphasizing external financing of universities, competition between and within universities, and the need for a more practical and economically profitable output from research and education. A theoretical framework of analysing the impacts of this new…

In this article, the author talks about the Solar Decathlon, a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. Previously held in 2002, 2005, and 2007, the Solar Decathlon has grown into one of the most highly…

A number of reports in the US have highlighted the country's need for improved second language skills for both national security and economic competitiveness. The Language Flagship program, launched in 2002, aims to raise expectations regarding language proficiency levels at the post-secondary level and to address structural gaps in the curricula…

The current mixed-method study probed EFL instructors' mediative knowledge across four different contexts of teaching including language institutes, universities, and senior and junior high schools in Iran. To this end, 181 EFL instructors, 80 males and 101 females, completed mediative closed-questionnaire which composed of twelve items to measure…

Because the English learners' (ELs) population is growing in the United States, teacher candidates should be provided with experiences that prepare them to effectively teach and empower linguistically/culturally diverse students. Teacher candidates should be provided with opportunities to learn skills that engage ELs in mathematics. In this…