This paper provides a summary of four projects currently funded through Australia's National Center for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), including what they propose to achieve and their preliminary findings to date. After an introduction, an overview of preliminary findings from the four projects is presented. The following barriers to…

Four models of faculty assignment are reviewed and the experience of the Western Australian Institute of Technology over a seven-year period is examined. The primary consideration in evaluating the models is their potential for fostering excellence in the institution. Details of allocation formulas are appended. (MSE)

A study designed to provide a rational basis for establishing student teacher ratios for certain fields of study in Australian colleges is described. It analyzed student and faculty contact hours, student load, full-time-equivalent staff, class size, and academic workload and integrated them into mathematical models for the fields. (MSE)

A purely geographic classification is not the best way to measure rural disadvantage in Australia. A service access model is described that incorporates the following elements: population center size; distance, time, and cost of travel to the service center; and a measure of the economic capacity of residents to overcome the cost of travel.…

Changes in Australia's university research funding, with both indirect and a substantial portion of direct funding administered centrally by the new Ministry of Employment, Education and Training, are discussed. The new arrangement is intended to ensure university research gives greater priority to projects contributing to national social and…

The major changes mandated by Australia for its higher education system and the apparent reasons for the changes are outlined, and the strategies adopted for change are critiqued. Changes relate primarily to administrative organization, governance, resource allocation, and accountability. (MSE)

The effects of a new minister of education and increased government control on Australian higher education are discussed, focusing on the implications for policymaking, curriculum, the academic profession, the relationship of research and teaching, and the overall quality and equity of higher education. (MSE)

New methods of financing higher education used in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom are summarized and compared. The paper concludes that while these approaches are designed to improve efficiency, realize specific outcomes, and leverage additional funds from other sources, they may have unanticipated, unintended, and, in some…

Since its introduction in 2001, the Australian (Commonwealth) Government's socio-economic status (SES)-based funding scheme for private schools has been criticised as inequitable. The author argues that the inequities of the scheme are the result of government policy rather than the SES-based model itself. Compared with the former education…

In this article, the authors review the way in which the Victorian government has responded to the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools, and consider what further efforts could be made to improve inclusive educational practices. Key measures introduced by the state education authority in relation to the…

The current funding of research in Australia's universities is examined, including the recent forces that have changed the research system and resource allocation, allocations by field, expenditures per researcher by field, and measures of and emphasis on productivity. Prospects for research in the late 1980s are discussed. (MSE)

The institutionalization of faculty development policy and activities is compared for Australia, Great Britain, the United States, West Germany, and Sweden. The factors that precipitated the trend in each country are examined, and it is concluded that the reward systems in each country favor faculty research performance over teaching. (Author/MSE)

Consideration of a wide variety of options in maximizing income and controlling expenditures is recommended for Australian universities. Although marketing, fund raising, investment, and other income-producers are possibilities, tight control of expenditures is seen as the most effective retrenchment strategy. (MSE)

Australian experience since the late 1950s with coordinating agencies for higher education is reviewed, focusing on factors influencing the development and adaptation of these agencies, the establishment and transformation over time of the Australian Universities Commission, and recent developments in coordinating mechanisms at both commonwealth…

This document reviews how performance indicators are currently being used in several Commonwealth countries the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, and identifies some of the issues associated with performance indicator development and application. It also examines whether there are any agreed upon "key", or common, indicators that…