Australia's system of vocational education and training (VET) is based on the principle of partnerships between key stakeholders: governments (Commonwealth, state and territory), training providers, employers and employees. Industry representation and governance in the VET sector in Australia has undergone several transformations in the past, and…

This study considers the extensive critique of the impact of the "market" or "neoliberal" model on learning and its outcomes in the light of alternative models. The purpose is to consider the potential impacts of the market on learning and its outcomes and to contextualise critique by considering alternative coordination…

This report reviews the use of loans for learning in 33 European countries and analyses the schemes in eight selected Member States: France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Finland, Sweden and the UK. The analysis shows that loan schemes vary considerably across Europe in terms of types and levels of learning covered, conditions of…

In a period of student loan scandals and U.S. financial market instability impacting on the cost and availability of student loans, this paper looks at alternative models of higher education funding. In this context, it also considers the level of financial support that the government should provide to higher education.

Whether to adopt national standards and tests has long been a subject of lively debate in the United States. With 47 states now participating in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, and a commitment from Education Secretary Arne Duncan to allocate hundreds of millions in stimulus funds to the development of common tests, the country is…

A discussion of the structure of higher education finance begins by establishing a framework for examining the flow of money between and among three parties: students (consumers), institutions (producers), and governments (sponsors). The financial flows between these parties are charted, and the use of the model to describe differences in the…

Competition and government regulation in the Netherlands' and U.S. higher education systems are compared, and policy options to inject competitive dynamics into a highly regulated system are discussed. Policy options include demand-oriented policies (e.g., price changes, enrollment limits) and supply-oriented policies (e.g., institutional autonomy…

This report provides a comparative perspective on financial support for the arts in six western European countries, the United States, and Canada. It was designed so that American support for the arts could be compared with governmental support for the arts in other countries, whose philosophies and governmental systems might be similar or quite…

Includes "Introduction" (Chitty, Lawn); "Curriculum in New Zealand" (Jesson); "Curriculum Knowledge" (Cornbleth); "Promised Land" (Lima, Afonso); "Defining and Re-defining the Teacher in the Swedish Comprehensive School" (Kallos, Nilsson); "What's Happening to Teachers' Work in…

This paper presents a model of the approaches open to government to ensure that early childhood services are affordable to families. We derived the model from a comparative literature review of affordability approaches taken by government, both in Australia and internationally. The model adds significantly to the literature by proposing a means to…

Government policy on public support for private schools in Sweden, the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, France and Malta, and Canada is reviewed. In Sweden virtually all schools are government schools funded by local and national grants; only a handful of private schools exist and they receive no government funds. The United…

This paper offers a broad look at accreditation and quality assurance in higher education and how these issues are addressed around the world. Section 1 is an overview of accreditation and addresses the aims and objectives of accreditation, standards, accreditation bodies, stages of the accreditation process, the quality of that process, the role…

The International Marketing Federation (IMF), supported by the Marketing Science Institute, has surveyed IMF member countries and a representative scattering of others to determine the current state and future trends in marketing education. This volume presents the findings of the survey of 21 countries--Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark,…

This report examines the development and implementation of performance indicators in higher education, focusing on the factors driving increased demand for accountability in higher education and the use of performance indicators in the United States and other countries. It discusses the public and political concern for increased productivity,…

IMHE-Info is the newsletter published by the Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) programme. This issue includes: Higher Education: The Keys to Sustainability. IMHE News, publications of interest and upcoming events are included.