Leaders in four-year, public and private institutions have implemented international branch campuses to potentially increase revenue and promote institutional prestige. Although these efforts have received significant attention, they have not always been successful. Studies have identified the reputational risks often associated with international…

Building on the research of National Board Certification and its effect on teacher quality, student achievement, and professional development, this dissertation seeks to explore the factors that influence teachers when it is time to renew their National Board Certification. Using a qualitative methodology, this study seeks to describe the process…

Internationalization of higher education is a major characteristic of China's higher education policy. Accordingly, the Chinese government is fervently encouraging the spread of Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes, student exchange programs, recruitment of international students, and international collaborations. South Asia…

This qualitative, multiple case study examined teachers' perceptions and strategies used to elicit emotional expression in students' piano playing. Since much of the existing literature depicts the relationship between emotion and music (Juslin, 1997; Perrson, 1993; Tait, 1992), yet little exists which explores conceptualizations of emotion…

The past two decades have seen the idea of internationalization move into the mainstream of higher education policy and practice, on a global scale. In countries like the US and UK however, higher education is widely perceived as a hierarchical field, where high- and low-status universities are differentiated from one another: serving different…

The purpose of this case study was to explore faculty members' perceptions of the QEP in a public doctoral university with highest research activity. Particularly, the study explored how faculty members perceive the role of the QEP in student learning and institutional effectiveness, the relevance of the QEP activities in student learning and…

This research examined the cases of three diverse Spanish universities, making inferences about the factors influencing the internationalization processes of higher education institutions in response to the broader forces of globalization. Data were collected from a panel of experts and multiple public and institutional sources utilizing a mixed…

Institutional accreditation in higher education presents a dual reality: Accreditation is intended to hold colleges and universities accountable through external evaluation and, at the same time, accreditation constitutes an opportunity for higher education leaders to assess, improve, and communicate the quality of their undertakings. In an…

Over the last ten years, American Catholic bishops have suffered a catastrophic loss of authority in the wake of sexual abuse scandals. In the midst of these scandals, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB] has issued voting guides for presidential elections. In this dissertation, I investigate the American Catholic church's…

The Bologna Process and German higher education reforms over the past decade have created significant waves of change at German universities. This case study focuses on the enduring impact of both the Bologna Process and German higher education reforms on how professors experience their work and define their roles during the winter term 2011-12 at…

The phenomenon of globalization has a significant impact on higher education, but the lack of a clear roadmap for how senior university officials should create and implement global engagement strategies and for how these approaches support (or impede) an organizational culture that fosters globalization remains a gap in knowledge in higher…

In the process of China's transformation from a socialist to a post-socialist society, China's entire system of education has experienced breathtaking expansion and reform. In this context, first-tier universities increasingly accept students from more financially well off backgrounds. While second-tier universities are inclined to accept more…

This dissertation considers the effects of national rankings, specifically the 2010 National Research Council (NRC)'s Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs, on higher education institutions' behavior. National research studies of graduate education require significant resources and data, yet it is uncertain how universities make…

This case study investigates the selection of partner institutions for international joint degree programs at the graduate level utilizing Knight's (2008) challenges to the development of such partnerships which are: Academic Alignment, Mobility and Language concerns, and Recognition and Legitimacy concerns. This study focuses on the criteria used…

This research study explored the concept of capacity building and motivation of staff by school leadership teams in the successful development and implementation of educational initiatives, specifically Response to Intervention (RtI). A great deal of scholarship has addressed leadership and its effect on motivation, but few studies have…