The recommendations of a national committee on the organization, quality, and efficiency of Australian universities are reviewed. They cover accountability, flexibility, and efficiency of operation. Implications for the future of universities, especially small ones, are discussed. (MSE)

Reviews skills and attributes viewed as valuable for leaders of higher educational institutions in today's climate of changing student populations. These include encouraging reflective backtalk and seeing the long view; and understanding changing roles (figurehead, leader, liaison) and relationships (internal and external); governance and…

Institutional responses to the fiscal crisis in American higher education, as well as state and federal initiatives, are pushing universities toward four interrelated structural reforms: institutional differentiation; shift from basic to applied research and development; increased interdisciplinarity; and a shift from department-based research to…

A study of the long-range course planning of one university's students found that less than half plan more than a few courses ahead, and that planning correlated more with students' time in college and career commitment than with academic aptitude or achievement. (MSE)

In an examination of the need for expansion in Nigeria's higher education, past trends are examined in the context of current efforts to keep up with the high demand. Finance is found to be the ultimate and critical determinant of the growth of the university system. (MSE)

Finnish higher education policy in the last two decades is compared with that of other Western European countries. Addressed are (1) quantitative planning and regionalization, (2) social recruitment, (3) governance, and (4) teaching and studies. (Author/MSE)

Cost-benefit analysis is used to illustrate current thinking about academic program review and analysis. It indicates that, at the margin, some important benefits of doctoral education have been understated and marginal costs exaggerated. It is suggested that program review choices are best left to the institutions. (MSE)

Despite expansion in participation, Austrian higher education remains somewhat elitist. However, concepts of efficiency, strategic planning, deregulation, and performance evaluation are creating pressure for policy change. Inadequate admissions policies, overcrowding, and high dropout rates need to be addressed. (Author/MSE)

The need for colleges and universities to clarify goals in light of current financial constraints is discussed. The goal formulation strategies and techniques of the Institutional Goals Inventory and the Dephi technique are examined in the context of their application at the University of Ottawa. (MSE)

Because of recent demographic and technological changes, traditionally stable educational organizations are experiencing high levels of uncertainty and decreases in productivity. To combat disfunctional consequences of change, many institutions have adopted myopic and piecemeal decision-making processes that need to be changed for systematic…

A framework that fits all higher education institutions is developed with the aim of improving the understanding of academe's functional organizational structure, administrative processes, and its information needs. The principal functional subsystems, their main interrelations, and their interrelations with the external environment are…

An account is given of quantitative development of the German universities in the last two decades and of their relationship with the labor market. Organizational changes following the federal educational reform law of 1976 are reviewed, and some aspects of research into the problems of higher education are examined. (MSE)

Evidence from Sweden's creation of Norrland University, which uses higher education for regional development, shows that allocation of higher education resources can be used to alter traditional patterns of centralization and that the activities of the outlying institution play as crucial a role as centrally formed policy. (Author/MSE)

A recently completed major study into the future of British higher education is an impressive analytical effort but may be criticized for its openness to bargaining and policy advocacy and for neglecting to outline a range of available options and to clearly spell out major value tradeoffs involved in the options. (MSE)

A discussion of portfolio analysis in college planning, a technique of determining the attractiveness and competitiveness of given academic courses, looks at the correctness of the technique and its application in the strategic planning process. Data from a British university illustrate the procedure. (MSE)