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…

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)

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…

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)

The role of Great Britain's Council for National Academic Awards in relation to other government agencies concerned with the quality of public colleges is discussed, and the public sector's course review process is compared to that of the universities. (Author/MSE)

University autonomy in Australia is examined: why institutional independence is important, how it has eroded since the late 1960s, factors leading to the erosion, and possible university responses. Concern is expressed about the universities' ability to withstand further government encroachment. (MSE)

The Hong Kong University and Polytechnic Grants Committee both reflects the uniqueness of Hong Kong's situation and is inhibited by it. Its academic members are all from overseas, which limits collective discussion and affects its reliance on a local secretariat that acts as a de facto department of higher education. (MSE)

The work of universities in developing countries is reviewed. Closer links between the school and university systems are recommended with a view to improving teacher education, the creation of school curricula more relevant to current needs, and flexibility in relation to admission to postsecondary education. (Author/MLW)