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…

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)

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 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)

The new strategic planning system in Dutch higher education is described and the usefulness of strategic planning in higher education institutions in general is discussed. Three models are distinguished: linear, adaptive, and interpretive. Evidence suggesting the system has resulted in more homogenization than diversification is presented.…

The policy-making and policy implementation processes used in Swedish higher education, the most comprehensive recent reform effort, are analyzed to illuminate the larger problem of higher education reform in general. It is concluded that the experiences do not fit the standard models of public choice, nor do they conform to prevailing ideas about…

The creation of three new institutions in Australia is examined for evidence supporting or refuting theories that new institutions tend to be dominated by academic or administrative interest groups. (MSE)

Two innovative projects at the University of Utrecht, women's studies and the management and policy program, and the role of incentives in these particular cases are evaluated. Problems with innovation and decision making, entrepreneurial innovation and the planning process, and the organization of innovative projects are discussed. (Author/MLW)

The applicability of a general management development model to Australian higher education is examined in the contexts of a university, a multicampus college, and a large urban institute of technology. The model identifies a dynamic relationship between an institution's structural characteristics and its management needs. (MSE)

Results of a 1992 British assessment of university departments are analyzed, particularly the finding that in general, larger departments were given higher research ratings. Analysis suggests an "economies of scale" effect and components of performance attributable to either "size" or "non-size" are identified.…

Foresight analysis is proposed as an alternative to strategic planning in the scientific community, and its use by individual funding agencies to develop research resource allocation strategies for specific scientific fields is explored through an analysis in the field of cardiovascular research. Methodology is explained, and preliminary results…

Drawing on data from a study of business schools in the United Kingdom, key elements of the process of internationalizing higher education programs are identified and a framework for assessing levels of international activity is developed. A model for a strategic internationalization process within institutions is then offered. (Author/MSE)