The customer service marketing model provides an organizing strategy for advising in higher education. The university contributes resources for an advising process that addresses needs and expectations of students as customers and faculty as providers. This model is evident in a recent survey of 58 bachelor's degree recipients in social work. (MSE)

National Institutes of Health programs supporting minority college students in biomedical research, the "Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)" program and the "Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS)" program, offer an effective model of mentoring that can be replicated across disciplines. Changes in the way…

A study of student failure or withdrawal from higher education in six institutions in northwestern England investigates the relative influence of 36 possible reasons for withdrawal. Respondents were 1083 full- and part-time students. Results for noncompletion, including institutional and student variables, and their cost to the public purse are…

This qualitative case study reports on processes and outcomes of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded System-Wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE) project at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). It addresses a critical challenge in studying systemic reform in complex organizations: the lack of methodologies that…

The typical undergraduate program in computer science includes an introduction to hardware and operating systems, file processing and database organization, data communication and networking, and programming. However, many graduates may lack the ability to integrate the concepts "learned" into a skill set and pattern of approaching problems that…

This report presents ten recommendations for the radical reconstruction of undergraduate education at research universities in the United States offered by a national commission. Background information is provided in the first three chapters. An overview notes that undergraduates at research universities too often have been shortchanged and that a…

In 1986, an academic program review of the biological sciences programs of the universities in the State University of Florida System was performed by a team of 13 consultants. This report of that review includes: (1) the background of the review; (2) a statement of the status of biological science instruction; (3) a review of the 1978 assessment…

A research-oriented project to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate education at the state University of Antwerp, Belgium, is described, and the higher education system and conditions in Belgium are noted. Attention was focused on the outcome-based paradigm, according to which the primary goal of instruction is to ensure that all students…

It is argued that a traditional, historically-oriented course in 17th- and 18th-century French civilization continues to be an appropriate and effective approach for undergraduate French study, in preparation for later, more sophisticated cultural analysis. Four course components are discussed: class lectures; literary text selection; textbook…

Three cooperative programs between the University of New England-Northern Rivers (Australia) and regional arms of government agencies which provide professional development are described. They involve the departments of school education, health, and family and community services. The university offers a variety of credit-bearing undergraduate and…

A study investigated relationships between entry qualifications, area of specialization, and sex of students (n=313) in an undergraduate education program and overall program performance. Performance in educational psychology was an efficient predictor of overall program achievement. Math/science specialists performed better in educational…

Because cell biology has rapidly increased in breadth and depth, instructors are challenged not only to provide undergraduate science students with a strong, up-to-date foundation of knowledge, but also to engage them in the scientific process. To these ends, revision of the Cell Biology Lab course at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was…

This paper reports the results of a survey conducted to examine the root causes leading to student dropout at a Greek distance education university. Data was gathered from two different courses--an undergraduate course leading to a Bachelors degree in Informatics (characterized by high dropout rates), and a postgraduate course leading to a Masters…

This paper explores the possibilities presented in examining taken for granted aspects of pre-service teacher practicum practices, especially in terms of naming and positioning within teacher education, as they present at a regional university in Ballarat, Australia. The University of Ballarat has introduced a new P-10 teacher education course…

Periodic revisions of the physics and astronomy curricula have been made to make scientific course-work more appealing to a greater number of college students and ultimately create a more positive image of these disciplines. This report, in an attempt to determine how effective these revisions have been, provides 13 tables and 3 figures of trend…