Past and current methods used in academic quality rankings of U.S. colleges and universities are discussed. In addition to a literature and historical review, modern quality rankings are compared with early (pre-1959) rankings, including past rankings of medical, dental, legal and black education. Also considered are the exemplary 1982 evaluation…

The role of mathematics in the college curriculum and applications of mathematics in society are examined in this pamphlet produced by the NRC's Ad Hoc Committee on Applied Mathematics Training. It is suggested that the growing need for mathematicians in the physical, biological, and social sciences has changed the constituency of potential…

Attempts to differentiate the characteristics of courses that involve token empowerment from those that involve deeper empowerment. Describes a course where students role-played the part of consultants involved in group work involving global issues. Includes a chart that outlines the components of token and deep empowerment. (MJP)

In 2006, a good education is no longer just a way for an individual to get ahead. It is also, and increasingly, the best way a state can get ahead-and therefore a real economic priority. A college degree confers specific, calculable benefits on a state's citizens: the average lifetime income of an individual with a bachelor's degree is $2.1…

This report investigates whether the state of California can return to the levels of access to higher education envisioned in its Master Plan adopted in 1960. Chapter 1 is an introduction which discusses the state's commitment to access, the structure of the educational sector under the Master plan, the effects of the recession of the early 1990s…

This paper on the feasibility of using teaching practices as indicators of student learning was developed as part of an ongoing project to develop a process for the assessment of college student learning in the context of National Education Goal 5, Objective 5, which aims to increase the proportion of college graduates with "advanced ability…

This report continues for a second-year analysis of progress made in implementing Illinois State Board of Higher Education policy on secondary education requirements for college admission and improving undergraduate education in Illinois. In particular this report examines the preparation of students for college and their achievement in their…

Languages have lost status in the educational system, and oral skills are less effectively and rigorously taught. However, a University of Leeds program providing short, intensive courses in administrative and legal French for British civil servants has been found to be very effective in developing the participants' oral and aural skills. The…

Ways to improve undergraduate education are suggested, based on the work of the Study Group on the Conditions of Excellence in American Higher Education. After considering shared values and long-term goals for American higher education, attention is directed to both the achievements and problems of colleges. Major themes are that student…

Long-range planning to increase the participation of black Americans in higher education and to enhance historically black colleges and universities is addressed. Demographic trends concerning the black population and their representation in higher education are examined along with implications of projections about higher education. Labor market…

This document presents 46 graphs with brief explanatory narratives that analyze trends in the California higher education sector and its environment. The trends examined include: undergraduate and graduate enrollment, student migration in and out of California's higher education sector, college-going rates of California's high school graduates,…

This report presents fall 1996 data on enrollment distribution by racial/ethnic group in the Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE). It finds that, in most categories, the OSSHE distribution is comparable to the distribution among public high school graduates and to the Oregon population overall. Exceptions include over-representation of…

Pfizer, Inc. (hereinafter Pfizer), a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company, states that it is committed to being an "exemplary corporate citizen" that is "dedicated to discovering and developing innovative medicines and making them available to people all around the world." Pfizer boasts about its philanthropic focus, yet, like any…

The "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" generated by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL 2000) provides a plausible set of pedagogical goals to guide the construction and implementation of an undergraduate research methods course. We argue that the context of the undergraduate methods…

The "Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Fact Book on Higher Education" is one of the nation's most comprehensive collections of comparative data on higher education. For decades, state leaders, policy-makers, researchers and journalists have used the "Fact Book" to find useful data quickly--and to learn more about…