The primary purpose of the current study was to predict the likelihood of enrollment in Graduate School based on three independent variables: cost, time-to-completion, and return on investment. To achieve this purpose, a Z-test for the hypothesis of two proportions was utilized to create a predictive model. The model aimed to help institutional…

This dissertation contains three empirical papers that quantify how institutional status hierarchies in postgraduate education relate to professionals' employment and earnings outcomes. Chapter 1 examines the effects of postgraduate educational program status hierarchies on earnings among recipients of postgraduate professional degrees in…

This study analyzed the effect that shifts in the U.S. News & World Report rankings have on input variables such as admitting grade point average (GPA), percentage of students taking the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), average incoming GMAT score, acceptance rate, tuition rates, average student debt, the proportion of students with…

Development officers and those who research philanthropic giving frequently explore the factors that motivate donors to give or the demographic variables that enable donating behavior to occur, less often is the concept of identity used as a mediating variable in the study of philanthropic giving. Using the Identity Salience Model of Nonprofit…

Public Master's granting universities have long been viewed as a sector "caught in the middle" between their much more prestigious research university counterparts and the more numerous community colleges. The little research that exists on this sector of institutions has suggested that the Master's university classification merely…

Social, economic and political influences are exerting considerable pressure on the development of universities and colleges. Such forces coupled with the growing influence of rankings are exerting a formidable impact upon higher education. The conceptual framework guiding this study was derived from the work of Spence and Signaling Theory (ST).…

The purpose of this case study was to explore faculty members' perceptions of the QEP in a public doctoral university with highest research activity. Particularly, the study explored how faculty members perceive the role of the QEP in student learning and institutional effectiveness, the relevance of the QEP activities in student learning and…

This case study investigates the selection of partner institutions for international joint degree programs at the graduate level utilizing Knight's (2008) challenges to the development of such partnerships which are: Academic Alignment, Mobility and Language concerns, and Recognition and Legitimacy concerns. This study focuses on the criteria used…