This report presents the results of a nationwide survey on the freshman placement practices of American colleges and universities. The report includes subgroup analyses by degree level, affiliation, size, region, and selectivity. Sources of information used for placement in English and mathematics are reported, including the most commonly found…

A telephone survey was conducted of 12 U.S. pharmacy programs that had been identified as having curricular programs in geriatric pharmacy. The data collected is intended to assist faculty in the Ohio Valley Appalachia Regional Geriatric Center to assess their curricula and determine future directions for the geriatric pharmacy programs. The…

In a study of university undergraduates, the students were presented with a list of 17 academic, career, social, and personal goals and asked whether the goals were important to them and whether they had achieved or were achieving them. The subjects were over 1,400 undergraduates in a random sample of all the classes offered at the University of…

The data collected for the study was used to test the hypothesis that a direct relationship exists between the amount of formal library education of a high school librarian and the librarian's performance on the job. The amount of library education was defined in terms of a Master's degree in library science for one group and an undergraduate…

A pilot study of undergraduate institutions that tests the value of the reputational rating approach, which uses subjective questionnaires, is described. It is suggested that there is no substantial evidence that quantification of subjective opinions is inferior to quantification of objective indicators when national assessments are conducted.…

Eight social work schools gave the Virginia State Merit System test for social workers to majors and nonmajors. Significant differences were found in the results among schools but little difference between majors and nonmajors. Questions are raised about the test's validity and schools are urged to review the results. (MSE)

Compares the past and projected use of media of beginning education majors as a function of their "communication apprehension," indicating high or moderate fear in professional discourse resulted in less past and projected future use. Decreasing the communication apprehension may increase the possibility that such teachers will use instructional…

An annual national survey of college faculty salaries found faculty at public institutions faring better than those at private schools, with the latter receiving smaller raises than last year. The survey's focus is on undergraduate programs. Engineering faculty had the highest and nursing faculty the lowest average salaries. Average salaries, by…

Reports an analysis of Australian universities using academics' perceptions of their university-level environment. Focuses on a sample of 514 academics in 26 publicly funded universities who responded to the university-level environment questionnaires. Suggests that new universities must improve their level of research and scholarship to become…

The design and content of new undergraduate and graduate teacher-education curricula in Italy, mandated by a 1990 law, is discussed. The four-year university curriculum is designed to train infant and elementary-school teachers, and a two-year graduate program is designed for secondary-school teachers. (MSE)

A 1996 study of teaching-load among tenured and tenure-track faculty in 24 disciplines at 48 research universities, 40 doctorate-granting universities, 80 comprehensive colleges and universities, and 115 baccalaureate colleges is summarized and the results analyzed. It was found that tenured and tenure-track faculty generate a much larger…

Proposes that higher education scholars distinguish among professional subjects taught to undergraduates as they do among traditional disciplines. Other distinctions may be more meaningful than the research-based dimensions used in the popular Biglan classification. A framework for differentiating collegiate career fields is proposed, evidence…

This paper reports the investigation of the effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) within a web-based environment in the delivery of an undergraduate Physics course. The effectiveness was evaluated by comparing the performances and the perceptions of the sample students (n=67) using the web-based PBL and comparing the outcomes with those of…

Records for students receiving an undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama were examined, to compare education majors and other majors for grades in similar courses in seven specified curriculum areas: freshman composition, mathematics, humanities, social science, natural science, writing, and computer language or foreign language. The…

An accelerated B.S.-M.D. program called the Honors Program in Medicine (HPM) at the University of Miami is described. HPM and traditional program students were surveyed about accelerated medical education. Both HPM and traditional students were satisfied with their own preparation for medical school. (Author/MLW)