The concepts of the university as an organic whole and faculty structures that further their organic relationship are questioned. Suggestions offered include those concerning flexibility of faculty organizational structure and methods of organizing disciplinary departments to combat fragmentation. (Article originally published in 1959.) (AF)

Asserts that the major public policy issues facing the United States--changing demographics, uneven wealth distribution, and globalization--require college and universities to rethink familiar organizational units such as departments and schools and relinquish dated epistemological categories, such as "domestic" and "international." (EV)

Reports on a distance-independent class taught at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and examines the challenges this course posed to existing academic culture. Topics include logistical issues, including scheduling, workload, and credit hours; changing personnel and roles; and changes in power and…

This report provides a synthesis of the principal trends concerning access to higher education in Europe. The paper treats five themes, the first of which, higher education structures, notes that the dominant trend is towards greater institutional diversity. A discussion of enrollment finds that France, Germany and Sweden have enrollment rates…

This monograph describes the system of higher education in the United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The preface points out that despite perestroika, two features of Soviet education persist, a high degree of unity and centralization and a close link between higher education and employers. Chapter 1, "Historical Overview," begins…

The purpose of this study was to inquire into the characteristics, regularities, relationships, behaviors, and effects of schools in relation to their role in a clinical teacher education program. The analysis of three high schools followed the inquiry perspective termed "portraiture." Sketches were drawn of the three schools which…

A program of research into higher education in Sweden is described. Focal areas of the research program are as follows: the role of higher education in society, the organization of higher education, the research function, and the educational function. Over 90 projects have been undertaken in 12 disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.…

A survey of the educational policy and system of West Germany is presented. The federal government and 11 federal states (Laender) operate in conjunction, creating an educational policy that occurs on two levels. A brief historical sketch is followed by a general description of educational policy, planning, and research in the context of the…

Birnbaum's 1982 study of diversity in higher education is reviewed, and the development of an indicator series on institutional diversity is evaluated. Birnbaum studied diversity in higher education in the framework of a natural selection or population ecology model, which emphasizes the importance of environmental factors in shaping populations…

Strategic planning initiated by the recently created State System of Higher Education (SSHE) in Pennsylvania is examined. Components of the strategic approach found in the literature and dimensions generally considered critical for both strategic formulation and strategic understanding are considered. Attention is directed to the multicampus…

The relationship between the congruence, strength, and type of organizational culture and organizational effectiveness was studied, based on questionnaire responses by 3,406 administrators, faculty department heads, and trustees from 334 colleges and universities. Respondents rated the extent to which certain characteristics were present at their…

Arguing that reform of undergraduate education is more urgent at a time of retrenchment and will require making teaching a collegial activity if it is to compete with research, the author proposes a reorganization into teaching clusters of perhaps 15 faculty, 10 graduate students, and 200 students in a "theme center." (JT)

Approaches to analyze the reform of higher education in Sweden, and particularly the organization of studies in higher education, are considered. Three starting points are as follows: examining the intentions constituting the background to the present organization of studies, considering continuing developments and attitudes toward problems; and…

Using ethnographic methods, this study looked at a student-teaching program over a three-year period, focusing on administrative and organizational processes. The two hypotheses concerned behavior of loosely coupled organizations. Results are presented and recommendations made. (Author/MT)