A radical innovation in an academic department is described that involves student-centered, problem-focused organization, with project work replacing courses and students using self-evaluation. Implications are discussed. (Author/LBH)

Collected data on more than 20,000 incoming college freshmen for the years of 1976, 1980, and 1981, tracking each student by computer for 16 consecutive quarters using course grade database tapes. Highest class rank achieved and college major were determined for each student. Results suggest importance of students entering college with good…

The contractual relationship between the student and the institution is the key to understanding "academic fraud." (Author)

A study examined academic literacy in high-risk South African students entering postsecondary education, and the relationship of academic literacy to instructional development. Data were gathered in discussions with academic staff at South African universities and technikons and at the University of Saskatchewan. The report begins with background…

The academic, believing himself appointed to reshape society, now finds society has no wish to be reshaped and regards him as one cause of social distress. (Editor/IR)

Recent literature on academic program review or evaluation is reviewed, including case study reports of ways in which systematic reviews of programs have been designed and carried out at selected colleges. Attention is given to procedures that have been used or suggested for collecting information. (MLW)

British Columbia's community colleges' university transfer programs provide the opportunity for students to earn credits toward a university degree, but only a small percentage of these students actually transfer to a university. A study of students who complete transfer courses, but do not continue their study, is discussed. (Author/MLW)

Tested the hypothesis that there is a negative relationship between the occupational specificity of academic programs and students' instructional satisfaction with students from three different academic programs. Results supported the negative relationship model with both statistically significant differences and substantial relationships.…

Recommendations to higher education from a corporate executive include: the need for a commitment to excellence, competence in the English language, economics (the discipline that teaches there is no opportunity without its costs), history, humanities/technology balance, and the cultivation of the whole person. (MLW)

The new Rockefeller Foundation's Commission on the Humanities' report is discussed. Some of the commission's recommendations include: improved quality of elementary and secondary schools, strengthening of humanities research, reaffirmation within education of the values of the humanities, and closer collaboration of educational and cultural…

Multicampus systems should proceed carefully in the process of academic program review, with an eye toward asking and answering questions most likely to cause institutions to confront the more fundamental questions of purpose and coherence. (Author/MSE)

The perception that a college has an excellent academic program is seen as a judgment about the whole college, not just about a few departments. To maintain this judgment, the administrator of a small college must exercise balance in allocation of resources to departments and academic support areas. (Author/MLW)

Discusses the current state of instructional technology programs, highlighting two problems with a prescriptive approach to instructional design (ID): making ID entirely empirical by assuming finite and knowable instructional principles and the ultimate impossibility of using prescriptions in any procedural way. Explores why and what theory is…

Criticizes the emphasis of sports over academics at all levels of schooling, and the short length of the U.S. school year compared to that of other countries. Advocates minimum academic standards as a prerequisite for athletic participation, and students' choice of a college based on graduation rates rather than athletic achievement. (BC)

Reviews the debate over the compatibility of education for academic degrees the competency-based approach required by Britain's National Vocational Qualifications. Considers problems in the definition of competence and the methods of assessment. (SK)