The purpose of this study was to understand the consortial approach to distance education at the state level, with a focus on examining the way three state-level virtual universities engaged colleges and universities in participating in distance education initiatives. Specifically, three research questions guided this study: (1) What structure was…

The assessment-related activities of academic development units (ADU) are driven not only by institutional initiatives and the pursuit of particular research interests but also by less predictable factors including the emerging needs of faculty members and external funding opportunities. When not located within a strong classification framework,…

During the last decade, the higher education sector has experienced many pressures and changes (Hanna, "Educause Review, 38"(4), 25-34, 2003; Scott, "Educause Review, 38", 64-80, 2003; Waterhouse, "The power of e-learning: The essential guide for teaching in the digital age", 2005). Universities around the world are…

The National Internet2 K20 Initiative brings together its world-class network and research community members with innovators from colleges and universities, primary and secondary schools, libraries, museums and other educational institutions, the full spectrum of America's education community, including both formal and informal education. The…

Higher education institutions are facing major challenges requiring traditional leadership and administrative policies and practices to be rethought and renewed. These challenges concern the whole academic community but mostly the institutions' administrative leaders. This article suggests how applying the democratic principles of…

During 2009-10 the University of Ballarat implemented the open-source learning management system (LMS) "Moodle" alongside its existing legacy LMS, "Blackboard". While previous IT implementations have been troublesome at the university, notably the student information and finance management systems in 2008-09, the…

The purpose of this qualitative, single case study is to explore key leadership principles and strategies related to the "good to great" pattern of growth at Lee University. In order to accomplish this purpose, this study investigates Dr. Paul Conn's thoughts and navigation through times of change, conflict, and the strategic execution of planned…

This publication is part of an Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) series devoted to strengthening the role of key standing committees of governing boards. While there is no optimum committee system for institutions of higher education, certain principles, practices, and procedures prevail. The best practices…

In recent years there has been an overall lack of a clear and cohesive research funding policy for higher education which poses real risks in Australia's ability to sustain research excellence and is likely to lead to a decline in Australia's research performance at the international level. This could well lead to a decline in the reputation of…

This study was designed to assess whether changes in stakeholders' perceptions about the value generated by an institution might influence the nature of their engagement with it. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of research data revealed a positive correlation between stakeholders who believed an institution generated social or economic value…

In a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive higher-education environment, universities may grow or hold their own by taking degree programs and services to the students wherever, whenever, and however they need them--becoming more nearly a delivery system rather than a single location. Supporting and developing faculty is critical to…

It is often claimed that research on higher education has had little or no impact on HE policy-making, which is regarded as being largely driven by political ideology and the media and reinforced by little more than management consultancy. Recent higher education policy, it has been argued, is "a research-free zone" or at best…

Research administration has experienced dramatic changes over the past decades. As scientific research has evolved, higher education institutions have tried to adapt, with varying degrees of success. This paper presents a conceptual framework based on six cornerstones of research administration: mission, information, communication, collaboration,…

The Tempus Programme, which funds cooperation in higher education between universities in EU Member States and a defined set of partner countries outside the European Union, is excellently positioned to support explorations into higher education governance in countries that want to draw on the developing EU experience in this field. Governance is…

In response to growing public and policy concern about conflicts of interest (COI) in university research, academic institutions in North America and Europe have introduced policies to manage COI. However, depending on their form and content, COI policies can be more or less helpful in the effective management of COI. In this paper, we examine and…