Reports a study gauging the average oral proficiency as measured by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) of college students (n=20) studying German at the end of their fourth semester. Discussion centers on reasonable expectations for high school graduation and for college language…

A survey of undergraduate students (n=473) from a small liberal arts university evaluated several independent variables (gender, community service, membership in campus organizations, and out-of-class experiences) in terms of goals associated with a liberal education. Analysis indicated that gender and type of extramural activities (i.e., student…

Portland State University (PSU) is a public university with more than twenty-three thousand students enrolled in 120 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degree programs. In the fall of 1994, the PSU faculty initiated the revised general education program, University Studies. The culmination of this four-year, interdisciplinary general education…

This article considers the discourses used by students, mainstream lecturers and academic development lecturers in their evaluations of language interventions at Technikon Natal from 1991 to 2002. The discourses under scrutiny are those of academic literacy: the beliefs, attitudes, values and norms necessary for "epistemological access to…

Due in large part to the trends towards economic globalization, English has become the most widely disseminated and ubiquitous international language. The purpose of the study was to investigate what Taiwan's EFL teachers at the elementary level believe about the policy of English as a compulsory subject and how they perceive the benefits and…

This report examines the extent to which California high school students fail to meet the high school course requirements for admission to California's four-year public universities. It investigates students' course-taking patterns and whether the courses they take meet the universities' entrance requirements. Because students from a variety of…

In 1983 "A Nation at Risk" recommended that all students seeking a high-school diploma be required to enroll in the "New Basics," a core curriculum composed of 4 years of English and 3 years each of social studies, science, and mathematics. Although several states have adopted the set of requirements, others have chosen a less restrictive set that…

In August 1981, a task force was created at Maryland's Prince George's Community College (PGCC) to analyze the college's General Education (GE) requirements in terms of their appropriateness as a major component of Associate Degree (AD) programs. Rather than increase the number of GE requirements, the task force sought to identify the skills,…

This report evaluates the increasing use and adaptations of the academic credit system by developing nations in an attempt to improve quality and cost-effectiveness of their higher education systems. Chapter 1 offers an overview of the credit system and explains how it works in breaking down the curriculum into measurable units that can be accrued…

In response to the goal of improving college student retention, it was decided to require students in a freshman English course to participate in activities associated with academic persistence. Students (N=43) selected 3 of 4 retention-related activities in which to participate and recorded their experiences briefly in their course journals.…

A study examined the effects of increased academic requirements for high school graduation on enrollment trends in public secondary vocational education programs in Washington since 1983. Vocational directors of 211 school districts that had increased graduation requirements since 1983 were surveyed through questionnaires. Results indicated that…

Guidelines for the higher education curriculum are presented, with attention directed to prerequisite courses, general education, educational objectives, criteria for selecting staff to monitor required courses, and professional education. Two specific concerns are the need to provide specific and well-written course descriptions in the general…

This essay offers an argument for including ethics instruction within the community/junior college curriculum. It traces the place of ethical and moral instruction in higher education from the 19th century, when moral philosophy was considered an integral part of the mission of a college, through the period when religious and ethical instruction…

In 1987, a study was conducted to evaluate the ability of several variables to predict student performance on Florida's minimum competency test for rising juniors, the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST). The variables included grades received in required courses; semesters elapsed prior to taking required courses after entering college;…

Includes honors degree courses; special entry requirements; course structure; courses regularly available; notes; and how to obtain further information on 42 universities, 28 polytechnics, 12 colleges of technology, and 13 colleges of education in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Some schools have advertisements listing additional…