Budget season isn't any easier for school finance officials this year than it was last year, when they were bracing for a pandemic-driven recession, extra expenses, and ever-changing logistical demands due to COVID-19. This second of three Quality Counts 2021 installments surveys school- and district-level leaders on their spending hurdles,…

A portion of state-allocated funding for Texas community colleges has been reserved for the completion of outcome metrics, also known as performance-based funding. Texas community college leaders are faced with the challenges of adapting to increasing pressures from performance-based funding, while also ensuing institutional missions and goals are…

The STEM field has contributed significantly to the development of society because its findings result in new technology, which gives people more efficient tools and methods for a better standard of living. Postsecondary institutions have trained STEM field graduates through advanced curricula and learning environments. Compared to other academic…

Despite a climate of fiscal scarcity, higher education institutions are making big investments in campus consumption amenities while reducing instructional expenditures and growing increasingly reliant on tuition revenue. Few empirical studies exist exploring why universities increasingly invest in these amenities; however, one compelling…

In contemporary higher education systems, funding is increasingly associated with performativity, assessment, and competition, and universities are seeking different forms of financing their activities. One of these new forms is crowdfunding, a tool enabled by the digitalization of finance. Based on data from the UK higher education system and two…

Community colleges serve the largest percentage of under-represented, under-prepared, and under-resourced students yet they are often underfunded in state budgets. This article demonstrates challenges and opportunities for community college leaders in state and federal political advocacy from the perspective of a community college state system…

UK Aid has been aiding school education in Pakistan since long. Historically, Pakistan has received the largest aid from UK aid in education sector but little research is done to evaluate the role of this aid. For this purpose, an evaluative case study research design was used to evaluate the role of UK Aid. Qualitative research approach was…

University rankings envision a level playing field between competing universities, particularly in higher education (HE) systems regulated along market lines. Drawing on social stratification theory, we argue that rankings exacerbate, rather than alleviate, resource inequalities between universities with historically consolidated reputations…

This chapter invites higher education to reimagine accountability within a backdrop of budgeting and financing as it relates to Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The authors call for more transparency in their pursuit of Latinx-specific funding and the implementation of race-evasive spending. Examples of how institutions, students, and funders…

In this chapter, the experiences of mid-level business and finance staff positions in private colleges are explored to illuminate how they engage the campus environment as they help navigate their institutional fiscal vitality through the lens of empowerment theory. Through qualitative interviewers, findings include how they negotiate shared…

To accelerate scientific progress by advancing the spread of open access and free and open source software and hardware in academia, this study surveyed university professors in Canada to determine their willingness accept "open source (OS) endowed chair professorships." To obtain such an "open source endowed chair," in…

A priority for governments is ensuring public confidence in the quality and value of vocational education and training (VET) available to learners throughout their lives. The delivery of high-quality teaching, learning and assessment is an important element of this and is known to directly impact on outcomes for students. However, little research…

Joint efforts by the Government of Nepal, development partners and key stakeholders to achieve SDG 4 by 2030 have improved education access, participation and retention. However, learning outcomes in Nepal remain stagnant. What resources and contextual factors are associated with good school performance in Nepal? By merging and analyzing existing…

Performance funding has become a popular policy structure for public higher education institutions across the United States. The implications on budget and student success are considerable. This study examines performance funding through the perspective of chief executive officers (CEOs) at public community colleges in a southern state. Utilizing…

This purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to identify culturally relevant fundraising strategies that can empower leaders of public, under-resourced, tuition dependent HBCUs on how to effectively reduce tuition dependence. University presidents and advancement professionals face a growing dilemma of identifying ways to strengthen…