Education and training in Australia represent a significant sector of the economy, comprising some 7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Public policy is fashioned to support three main sectors: schools, vocational education and training, and higher education. The mix of Commonwealth policy across these sectors is determined by distribution of…

Dominant social, economic, and political philosophies manifested in the recent debate over the University of Costa Rica general studies curriculum reforms are discussed. It is concluded that the debate is really about the university's role in an environment that values privatization, individual (contrasted with social) benefits of higher…

Discussion of library automation and changes in research methodology focuses on computer-assisted research curricula. Topics addressed include public access to government information; the information superhighway; commercialization of government documents that may restrict public access; computer literacy; and a proposed curriculum plan for a…

Describes the conflict between the California Framework for History-Social Education and interdisciplinary citizenship education. Discusses exemplary teachers, diversity in schools, privatization, and the role of public education. Contends that, although teaching can be considered noble and unselfish, it is above all a political act. (CFR)

Issues in the evolution of Brazil's higher education system are discussed, including growth during the 1970s in the private sector, the need to improve access to education for low-income groups, and the need for a system of loans and scholarships to compensate for inequities in elementary and secondary education. (Author/MSE)

Discusses future trends affecting school business management, including greater state funding and involvement in policy issues, increased competition from alternative schools, controversy over vouchers, new educational technologies, fewer specialized administrator training programs, expanded educational services, integrated social services, and…

Discusses a brief history of U.S. trade with Cuba, the current status of Cuba's role in world trade, and the effects the U.S. embargo has on American businesses and U.S. and Cuban citizens. The article presents suggestions on how U.S. businesses can prepare for an open Cuba and argues for the lifting of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. (84…

Public agricultural extension services around the world are being pressured to adapt to new funding constraints and a changing agricultural sector. The global perspective on extension is no longer that of a unified public sector service, but of a multi-institutional network of knowledge and information support for rural people. This reality and…

This article makes a contribution to discussion on the neo-liberal reshaping of education in Western Europe. It argues for a greater attentiveness on the part of education researchers to collective social actors such as trade unions and social movements. Making use of concepts from Gramsci and from Poulantzas, it suggests that such actors had a…

On January 31, 1996, Pioneer Institute Executive Director James A. Peyser delivered an address to the Boston Economic Club, in which he proposed radical reforms to the structure of public education. This publication contains an edited transcript of the speech. The speech argues that after 30 years of stagnation and decline, only fundamental…

This report presents a course of action that California and its higher education campuses could pursue in response to economic conditions that have undercut the quality and equality of the system. California's higher education system is described as being in a state of emergency due to unique features: the staggering increase in its college-age…

This article turns to the history of the modern practice of adult education to speak to the versatility of lifelong learning as a fluid and indeterminate concept that some have viewed as a learner's way out and others have viewed as a learner's burden. It identifies change forces that have shaped particular purposes and functions of lifelong…

During the past decade the Federal Government has significantly retreated from its historical responsibility to maintain the free flow of information that is essential to maintain a healthy democracy. This responsibility includes the collection of basic data on the health of the economy as well as the dissemination of information that assists and…

This brief examines how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) dollars flow from the federal government through states and districts and into the coffers of companies, mostly for-profit companies. The brief makes the case that the law enriches many private companies and individuals, especially those close to President George W. Bush and his family. The brief…

This essay examines the ways in which nonprofit universities increasingly emulate businesses, focusing on two of the most direct forms of emulation: the creation of internal university markets at the University of Southern California through adoption of variants of resource center management (RCM) and the privatization of public higher education…