A discussion of post-Communist changes in Rumanian higher education looks at forces and factors promoting rapid expansion and diversification in institutional structure and extensive privatization. Attention is given to how those changes were addressed by legislative and government bodies. (MSE)

Discusses the trend toward the transfer of federal government information from the public domain to the private sector. Topics include free access, privatization, information-policy revision, accountability, copyright issues, costs, pricing, and market needs versus public needs. (LRW)

The Clark County Nevada Board of Trustees voted unanimously in April, 2001 to approve a 5-year, more than $35 million contract with Edison Schools to run seven of the district's lowest-achieving schools. Describes the decision process and reports what the board and the superintendent learned. One of their biggest lessons was the importance of…

We argue that the global digital divide, as measured by cross-national differences in Internet use, is the result of the economic, regulatory and sociopolitical characteristics of countries and their evolution over time. We predict Internet use to increase with world-system status, privatization and competition in the telecommunications sector,…

The crisis of affordability in higher education is intensifying. Illustrations of its resonance abound: from the frequent news articles describing and amplifying the crisis and its sources to legislators' and candidates' proposed responses. Republicans' responses tend to be mainly punitive toward institutions; Democrats' proposals are more…

Deregulation and privatization of the school systems are the symptoms of the transition from the era of "massification" of education to the era of "merchandization". This process is generated by a new relation between education and the needs of the globalized economy. Education is charged to supply the economy with a skilled and flexible labour…

This paper discusses privatization as policy tool to solve educational problems in Turkey. Turkey, as a developing country, is faced with many problems in education. Large class size, low enrollment rate, girl's education, high illiteracy rate, religious education, textbooks, curriculum and multicultural education are some of the important…

This article outlines how the commercialization of structures and management in education risks accelerating the intensification of corporate marketing in schools. It is argued that marketing promotes materialistic values which are harmful to children and US and UK examples are offered to demonstrate how companies seek to use schools as…

Globalizing trends--underscored by neoliberalism, privatization and imperial legacies--are changing the nature and purpose of education across the world. "With these rules of the capitalist game," a Colombian student argues, "the public university in Latin America has been played." Manifestations of these trends, however, vary…

The paper compares and contrasts higher education funding sources and systems in the U.S. and the UK. The issues raised in the paper pertain to the major challenge of academia: finding financial support in times of limited resources and enhanced competition. The issues discussed throughout the paper are: funding and quality assessment of…

This collection of essays examines the status of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on historical trends, the administration of universities, and the influence of higher education on the greater society. It reviews the evolution of universities in the area during the 20th century, highlighting the emergence of Latin…

This paper presents findings of a case study that identified the new forms of accountability and control being constructed locally in the education service of England and Wales since the major legislative changes made in 1988. The changes include local school management, grant-maintained schooling, and competitive contract tendering. The 1988,…

This report explains how welfare reform in New Jersey has served as an occasion for attempts to restructure the relations between public agencies and private service providers, and that these attempts raise important questions about who will and ought to play a part in the state's welfare programs. The historical context for privatization has…

A study examined the issue of contracting out traditional government services and its effect on government employees. It found that local governments contract out for two principal reasons: to cut the cost of providing services and to employ specialized skills and resources unavailable within the government. Findings from a review of the…

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…