No doubt there are detractors who cringe at the prospect of connecting the term customer service with an institution of higher education. Some may consider the term demeaning. However, given the college funding crisis and current economic climate, a quality customer service strategy is a prudent adjunct to any marketing activity undertaken. It is…

This article examines the educational ideas of Fred Morrow Fling (1860-1934). A practitioner of "scientific history," Fling believed that the principal goal of history education was to teach the historical method through the analysis of primary sources. Unlike his contemporaries, who saw sources as useful for adding interest to lessons, Fling…

This study examined the differential developmental significance of multiple domains of peer reputation in childhood for current and future competence and symptoms. Participants were 205 children from a normative school cohort who completed assessments in grades 3-6 and then again 10 years later. Through re-analysis of original data from the…

This article explores the factors influencing student choice at six contrasting universities in Scotland to establish if there is value in developing a model for predicting institutional choice for Scottish undergraduate entry. It is based on a survey of 651 students in two undergraduate disciplines, accountancy and engineering, across the six…

Drawing on her interviews with professional ghostwriters who work primarily in organizations, the author examines what this practice implies about society's current attitudes toward authorship, written work, and literacy in general. She also examines the ethical arguments that various critics of ghostwriting have made. (Contains 3 notes.)

An analysis of the total compensation of presidents and the five highest-paid employees at 190 private colleges and universities in 1993 looked at the additional variables of institutional expenditure level, institution type, reputation, and student Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores. Results indicated that institutional expenditures,…

The "Flexner Report" of 1910, which described 155 U.S. and Canadian medical schools, is discussed, along with its influence on later studies of academic quality. Scholars almost universally agree that the Flexner Report dramatically changed the nature of medical education in the United States, although they disagree about how this…

In this day of increased competition for students, educators need to know what makes their institution exceptional or how it is perceived as providing something of value that other institutions in the local area do not. Without this information, community colleges will find it difficult to thrive and adapt in the future. Efforts to determine the…

The importance of college image on student enrollment choices is discussed and a model is described which, using various student background variables as independent variables and college choice as the dependent variable, tries to assess the factors which determine college choice. (SE)

Perceptions of Yale and sixteen of its major competitors were obtained from high school students offered admission to Yale and from undergraduate students attending Yale. Ratings of similarity between colleges were obtained in one study, and the semantic differential technique was used in a second study to corroborate the findings. (SW)

As the ultimate symbol of excellence, the Nobel Prize has had a tremendous effect on scholars, institutions, and national pride. Topics discussed include: recruitment and fund raising, salaries and other perks, "raids" from other institutions, students seeking out winners, publication declines, etc. (MLW)

President Richard M. Cyert of Carnegie Mellon University set establishing national visibility as a university-wide goal six years ago. The public relations office developed a hard-driving program centered on national media coverage. This program is described. (MLW)

Defends Blume's works by presenting internal evidence displaying the honesty and lack of exaggeration that make her books popular with adolescents and unpopular with critics. (CRH)

This paper presents two ways that schools can enhance their reputation: the annual back-to-school night and recognition programs for alumni. For back-to-school night, guests should be welcomed with enthusiasm and parents should be informed of the school's achievements. Since many staff members have never been coached on parent-friendly behavior,…

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation combined its concern that few top flight scholars are choosing the humanities for careers and its awareness of the current oversupply of humanities faculty to create a $24 million fellowship program to direct talented graduate students into English and comparative literature, American studies, history, classics,…