While institutions and systems of higher education in different countries have much to learn from each others' experiences in this period of substantial educational change, each must also be careful to examine its own conditions, needs, and mission before adapting further to competitive pressures. (MSE)

An overview is given of the American system of higher education, the government's role in it, its financing, demographics, and other issues significant to foreign college administrators. (MSE)

The 1981-83 "Study on the Future of Higher Education" funded by Britain's Leverhulme Foundation, a wide-ranging examination of British higher education, caused considerable debate within academe and government. (MSE)

The management of higher education change in the United Kingdom will require close attention to educational quality, cost effectiveness, and relevance. Despite the debate over growing government influence, there are good indications for government-institution cooperation. (MSE)

The relationship between the national government and the universities in Switzerland is outlined. It is suggested that the state should acknowledge universities as the best judges of many educational issues, and should establish laws that merely outline university responsibilities. (MSE)

The merging of four British teacher training institutions and the accompanying severe reduction in teaching staff is described, focusing on the teachers' role in the process, developing an administrative structure, and making decisions about program redundancy. (MSE)

The changing nature of evaluation of higher education during periods of financial stringency, possible contraction, and changing social and educational needs is examined. A case is made for hiring high-quality managers who can build consensus in institutions and overcome behavioral problems surrounding self-evaluation. (Author/MSE)

Government's role differs according to whether it restricts itself to creating a structural framework within which institutional performance evaluation takes place or takes the evaluative task on itself. Process-directed and output-directed evaluation are compared, with examples given from the Netherlands. (Author/MSE)

Questions of college performance in the United States are inevitably answered in terms of numbers rather than performance. A Tennessee policy links two percent of state funding to outcomes rather than size. The policy has major implications for funding and performance in colleges and other service-oriented institutions. (Author/MLW)

At Linkoping University in Sweden, research is organized with both interdisciplinary and problem-oriented approaches, organized in broad problem areas or themes instead of by discipline. The four themes are Public Health and Medical Care in the Community, Human Communication, Technology and Social Change, and Water in Nature and Society.…

Recommendations to improve the flexibility of university management, the division of labor and tasks among institutions of higher education, and the characteristics of the national methods for policy-making are discussed. The present crisis of higher education is explained as forthcoming from developments from the 1960s and 1970s. (Author/MLW)

Two interconnected problems are implicated in every model of state funding of universities: (1) every decision on norms, parameters and standards creates specific incentives in the system, often in unintended ways and unforeseen directions; (2) every model is an expression of the relationship between the state and universities. (Author/MLW)

The problem of having two "cultures" (the scientific and the literary) that do not communicate with each other, resulting in difficulty in adapting to the scientific revolution, is discussed. Another gap in society is identified: universities are sources of innovative ideas, but society does not exploit them. (Author/MLW)

Since 1975 the allocation of the academic staff at the University of Leyden has been based on a limited range of tasks and means. An allocation model for technical and administrative staff is described. Some remarks covering aspects related to the structuring of models are provided. (Author/MLW)

Data from a 1979 survey of American state agencies for higher education indicate that obstacles to modifying and/or terminating academic programs can be placed into eight categories. The eight categories and a variety of coping devices are discussed, and a conceptual coping process model is proposed. (Author/MLW)