European higher education policies that were first developed as an empirical, short-term response to financial difficulties at the start of the decade have now assumed a long-term strategic character that affects the relationships between government and higher education and between society and higher education. (MSE)

The trend toward increased institutional evaluation in Swedish higher education is examined from several viewpoints: as part of a broad system of policy formation, as a phase in an active process of change, and as an interactive process within a complex institution. (MSE)

Significant changes made in the French university system in a brief period, affecting teaching, curriculum, degree programs, and institutional evaluation, are examined to determine whether they represent a break from or continuation of an earlier situation. Issues underlying current trends are also discussed. (MSE)

An official British white paper and a law creating broad reforms in higher education reflect the government's acceptance and promotion of the ideology of privatization and are part of a policy trend affecting all levels of the educational system. (MSE)

An examination of internal and external forces on Belgian higher education suggests that the system is too closely controlled by economic and political forces in the labor market, which threatens to distort university life and higher education in general. (MSE)

Recent changes in Finnish higher education are characterized by increased political trust and a desire to give the system a more important social role, by increasing direct public accountability through institutional evaluation and encouraging internal leadership and academic self-regulation. The changes will require more advanced institutional…

Educational systems have been based on the assumption that the purpose and preferred activity in life is work, with the role of education to prepare students to make a living. Social and technological change forecast a world in which few people work, requiring drastically altered social and educational values. (Author/MSE)

The reduction of lifetime working hours in Western industrialized countries is increasing the need for research, particularly qualitative, on the leisure of the elderly. This approach has been taken in planning a new empirical study. (MSE)

A recent research project on foreign language needs in the Netherlands and an international seminar on foreign language needs are the basis for a discussion of two issues: (1) whether it is possible to quantify foreign language needs, and (2) whether suitable educational provisions can be made to meet those needs. (MSE)

A method of intercultural communication training is needed that allows people to retain their cultural identities and still function effectively in an intercultural situation. Seasoned negotiators have much experience that should be documented and systematized for this purpose, and all language training should contain cultural information. (MSE)

The ways in which innovative study abroad programs are responding to a variety of needs, and the reasons research in this area is increasingly important are discussed. Possible lines of inquiry are suggested, including studies of cultural, linguistic, educational, and professional impact on graduates. (MSE)

The state of both research and practice in the field of foreign language instruction for adults in Europe is outlined. The organization and dissemination of existing research is called for, including the special needs of migrants and the communities they enter. (MSE)

A worldwide policy dilemma exists in graduate research training. Governments, industry, and students urge universities to take a vocationalist approach while those training the students retain the notion of doctoral study as preparation for a scholarly life and admission to the academic community. More effective policy coordination is necessary.…

A mid-career survey of scientists and engineers who had and had not attained a doctoral degree examined their attitudes about the professional value of a doctoral degree in those fields. (MSE)

A discussion of recent changes in Norwegian graduate study and the role and attitudes of students within the system finds problems similar to other countries' in: program length and student financing, industry-academic salary differences, estimating demand for graduate degrees, the objectives of the training, and increasing women's participation.…