Britain's conscious efforts to maintain traditional university autonomy and minimize state intervention are outlined and the special characteristics of this form of autonomy are noted. Whether or not this approach has been successful is discussed. (MSE)

The social, political, and economic history of Sweden's higher education is outlined from the perspective of various factions trying to maintain control. Decentralization of the traditional power structure and social and technological change pose a challenge for a new educational strategy and policy. (MSE)

Problems and potentials of planning in the University of California system are discussed, focusing on the changing context of planning, basic features of the planning system used, and the role of consultation with relevant interests, which is a key element in bridging gaps of opinion but also causes bottlenecks. (Author/MSE)

A major change has occurred in both economic theory and its effects on government economic policy and higher education. The change is reflected in intellectual climate, extended government control, strategies to bring higher education in line with labor market needs, academic standards, graduate employment, faculty quality, research, and industry…

Implications of a gradual change in the "pecking order" within higher education in the course of the 1970s are discussed. This change cuts across the traditional university/nonuniversity distinctions, and illustrates the growing vulnerability of certain types and disciplines of university education. Focus is on graduate employability. (MSE)

The trends and reforms of the French postsecondary education system show fundamental adaptation to new concerns, but the development is slow and uneven, being kept in check by certain well-established institutions. The main causes of malfunctions, attributed to it by students, employers, governments, and teachers, are identified and discussed.…

Recent developments in West German higher education's enrollment, educational access, graduate labor market, institutional diversity, finance, overall reforms, and relationships with government are outlined. It is suggested that major concerns in the 1980s will be for finance and graduate employment, at the same time that public priorities may…

Italy's Universities Act of 1981, designed to establish new hiring and working conditions for faculty, also initiates reform of university organization and teaching. Uniformity of faculty rank and terms of service, curtailment of anarchic growth, experimentation with new organizational and governance structures, and innovations in scientific…

Changes in Norwegian higher education in the 1960s and 1970s include a trend toward decentralization, increased concern for public spending and higher education's contribution to national economic well-being, enrollment shifts, focus on engineering and oil technology, admissions policy changes, and relatively little government encroachment.…

Developments in both universities and public sector postsecondary institutions are reviewed. Discussed are: status differences, government control, enrollment from 1971 to 1981, effects of structural change, women, engineering education reform proposals, professionalized studies, government policy, and staff reductions. (LB)

International education in the United States is a cluster of concepts in a variety of institutional patterns: technical assistance, comparative education, cultural exchange, languages, area studies, and education for global understanding. The idealistic side will have little legislative support in the 1980s, but the pragmatic side promises to…

International cooperation among European universities, thanks to the Conference of Rectors and Vice-Chancellors of the European Universities, is illustrated in three forms: special services, special activity cooperation, and general institutional cooperation. Upper-level administrators are entreated to use their influence to encourage such…

A discussion of the German Academic Exchange Service, an agency operating the majority of international exchange programs for university students and faculty, focuses on its role not only in program administration, but also in policy development on international mobility in higher education and financial aid to facilitate it. (MSE)

Sweden's efforts to internationalize higher education are chronicled, with particular reference to a number of target fields such as foreign languages, curricula, and international exchanges of students and faculty. Sweden may be unique in giving deliberate national priority to internationally-oriented educational policies. (MSE)

Since 1980, the University of Keele (England) and the Katholieke Hogeschool at Tilburg (Netherlands) have been developing joint programs of study between universities in the European community. The problems and practice of developing such links and those involved in fostering an innovative idea for cross-cultural studies are discussed. (MSE)