Drawing on findings from a recent study of the graduate student experience and the graduate school environment, the authors offer a series of recommendations designed to modify training in ways that would optimize student intellectual and personal development. Focus is on the student and the interrelation of intellectual and emotional factors.…

Using a multivariate cluster analysis procedure, the authors identified five distinct types of adult learners. The unique motivational profile for each is discussed within the context of the need for postsecondary institutions to be responsive to the range of educational motivations of their adult students. (Author/LBH)

A radical innovation in an academic department is described that involves student-centered, problem-focused organization, with project work replacing courses and students using self-evaluation. Implications are discussed. (Author/LBH)

Forty-one student corporations that relate to institutions of public higher education in the WICHE states are described based on questionnaire responses and interviews. They include corporations for associated students, bookstores, newspapers, housing, etc. (Author/LBH)

The infrequency of significant personal leadership in U.S. colleges and universities is traced to means/ends substitutions and to external distractions. As a result, administrators' attention is directed away from the purposes of their institutions. (LBH)

The question of educational effects in higher education is reexamined by studying the effects of academic departments (rather than entire colleges) and employing as criterion measures achievement tests appropriate for the individual departments. (Editor/LBH)

New editions of selected college textbooks have been found to be more difficult than former ones, and experiments show that students learn less effectively from the new editions. Guidelines are offered for choosing textbooks, such as writing style, conceptual density, and the utility of readability analyses. (Editor/LBH)

The hypothesis analyzed in this study is that grade "inflation" may be reflecting real increases in student achievement, demographic factors that may be related to grading, or institutional grading policies that permit grade point averages to rise even if grading standards remain unchanged. (Editor/LBH)

This study tested Tinto's theoretical model of attrition. After controlling for student sex, academic aptitude, and personality attributes, freshman persisters were found to have a significantly higher frequency of interactions along six dimensions than were voluntary leavers. (Editor/LBH)

If administrators are to reduce the rate of discontinuation by changing their selection, teaching, guidance, and support facilities, they must be guided by proper data. This study reports such data based on an investigation at Macquarie University. (Editor/LBH)

Five basic definitions of evaluation are identified: (1) evaluation as measurement; (2) evaluation as professional judgment; (3) evaluation as the assessment of congruence between performance and objectives (or standards of performance); (4) decision-oriented evaluation; and (5) goal-free/responsive evaluation. (Editor/LBH)

To compare diversity among institutions, the Stanford Project on Academic Governance established a typology with eight broad categories. These categories vary systematically on many features: environmental relations, professional task, and institutional complexity. They reflect diverse organizational features and different professional autonomy…

As part of a larger five-year analysis of the behavioral impact of modern management procedures on private liberal arts colleges, data were collected from administrators at 22 institutions of various enrollment size, admissions selectivity, and religious affiliation. With the exception of student dropout rates, most administrators are reasonably…

Since computerized information systems have not been able to satisfy the growing need for management information by higher education administrators, an alternative approach is described. It places the needs of decision-makers before those of systems developers and outlines a process for the collection, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of…

The relationship between certain aspects of job satisfaction and organizational role congruence was examined for 211 administrators in 22 private liberal arts colleges. Most were satisfied with most aspects of their jobs, with senior administrators more satisfied than mid-level administrators. (Editor/LBH)