This article reports on a seminar by the Critical Educational Policy and Leadership Research Interest Group in June 2012. The article reports on the papers and our engagement with the need to use theory to develop descriptions and understandings.

We examine the position and positioning of children in leadership studies through describing a project where we have worked with children as researchers and policymakers. The research group that we are a part of is located in a successful secondary school, and we have worked together over the past two years to find out more about student and staff…

Difficulties encountered by policy makers as they seek to preserve and increase efficiency in university management are discussed, using the system of higher education in West Germany as a frame of reference. Topics include the training, research, and service functions of the university, educational finance, and the state-university relationship.…

Transitions in the social and economic circumstances of Western postsecondary education are: changing numbers of students and jobs; the shift from elite values to educational goals that promote equality; the growing significance of the school government relationship; and stability rather than expansion. (JMD)

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)

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 results of a survey on Italian university and industry cooperation links are presented, focusing on the ideas both sectors have of a science park, of its compatibility with other similar forms, and of its capability to foster cooperation between universities and firms. (Author/MLW)

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)

Some aspects of a study designed to illustrate relations between the size of units and their teaching, research and service outputs, or the structure of their resources are presented. Resources and outputs were measured by total expenditure, hours of teaching, publications, citations, etc. Size was defined by expenditure on staff. (Author/MLW)

Studies done at five Canadian universities designed to test an analytic technique that enables the researcher to develop a utility function for each faculty in an institution are reported. A tool for the identification of two power indices--influence in budgetary allocation and academic policymaking--is provided. (MLW)

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)