Increased focus on assessment of student learning in the accreditation of higher education institutions offers new, challenging opportunities for institutional researchers. This article explores how institutional researchers can maximize these opportunities by offering methodological guidance in the assessment process and by designing new studies…

There has developed moderate discussion in European higher education about the use of performance indicators for both accountability and evaluation purposes. This paper begins by summarizing governmental expectations, institutional objections, and several of the controversies surrounding performance measures. We then report on using performance…

In the last decade, the university sector in many European countries has undergone manifold changes in relation to the design of governance structures and processes. Accordingly, a board of governors with far-reaching competences was implemented by the latest reform of the Austrian higher education system in 2002. Drawing on an empirical research…

This article presents a case study of selection for graduate study at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in the Netherlands. The VU developed and implemented an assessment instrument for students with a vocational Bachelor degree wishing to pursue a Master's programme at the university. This instrument is new in the egalitarian higher education culture…

This article explains the development of, and presents a theoretical framework for, harnessing the roles of the academic middle manager in strategic innovation in Dutch higher education, thereby increasing higher education's ability to learn, innovate and develop a competitive advantage. The framework is developed from theoretical models of role…

Through case study research critical leadership and management tasks are identified regarding the integration of educational technology in teaching at research universities. The institutions studied, regardless their different characteristics and approaches, face common difficulties in engaging "second-wave" faculty. Furthermore, the coordination…

The article considers the importance of examining how members of university governing bodies understand and perform their roles in the politically complex context of contemporary higher education. While a growing body of scholarly literature is devoted to the study of university governance, much of this work neglects the human aspects of…

Although information technology is increasingly used to deliver distance and conventional courses, there have been few studies of the effect of technology-enhanced education on the organization and purposes of academics' instructional work. I explore this issue in undergraduate and masters level education through the vehicle of case analyses of…

The purpose of this paper is to report on who creates branding within institutions of higher learning, and what impact branding has on core institutional activities such as student recruitment and fundraising, as well as on socio-psychological factors such as community respect and national prestige. Eighty-nine tertiary education experts covering…

Integrating e-Learning in their educational delivery and support processes is one way of strategy formation higher education institutions can deploy to respond to their changing environment. In this article, the focus of such a strategy formation is on three strategic choices: traditional, face-to-face, campus-based education (back-to-basics),…

This study examines how external stakeholders, collaborators, and partners help shape the diversity agenda in post-secondary education. Results from a comparative case study analysis of four professional schools (public health, business, social work and engineering) at a large American research university suggest that external social actors are…

Higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide have been undergoing significant levels of structural change for a number of years, ranging from minor re-alignments of roles and responsibilities to radical changes such as the creation of new roles and new models of operating. This article discusses some initial findings from a recent UK-focused…

Increasing expectations are being placed on higher education institutions to ensure the economic relevance of research and knowledge creation as well as developing the skill needs of workers in modern knowledge-based societies. In the UK, workplace learning has long been a feature of higher education in certain subject areas, and in the late 1990s…

The aim of this study was to discover and better understand through a case study, the phenomenon of academic staff integration in a post-merger Chinese university. The analysis was undertaken by using a cultural framework derived from relevant literature. The results indicate that adjustments to academic values and beliefs, "the cultural…

This article examines emerging norms of good practice for Australian university governing boards and issues that university governing boards could address to develop effective governance cultures. It firstly considers the ways in which support for many Australian university governing boards has become professionalised over the past decade. At the…