British higher education has expanded substantially and experienced major changes in funding and structure since 1987, including merger of university and polytechnic systems into a single system. These changes have not been matched by appropriate internal changes of values, purpose, and activity. Britain now has a massive system that remains…

The variety of approaches taken by urban universities in partnerships with local communities is examined, and a number of related issues are addressed, including implementation of partnerships, the proper role for the university in applied work, adaptation of institutional structures and processes, determination of who should benefit from…

Higher education is being asked to pay more attention to student learning and to contribute to advancement of community social and economic conditions. As a result, educational institutions will no longer be self-contained. Community members and organizations have become critical partners in framing goals and intentions of educational reform, and…

Edited excerpts from three sessions of a conference on metropolitan universities present perspectives on what cities will look like in the new millennium, and on leadership and service responsibilities of metropolitan universities. Also, excerpts from these and other papers are presented on the following themes: diversity, mission, facing hard…

Management education is struggling with two distinct approaches: an objective approach, the professional education model, which emphasizes theory, academic assessment, breadth of subject matter, and technical problem-solving; and an interpretive approach, action learning, which values practice, managerial assessment, depth of subject matter, and…

The evolution of the programs and curriculum at Palo Alto College (Texas), a community college in which minorities form the majority and nontraditional students are the norm, is described from the perspective of a teacher. Focus is on strategies for acculturating nontraditional students to the culture of the academic classroom. (MSE)

Faculty evaluation and reward definitions should include an expanded definition of scholarly teaching and service. Community college faculty, who focus on teaching, should participate in the public discussion of faculty roles to shape its outcome, to strengthen ties with four-year institutions, and to clarify their own role. (JB)

Earlier patterns of college school partnerships do not meet today's needs. Partnerships should promote preschool through college level reform because elementary and secondary school education are inextricably bound up with college education. In six cities, Community Compacts are bringing together leaders from higher education, elementary secondary…

Local educational reform efforts involving school systems, higher education, and the community must address educational pipelines through college and systemic deterrents like health, stress, and violence. A sense of moral imperative will bind collaborators in a new spirit of cohesiveness and community. Educational reform efforts in Birmingham…

Urban university leaders must reestablish public confidence through communication, clear mission and identity, deregulation of higher education, confrontation of fiscal realities and urban mission, and a recreated sense of community. Leadership types include several models and the complex challenges of urban universities demand effective…

A discussion of the issue of providing access to higher education for people of color chronicles briefly the history of black higher education and looks at some strategies used effectively by colleges and universities to overcome color barriers and promote learning simultaneously. (MSE)

Higher education seems to be traveling along four change paths, each of which represents a way for the outreach function to add value to institutional capacity and identity. Theses paths are identified and compared with regard to specific outcome sought, primary means used, resource allocations, and (4) changes made in the faculty reward system.…

Explores the current structure of public higher education and its origins, and discusses why it will not serve well in the rapidly changing world of the new century. Proposes a different and more effective structure, based on the model of today's urban university. (EV)