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'World class universities' (WCU) are an issue of intense debate among the academic community. To define a WCU supposes that only those universities that fit the 'quality' criteria established under benchmarking conditions can be considered as such. The good news is that several dimensions could be used to defined excellence, not only classical academic and research criteria. This paper intends to address conceptual aspects of WCU with regard to relations between university 'mission' development and why, how and when an institution is considered a WCU from non-classical criteria. The main purpose of this paper is to propose new dimensions to rank University Missions. Going beyond teaching and research, the University Third Mission - services to Society - has at least 3 dimensions: a non profit - social - approach; an entrepreneur focus; and an innovative approximation. This paper will consider the various implications that a third mission measurement and benchmark could introduce in the controversial ranking business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rankings of universities that are based on aggregate measures ignore the discipline coverage within institutions. In this paper, for each of Australia's thirty-seven public universities, performance in research and teaching in broad discipline groups is evaluated and then aggregated up to obtain whole-of-institution rankings. Relative staff numbers are used as weights to aggregate research performance; student numbers are used to weight teaching performance. The performance attributes chosen are those that contribute to international academic standing. We find that the rankings of the Australian National University (ANU) and some technologically oriented universities are raised when scope is allowed for, but elsewhere the changes are minor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a short overview of the history of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF) and European Language Portfolio (ELP)1 and explains their aims and functions. It then provides a summary of the ELP use in Europe and in Spain by showing a pilot study of its implementation carried out at the Schools of Civil Engineering and Architecture in the Polytechnic University of Madrid, as well as including specific data derived from this study. The general results obtained so far have been mixed. Thus, whereas positive effects on the learning process, learning outcome, and learner motivation have been observed, many drawbacks have been likewise encountered by students and teachers, such as the rigidness of the self-assessment descriptors, the difficulty in handling and updating, and the amount of time and work that the implementation of the ELP involves. Finally, in view of these difficulties and drawing from our own experience, some suggestions particularly applicable to our case study are shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on student activity and how students experience learning. A teaching programme was both led and researched by the one teacher. The article describes a master's level teaching programme and presents the data collection strategies used by the teacher-researcher and presents learning viewed from the students' perspective. The teaching and researching processes are carried out in the framework of socio-cultural theory. In Vygotsky's and Bakhtin's theories, as part of the socio-cultural tradition, language and dialogue are viewed as decisive factors in learning and understanding, and hence in the researched teaching programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe's higher education system is currently undergoing a process of change and convergence in order to guarantee equal conditions for labour mobility within its borders. Spain, like any other European country, must adapt its legislation, homogenize its studies, and raise awareness among its educational institutions (beginning with their teaching staff) of the suitability and benefits that these changes involve. The aim of this article is to present the main results obtained from assessment of this pilot study of adaptation over the last five years. This longitudinal study covered questions such as the usefulness of the Course Guide as a basic resource for the teaching/learning process, and student performance and satisfaction with the new system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are broad concerns in Italy about public sector efficiency. Within the public sector higher education (HE) has a major role, providing the economy with research outputs and graduates. Italian universities claim to have expanded teaching and research services to keep pace with the growth of the "knowledge society." An important question is whether this expansion is benefiting the Italian HE sector. To address this issue, the cost structure of Italian university system is examined. A quadratic cost function is employed to test both the existence of efficiency linkages between teaching and research services and the presence of scale economies. These results are used to investigate the implications of a more specialized HE sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the importance of improving the cognitive processes of students in business studies today. When developing a curriculum in business studies at higher education level, thorough consideration should be given to all components of the learning and assessment processes. They should be tailored to real world dynamics so that they benefit students when they enter the world of work, and thus become a yardstick of successful changes in the management of higher education marketing programmes themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several teachers at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Belgrade recognised the need to improve teaching methods in order to actively involve students in the teaching process, help them learn more effectively, and reduce the low exam pass rate. This led to a purpose-designed course on improving academic skills, after which the author has been implementing interactive teaching methods for the past three academic years, with positive results in improving student exam performances as well as enabling the acquisition of valuable generic skills. Presented here are attempts to test students' ability to assess themselves and each other by introducing student peer reviewing and student self-assessment exercises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of group learning has increased significantly in higher education in the past two decades (Houldsworth and Mathews, 2000). The primary focus of this study is to explore the feelings and experience of students regarding group work and group assessment in higher education. The study is exploratory based on a qualitative focus group approach. Interestingly, students felt that group work is a significant method to foster the development of critical thinking through discussion, clarification of ideas, and evaluation of others' ideas. Students consider "poor communication" and "poor attendance at group meetings" as the main challenges they face when working within a group. Also, students identified "dedicated assignment seminars" as the most effective tool, which could be used to enhance the effectiveness of group work. This study reinforces the findings of previous research into group work suggesting that the experience is a generally positive one for students. Results are discussed in the context of current theoretical and empirical work on group-based learning, education implications and areas for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution deals with the development of entrepreneurship education at university level in Germany. Starting with a definition of the concept, the article focuses on relevant issues of entrepreneurship education, such as target groups and teaching formats. With particular emphasis on empirical studies carried out by the German Association for Promoting Academic Entrepreneurship Research (FGF), noteworthy milestones in the development of entrepreneurship education in Germany will be discussed, along with those trends that are likely to be important in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A global paradigm shift is taking place at the beginning of the Twenty-First Century, which is resulting in massive changes in the frames of reference about the ways of life, work, and society and how they are viewed and organized. This shift is essentially a sweeping set of worldwide changes in the public domain which challenges the prevailing orthodoxies of Western society; specifically, questioning the nature of truth and knowledge. These changes have been described by the use of such terms as post-industrialism, post-liberalism, and postmodernity. This changing social world is characterized by economic flexibility, technological complexity, cultural and religious diversity, moral and scientific uncertainty, and national insecurity. The ‘postmodern’ condition, therefore, has implications for the nature and professionalism of teaching. The work of teachers is already changing, owing to the dramatic changes in the world in which they work. This article attempts to identify the impact of postmodernism on the concept and practice of teaching, especially in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California State University/Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California, is a leader in distance learning in the twenty-three campus California State University system. A pioneer in distance learning in its system, California State University/Dominguez Hills now offers six degree programmes via the Internet and televises over thirty hours of classes per week. California State University/Dominguez Hills was recently named by Forbes magazine as one of twenty "Cyber Universities" in the United States. Five of the six on-line degree programmes offered by California State University/Dominguez Hills are Master's degree programmes; four of these are self-supporting, attracting students from around the world. The experience that California State University/Dominguez Hills has gained in distance learning places it in a unique position of leadership among state universities in the western United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]