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The paper attempts to identify the extent to which modes of knowledge can be associated with different patterns of and assumptions about power. It discusses the meanings and scope of power itself, i.e. both within and beyond epistemic communities, as against "social robustness" implying more democratic or inclusive forms of evaluation. It analyses the extent to which knowledge has shifted from an internalist perspective relying on the prestige of epistemic communities towards socially relevant assumptions resting within social contexts. It discusses the factors affecting types of power patterns, such as: the nature of sponsors' objectives and the uses to which they might put knowledge; epistemic characteristics; the nature of the resource required, and the stage of finalisation reached. It sketches the range of models of sponsorship to which knowledge is subjected--from that of the free standing and autonomous individual through different patterns of sponsorship to the directly managed. It attempts to link these classifications to a range of empirical examples, including the power of knowledge in government and in crossing the boundaries between universities and industry. In discussing the reciprocal relationships between power and knowledge, it accepts that power affects the identification, use and transmission of knowledge. It is concerned, however, to question over determined perspectives of the relationships between knowledge and power whose mutual impacts may be strong but not easily predicted or defined.

This paper assesses some of the framework issues, of policy and provision, which affect the connections between teaching and research in higher education. The presumption of an essential linkage between research and teaching has in recent years been eroded by the sheer quantities of the system. In spite of the enduring appeal of the Humboldtian model, it was not always assumed in the UK and is not assumed in many other systems. The arguments for and against the connection are noted and assessed. The arguments in favour are mainly in terms of the advantages to research; and arguments from teaching are more difficult to specify. Both sets of considerations entail thought about the nature of knowledge as it is created and mediated through universities, and the corresponding identities and roles of university teachers. A broadening of concept from research to that of disciplined enquiry enables the scope of university forms of enquiry to be widened to include applied research, research and development as well as scholarship. It is argued that all university teachers should be involved in one or other form of disciplined enquiry, even if only a minority can be involved in research in the traditional meanings of the word.

Explores perspectives from which to examine government-university relations in different countries, and discusses examples in the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France, and Germany. Trends in Eastern and Central Europe are also considered briefly. Issues of both administration and governance are included. (MSE)

An international workshop in which higher education professionals discussed ways to meet the needs of an increasingly nontraditional student population is summarized. Issues addressed included projected trends in student demography, implications for college and university management, alternative approaches for meeting student needs, and development of appropriate institutional strategies. (MSE)

Abstract The importance of health research utilisation in policy-making, and of understanding the mechanisms involved, is increasingly recognised. Recent reports calling for more resources to improve health in developing countries, and global pressures for accountability, draw greater attention to research-informed policy-making. Key utilisation issues have been described for at least twenty years, but the growing focus on health research systems creates additional dimensions. The utilisation of health research in policy-making should contribute to policies that may eventually lead to desired outcomes, including health gains. In this article, exploration of these issues is combined with a review of various forms of policy-making. When this is linked to analysis of different types of health research, it assists in building a comprehensive account of the diverse meanings of research utilisation. Previous studies report methods and conceptual frameworks that have been applied, if with varying degrees of success, to record utilisation in policy-making. These studies reveal various examples of research impact within a general picture of underutilisation. Factors potentially enhancing utilisation can be identified by exploration of: priority setting; activities of the health research system at the interface between research and policy-making; and the role of the recipients, or 'receptors', of health research. An interfaces and receptors model provides a framework for analysis. Recommendations about possible methods for assessing health research utilisation follow identification of the purposes of such assessments. Our conclusion is that research utilisation can be better understood, and enhanced, by developing assessment methods informed by conceptual analysis and review of previous studies.

One educator criticizes another's characterization (HE 530 510) of national research councils as part of a linear multitiered structure, interpretation of the roles of two British councils, and assumptions about decision-making and policy-setting processes. (MSE)

The professor emeritus of government and director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Public Policy and Practice at Brunel University argues that the UK government's white paper on higher education and the Bologna process threaten the dynamics and values of higher education in the UK. It is suggested that the white paper and Bologna show no sympathy for or knowledge of the dynamics of higher education and that academics working in the UK higher education system are already working with their European colleagues without the plans contained within the various proposals.

The importance of health research utilisation in policy-making, and of understanding the mechanisms involved, is increasingly recognised. Recent reports calling for more resources to improve health in developing countries, and global pressures for accountability, draw greater attention to research-informed policy-making. Key utilisation issues have been described for at least twenty years, but the growing focus on health research systems creates additional dimensions. The utilisation of health research in policy-making should contribute to policies that may eventually lead to desired outcomes, including health gains. In this article, exploration of these issues is combined with a review of various forms of policy-making. When this is linked to analysis of different types of health research, it assists in building a comprehensive account of the diverse meanings of research utilisation. Previous studies report methods and conceptual frameworks that have been applied, if with varying degrees of success, to record utilisation in policy-making. These studies reveal various examples of research impact within a general picture of underutilisation. Factors potentially enhancing utilisation can be identified by exploration of: priority setting; activities of the health research system at the interface between research and policy-making; and the role of the recipients, or 'receptors', of health research. An interfaces and receptors model provides a framework for analysis. Recommendations about possible methods for assessing health research utilisation follow identification of the purposes of such assessments. Our conclusion is that research utilisation can be better understood, and enhanced, by developing assessment methods informed by conceptual analysis and review of previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slippery use to which the word 'community' is applied in higher education studies and pronouncements makes it desirable that it should be better defined and related to more bounded assumptions about individual academic identity and relationships within academe. There is discussion of the academic communities of the invisible colleges and their modes of internal governance by elites and the communitarian implications of the changing pattern of institutional management. The relationship of academics and their institutions to the wider world of society and the economy is considered. It is concluded that external connections are not best pursued through assumptions of shared community but of acceptance of differentiation and exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recommendations of the Dearing Report concerning research organisation and content are critically examined. Many of them are seen to be benign and to adopt an appropriately pluralist approach to the objectives and working of the higher education system. The report is criticised, however, on several grounds. The Committee had a fragile grasp of the nature of knowledge and of its modes of production, and failed to remedy this by consulting sufficiently available international and national research. It is, therefore, inadequate as an example of the way in which research on higher education should be used in determining higher education policy. It takes for granted conventional wisdom on several key issues: the application of selectivity in research funding; the priority to be given to areas identified in the still largely unevaluated Technology Foresight programmes, and the relationships between uni- and multi-disciplinary work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the ways in which institutions and academics might creatively determine their plans for research, in the light of the assessment exercises. It is difficult to know how to be systematic and optimistic about generating and completing research; most of the best efforts come from individuals' own initiatives rather than from the proddings of an assessment machine or a quality industry. That does not mean, however, that we should not try to think about research in a systematic fashion but the system does little to help us do so. The second problem is that the policies underlying the assessment exercises are largely wrong, and designed to be purgative rather than developmental, reductionist rather than a contribution to creating a larger and more useful scientific base in this country. The paper spends some time on these uncertainties, because they inevitably affect what academic groups just coming to terms with the research mission can and should do. It then discusses ways in which academics can build up their own academic mandates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines conflicting views of the place of the DES in the making of education policy at large and higher education in particular. It demonstrates how it changes over time and in different policy contexts. It documents different views of the status of the Department within Whitehall and seeks to account for its alleged separateness from the rest of government. An analysis of the relationships with the Treasury and the PESC system is offered. The connections with policy communities and the role of DES ministers are noted. The competence of the DES is appraised, against the status accorded to non-economic departments generally. The ability of the DES to generate stronger support for higher education is discussed in the context of the weakness of higher education as a political issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance measurement is a vital part of the new managerialism in higher education. Measuring inputs is relatively easy, but measuring outputs in a way that does justice to issues of quality is more difficult. Until those quality issues are resolved, performance measurement will be viewed by academics as an externally imposed constraint rather than the means by which they judge themselves. INSET: Output and Quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Humberside Reorganization Project PREPARATIONS FOR CHANGE, R. G. S. Brown, S. Griffin and S. C. Haywood, April 1973, pp. 62, £0.75; WAITING FOR GUIDANCE, R. G. S. Brown, S. Griffin and S. C. Haywood, November 1973, pp. 41, £0.50; THE SHADOW AND THE SUBSTANCE, R. G. S. Brown, S. Griffin and S. C. Haywood, July 1974, pp. 62, £1.00; NEW BOTTLES: OLD WINE, R. G. S. Brown, S. Griffin and S. C. Haywood, September 1975, pp. 125, £1.50. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Provides an overview of the book "Planning for Welfare: Social Policy and the Expenditure," edited by T. A. Booth.

The article discusses introducing evaluation into a national decentralized educational system. It discusses an international seminar held in Oslo, Norway, in May 1989. Basically, participants had 15 papers addressing a strategic question: How can government use evaluation to guide education while attempting to decentralize both administrative structure and pedagogical content. The 15 international experts include 6 from Norway, 4 from Sweden, 4 from the United States, and 1 from Great Britain. After a brief review of the Norwegian system by Marit Granheim, the first four papers by Ulf Lundgren, Hans Weller, Jon Langlo, and Kjell Eide are focused on education and decentralization. These writers are heavily influenced by the late seventies' and eighties' discussion of the linkage between decentralization and modernization, basically the need to bypass the heavy hand of centralized bureaucracies. Lundgren is quick to point out that evaluation can be the fourth dimension of the government's "steering system" completing legal, economic and ideological controls. Decentralization carries in its wake an increased need for coordination and articulation.

The article features the Haldane essay competition that was held in Great Britain in year 1980. Only 16 competitors have submitted essays for the said competition. The subject of the most entries relied on detailed historical or original contemporary case studies. Some attempted more speculative essays on the larger constitutional and political themes. The first place award was given to 'Boadicea' for her/his essay on 'Women in the Civil Service.' The said competitor received a silver medal award and a prize money worth £100.

Provides an overview of the book "Power and Responsibility in Health Care: The National Health Service As a Political Institution," by W. J. M. MacKenzie.