Search

When U.S. News & World Report began its ranking of American colleges in 1983, publishers in other countries quickly followed with their own hierarchical measures, providing consumer information (and opportunities for institutional marketing) while attempting to impact the quality of higher education. In the course of the last two decades, higher education ranking systems and "league tables" (as they are referred to in the United Kingdom and elsewhere) have emerged in dozens of countries. These rankings are conducted not only by media in the private sector, but also by professional associations and governments. Over the decades since higher education rankings first appeared, numerous debates have surfaced about their methodologies, objectivity, impact on colleges and universities, and role in the structure of accountability within nations that use them. Although there has been significant research, especially in the United States, about the ways in which rankings might be improved, there has been less research on what other countries have been doing and how their ranking systems differ from U.S. rankings. In addition, there has been very little research on how rankings may impact students' access to postsecondary education, their selection of particular colleges, and their paths to graduate from school and/or find employment. The goal for this monograph is to better understand the ways in which ranking systems function and how lessons learned from other countries that use higher education ranking systems might influence similar practices in the United States. Toward this end, this monograph chronicles recent efforts that have brought together rankers and researchers from around the world to study higher education rankings. The monograph includes three papers that were commissioned to examine various perspectives on rankings around the world and lessons they might provide for rankings in the United States: (1) The "U.S. News" College Rankings: A View from the Inside (Alvin P. Sanoff); (2) A Global Survey of Rankings and League Tables (Alex Usher and Massimo Savino); and (3) The Impact of Higher Education Rankings on Student Access, Choice, and Opportunity (Marguerite Clarke). Includes appendix: The Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions. (Contains 16 notes and 2 tables. Individual papers contain references.) [Jamie P. Merisotis, Alisa F. Cunningham, Arnold M. Kee, Tia T. Gordon, and Lacey H. Leegwater contributed to the introduction and "Next Steps."]

This collection of papers explores language socialization from very early childhood through adulthood. After "Introduction: Toward a Dynamic Model of Language Socialization" (Robert Bayley and Sandra R. Schecter), there are 16 papers in 4 parts. Part 1, "Language Socialization at Home," includes: (1) "Transforming Perspectives on Bilingual Language Socialization" (Lucinda Pease-Alvarez); (2) "Weaving Languages Together: Family Language Policy and Gender Socialization in Bilingual Aymara Households" (Aurolyn Luykx); (3) "Collaborative Literacy in a Mexican Immigrant Household: The Role of Sibling Mediators in the Socialization of Pre-School Learners" (Maria de la Piedra and Harriett D. Romo); and (4) "Growing Up Trilingual in Montreal: Perceptions of College Students" (Patricia Lamarre and Josefina Rossell Paredes). Part 2, "Language Socialization at School," includes: (5) "Representational Practices and Multi-Modal Communication in U.S. High Schools: Implications for Adolescent Immigrants" (Linda Harklau); (6) "Engaging in an Authentic Science Project: Appropriating, Resisting, and Denying 'Scientific' Identities" (KimMarie Cole and Jane Zuengler); (7) "Interrupted by Silences: The Contemporary Education of Hong Kong-Born Chinese Canadians" (Gordon Pon, Tara Goldstein, and Sandra R. Schecter); (8) "Novices and Their Speech Roles in Chinese Heritage Language Classes" (Agnes Weiyun He); and (9) "Language Socialization and Dys-Socialization in a South Indian College" (Dwight Atkinson). Part 3, "Language Socialization in Bilingual and Multilingual Societies," includes: (10) "Language Socialization and Second Language Acquisition in a Multilingual Arctic Quebec Community" (Donna Patrick); (11) "Growing a 'Banyavirag' (Rock Crystal) on Barren Soil: Forming a Hungarian Identity in Eastern Slovakia through Joint (Inter)action" (Juliet Langman); (12) "Multiliteracies in Springvale: Negotiating Language, Culture and Identity in Suburban Melbourne" (Heather Lotherington); and (13) "Terms of Desire: Are There Lesbians in Egypt?" (Didi Khayatt). Part 4, "Language Socialization in the Workplace," includes: (14) "Language Dynamics in the Bi- and Multilingual Workplace" (Christopher McAll); (15) "Back to School: Learning Practices in a Job Retraining Community" (Jill Sinclair Bell); and (16) "Bilingualism and Standardization in a Canadian Call Center: Challenges for a Linguistic Minority Community" (Sylvie Roy). (Contains approximately 475 references.) (SM)

This book contains papers presented at a conference focused on the subject of funding for higher education and providing comparative perspectives on, and case studies of, educational financing from around the world. After an introduction by Ernest L. Boyer, the papers and their authors are as follows: "The Costs of Higher Education: Worldwide Issues and Trends for the 1990s" (D. Bruce Johnstone); "Optimizing Allocation Strategy" (William F. Massy and Michael C. Hulfactor); "University Strategies for the Third Stream of Income" (John Furstenbach); "The Future of Higher Education Financing" (George Psacharopoulos); "Sources of Revenue" (Ihsan Dogramaci); "Are University Funding Systems in Need of an Overhaul?" (Karel Tavernier); "Industry-University Research Collaboration: An Option for Generating Revenue" (Linda Parker); "Higher Education Funding in Open Door China" (Richard A. Hartnett); "Toward Understanding the Economics of African Higher Education" (Teshome G. Wagaw); "Allocating Budgets Using Performance Criteria" (Michael A. Brown and David M. Wolf); "Changing Patterns in the Funding of University Education and Research: The Case of the Netherlands" (Cornelius A. Hazeu and Peter A. Lourens); "Issues in Funding Higher Education in Eastern Europe: The Cases of the Czech Republic and Slovakia" (James E. Mauch and Daniel S. Fogel); "Problems of Funding the Transformation of Higher Education in East Germany" (Helmut de Rudder); "Higher Education Funding in Australia" (Brian G. Wilson); "Canadian Universities and the Politics of Funding" (Howard Buchbinder and P. Rajagopal); and "Constructing the 'Post-Industrial University': Institutional Budgeting and University-Corporate Linkages" (Janice A. Newson). Contains an index. (GLR)