Search

In this paper we present the Advancing Racial Equity in Community College Model which maps out the organizational conditions shaping institutional transformation. Focused on two dimensions, the level of "organizational support" and "shared responsibility" to enact equity, we describe four quadrants with distinct organizational conditions that shape how equity advocates design, build, and sustain equity efforts. With well-documented racial inequities and renewed calls for racial justice across higher education, it demands new ways of exploring and understanding how institutional actors leading equity efforts are nested within differing organizational contexts that can enable as well as restrict the enactment and success of racial equity efforts. Our model helps equity advocates gain an "awareness" of known barriers to implementation in higher education, assess the readiness of their campus for racialized change, and take action to build the necessary institutional support and capacity to move the work forward.

This paper relates how leaders of a higher education program, the Wisconsin Collaborative Education Research Network, sparked and managed innovation across communities of scholarship, research, and practice. This paper uses a "design narrative" method to describe how leaders orchestrated organizational change by bringing diverse communities together into research-practice partnerships. The narrative uses the idea of "boundary objects" to describe how initiatives were progressively developed to create more inclusive spaces for sustained innovation. The insights and the capacity that resulted from initial design efforts created a richer space for subsequent initiatives. The paper shows how design narratives can illustrate the role that boundary objects can play in organizational change and concludes with a discussion of the role that leaders can play in creating inclusive cultures of innovation in higher education.

Change moves fast, and organizations can struggle to keep up. Mergers and acquisitions create new organizations, and managerial charts flatten, with fewer layers of administration in the middle causing people to be expected to do more with less. The optimal way to achieve critical outcomes is by scaling development opportunities across the entire organization. The following 3 key strategies outlined in this paper will help more quickly achieve concrete results, future-proof the organization, and drive an inclusive culture of learning: (1) Plan your leadership strategy; (2) Provide access to relevant content; and (3) Leverage internal and external talent.

The uncertainty and disruption imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic are so extensive that they will far outlast the pandemic itself. It is difficult to scale leadership development when staff is constantly shifting and leaders are struggling just to keep up with the day-to-day challenges of their work and personal lives. HR and L&D (learning and development) professionals need tools and solutions that allow them to access research-backed content and deliver transformational development experiences across the enterprise. A strong leadership development partner can stay on top of the latest research and trends, anticipate needs, and help pivot quickly to scale large organizational changes in the timeframe needed. The key to successfully scaling leadership development is devising a strategy at the outset. Once the strategy is secured, it is imperative to have the processes and the talent in place to support the initiative and to be able to execute rapidly. When scaling leadership development, it's essential to focus on the following 3 principles presented in this white paper: (1) PLAN Your Leadership Strategy; (2) PROVIDE Access to Relevant & Flexible Leadership Content; and (3) LEVERAGE Internal and External Talent.

Professional societies (ProSs) are instrumental in shaping science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) cultural norms. Existing legacy structures designed to serve majority groups and constructed in service of dominant norms and values present a clear obstacle to attracting, retaining, and serving minoritized STEM professionals, such as women, particularly women with additional intersecting marginalized statuses (Solebello et al., 2016). In this perspective article, we in the Amplifying the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success project, known as ACCESS+, explain our development of an adapted diversity, equity, and inclusion assessment tool. ACCESS+ is an NSF ADVANCE Partnership that is adapting a pre-existing tool known as the Diversity and Inclusion Progression Framework, which was developed in the United Kingdom jointly by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Science Council (2021). As with the original version, the purpose of the U.S. adaptation--the Equity Environmental Scanning Tool, or EEST--is to provide STEM ProSs with a way to benchmark their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, discern areas of organizational strength, and identify foci for organizational remediation. In this piece, we share background information for EEST refinement, including content adaptations and structural changes.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional societies (ProS) are uniquely positioned to foster national-level diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) reform. ProS serve broad memberships, define disciplinary norms and culture, and inform accrediting bodies, thus providing "excellent leverage with which to design and promote change" (National Academy of Sciences et al., 2005). ProS could be instrumental in achieving the DEI culture reform necessary to optimize engagement of all STEM talent by leveraging disciplinary excellence resulting from diverse teams. Inclusive STEM culture reform requires that underlying "mental models'' be examined (Kania et al., 2018). The "Inclusive Professional Framework for Societies (IPF:Societies)" can help ProS change leaders (i.e., "boundary spanners'") and organizations identify and address mental models hindering DEI reform. "IPF:Societies" uses four "I's"--Identity awareness and Intercultural mindfulness (i.e., equity mindset) on which Inclusive relationships and Influential DEI actions are scaffolded. We discuss how "IPF:Societies" complements existing DEI tools. We explain how "IPF:Societies" can be applied to existing ProS policy and practice associated with common ProS functions (e.g., leadership, membership, conferences, awards, and professional development). Next steps are to pilot "IPF:Societies" with a cohort of STEM ProS. Ultimately, "IPF:Societies" has potential to promote more efficient, effective, and lasting DEI organizational transformation, and contribute to inclusive STEM disciplinary excellence.

In today's business world, change and disruption are the new normal. It's not uncommon for companies, industries, and even the world at large to be turned upside down seemingly overnight. With the fast pace of change, adaptable leadership is no longer just an asset, it's a necessity. Executives who display adaptable leadership seek new and innovative ways to solve problems, master new skills, and view disruption as a challenge rather than a threat -- skills needed to prevail through uncertain times. Adaptable leadership is a term that's used often without a concrete definition or understanding of what it is. In this white paper we'll clarify what it means to be adaptable, and the 3 behaviors that our research at CCL has identified as critical. As a result, you'll be able to approach adaptable leadership in a more practical way and establish a foundation for recognizing and developing the skill in yourself and others on your team.

With the widespread onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Australian universities anticipated a significant loss of students and revenue and hence forecast the need for significant job reductions. Using Higher Education Statistics (HES) data on student numbers and full-time equivalent (FTE) staff by field of study, we explored changes which occurred between 2019 and 2020, this data only becoming publicly available in 2022. Against expectations, and with the exception of the field of study of Management and Commerce, nationally student numbers did not decline, but increased marginally. Our interest lay in the impact of this on casual academic staff employment in Australia's public universities, noting institutional strategies of having a flexible pool of casual staff to manage fluctuations in student demand. While the HES data does not allow firm conclusions, trends may become clearer with the release of the 2021 data. Nonetheless, it appears that many universities reduced casual academic staff numbers and marginally increased full and part time appointments. Overall, there were fewer academic staff to teach a static or increased number of students. What this exercise suggests is that irrespective of student enrolments, some universities may have used the pandemic as an opportunity for restructures and academic renewal. It also highlights the difficulties that universities may experience in managing their academic workforce.

When HR executives and buyers prioritize leadership development options for their senior leaders, corporate coaching is often at the top of the list. Particularly in times of profound change and disruption, executives and senior-level managers need the support of a coach who can help them filter through noise and make clear decisions that propel their organizations into the future. And with research from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) showing that 86% of organizations see an ROI on their coaching engagements, the benefits of corporate coaching are significant. But as the coaching industry continues to evolve under the influence of a 'new world of work' -- one that is increasingly digital, agile, and transformed for the post-pandemic world -- how will buyers expect corporate coaching to meet these new challenges? To lead their organizations through massive transformations, senior leaders will need coaches who are specialized -- not just in a particular industry, but on a specific topic. These specialized coaches must be familiar with relevant research and industry trends, and they must have the ability to analyze data to help leaders solve unprecedented challenges. The future will see corporate coaching that's focused on an organization's overall strategy, ultimately helping that organization achieve its mission by crafting senior leaders who are able to operate at peak performance.

Movement to fully open-access electronic scholarly publication has been hampered by the conflicting interests of universities, private publishers, researchers themselves, and those who fund research. The situation interacts strongly with traditions regarding peer review and the ways in which researchers establish stature within their fields. Progress to date has led to seemingly awkward and probably transient systems of dual publication or dual publication status, including green, gold, and hybrid open access. There are also efforts to establish pay-to-publish as the standard model to replace pay-to-read. The ultimate situation should be immediate open-access electronic posting of results of all research, with pre-posting peer reviews solicited by the author rather than a journal editor, following any institutional policies regarding the type and amount of pre-publication peer review. There could then also be publications and/or web sites that harvest among posted articles selectively for further attention and may be fee-based, but open-access would be the primary and recognized form of publication. There are several things that research universities can do to encourage this transition. One is to provide or arrange for services to facilitate preparation and posting of articles and books in open-access repositories. Another is to make the contents of repositories readily discoverable in searches. The provost should be a central actor toward these ends, since faculty matters, the library, institutional publishing services, and often computing typically report to the provost. A provost can encourage policies for reviews of faculty members that do not consider pre-publication peer reviews and measures of journal quality and which instead give more attention to cumulative and integrated accomplishments than to individual papers. Shared governance provides useful ways of working with the faculty to promote recognition of the value of online, open-access publication. Engaging the interests and support of the most intellectually respected and senior faculty members can be particularly helpful.

Under the Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success (iPASS) initiative, 45 two- and four-year colleges have undertaken reforms that aim to provide students with seamless, holistic advising experiences that lead to improved academic outcomes. Colleges participating in iPASS have adopted a data-oriented approach to select and integrate new technologies into their advising practices to facilitate better interactions between students, faculty, advisors, and other student services staff. Based on research on iPASS and other advising redesign efforts, the Community College Research Center (CCRC) developed an evidence-based framework for advising redesign called SSIPP, which emphasizes a "sustained," "strategic," "integrated," "proactive," and "personalized" approach to advising. This paper describes the key principles of the SSIPP framework and illustrates how these principles have been adopted in reforms. The information and recommendations shared here are derived primarily from qualitative research conducted when iPASS reforms were being developed. The focus is on examples of practice and lessons learned.

Learning for Sustainability (LfS) is a key component of Scottish Education. However, policy interpretation and enactment is a complicated process and there can often be a difference between policy intentions and implementation. The following research explores how one campus (for pupils aged 2-18) in Scotland undertook a year-long all staff career long professional learning programme (CLPL) to develop a whole campus approach to Learning for Sustainability. The aim of this research project was to better understand the implications (opportunities and challenges) at a whole school / campus and teacher level when developing a whole school / campus approach to Learning for Sustainability. Three semi-structured interviews were carried out, with focus groups made up of a small group of teaching staff, members of the senior management team, as well as a follow up interview with the head teacher. A theoretical thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the data and applied to further explore the emergence of these elements from the CLPL discussion forums including contributions from all participating staff members. The three main themes identified were: collaboration and collegiality; processes of change; and attitudes to learning and to change. The study revealed a tension between the need for both teachers and management to have an identified person 'leading' the agenda, and the need for that agenda to develop in a culture of collegiately and shared responsibility. There was also an interesting contrast between deep and shallow learning for both teachers and managers. The study also provided useful learning for other organisations leading the agenda for change, which can be summarised into three key recommendations: (1) Organisational leaders should engage with suitable learning prior to developing a leadership of change model for their organisation, which includes a distributed model of leadership; (2) Methods of professional learning for all practitioners should include an engagement with reflective activities, which enables them to access deeper and more transformational learning; and (3) Large organisations should work with community-led groups and be sensitive to local contexts to establish a vision, which clearly articulates the imperative is the responsibility of all.

Internationally, Australia's tertiary education system, comprising the higher education and vocational education and training (VET) sectors, is highly regarded, with both sectors subject to ongoing national review and reforms. This paper explores in detail the multiple issues that lie at what might be termed the "boundaries and connections" between these sectors. The purpose of this occasional paper is twofold, the first being to provide a brief illustration and commentary on the relative trend change and potential trajectories of Australia's vocational education and training (VET) sector by comparison with the higher education sector. This provides the necessary context for the second objective, which is to explore in detail the multiple issues that lie at what might be described as the "boundaries and connections" between these two components of the tertiary education sector.

Since 2012, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has maintained a statewide predictive analytics system providing schools with an early warning in middle grades of students at risk for not completing high school. DPI is considering extending and enhancing this system, known as the Dropout Early Warning System (DEWS). The proposed enhancements include better understanding how and why schools use a tool like DEWS, supports and training necessary to translate DEWS into school change, and extending DEWS into other domains such as college and career readiness. This paper identifies national models of predictive analytic systems in education, including a focus on the Early Warning Implementation Monitoring System (EWIMS) (National High School Center, 2013). The paper explores how such policies might succeed in achieving their goals (e.g., dropout prevention and reduction of predictive at-risk behaviors), ways that districts and schools can make the policies more successful, and how states and state agencies like DPI might strengthen the policies, thereby facilitating local success. The paper recommends that DPI consider: (1) fostering a network of schools for professional development and support of implementation of predictive analytics like DEWS and EWIMS; (2) developing modifications of predictive analytic indicators to measure short-term change and progress; (3) merging predictive analytics with findings of current research funded by the statewide longitudinal data system grant that will identify effective strategies for supporting students with different at-risk profiles; (4) soliciting schools for voluntary implementation of the full DEW/EWIMS model; and (5) sponsoring research on existing practices of how schools identify and intervene on behalf of at-risk students. The analysis and recommendations of the paper should not be considered as final but rather as material for further discussion and deliberation--in essence as food for thought and inquiry. The paper is organized as follows. First is a description of the details of DEWS as an example of implementation of a predictive analytics tool. Second is a logic model of the policy, which is the theory of change underlying its intended positive effects on outcomes. Third, beginning an initial assessment of the theory of change tracing the policy from schools and students, is an analysis of the strength of predictive analytic policies, using a framework developed by Porter, Floden, Freeman, Schmidt, & Schwille (1988). Fourth, following the logic model to the school level, is an analysis of the characteristics of organization and process required for successful implementation in schools, using a framework developed by Gamoran and colleagues (2003). Finally, the paper turns to the question of how outside agencies might enable successful implementation of predictive analytics, with a description of the results of a study of how three school districts supported use of college readiness indicators, followed by a discussion of how DPI might strengthen its own policies.

Many leaders recognize that coaching is more than a collection of effective techniques. This recognition has led them to strive for a corporate culture that reflects a coaching mindset and the kind of relationships that coachees find liberating. As many more leaders have experienced the benefits of coaching (by professional coaches or mentors) the appeal has expanded dramatically and so has the demand for interventions that can deliver this kind of culture. Leaders whose organizations have learned to adapt to rapid, turbulent change have developed an obsession with getting the culture and cultures within their organizations right. Culture and its expressions shape the practical and emotional environment in which we work, and influences the ways organizations accomplish their goals. Expanding on this conversation, this paper defines coaching culture, provides practical expressions of as well as unhelpful assumptions about coaching culture, and offers tips on what works and where to begin.

Universities throughout the world are trending toward more performance based methods to capture their strengths, weaknesses and productivity. Hiroshima University has developed an integrated objective measure for quantifying multifaceted faculty activities, namely the "Achievement-Motivated Key Performance Indicator" (A-KPI), in order to visualize the strengths and weaknesses of the university, while balancing versatile faculty activities university-wide. We believe any reform efforts should be based on accurate understanding of the status quo through rigorous self-assessment. This uniquely developed KPI could be a starting point for shaping a stronger faculty body, with each motivated faculty member striving to achieve his or her professional expertise while balancing the distribution of overall efforts as a single institution with shared visions and missions. The individual A-KPI scores calculated for all the faculty members at Hiroshima University reveal that the faculty activities are unevenly distributed for some schools, with a majority of professors devoting their efforts to teaching and thesis advising, and much less toward academic publications and/or the acquisition of external funding. More balanced distributions between teaching and research oriented activities are observed for the faculties of other schools. Our analysis suggests that the overall performance would be improved through more efficient and well-balanced time allocation among faculty members.

In 2001, the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) was created to "stimulate collaboration between selected liberal arts colleges and to act as a catalyst for the effective integration of emerging and newer digital technologies into teaching, learning, scholarship, and information management." In July 2015, NITLE migrated its operations from Southwestern University to the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). In conjunction with this migration, CLIR initiated a rigorous analysis of NITLE's current condition and the needs of its constituents. CLIR's assessment of NITLE comprises three interrelated activities: (1) composing a history of NITLE and setting it in the larger context of organizations devoted to technology in liberal education; (2) conducting interviews with key stakeholders in NITLE's past, present, and potential future; (3) and designing, administering, and analyzing a survey of current and former NITLE members and interested parties. These activities resulted in a rich, textured picture of the organization and the many ways in which it engaged with its members over the years. Based on the analysis performed for this report, the authors believe that a future organization seeking to serve constituents similar to those served by NITLE should: (1) Maintain a liberal arts college focus; (2) Perform market research to determine how a future organization should support members at the local and/or national level; (3) Clearly articulate the organization's mission, primary audience, and value proposition; (4) Ensure that membership fees are in line with members' perceived return on investment; (5) Develop a culture of ongoing assessment; (6) Regularly communicate with members; and (7) Distinguish the organization from others with similar audience or mission. The following are appended: (1) NITLE Competitors 1997-2015: Audiences, Value Propositions, and Business Models; (2) NITLE Assessment Project: Interview Protocol; (3) Survey Questions; and (4) Organizational Acronyms. (References and Selected Bibliography are included.)

This white paper by ICF International's Caitlin Howley discusses commonalities and differences among various understandings of readiness and highlights conceptualizations of readiness for change in selected change models. How leaders can use such theories to best to prepare their organizations--and the people enlivening them--for new ways of achieving goals is also addressed. Individuals and organizations undertake change for a variety of reasons--to improve the human condition, increase efficiency and productivity, respond to new or altered social and political contexts and priorities, achieve personal or collective goals, or correct earlier missteps. Across a variety of markets and disciplines, readiness for reform or organizational change is an important predictor of how successfully new policies, programs, or practices will be implemented. (Contains 47 endnotes.)

Given diminished governmental support, competition from private counterparts, and public demands for access to services, public universities need to respond in an effective manner to take advantage of opportunities and meet the challenges of today's highly competitive environment. A critical factor in meeting these challenges is the manner in which these institutions are governed. Today's governance structures must enhance institutions' ability to generate resources from multiple sources--tuition and fees, gifts from donors, governmental support, and partnerships with the private sector. To achieve this, authority must be vested at a level where institutions can respond to challenges and opportunities in a timely and nimble fashion. The history of governance of public higher education is characterized by a wide range of models--a single governing board responsible for a single institution, a board overseeing a university with branch campuses, university systems with a single governing board for multiple universities. Changes in governance have occurred in response to difficult economic times, like the Great Depression, or the need to meet increased student demand including the surge in enrollment in the 1960s. The challenges facing today's public universities involve not only finances but also the need to use technology to respond to student demand for instructional services and to partner with both government and the private sector. This paper proposes a governance structure for public higher education systems that reinforces the strengths of traditional models while creating opportunities to streamline governance responsibilities in order to strengthen decision making. Contains a bibliography.

Community colleges and broad-access four-year institutions have a crucial role to play in increasing educational equity in the United States. In order to fulfill this role, however, institutions must engage in organizational change to address their low completion rates. Drawing on qualitative case studies of six colleges, this study explores the influence of different types of leadership approaches on the implementation of a technology-mediated advising reform, and assesses which types of leadership are associated with transformative organizational change. Expanding on Heifetz's theory of adaptive change and Karp and Fletcher's Readiness for Technology Adoption framework, we find that transformative change requires multitiered leadership with a unified commitment to a shared vision for the reform and its goals.

In December 2013, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) sponsored a workshop that explored the ways in which library and information technology services (LITS) organizations and academic institutions will need to evolve in the face of new challenges and opportunities. The workshop discussions, reflected in this paper, offer insight into how the transformative potential of an evolving digital infrastructure can help relieve the pressures faced by these institutions. Meeting participants discussed the changing nature of their combined LITS organizations and explored opportunities and challenges presented by the blended organization model. This blend of disciplinary viewpoints and the expanded vision that these professionals must have to lead an integrated LITS division allowed the group to consider libraries and IT in a broader institutional context.

The University of California at Berkeley now delivers more to the public of California than it ever has, and it does this on the basis of proportionally less funding by the State government than it has ever received. This claim may come as a surprise, since it is often said that Berkeley is in the process of privatizing, becoming less of a public university and more in the service of private interests. To the contrary, as the State's commitment to higher education and social-welfare programs has declined, UC Berkeley has struggled to preserve and even expand its public role, while struggling simultaneously to retain its competitive excellence as a research university. This paper delineates how UC Berkeley has striven to retain its public character in the face of severe financial pressures. A summary of the indicators invoked can be found in the chart at the end of the text.

This study concerns how intra-organizational networks affect the implementation of policies and practices in organizations. In particular, we attend to the role of the informal subgroup or clique in cultivating and distributing locally adapted and integrated knowledge, or know-how. We develop two hypotheses based on the importance of intra-organizational coordination for an organization's capacity for change. The first emphasizes the importance of distributing know-how evenly to potential recipient subgroups. The second emphasizes the importance of restricting know-how to flow from high know-how subgroups. We test our hypotheses with longitudinal network data in 21 schools, finding stronger support for the second hypothesis than the first. Our findings can help managers cultivate know-how flows to contribute to organizational change. The following are appended: (1) Technical Appendix; and (2) Multilevel Estimation of Main Models.

The impact of education decentralization on high-quality education has been mixed at best. This can be attributed to a variety of factors including decentralization itself, ineffectual implementation, political-economic friction, and poor design. This paper focuses largely on the issue of design, contending that if governments or donors aim to decentralize education systems, or parts thereof, for the purpose of high-quality education, the system must be designed to do so. Only then might there be some chance of it actually happening. In this paper we put forth a methodology for designing a high-quality decentralized education system and discuss the ways in which that design can be used to support the planning process aimed at bringing about the design. (Contains 3 figures, 4 tables, and 30 footnotes.)

Most students who enter higher education through a community college fail to earn a postsecondary credential. One reason for this that has not received enough attention is that many students do not enter a college-level program of study. Many new students arrive at community colleges without clear goals for college and careers. Community colleges offer a wide array of programs but typically provide little guidance to help students choose and successfully enter a program of study. Community college departments often do not closely monitor the progress of students who do enter their programs to ensure that they complete. This paper presents a simple method that community colleges can use to measure rates of program entry and completion using data on students' actual course-taking behaviors rather than declared major or intent. This method is used to track the progress and outcomes of first-time college students over five years using data from an anonymous sample of community colleges. The analysis shows that it is essential for students to enter a program of study as soon as possible. Students who do not enter a program within a year of enrollment are far less likely to ever enter a program and therefore less likely to earn a credential. The paper offers suggestions for ways community colleges can rethink their practices at key stages of students' engagement to substantially increase rates of program entry and completion. Program of Study Taxonomy is appended. (Contains 11 figures and 9 footnotes.)

The universe of postsecondary education is expanding. It is an era of rapid demographic and labor market changes, increased competition and shifts in institutional form (e.g., the rise of for profit degree granters, the hybrid form of nonprofit/for profit partnerships, corporate universities), and new forms of delivery driven by emerging technologies. In nearly all of these cases, the pace of innovation and establishment of new institutional forms outstrips the ability of regulators or policy makers to stay ahead of the curve. To better understand the complex interplay of public policy drivers regulating e-learning, the Center for Studies in Higher Education convened a meeting of experts [hosted by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) in Boulder, Colorado] in February 2006 for a preliminary examination of existing and emerging public policies that will shape its regulation both domestically and internationally. Three white papers were used as a point of departure for the discussions, which focused on the following areas: The Changing Regulatory Environment: Who, What, Why, and Where?; Finance, Investment, and the Flow of Capital; Student Access and Equity; Social Costs and Benefits from an International Perspective; and Consumer Protection and Cross-border Education. This report summarizes our conversations and recommendations for future research. (Contains 27 notes.) [This paper was originally published in September 2006.]

Universities are undergoing historic change, from the sharp downward shift in government funding to widespread demands to document performance. At the University of California Berkeley, this led to an operational change effort unlike any the university had ever attempted, dubbed Operational Excellence. The authors describe their experiences designing and leading this change effort, with emphasis on practical advice for similar efforts at other universities.

The history of higher education has revealed all the forms of structural change associated with growth. The following focuses on a special form that involves growth, specialization, and proliferation, and applies mainly but not exclusively to universities. In search for a descriptive term, I have settled on the concept of "structural accretion," a composite form of growth. Its simple definition is incorporation of new functions over time without, however, shedding existing ones or splitting into separate organizations. It is a complex process reflecting, in the main, the following driving forces: expanding as a result of new opportunities for activities, usually but not always relevant to the main missions of the university: the fact that most growth has been a matter of mutual opportunism; and the power of academic competition and emulation in a highly stratified prestige hierarchy of institutions. This paper reflects the first of three Clark Kerr Lectures on the Role of Higher Education in Society given on January 24, 2012 by Neil J. Smelser on the Berkeley campus and on the subject of "Higher Education: The Play of Continuity and Crisis."

Higher education systems in Europe are currently undergoing profound transformations. At the macro-level, there is an increase in the number of students enrolled, subjects of study offered, and university missions that have gained legitimacy over time. At the second level changes are evident at the level of university governance. New Public Management reforms have put into question the traditional mode of governance that was based on the interplay of strong state regulation and academic self-governance. Under the current regime, new actors like accreditation and evaluation bodies or boards of trustees are emerging. At a third institutional level, profound changes can be observed at the university level itself. The university as an organization is transforming into an organizational actor, i.e. an integrated, goal-oriented, and competitive entity in which management and leadership play an ever more important role. In the following paper empirical evidence for social inclusion, new modes of governance and the organizational actorhood of universities will be presented. Furthermore, I will outline an agenda for comparative research. Although the United States is in all three respects a forerunner of what we are observing in Europe, the label "Americanization" is misleading. Instead, a global frame of reference as well as national path-dependencies need to be taken into account. (Contains 3 figures.)

The one-university idea--that the University of California is a single institution whose campuses are united in the pursuit of a common mission and common standards of quality--has been a guiding organizational principle since UC President Robert Gordon Sproul first articulated it in the 1930s. This paper examines the origins of the one-university idea in the Sproul era, the role it has played in UC's institutional development through waves of decentralization and campus expansion, and whether it remains relevant today. (Contains 38 footnotes.)

Historically, the UK system has been one of the most successful in combining excellence with access. However the favorable conditions that British universities and colleges have enjoyed in recent years, associated in large part with the introduction of higher tuition fees in 2006, are coming to an end. British universities and colleges face a future of static or even falling local demand, increasing local and international competition, severe public and private expenditure constraints, increased regulation, and greater difficulties in aligning costs with income. In the first instance, these pressures are likely to lead to increased collaboration, often in the form of mergers, where a stronger institution absorbs a weaker partner. In the medium to longer term, the creation of much sharper differences between institutions, and an even more pronounced hierarchy, seem probable. As well as setting back access, these developments (if they occur) will have very adverse consequences for the cohesion, health and standing of UK higher education. (Contains 8 notes.)

This qualitative case study reports on processes and outcomes of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded System-Wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE) project at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). It addresses a critical challenge in studying systemic reform in complex organizations: the lack of methodologies that incorporate technical, social, cultural, and cognitive elements. Guiding questions include (a) how the institutional context influenced the project, (b) whether project activities affected science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction, interdisciplinary collaboration on preservice programs, and inter-institutional collaboration on in-service programs, and (c) if and how change initiatives are accepted and incorporated. In-depth interviews (N = 34), relevant documents, and observation data were collected in 2006 and 2007. Findings identified several factors that supported and several that inhibited achievement of SCALE goals. Supportive factors included reform efforts already underway at CSUN, an institutional mission emphasizing undergraduate education, an active social network of STEM educators, and faculty experienced with inquiry-based STEM instruction. Inhibiting factors included a heavy faculty and staff workload, a lack of pedagogical training for new faculty hires, a limited pipeline of preservice science majors, funding limitations, and a pervasive sentiment that scientific legitimacy is equated with basic research and not teaching expertise. Into this context, SCALE introduced two activities, including thirteen 5-day science professional development workshops for 270 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) personnel, and four 15-day math professional development workshops for 83 LAUSD personnel. The project's success was limited by the absence of SCALE leaders at CSUN, and the subsequent lack of an explicit theory of institutional change for CSUN. Instead, SCALE engaged CSUN as primarily a site for its already existing math and science institutes, and largely ceded the effort at institutional transformation to chance and the extant reforms at CSUN. An enduring lesson from this study is that efforts to change the culture of teaching and learning in STEM departments should focus on illuminating and then shifting the pervasive cultural schema that faculty hold for teaching and learning. This analysis suggests that shaping the culture of an organization may require comprehensive efforts to change the structural, social, and symbolic milieu in which individuals operate, in addition to efforts to change the cognitive processes that constitute individuals' habits of mind. To accomplish this, leaders are encouraged to (a) conduct regular institutional assessments prior to program planning, (b) design neutral spaces in which different groups may interact, (c) recruit a skilled culture-broker when working with interdisciplinary groups, (d) marshal existing resources and reform projects to collectively target key leverage points, and (e) focus on developing cohorts of STEM educators in specific departments. (Contains 5 figures and 3 tables.)

Digital collaborations are often stymied because institutions of higher education are increasingly divided between two cultures: the culture of knowledge and the culture of information. Campuses primarily remain institutions of knowledge, although practices of information acquisition can no longer be ignored, especially since the advent of networked computing and study with digital texts. Yet the traditional division of labor and the ownership of intellectual property within the academy are threatened by digital collaborations; and the claims of information theory, which is associated with epistemologies of uncertainty and probability, challenge conservative ideologies of university culture. As a result, policies for the development of hybrid instruction and digital archives are often dictated by "Virtualpolitik," or the Realpolitik of virtual institutions, in lieu of a long-term vision for meaningful institutional change. This paper examines four Internet-based initiatives designed to improve cross-campus teaching and learning in California public universities--MERLOT, CPR, UCWRITE, and SPIDER--and argues that effective programs with lasting legacies take advantage of a "bazaar" rather than a "cathedral" development model and incorporate meaningful "information literacy" objectives that go beyond the mastery of particular terms and tools. (Contains 73 notes and 3 figures.)

This paper examines the relationship of the Chinese National Academy of Educational Administration, the Asian Development Bank, and a consulting U.S. university in a project to provide technical assistance for senior Chinese university administrators in management training and modernization of facilities. Although the higher education component in China is relatively small, the central government expects it to play a key role in social and economic development. The government also wants to decentralize university administration and reduce its share of the financial burden, but at the same time not lose complete control. Sections of the paper discuss the development of Chinese higher education, sources of funding for higher education, private higher education, the need to decentralize the administrative structure, and issues of efficiency, effectiveness, and expansion. Issues addressed include free education in China losing out to market forces; a growing disparity between rich and poor; increasing demand for higher education as a result of the growth of secondary education; and the need for legal codes on which to base policies and protect the rights of institutions, their administrators, faculty, and students. (Contains 25 references.) (RH)

Insights from a variety of research streams were synthesized to identify the key ingredients of a high-quality work environment in Canada's health care sector and ways of achieving high-quality workplaces in the sector. The following sets of interacting factors were considered: (1) the work environment and the human resource practices that shape it; (2) job design and organizational structure, including technology; (3) employment relationships; and (4) industrial relations. The study documented the links between work environments, employment and industrial relations, and "healthy" outcomes for workers and organizations and drew on a broad base of evidence to formulate a model of a high-quality work environment. The evidence established that Canada's health care organizations can and must achieve a virtuous circle connecting work environments, individual quality of work life, and organizational performance. The following were among the 11 recommendations emerging from the study: (1) policymakers should provide a stable policy and funding environment in which to make workplace improvements; (2) although different health care unions and professional associations have unique needs, their leaders must develop a common, long-term workplace improvement agenda; and (3) managers should promote workplace cultures that value employees as assets and work to rebuild commitment and trust between employee and employer. (Contains 93 references.) (MN)

An environmental scanning process was used to solicit opinions about the future of Columbia Basin College, Washington, from various interest groups. The interest groups were formed to research topics and areas important to the future of the college. Ten interest groups, with a total of 37 members, were founded and the scanning process was also used to gather information from experts in the community. In all, more than 160 people completed the scanning abstract form. After the information was gathered and analyzed, core external trends were identified in the areas of: (1) financial trends; (2) sociological and demographic trends; (3) economic and workforce trends; and (4) technology trends. The environmental scanning process was very well received at Columbia Basin College, in part because it was a new effort to gather the opinions of many stakeholders and interested citizens. The environmental scanning process is expected to continue, and it is expected to contribute to a more outward looking, positive, and sharing college environment. An appendix contains two figures illustrating the college's structure and strategic planning process. (Contains 94 references.) (SLD)

This report examines the legal and regulatory structure of basic education in Indonesia beginning in 1989, when Education Law Number 2 was enacted (from which all current regulations, policies, and procedures can be traced). In 1999, two key laws (Number 22 and Number 25) were passed that required the decentralization of many government functions. This paper examines the laws and their supporting executive pronouncements and makes recommendations related to improving the functions of a decentralized educational system. The five chapters focus on (1) "Overview of Regulatory Structure in Indonesia"; (2) "Laws Pertaining to Basic Education" (governance, organizational structure, management, and supervision; student personnel; program, curriculum, instruction, and resources; assessment, monitoring, and evaluation; educational personnel; community; educational finance; and other topics); (3) "Recent Legal Changes Impacting on Education"; (4) "Discussion and Recommendations" (governance, organizational structure, management, and supervision; student personnel; program, curriculum, instruction, and resources; assessment, monitoring, and evaluation; educational personnel; community; educational finance; and other topics); and (5) "Final Remarks." (SM)

Researchers explored the relationships between the great working class communities and the industries they sustained and were sustained by in terms of production, storage, and transmission of skills. First, the ethnographic literature on industrial workplaces and the working class communities associated with them was reviewed. Next, lengthy interviews were conducted with eight steelworkers who had been employed at Stelco in Ontario, Canada, since at least the 1970s. The first part of the study focused on nonformal skills transmission in the community, and the second focused on nonformal mechanical/manual skills in the plant and how they are learned and transmitted among workers. Particular attention was paid to the nonformal skills that have traditionally been sustained by workers among themselves and that are now at risk of disappearing because of the combination of (1)the downsizing that dismantles great working class communities; (2) the technological and managerial restructuring of the steel industry; and (3) the increasing substitution of formalized and institutionally controlled forms of training for the nonformal modes of training among working class men. The study also revealed that the processes of experiential learning that are still occurring at the plant are not well defined and do not appear to be valued by the company. (Contains 39 references.) (MN)

The informal learning practices of bank branch workers were examined in a study of a major Canadian bank. The study included ethnographic fieldwork and secondary analysis of a national survey of branch workers' learning practices during the introduction of a new financial services software system. Activity theory was used to examine workers' informal learning practices as situated and to trace the shift learning at the bank branch during the 1990s from a process based on a largely informal training approach to an increasingly formalized self-study approach. The study established that the bank branch workers continued to rely heavily on collective and individual informal learning practices to perform their day-to-day work, adjust to the introduction of new processes and technologies, and cope with stress even though the restructuring of work processes and learning that had occurred within the bank left the workers with diminishing time for study and learning. The study resulted in nine recommendations, including the following: (1) allocate at least 1 hour of on-the-job time per week for collective and individual learning; (2) create a learning environment within the bank's branches; (3) recognize, build on, and provide compensation for workers' informal learning activities; and (4) consult regularly and systematically with branch staff to identify learning and support needs. (Contains 46 references.) (MN)

A quantitative research design was employed to investigate how faculty members become engaged and remain committed to organizational reform. Data collection included interviews with 17 faculty members at California State University in Monterey Bay during the academic year 1995-96, as well as several site visits. This new university was part of a federal military base conversion program; its unique vision statement included an interdisciplinary lower and upper division curriculum, an outcomes-based learning environment, innovative technology integrated into the curriculum, a service-learning environment, and a pluralistic, multicultural, multilingual academic community. The major finding was a grounded conceptualization of faculty commitment to institutional change defined as willingness to engage in the process of achieving institutional change. Two components determined the extent of faculty engagement: goal congruence and perceived viability of achieving change. When faculty and institutional goals were congruent and faculty had high expectations that the proposed innovations were feasible, faculty were willing to engage in the process of creating change. When either of these components was weak (usually as a result of institutional dynamics), faculty willingness to engage in change declined, or they disengaged entirely. (Contains 21 references.) (CH)

This paper examines the organizational context in which student protest is currently enacted and finds a new generation of campus activism organized around multiculturalism. Qualitative methods are used to analyze five case studies of student protest: (1) the Mills College (California) strike of 1990; (2) the Chicano studies movement at the University of California (Los Angeles) in 1993; (3) gay rights demonstrations at Pennsylvania State University from 1991 to 1993; (4) African American student resistance at Rutgers University (New Jersey)in 1995; and (5) financial aid protests involving American Indian students at Michigan State University from 1994 to 1996. Data collection involved 110 interviews with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members and analysis of documents and other artifacts of campus incidents and student organizing efforts. Each case study is presented in terms of a general description of the particular movement and its relationship to identity concerns, the precipitating events that escalated to highly visible campus demonstrations, the student response to the precipitating events, and organizational outcomes associated with a particular student movement. The study finds that all five cases were fundamentally linked to issues of multiculturalism and identity struggle. (Contains 46 references.) (DB)