Search

Two papers are presented concerning comparative higher education--one concerning its relevance for policymaking and the other reviewing a United States view. The first paper reviews comparative higher education in relation to studies of higher education, the use of comparative studies of higher education in policymaking, factors of relevance and obstacles to be overcome, and some research priorities as seen by policymakers. The second paper addresses the question: What non-U. S. trends, programs or developments in higher education would be of value to U. S. academics and policymakers and would justify a comparative approach to the study of higher education? Emphasis is placed on a number of areas where it can be demonstrated that foreign experience would be of current interest to U. S. higher education. These areas include: access to higher education, education-job link, techniques of educational planning, the professoriate, internal governance and management, and university-government relations. (MJM)

Three papers concerned with internationalizing higher education in the U.S. are presented with a commentary giving a Swedish perspective. The first paper, The International Role of the University in the Decades Ahead, emphasizes the need for area studies that will contribute to the general and liberal education of students. The second paper, Reflections on the Internationalizing of Higher Education, suggests the need for universal values and stresses it is the university's responsibility to strengthen its capacity to direct its own internationalization and to educate governments and citizenries concerning the role and value of higher education. The third paper, Graduate Education, International Studies, and the National Interest, indicates that graduate education and international studies have become too far removed from the society that supports them. A viable relation with government and society is now the task of the modern university. (MJM)

The book contains 15 papers focusing on adult illiteracy in Great Britain in the context of the community, but excluding the prison population, trainees at Adult Training Centres, patients in mental hospitals, or literacy education in the armed forces. The papers are presented in three sections. Part 1 on students contains six papers: "The Scale of the Problem?" a British Association of Settlements Conference Paper; "They Look Normal--But..." by Dr. Susan Shrapnel; "The Adult Illiterate" by Bob Kedney; "Communications and Recruitment" by Bob Kedney and Connie Timpson; "Assessment and Diagnosis of Adult Illiterates" by Geoff Allen; and "Approaches to Literacy" by Geoffrey Thornton. Part 2 on staffing contains four papers: "Recruitment of Tutors" by Elaine McMinnis; "Staff Development and Training" by Bob Kedney; "What and How?" by Donald Moyle; and "Sources and Resources" by Tom MacFarlane. Part 3 on aspects of organization contains five papers: "Structures of Adult Literacy Provision" by Margaret Ben-Tovim; "The Functions of Management of Literacy Provision" by Hazel Veall; "Inter-Agency Co-operation" by Dr. Michael Stephens and Roger Bruton; "Adult Literacy: An Approach to a Theory of Behavioural Competence" by Wilf Connor; and "The Future" by Lady Plowden. One page of notes on contributors is included. (JR)

The paper is one of a series dealing with different aspects of the fund-raising campaign, which began in mid-1971, for the establishment throughout Kenya of a large number of institutes of technology on a self-help basis. By March 1973, 17 such institutes had been proposed. In the absence of coordination each institute's planning committee is trying to draw up its own plan for curriculum, syllabus, enrollment, etc. It is an aim of this paper to bring together information which will be useful to this task and, it is hoped, will contribute to the public debate about the role that these institutes might play in Kenya's technical and vocational training system. The paper concentrates, therefore, on such fairly narrow, economic questions as sources of staff and students, employment prospects, and cost and financing. It starts with an analysis of the existing system of training and of plans for its expansion, based partly on a survey carried out by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in 1971 and on a followup to that survey in 1972. The plans of the proposed harambee institutes are then reviewed and, in conclusion, some observations about their prospects are made. (Author/NH)

This paper describes briefly general characteristics of the higher educational system in Poland and in Eastern Europe with emphasis on the features and characteristic elements that determine the organization and goals of higher education. Discussion also includes the functions, goals, and tasks of higher education; access to higher education; the system of adult education; the professoriate; and management and administration. (MJM)

The paper reviews the growth of Canadian Adult Basic Education (ABE) with emphasis on the role played by the Federal government. It considers major events leading to an awareness of the disadvantaged and their inability to function adequately, without necessary opportunities and skills, in the mainstream of an industrialized society. The author describes the various Federally sponsored projects--the Technical and Vocational Training Assistance (TVTA) Act, the Basic Training for Skill Development (BTSD) Program, The Adult Occupational Training (AOT) Act, and the New Start Program. Innovations in ABE established life skills and basic literacy training and an ABE course based on individualized learning and a behavioral objectives "systems" approach. For continued effectiveness and expansion, the author emphasizes the need for active student involvement in the learning process. A bibliography is provided. (Author/JB)

Conventional approaches to program evaluation have followed the experimental and psychometric traditions dominant in educational research. Their aim (unfulfilled) of achieving fully objective methods had led to studies that are artificial and restricted in scope. Illuminative evaluation is introduced as a total re-appraisal of the rationale and techniques of program evaluation. It follows a contrasting 'anthropological' research paradigm. Illuminative evaluation recognizes that an innovative instructional program cannot be separated from its learning milieu--a network of cultural, social, institutional, and psychological forces. The evaluator concentrates on processes within the classroom rather than on outcomes (goals, objectives) derived from a specification of the instructional system. Data is collected from observation, interview, questionnaires, and documentary information. Illuminative evaluation thus concentrates on the information gathering rather than on the decision making component of evaluation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the problems and potentialities of the new approach: its range of applicability; objectivity; validity; obligations of the research worker; how explorations of the learning milieu can meet the need for theoretical advance; and how the illuminative approach can clarify decision-making. (Author/CP)

Higher education in Nigeria has experienced a phenomenal rate of growth since independence in 1960. The number of students enrolled in Nigerian universities grew from 1,396 in 1960, to approximately 25,000 in 1974, and the Nigerian universities commission has projected that the number will double by 1979-80. The quantum jump in student enrollment and the evolution and growth of Nigeria's six universities are discussed in relation to a historical background and the emergence of the British Model, an overview of Nigerian universities today, finance and administration, and problems and challenges of the universities of the 1970's. The discussion of finance and administration concerns relations with government, financial arrangements, external assistance, student financing, and entrance requirements. (MJM)

This document discusses the role of higher education institutions in less developed countries and the responsibility of these countries to higher education institutions. The university's role in these countries is reviewed in relation to the university as bearer of the culture, trainer of skills, service agency, and the university on the frontiers of knowledge. The responsibilities of society to the university suggest that: (1) infringement by the government on the university be done with due care, after proper consultation and advice; (2) the government should give adequate financial support for agreed to programs; and (3) the university authorities should be supported by the government and other responsible opinion in their attempts to enforce discipline. (MJM)

In 1971 the main institutions of higher education in Zaire were reorganized and centralized into one national university system called the National University of Zaire (UNAZA). This document presents a brief review of the development of postsecondary education in Zaire and places this recent reorganization in perspective. Chapters cover the evolution of the universities and higher institutes, postindependence expansion of higher education, a description of the organization of UNAZA, and UNAZA's role in research. The description of UNAZA encompasses the administrative council, the rector and rectorate, the organization and management of the campuses, the organization and management of the higher pedagogical and technical institutes, financing of UNAZA, students, and rational redistribution of campus faculties. Appendixes discuss higher institutes and membership of the administrative council of the National University of Zaire. (MJM)

The study examines British public assistance (Supplementary Benefits) and other income maintenance programs for employables. These are viewed as one policy set to analyze their incentives and disincentives to see if the incentive structure is consonant with a goal of promoting work. Sanctions applied to recipients are also analyzed. Relatively high benefits are found to result in higher reliance on sanctions than on incentives. Training programs targeted at the welfare poor are more sanctions than effective training. Implications for the U. S. are: (1) training programs for welfare recipients can easily degenerate into ineffectiveness, except as sanctions; (2) the experimentation now possible under Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) is an opportunity to devise structures in which incentives and sanctions are consonant with the goal of promoting employment, and in which training programs for welfare recipients feed into and are part of the mainstream of general manpower policy, so that they can do an effective training job. The study contains a bibliography of British works and a reader's guide to British welfare programs. (Author)

The statement reflects Canada's growing interest in adult education. Lifelong learning is viewed as necessary for coping with a complex and rapidly changing society and additional benefits of adult education can be seen in terms of cost benefits and the use of existing educational structures. Social factors influencing the need for adult learning opportunities include the knowledge explosion, computer technology, and the trend away from strictly youth-oriented schooling. Five areas of individual need are: pursuit of life-long interests; professional, vocational, and career upgrading; coping with the information explosion; identifying and resolving community problems; and life enrichment. Canadian citizens and provincial educators are indicating more interest in adult education. Many feel that the concept could better be served by a restructured Department of Education with support and coordinating services for an adult education program; cooperative action at regional and community levels through decentralization, already begun in the province; and by new methods of need assessment, coordination and delivery of services. Appended are: a Canadian policy for continuing education; adult education in British Columbia; and tables illustrating growth of adult education in British Columbia. (MDW)

Despite rising sentiment, the decision to "de-school" society seems premature unless it derives from a comparative empirical assessment of school and nonschool educational programs' relative contributions to national goals. One of many new alternative systems, Kenya's village polytechnics (low-cost primary training centers in rural areas) are widely perceived to be alleviating unemployment and manifesting self-help. The polytechnic is significant as an ideological movement whose essence is an attempt to break away from conventional concepts and to develop types of training rooted in practical local and individual needs, conveying a sense of individual purpose and a capacity for continuing self-instruction. Data are used to illustrate the movement's achievements, problems, and potential in the task of national development--its major problems have derived from the pervasiveness of the ethic of formal schooling; part of the movement's achievement and much of its potential lie in the extent to which the polytechnics have nevertheless exemplified significant new principles of education: flexibility, availability, individualization, and relevance. The data suggest, however, that the alternative system must await modifications in the present social structure linking schooling and wage incentives before it can have extensive impact on educational philosophy and practice in Kenya. (Author/AJ)

The pragmatic use of nicknames as clarifiers separates the Maltese usage from those so common throughout the world where the nickname is used as a means of hiding identity. The familial character of most nicknames in Malta suggests they are the vestiges of a pre-Christian naming system. The major peculiarity in Malta is in the intermingling of seven naming devices in an evaluative system. The study of evaluative methods reveals a stable set of principles and fluid usage. People are mobile in the system according to their relative ability and the Maltese play with the system and express their personal feelings about others through it, regardless of the correctness of their opinions. In the case of musicians, nicknames are applied based on the musician's competence, and factions develop based on these evaluations and change over time. Personal evaluations used as insults evoke responses that have become institutionalized in the song duel, which creates various interpretations of the evaluation system. The purpose of the duelling is to create a set of situations in which speech is used indirectly in a way that allows for several possible interpretations, representative of some aspects of Maltese society. (MSE)