Browse by: "PRE-2008"

This paper is a critical review of the Anglo-Saxon literature since the 1960s on university leadership and governance. The critique draws on a substantial amount of empirical work on operating procedures and governance in French universities. The intention is to show that the issue of university leadership has been analysed using too personalised, disembodied or normative an approach, and that the analysis of university governance has been too piecemeal. The alternative proposed here is a new definition of university governance to reflect its many facets, namely conflict/ co-operation between leaders, the interdependence of the many collegial bodies involved in decision-making, and the relations between leaders and representative bodies.

Over the last decade, employment law in the United States has ceased to be governed solely by the right to 11 at will 11 termination on either side. As a result of a series of decisions in the civil courts of the various states, employers have become liable for damages - often very heavy - for dismissals which have been held to be unfair. A dismissal may be considered 11 unfair 11 because it violates public policy, because it breaches an implied contract or because it breaches an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The resultant restrictions on the right to fire are reminiscent of employment security laws in Europe.

Many chemicals are used to produce hundreds of thousands of different goods, from cars and computers to synthetic fabrics, kitchen appliances and paints. Through green procurement (GP) it is possible to reduce risks that arise from the use of chemical products by encouraging the use of chemical products which have low impact on human health and the environment throughout their life cycle, and discouraging the use of chemical products with a high impact. However, given the large number and variety of available chemical products and the differing priorities of product users, it is challenging to compare and select products for green procurement...

This paper examines the development of policies designed to widen access to higher education policy in the United Kingdom. These policies have evolved in the context of the devolution of political authority to the Scottish Parliament and Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, which has resulted in some policy variation. The paper examines the “post-code premium” paid by the funding authorities to universities based on the students from poorer areas. By using Northern Ireland data the paper demonstrates the major problems to this approach arising from the “ecological fallacy”. The paper concludes by expressing surprise that policy developed with little apparent awareness of these problems....

Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) have been one of the most significant developments in financial intermediation during the past few decades. OECD data indicate that CIS assets have been rising sharply as a share of national income and a share of financial assets in most Member countries. In addition to functioning as an effective vehicle for individuals to implement their preferred investment strategies, CIS already play a major role in providing for retirement income. This role is likely to grow in coming years. Overall, the experience of the investing public as well as policy makers has been highly positive. CIS have enabled even fairly small investors to participate in the strong growth of capital markets in the past two decades. CIS make it possible for relatively small...

The gender breakdown in higher education in Canada and other western countries has switched from an imbalance in favour of men to an imbalance in favour of women over the last two decades. Programs to attract women into higher education have worked very well. At the University of Guelph for example, 70% of the students are women. Should educators be concerned about this phenomenon? Are there short- and long-term negative effects of gender imbalance? If so, what can and should educators do about the imbalance? Should programs to attract men into higher education be implemented? What accessibility steps can be taken to create a gender balance in higher education? This article explores the changes in the gender profile at universities and colleges in Canada, the United States, and other countries. Potential economic, social, and political causes and effects of gender imbalance are proposed. Accessibility techniques that could be used to create gender balance in university and college programs are explored.

Some of the recent “hype” about how advances in technology are forging a “new economy” has evaporated. Interest in “dot.com” start-up companies in the US has waned with the decline in stock market valuations. Some of the more extravagant claims – in particular, that the “new economy” would see the end to recessions – have been tempered by the recent slowdown in the US economy.

This paper defends the idea that universities manufacture knowledge as a public good through the “creative destruction” of social capital. The idea is presented as contemporary restatement of the Humboldtian ideal of the unity of research and teaching: Research “creates” (i.e. concentrates) social capital, which is then “destroyed” (i.e. distributed) through teaching. The defense is made against recent attacks to the integrity of the university as an institution associated with postmodernism and the so-called “new production of knowledge”, which would evaluate universities by client-led performance indicators. The emergence of such indicators is considered and critiqued, followed by some constructive suggestions for indicators specifically designed to measure qualities at which universities uniquely excel.

The term “university” has a longstanding history, yet its definition remains highly contentious at the turn of the century. According to conventional scholarship, the first university initially appeared as far back as the 12th century with the formation of the University of Paris and the University of Bologna (circa 1150 AD). Other scholars, however, contend that the university may have begun many centuries earlier, depending on the definition employed (Neave, 1999; Welch and Denman, 1997; Patterson, 1997). The intent of this article is to suggest a classification of universities for the 21st Century, with emphasis placed on the university's role in disseminating and advancing knowledge through scholarship and research. Drawing upon major historic events that have shaped universities in their various forms, this article discusses whether universities are designed to cater to market forces or are catalysts for change in an increasingly “knowledge-based” society.