Reinventing the Research University


Book Description

The fourth Glion Colloquium, which was held in Glion above Montreux, Switzerland, in June 2003, drew together active university leaders (presidents, rectors, vice-chancellors), along with guests from industry with close ties to academe, to compare perspectives on the future of the research university in America and Europe, as reflected in its title, 'Reinventing the Research University'. Although there was considerable discussion about whether it would be more accurate to use other verbs such as 'reforming', 'renewing' or 'refocusing', there was general agreement that change would characterize the future of the research university, driven by powerful social, economic and technological forces driving change in our world. The papers contained in this book reflect both the consensus and differences in the perspectives of the participants on these issues. In Part I, papers set the stage by considering the forces that are likely to change the nature of the research university. In Part II, the authors discuss the changing nature of education and scholarship. Part III then continues with papers on the changing nature of the interaction between the research university and broader society. In Part IV, the authors discuss the challenges of financing and governing the contemporary research university. In the concluding chapter the editors endeavour to pull together these discussions to develop more specific suggestions concerning the issues and strategies that universities should consider as they approach a period of rapid change. [Publisher, ed].




Reinventing Fire


Book Description

Oil and coal have built our civilisation, created our wealth and enriched the lives of billions. Yet their rising costs to our security, economy, health and environment are starting to outweigh their benefits. Moreover, the tipping point where alternatives work better and compete purely on cost is not decades in the future - it is here and now. And that tipping point has become the fulcrum of economic transformation. In Reinventing Fire, Amory Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute offer a new vision to revitalise business models and win the clean energy race - not forced by public policy but led by business for long-term advantage. This independent and rigorous account offers market-based solutions integrating transportation, buildings, industry and electricity. It maps pathways for running a 158%-bigger US economy in 2050 but needing no oil, no coal, no nuclear energy, one-third less natural gas and no new inventions. This transition would cost $5 trillion less than business-as-usual - without counting fossil fuels' huge hidden costs. Whether you care most about profits and jobs, or national security, or environmental stewardship, climate, and health, Reinventing Fire makes sense. It's a story of astounding opportunities for creating the new energy era. -- Publisher description.




The Search for New Governance of Higher Education in Asia


Book Description

The present volume sets out in the wider context of globalization to critically examine how selected countries / societies in Asia have responded to the growing pressures of globalization for improving university performance in the global market place. In order to enhance the global competitiveness of their higher education systems, many governments in Asia have started comprehensive reforms and adopted new governance measures to enhance their universities. Incorporation and corporatization have been identified as important strategies to restructure and re-engineer university governance around the world. Contributors in this volume critically examine how the quest for world-class university status (as a global movement) has affected the way their universities are governed. Despite the popularity of management reforms and restructuring exercises in line with neoliberalism and managerialism worldwide, whether and how these reforms have actually transformed the heart of the public sector is still subject to debate. This book offers critical reflections on the governance change taking place in the Asian university systems and examines how far the restructuring of higher education governance through incorporation, privatization, and corporatization has really transformed the values and practices of those who work in the higher education sector.




Leading the Way


Book Description

Here are eleven essays addressing various aspects of the application process: building an office, engaging students in research, connecting them to internships and other special opportunities, embracing diversity, defining leadership, involving faculty, and preparing for an interview. There are also realistic assessments of the odds of winning a scholarship. Three of the essays are by directors or presidents of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute, and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. The essays are a result of the National Association of Fellowships Advisors conference, NAFA in Washington: Scholarships in a National Context, held in Washington, D.C., in July of 2007. The collection is a valuable resource for faculty, advisors, and administrators who want to provide opportunities for student engagement and to use the process to help shape tomorrow’s leaders. The book also includes two appendices: “NAFA Foundation and Institutional Membership” and “Competitive Scholarships, Opportunities, Internships, and Programs at a Glance.”




Organizational Learning Contracts


Book Description

This book addresses a new concept, the organizational learning contract, a shared agreement among the faculty, staff, and students in an educational institution about what, how, where, and when learning should take place. Goodman, who has pioneered the concept in his work with new and traditional institutions, examines the consequences of strong and weak contracts while bridging theory with practice. In the first section, Goodman develops the concept of the organizational learning contract, builds measures, and looks at the consequences of strong versus weak contracts on student and institutional effectiveness indicators. The second section, which includes the perspectives of two leaders of start-up institutions who have created new organizational contracts, explores issues of design and change in introducing the concept into new and existing institutions.




Reinventing the Library for Online Education


Book Description

Have changes such as cloud computing, search engines, the Semantic Web, and mobile applications rendered such long-standing academic library services and functions as special collections, interlibrary loans, physical processing, and even library buildings unnecessary? Can the academic library effectively reconceive itself as a virtual institution? Stielow, who led the library program of the online university American Public University System, argues most emphatically that it can. His comprehensive look at web-based academic libraries synthesizes the changes wrought by the Web revolution into a visionary new model, grounded in history as well as personal experience. He demonstrates how existing functions like cataloging, circulation, collection development, reference, and serials management can be transformed by entrepreneurship, human face/electronic communicator relations, web apps, and other innovations. Online education can ensure that libraries remain strong information and knowledge hubs, and his timely book Shows how the origins and history of the academic library have laid the foundation for our current period of flux Identifies practices rooted in print-based storage to consider for elimination, and legacy services ready to be adapted to virtual operations Discusses tools and concepts libraries will embrace in a networked world, including new opportunities for library relevance in bookstore/textbook operations, compliance, library/archival/museum functions, e-publishing, and tutorial services Offers a thorough examination of the virtual library infrastructure crucial for an online learning program, with a special look at the particular needs and responsibilities of online librarians Looks at the evolving relationship between higher education and copyright, and posits how educational technology will bring further changes Bursting with stimulating ideas and wisdom gleaned from first-hand experience, Stielow’s book presents a model for offering outstanding higher education library services in an increasingly online environment.




Financing Public Universities


Book Description

This crucial book addresses newer practices of resource allocation which tie university funding to indicators of performance. It covers the evolvement of mass higher education and the associated curtailment of funding, the public management reform debate within which performance-based budgeting or funding evolved, and sketches alternative governance and management modes which can be used instead. Four appendices cover more technical matters.




Technology


Book Description

The widespread deployment and use of Information Technologies (IT) has paved the way for change in many fields of our societies. The Internet, mobile computing, social networks and many other advances in human communications have become essential to promote and boost education, technology and industry. On the education side, the new challenges related with the integration of IT technologies into all aspects of learning require revising the traditional educational paradigms that have prevailed for the last centuries. Additionally, the globalization of education and student mobility requirements are favoring a fluid interchange of tools, methodologies and evaluation strategies, which promote innovation at an accelerated pace. Curricular revisions are also taking place to achieved a more specialized education that is able to responds to the societys requirements in terms of professional training. In this process, guaranteeing quality has also become a critical issue. On the industrial and technological side, the focus on ecological developments is essential to achieve a sustainable degree of prosperity, and all efforts to promote greener societies are welcome. In this book we gather knowledge and experiences of different authors on all these topics, hoping to offer the reader a wider view of the revolution taking place within and without our educational centers. In summary, we believe that this book makes an important contribution to the fields of education and technology in these times of great change, offering a mean for experts in the different areas to share valuable experiences and points of view that we hope are enriching to the reader. Enjoy the book!




Who's in Charge of America's Research Universities?


Book Description

This book explores the American research university, and, in a larger sense, addresses knowledge creation in our society, since research universities are the primary means for the production and dissemination of basic knowledge in the public interest. Universities not only play a major role in technological, economic, and cultural development, but also prepare much of the country's leadership, particularly in the sciences, engineering, medicine, and other professions. Confronting the pervasive sense that there is something seriously wrong with our research universities, Thomas J. Tighe identifies internal division—specifically dysfunction in governance—as the major cause of the problems of higher education. He traces the current strains in the university to societal and institutional changes over the past several decades that together have created a growing schism between the concerns and objectives of faculty and those of governing authorities. To address this state of affairs, Tighe proposes a new university structure that would re-engage faculty with the governance and welfare of their institutions, while helping to educate governance authorities on the truly unique characteristics of the university. A number of controversial issues in higher education are examined in detail, including the teaching-research relation, the question of tenure, accountability, and relations between universities and the corporate sector.




Reinventing Local and Regional Economies


Book Description

Recent US economic history is rife with examples of cities and regions that have experienced significant decline. Many of those localities began to slide after decades, even generations, of feeling immune to economic disaster. Boeing and Kodak, the steel industry in Pittsburg, and the automotive industry in Detroit all expected to make it golden into the distant future. Tapping into the available body of knowledge as well as- through nearly 70 interviews—the experiences of those who lived and worked in those times in cities around the United States—to identify the most effective strategies, Reinventing Local and Regional Economies delineates the dos and don’ts to observe in order to sustain economic vitality in any community. Written by Dr. Gerald Gordon, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Authority in Fairfax County, Virginia, the book explores lessons learned and examines the messages communities must be mindful of in order to ensure future economic stability. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience, Gordon identifies a set of foundational lessons that, while they are not guarantees of success, certainly portend failure if ignored by local planners. Each chapter explores a different prerequisite and then applies it to several case studies of the reinvention of local and regional economies. Each of these basic components of economic growth will then be examined against the backgrounds of the many communities studied, thus permitting comparisons and contrasts to be drawn. A comparative analysis of results from one community to another across a wide range of case studies, this book puts into clear context the observations about what works not only in one locale but in communities with common features facing common issues and getting similar results. Using case studies and real world examples of successes and failures, Dr. Gordon provides the tools to develop a proactive strategy that positions your community for surviving and thriving regardless of external stresses and adverse economic conditions that may be out of your control.