Throughout the world, interest in gauging learning outcomes at all levels of education has grown considerably over the past decade. In higher education, measuring “learning outcomes†is viewed by many stakeholders as a relatively new method to judge the “value added†of...

Higher education has become the focus of increased public debate. Stewardship of public resources, student achievement or the lack thereof, relationships and “partnerships†with business and industry in the area of research, substantial increases in tuition and fees, public perception...

The French Government has had a paradoxical relationship with globalization. Globalization is perceived as both a threat to react against and a cradle for new policy ideas. French policymakers have a love-hate relationship with the European higher education reforms that started in the 1990s, a...

In the midst of the global recession, how have national governments viewed the role of higher education in their evolving strategies for economic recovery? Demand for higher education generally goes up during economic downturns. Which nations have proactively protected funding for their...

In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), Justice Sandra Day O’Connor conjectured that in 25 years affirmative action in college admissions will be unnecessary. We project the test score distribution of black and white college applicants 25 years from now, focusing on the role of black-white family...

There is an extensive literature on the productivity of universities. Little is known, however, about how different types of leaders affect a university’s performance. To address this question, this paper blends quantitative and qualitative evidence. First, I establish that the best...

Civic engagement is moving to the forefront of higher education discussions as universities seek ways not only to intensify students’ learning experiences but also to forge stronger links with the communities they are meant to serve. Within the University of California system, there are...

Standardized testing for college admissions has grown exponentially since the first administration of the old “College Boards†in 1901. This paper surveys major developments since then: the introduction of the “Scholastic Aptitude Test†in 1926, designed to tap...

Class attendance and out-of-class study time are known to be strongly associated with academic engagement and college GPA. The paper examines two other uses of time as influences on academic outcomes: those devoted to active engagements with friends and community as opposed to passive...

This paper explores the emergence of selective admission policies in Dutch university education. Such policies are being developed to promote excellence in a higher education system that is generally known to be “egalitarian†and increasingly criticized for a lack of differentiation....