International Higher Education, Winter 2000

New Publications

This column is intended to keep our readers aware of current publications in the field of higher education. We provide a brief description of the listing and indicate the address of the publisher or distributor so that items may be easily obtained. While the preponderance of material listed here is published in the United States or other industrialized nations, we will try to list books published in other parts of the world as well.

The Uses of the University (fourth edition), by Clark Kerr (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), 226 pages. ISBN 0-674-93172-6, paperback. Address: Harvard University Press, Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138).

Perhaps the most influential analysis of American higher education since World War II, Kerr's classic volume, which was first published in 1962, has been reprinted with a new introductory essay by the author. Clark Kerr is president emeritus of the University of California, and was the architect of the growth of the California system of public higher education. He writes insightfully about the growth of research and graduate education, and the implications this growth has had on American higher education. His book is especially relevant now, as current governmental policy will have the result of damaging the "multiversity" that Kerr wrote about and helped to build. (PGA)

Higher Education in Vietnam, edited by David Sloper and Le Thac Can (Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, 1995), 250 pages. U.S.$26, paperback. Also available in hardback. ISBN 981-3016-91-4 . Address: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Pasir Panjang, Singapore 0511, Republic of Singapore.

As Vietnam emerges from isolation and joins the international community, its higher education system will attract more attention. The nation's rapidly growing economy and its new openness to foreign collaboration significantly impact its education system. This is the first reasonably comprehensive consideration of Vietnamese higher education. The chapters are coauthored by a number of Vietnamese experts and David Sloper, an Australian academic. Among the topics covered are the educational system of Vietnam, the management of higher education, the academic profession, the socioeconomic background of Vietnamese higher education, and funding issues. The book provides a wealth of statistical information as well as discussion of key topics. (PGA)

Science and Technology in Brazil: A New Policy for a Global World, edited by Simon Schwartzman (Rio de Janeiro: Fundacao Getulio Vargas, 1995), 284 pages. No price listed. Address: Fundacao Getulio Vargas Editora, Praia de Botafogo 190, CP 62.591 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

While this book does not deal directly with universities, it is highly relevant to higher education, since academic institutions are everywhere involved in research, and there is an increasing emphasis worldwide on the links between science and technology and higher education. This book takes a careful look at Brazilian S and T policy and development. There are essays dealing with Brazil as well as several chapters that focus on the United States and a comparison of Brazil with other Latin American nations and Israel. The comparative approach is useful. This book is especially relevant because of Brazil's status as a middle-income nation that has placed considerable emphasis on S and T development.(PGA)

Feminist Academics: Creative Agents for Change, edited by Louise Morley and Val Walsh (Bristol, Pa: Taylor and Francis, 1995), 203 pages. ISBN 0-7484-0300-0. U.S.$24.95 paperback. Address; Taylor and Francis, 1900 Frost Rd., Bristol, Pa. 19007 USA.

Research on women in higher education is limited; literature with a feminist perspective is even more rare. This British-based volume deals with a range of issues relevant to women working in academe. Among the topics considered are the curriculum and feminism, black women in higher education, women in higher education management, and research on sexual harassment in academe. (PGA)

Politics and Scholarship: Feminist Academic Journals and the Production of Knowledge, by Patrice McDermott. (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 197 pages. ISBN 0-252-06369-4, paperback.

This book examines how feminist academic journals were established and how they work. The author looks at three prominent American journals, Feminist Studies, Signs, and Frontiers and discusses the culture and politics of these publications, as well as how they have evolved. This is a valuable case study in how knowledge is produced and transmitted in a new scholarly field. The book has relevance beyond feminist studies, as it illustrates an important element of the communication of knowledge. (PGA)

The Quest for Quality: Sixteen Forms of Heresy in Higher Education, by Sinclair Goodlad (Buckingham, England: Open University Press, 1995), 123 pages. U.S.$29 paperback. Also available in hardback. ISBN 0-335-19350-1. Address: Open University Press, 22 Ballmoor, Buckingham MK18 1XW, England), and Quality in Higher Education, edited by Brent D. Ruben (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1995), 321 pages. ISBN 1-56000-795-8, paperback. Hardback also available. Address: Transaction Publishers, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.

Quality is the mantra in higher education today. Everyone wants to improve quality, although few are able to comprehensively define what they mean. In many instances, quality improvement means cutting budgets. Despite much confusion, the issue of quality is important and must be taken seriously. It has the potential to actually improve how universities deliver their main "products" - teaching students and doing research. These two books provide quite different approaches to the quality issue, and are stimulating in different ways. The Quest for Quality was written by Sinclair Goodlad, a prominent British higher education researcher. His aim is to focus on the issue of quality by presenting 16 "heresies" - he looks at the basic elements of higher education, such as the curriculum, teaching methods, and the like, and seeks to provide some guidelines for definitions for quality. Quality in Higher Education is a more traditional book in the growing library on this topic. Topics considered include Total Quality Management (TQM), one of the watchwords for the 1990s, the relevance of industrial and business models of quality for higher education, and related topics. (PGA)