International Higher Education, Spring 1996
New Publications
The Academic's Handbook, edited by A. Leigh Deneef and Craufurd D. Goodwin. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995. 348 pages. $17.95 paperback. $47.95 hardback. ISBN 0 8223-1661-7. Address: Duke University Press, Box 90660, Durham, NC 27708.
While limited in coverage to the United States, this book is a unique collection of essays aimed at providing guidance to someone beginning an academic career. Most of the chapters are a combination of advice to a new faculty member and a discussion of the central issues facing American higher education. Topics include academic freedom and free speech, the tenure process in the United States, teaching and research, writing and publishing in academe, and others. Most of the authors are faculty members at Duke University, one of America's leading institutions, and the bias is strongly toward the prestigious private sector in American higher education. (PGA)
Equal Opportunities in Colleges and Universities: Toward Better Practices, by Maureen Farish, Johanna McPake, Janet Powney, and Gaby Weiner. Buckingham, u.k.: Open University Press, 1995. 209 pages. ISBN 0-335-19416-8. Paperback. Address: Open University Press, Celtic Court, 22 Ballmoor, Buckingham MK18 1XW, U.K.; Equity and Excellence in Higher Education: The Decline of Liberal Educational Reform, by Alan R. Sadovnik. New York: Peter Lang, 1994. 297 pages. $29.95. Paperback. ISBN 0-8204-1593-6. Address: Peter Lang Publishing, 275 Seventh Ave., New York NY, 10001. Educating a New Majority: Transforming America's Educational System for Diversity, edited by Laura I. Rendon and Richard O. Hope. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996. 490 pages. $34.95. ISBN 0-7879-0130-X. Address: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94104.
This trio of books, two relating to the United States and one to Britain, focuses on an increasingly important and controversial issue in higher education - the role of equal opportunity and providing access to racial and ethnic groups in modern society. Equal Opportunities in Colleges and Universities considers the effectiveness of policies for equal opportunities for academic staff in British colleges and universities. It provides case studies and recommendations for action. In his book, Alan R. Sadovnik provides a case study of one equal opportunity compensatory higher education program in the United States, drawing implications for changing political currents and their impact on higher education. Educating a New Majority takes as its starting point the fact that by the year 2012 students of color will make up 25 percent of the under-18 population in the United States. The book features chapters on state and federal policies, higher education reforms, the role of colleges for minorities and other issues relating to serving students of color. These three books provide an excellent, although quite varied, set of perspectives on equal opportunity issues. (PGA)
America's Best Colleges, by the editors of U. S. News and World Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. News and World Report, 1995. 231 pages. $7.95. America's Best Graduate Schools, by the editors of U.S. News and World Report. Washington, D.C.: U. S. News and World Report, 1994. 164 pages. $4.95. Available from U.S. News and World Report, 2400 N St. NW, Washington D.C. 20037.
While these two publications do not have the methodological rigor of the Research-Doctorate Programs volume, they are highly influential in American higher education and are, within their constraints, useful. Rankings play a key role in American society, and nowhere more so than in higher education. These two volumes, one ranking undergraduate colleges and the other graduate schools, are probably the most widely used and most reliable rankings of American academe. Using a variety of methods, including the opinions of college and university presidents, to rank institutions and, in the graduate school volume, specific academic programs within institutions, these books provide a portrait of American higher education. They will be useful to people from outside of the United States seeking to place America's highly complex academic system in some kind of context. It is necessary, of course, to keep in mind the problems with any effort at ranking and not take these, or other, efforts too seriously. (PGA)
Open Doors, 1994-1995: Report on International Educational Exchange, edited by Todd Davis. New York: Institute of International Education, 1995. 208 pages. $39.95. ISBN 087206-230-9. Address: Institute of International Education, 809 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017.
This is the most comprehensive volume available on international educational exchange relating to the United States. It provides a wealth of information on flows of students from other countries to the United States and concerning American students abroad. Information concerning field and level of study, location of foreign students, trends in flows of students, funding patterns, intensive English-language programs, and a range of other data is provided. There is also discussion of the data. This volume is a key resource for anyone interested in international exchanges and foreign student issues. (PGA)
Academic Mobility in a Changing World, edited by Peggy Blumenthal, Craufurd D. Goodwin, Alan Smith, and Ulrich Teichler. London: Jessica Kingsley, 1996. 407 pages. ISBN 1-85302-545-3. Address: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 116 Pentonville Rd., London N1 9JB, U.K.
Twenty-two essays dealing with all aspects of academic mobility are presented in this volume. The scope of the discussion is broad, dealing with all aspects of academic mobility - of students, professors, exchange programs, and broader regional, economic, and other trends. The book begins with a discussion of the political and economic factors affecting mobility in a rapidly changing environment. Much of the rest of the book deals with countries and regions, with a strong emphasis on Europe. The various European Union programs, such as ERASMUS, are discussed, as well as the efforts of individual countries. All parts of the world are represented in this volume. Many of the chapters provide current statistical information concerning mobility and exchanges. A useful bibliography is included in this volume. (PGA) The University System of Sri Lanka, edited by K. M. de Silva and G. H. Peiris. Delhi, India: Macmillan, 1995. 298 pages. ISBN 0333-92456-8. Address: Macmillan India Ltd., 2/10 Ansari Rd., New Delhi 110 002, India. Although this book has a somewhat misleading title, it is nonetheless a useful volume. While it does not deal with the entire university system of Sri Lanka, it is a key resource for understanding higher education in Sri Lanka. Most of the book is a case study of the University of Peradeniya (formerly the University of Ceylon), the nation's oldest and best-known university. There is a section at the end that considers broader issues of higher education in Sri Lanka. More than a dozen chapters deal with a number of aspects of the University of Peradeniya as the institution celebrates its 50th anniversary. The chapters range from a series of useful discussions of the historical development of the institution to a consideration of dental education. This volume is a welcome addition to the literature because there is little available on the topic. (PGA)
Religious Higher Education in the United States: A Source Book, edited by Thomas C. Hunt and James C. Carper. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996. 635 pages. ISBN 0-8153-1636-4. Address: Garland Publishing, 1000A Sherman Avenue, Hamden CT 06514.
This volume provides short essays summarizing trends in religious higher education in the United States and an annotated bibliography relating to each of the chapters. With one exception, the chapters are organized by religious denomination. It is curious that Catholic higher education, despite the number of institutions involved and the large Catholic population, is allocated only one chapter. Such minor denominations as the Mennonites and the Pentecostals receive almost as much space. A better title for the book might have been "Protestant Denominations and Higher Education With Minor Additional Attention to Catholic and Jewish Higher Education." Most of the bibliographical references deal with specific institutions rather than broader issues in religious higher education. This book will be of limited use despite the fact that it is one of the few volumes focusing on religious higher education in the United States. (PGA)
Academic Libraries: Their Rationale and Role in American Higher Education, edited by Gerard McCabe and Ruth J. Person. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. 230 pages. $55.00. ISBN 0-313-28597-7. Address: Greenwood Press, POB 5007, Westport, CT 06881.
The university community generally ignores academic libraries despite the fact that they are at the core of the university. Libraries face special challenges now - budgetary cutbacks, dramatic changes in information technology, new means of knowledge distribution, and other factors have forced libraries to rethink their mission and their structure. Although this book focuses exclusively on the United States, it will be relevant to readers in other countries because the problems facing academic libraries are somewhat similar the world over. Academic Libraries deals with such issues as funding libraries, the organization of libraries, the impact of technology, and the education of librarians. (PGA)
Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad has been established to focus specific attention on overseas study issues. It is an annual publication, and the first issue, published in fall 1995, has articles on such topics as the study abroad experience of American students in Costa Rica, and education and globalization in Europe. Further information can be obtained from the editor, Brian Whalen, International Programs Office, 232 Bay State Rd., Boston University, Boston MA 02215. An annual subscription is $12.00, with $3.00 additional for overseas subscribers. (PGA)
Vicente Sarubbi Zaldivar. Un Sistema de Educacion Superior para el Paraguay Democratico (A system of Higher Education for a Democratic Paraguay). Asuncion, Paraguay: Centro Interdisciplinario de Derecho Social y Economia Politica (CIDSEP) de la Universidad Catolica 'Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. 641 pp. US$ 20 Air Mail US$19 Address: CIDSEP Alberdi 855, Asuncion, Paraguay Send request with check payable to CIDSEP.
This recent publication is one of the most complete accounts of higher education in Paraguay. The first two chapters provide a conceptual framework, based in systems theory and in the work of Niklas Luhman and Talcott Parsons. Chapters three to six offer a historic account of the development of universities around the world, with a special emphasis in Europe and Germany. Chapter seven characterizes the main issues of the history of higher education in Latin America.
Chapter eight is a detailed analysis of the main features and problems of higher education in Paraguay. This chapter draws from legal documents, direct interviews to administrators and faculty members, examines the results of a number of surveys examining background and achievement of students. This is a complete overview of the system for anyone interested in the inner workings of higher education in Paraguay or in Latin America more generally. Chapter nine offers a proposal suggesting reforms of the higher education system to better serve the needs of an emerging democracy. The last chapter moves to a higher level of abstraction to reflect on the role of strategic planning to help improve the management of a system.