Changing Understandings of 'Public' and 'Private' in Higher Education: the United Kingdom Case

Where does higher education in the United Kingdom sit today in terms of the public–private distinction, and what does that distinction mean in the higher education context? This article considers these questions and related issues, noting how the particular example of the United Kingdom compares with other systems internationally. Following a historical exploration of the meaning of ‘public’, ‘private’ and other related terms, an examination is undertaken of their currency during the post‐war period in the UK higher education system. This is exemplified through an analysis of the two major British higher education reports of the last 50 years – the Robbins Report of 1963 and the Dearing Report of 1997. It is argued that the contemporary UK higher education system could be seen as suffering from the worst of both worlds, trapped between and suffering from the seemingly contrary pressures of privatisation and nationalisation.     

Classical Test Theory in Historical Perspective

What were the historic origins of classical test theory? What have been major milestones in its development?     

Analysis of reference transactions using packaged computer programs.

Motivated by a continuing education class attended by the authors on the measurement of reference desk activities, the reference department at Scott Memorial Library initiated a project to gather data on reference desk transactions and to analyze the data by using packaged computer programs. The programs utilized for the project were SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and SAS (Statistical Analysis System). The planning, implementation and development of the project are described.     

The role of value orientations in curricular decision making: a rationale for teachers' goals and expectations.

This research examined the role of value orientations in curricular decision making from the perspective of high school physical education teachers and students. Educational value orientations served as the theoretical base for the research. Teachers who exhibited one of two paired orientations, disciplinary mastery/learning process (DM/LP) or ecological integration/social reconstruction (EI/SR), were interviewed to examine the extent to which their value orientations influenced their stated (a) goals for student learning, and (b) expectations for academic performance and behavior. Students were also interviewed to investigate the extent to which they acknowledged these goals and expectations. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Results suggested that goals and expectations of DM/LP and EI/SR teachers were distinctly different and that comments from students in the EI/SR teachers' classes did not reflect their teachers' goals and expectations. Dynamical system theory was used to conceptualize value orientations as attractors within the educational ecosystem. Teachers working from weak EI/SR value attractors may be limited by learner, instructional, and contextual constraints.     

Evolution of Higher Education Finance in Australia

Central policymakers are becoming more aware of the possibilities of implementing their policies by using 'softer' discretionary financial instruments in preference to 'harder' directives and conditions attached to granted funds. A typical technique within this softer approach is to offer block grants to any target organization which contracts to pursue specific policy goals and to account for their achievement. Policymakers effectively perceive themselves as 'quasi-consumers', prepared to 'buy' the achievements of their target organizations. Following its new self-perception, the Commonwealth has 'invited' higher education institutions to 'enjoy' the financial benefits of its new Unified National System. Membership is open, however, only to those institutions which undertake to achieve specific organizational reforms desired by the Commonwealth. Moreover block recurrent grants flow to member institutions only after teaching and research targets have been individually negotiated and contracted. An endnote updates the final section on the Relative Funding Model.