Higher Education institutional governance reforms in the Netherlands,Portugal and Italy: A policy translation perspective addressing the homogeneous/heterogeneous dilemma

This paper addresses the homogeneous/heterogeneous dilemma regarding formal arrangements of university central governance structures. Most topical studies argue that these structures are becoming homogeneous across countries and prove it by adopting purposive sampling techniques. Yet, other scholars stress heterogeneity within countries. This paper aims to clarify this dilemma through a multi‐level analysis that simultaneously considers three levels of embeddedness (i.e., supranational, national and institutional), by employing a policy translation perspective, which can accommodate both homogeneity and heterogeneity. The national sample comprises three countries (the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy). The institutional sample is comprehensive and encompasses all public universities within each country. The study discloses heterogeneity in how countries responded to supranational policy pressures as well as heterogeneous responses at the institutional level even when unitary laws are applied. Relying on these findings, we stress the importance of adopting comprehensive (rather than purposive) sampling to infer about international and/or national homogeneity because studies that generalise results based on one/few case studies per country could be biased by the sample selection criteria. In addition, the research implications of our analysis on steering‐at‐a‐distance and on the relation between the grade of cogency of the national laws and homogeneous/heterogeneous reform outcomes are discussed.     

Local and national effects of a quality system in Dutch general practitioner specialty training: a qualitative study

A quality system (named GEAR; acronym for Combined Evaluation Audit Round in English), has been introduced in eight institutes of the Dutch general practitioner specialty training. This paper focuses on the local and national effects of GEAR. Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted with the directors and quality co-ordinators. At a local level, GEAR provided the institutes with insights into their current practice. The institutes designed and implemented several improvement plans based on feedback. Furthermore, GEAR addressed quality management more systematically, and it enhanced the quality culture. At a national level, the institutes formulated national priorities. In addition, GEAR stimulated collaboration as a result of more frequent contacts. Institutes differed in their perception of the extent to which GEAR offered added value. Integrating the quality system into the local policy was sometimes a problem. Despite some scepticism at the start, GEAR provoked enthusiasm that can contribute to the quality of medical education.     

Questions asked at the virtual and physical health sciences reference desk: how do they compare and what do they tell us?

The questions asked at the traditional reference desk are decreasing while questions asked at the virtual reference desk are on the rise. Over a one-month period, the types of reference questions asked at an academic health sciences library were coded. This paper examines and compares the types of questions asked at the current day reference desk versus the virtual reference desk. This paper also reviews past literature examining the types of questions asked via virtual reference and the traditional reference.     

Producing professional interactive multimedia: project management issues

This paper presents a case study of the development of a multimedia training product for broad distribution to middle and senior management as well as university students. It compares anticipated and actual costs of project management and where possible makes comparisons with data from similar projects. An unexpected finding was a greater than twofold overrun on the anticipated costs of project management. The greater part of this overrun was an increased administrative effort required to comply with reporting requirements of the funding body and the joint Venture partnership. The results of this study have implications for producers of interactive multimedia in higher education with regard to realistic costing of project management, which is often an unfunded contribution.     

Human information seeking: Online searching of bibliographic citation networks

The strategies, heuristics, and tradeoff?s involved in online searching of bibliographic citation networks are discussed. Results from the field of citation analysis are used to describe the mathematical structure of citation networks. An experimental environment called DBASE (Data Base Access and Search Environment) is discussed and its use in two studies of human information seeking behavior considered. Variables examined in these studies included the nature of the search question and the interconnectivity of the data base.