Education and Decentralisation in Less Developed Countries: a comment on general trends,issues and problems,with particular reference to Papua New Guinea

The last two decades have witnessed numerous changes in the administrative systems of many less developed countries. A few have centralised their administrations, but a larger number have decentralised. Usually education has been affected as part of overall changes, though occasionally reforms in education have been initiated independently of other sectors.

This paper begins by discussing the meaning of decentralisation. It points out that the term is vague, that systems may have many contradictory strands, and that the terminology and processes may not be understood even by those in charge of decentralisation projects. The paper then discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different structures, and the experiences of several countries during the 1970s and 1980s. Particular prominence is given to events in Papua New Guinea.     

The home advantage in sport competitions: Courneya and Carron's (1992) conceptual framework a decade later

This paper had three aims. The first was to review research carried out on the home advantage from 1992 to the present. The second was to examine the extent to which a conceptual framework proposed by Courneya and Carron (1992) was/is viable as a tool to highlight and organize an understanding of the home advantage. The final aim was to provide suggestions for future research.     

Batting last as a home advantage factor in men's NCAA tournament baseball

In baseball and softball, there is a rule that allows the home team to have the last at-bat and thus the final opportunity to win the game. However, in tournament play, this rule is often set aside and, instead, batting order is decided by other means (e.g. tournament rules, the flip of a coin). The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the batting last rule on game outcome in NCAA men's regional tournament baseball. It was hypothesized that host (i.e. home) teams would win a greater percentage of the games in which they batted last compared with when they batted first. This hypothesis was not supported. Closer examination of the last inning of play showed home teams were no more likely to have won the game during their last bat than visitors playing other visitors. The results suggest that the batting last rule contributes minimally, if at all, to home advantage in NCAA tournament baseball.     

Education and Nation Building in Nigeria since the Civil War

Nigeria, perhaps more than other African nations, faces the awesome task of forging a nation out of a diversity of cultures. The need was accentuated by the tragic civil war that engulfed Nigeria from 1967‐1970. In the task of reconstruction and reconciliation that is now being undertaken, education plays a major role.     

Provision of Higher Education in Small States: Demands, Constraints and Strategies

Over half the world's sovereign states have populations below five million, and over a quarter have populations below one million. Recognising this fact, the literature on small states has grown markedly in recent decades. However, many educational issues remain unexplored. This paper commences by discussing the dimensions of scale and the nature of small states. It then turns to the demand for local provision of higher education in small states, commenting particulary on social, political, economic and educational factors. The third part notes constraints on local provision of higher education, of which the most obvious is financial. Fourthly, the paper discusses strategies to avoid these constraints, focusing in particular on ways to expand institutions to secure economies of scale. These strategies cannot be applicable to all states, but they nevertheless provide an illuminating array of potential ways to meet demands.