ROPS 2013

Affirmative Action, the Fisher Case, and the Supreme Court: What the Justices and the Public Need to Know, by John Aubrey Douglass

John Aubrey Douglass
2013

Once again, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide on the contentious issue of Affirmative Action, and specifically the use of race in admissions decisions in public universities. Despite differences in the details, seasoned veterans of affirmative action debates are experiencing déjà vu. In this case, Abigail Noel Fisher claims overt racial discrimination when the highly selective University of Texas at Austin (UT) rejected her freshman application in 2008. The Court’s ruling could range from upholding the legal precedent of allowing race to be one of many factors in admissions; to a...

A PROVOST FOR PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

C. Judson King
2013

From 1972 to 1994, the academic administrative structure of the Berkeley campus of the University of California was unusual, in that it involved two Provosts, one who was also Dean of the College of Letters and Science, and another who was responsible for the remainder of the academic units, which were for the most part professional schools and colleges. The nature of the Provost – Professional Schools and Colleges position is explored, along with some of the issues addressed by the position and the relative advantages and disadvantages of the dual-provost structure. The value of the...

INTERNAL STAFF ALLOCATION AND THE CHANGING WORKLOAD OF JAPANESE PROFESSORIATE: A Multilevel Statistical Analysis with Simulations

Satoshi P. Watanabe
Masataka Murasawa
Yasumi Abe
2013

The increasingly competitive and globalizing environment of today’s higher education market has compelled many colleges and universities around the world to revamp their academic programs and organizational structures by responsively addressing various contemporary issues raised by internal as well as external stakeholders. It is no exception that Japanese colleges and universities have gone through a period of dramatic transition over the last decade under considerable pressure and influence of the central government’s stringent policy mandates. Although the government-led reforms...

ACADEMIC COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: On Campus Fifty Years

Daniel J. Julius
Nicholas DiGiovanni, Jr.
2013

The authors provide a perspective, as scholars and practitioners, of the organizational, demographic, legal and contextual variables that inform the past and the future of faculty unions in US colleges and universities. They ask, how best to conceptualize and evaluate the impact of faculty unions; from the inception of academic unionization in the 1960's to the present, and further, what is known and not known about collective bargaining. Issues examined include: factors that influence negotiation processes, governance, bargaining dynamics, the institutional and demographic factors...

ACCOUNTABILITY IN POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION REVISITED

David E. Leveille
2013

Accountability in the private and public sectors of society has received significant attention in both research and practice, partly because of its importance, but also because it is challenging to define, measure and implement. The nature of accountability is complex, ambiguous and highly context-dependent. As related to postsecondary education (PSE), multiple stakeholders across the nation have been pushing for greater accountability for at least three decades. Various stakeholders, including elected officials at the national and state level seemingly obsessed with achieving a "one...

TAILORING SHARED GOVERNANCE TO THE NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF THE TIMES

C. Judson King
2013

Shared governance between the administration and faculty has been traditional for most public universities, but varies considerably in its nature and effectiveness. In the United States it probably takes its most structured form at the University of California. There are good reasons for having shared governance, and yet it tends to be poorly understood outside the university environment and to cause substantial tensions within the university itself. Several trends and issues are identified that pose both significant challenges and substantial opportunities for shared governance....

DISCORDANT IMPLEMENTATION OF MULTILATERAL HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES: Evidence from the case of the Bologna Process

Masataka Murasawa
Jun Oba
Satoshi P. Watanabe
2013

In pursuit of enhanced employability of university graduates, along with their increased mobility in a rapidly globalizing economy, colleges and universities in the world today participate in regional alliances and partnerships in which shared targets with mutually recognized degrees and curricula are sought across boundaries through transnational higher education policies. The Bologna Process is certainly exemplified as one of the most important multilateral efforts in the recent history of higher education, in establishing such a system of quality assurance within the European...