Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing - 583 Words

Standardized testing has its pros and cons I do not believe in it but I will give you proof for and against the testing. We will cover some the history and where the testing came from and why we do it. I will talk a little bit of how I feel about testing and how much we should focus on how the students do on the test. I have interviewed a few teachers that I had when I went to school and some personal friends that are teachers now and how it effects how they teach. Most historians trace the beginning of standardized testing to seventh-century China, when the government began administering written exams to select candidates for the civil service. As part of this exam, applicants were required to display knowledge of Confucian philosophy and to compose poetry. Strenuous testing continues today in China with the Chinese National Higher Education Entrance Examinations, commonly called the Gaokao, or high test. The Gaokao is required to gain admittance to higher education in China. In 2010, ten million Chinese students took this test, competing for 5.7 million college and university placements. Manuela Zoninsein opines in Slate, â€Å"It is China’s SAT—if the SAT lasted two days, covered everything learned since kindergarten, and had the power to determine one’s entire professional trajectory.† Standardized testing in the United States has a much shorter history. In 1845, public education advocate Horace Mann called for standardized testing of spelling, geography, and math inShow MoreRelatedPros And Cons Of Standardized Testing801 Words   |  4 Pagescontroversial topic Since Middle School, I was not opposed to standardized testing. I thought of it as a way of testing us of what we have learned. Although, after reading some articles about standardized testing I am re-thinking the pros and cons. From personal experience, I thought of it as a challenge to pass them. But now that reminisce about it, I noticed some of the cons of standardized testing. I remember having a week or two dedicated for testing, and in case of students failing they had to take timeRead MorePros And Cons Of Standardized Testing1400 Words   |  6 PagesEven though there are many downsides to standardized testing there are still viable reasons why they are still being used today. One of the main reasons includes the easy and quick access of testing students. Standardized testing allows schools to quickly access a large amount of students at one time. This is also one of the cheapest ways to tests such a large crowd due to machinery that grades which results in low tests costs f or students. These tests also help by setting a national curriculum forRead MoreThe Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing1050 Words   |  5 Pageseducational world is standardized tests. All fifty states have their own standards following the common core curriculum. There are many positives and negatives that go with the standardized tests. A standardized test is any type of â€Å"examination thats administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner† (Popham, 1999). These standardized tests are either aptitude tests or achievement tests. Schools use achievement tests to compare students. There are pros to standardized examinations as toolsRead MorePros And Cons Of Standardized Testing1025 Words   |  5 PagesWhat are standardized tests? Standardized tests are exams that are administered, scored, and interpreted in the same way for all students. Now there are many pros and cons of standardized testing however, I believe that public and private schools should just abolish standardized testing all together. These tests determine a student’s academic performance and each student is given the same test with the same questions and answers. These tests are designed to measure the students learning capabilitiesRead MoreThe Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing Essay674 Words   |  3 PagesStandardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some p eople may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay. What exactly is standardized testing you may ask, it is a test which measures the knowledge among differentRead MoreThe Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing1491 Words   |  6 PagesStandardized testing was introduced by French psychologist Alfred Binet in 1905. The test originated because Binet was commissioned by the French government to create a tool to identify which students needed remedial studies. Over time, the standardized tests evolved into multiple different tests in multiple subjects for varying age groups of students. The tests were initially seen as a way to test a large sum of people with the same general questions to see an individual’s knowledge. Some peopleRead MoreThe Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing1511 Words   |  7 PagesOver the years the educational system has faced various controversial issues, but the most recent one making a negative impact on students, is standardized testing. Standardized testing is a type of testing used to evaluate stud ents academic abilities . It is a way to measure if standards are being met but does not provide a variation in the type of administration based on the students needs (Sacks, 2000). In other words, all children are provided these test to track their learning progress basedRead MoreThe Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing1100 Words   |  5 Pagesscience, history, and science. Then, every year, students typically take one big standardized test, or even more. These tests are claimed to give educators an objective that’s unbiased. Standardized testing supposedly helps identify the natural tendency of individual students, identifying skill development and progress. However, are these things what standardized testing really do for students? Standardized testing only measures a small portion of what makes education substantial. This means thatRead MorePros And Cons Of Standardized Testing1201 Words   |  5 Pages Standardized testing is all based on your performance as a student on a specific day, time and place. What it doesn’t show is how you perform on a day to day basis. These types of test can be given in any type of form that requires test takers to answer the same questions, and is then scored in a â€Å"standard† or consistent manner. Students should not have to take standardized test because of many reasons. As a human I have days where I’m tired and didn’t get enough sleep the night before or it isRead MoreThe Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing704 Words   |  3 Pagesschool. But the majority can attest to saying that they all hate standardized testing and the week that it brings. Every student knows this week all too well. From having one to two tests a day and then shortly after not being able to function properly on the rest of the school day. Many students will say that they all hate the idea of standardized testing and wish it to be gone. The real question stands though: is standardized testing increasing the performance of students? The main argument against

There Are Two Types Of Diabetes That Occur Not Due To...

There are two types of diabetes that occur not due to pregnancy: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1, also known as â€Å"insulin dependent† and â€Å"juvenile† diabetes occurs because of a genetic hiccup in which the pancreas’ beta cells can’t properly create and distribute insulin, causing the individual to have to take injections. The second type of diabetes, Type 2, occurs when the body can’t make enough insulin for adequate function of the body, albeit from age or weight. In this type of diabetes insulin injections are less common (although can still be prescribed depending), which is why the main focus and recommendations will be based on Type 1 diabetic mothers. Organizations like The American Diabetes Association (ADA), The National Institute of†¦show more content†¦Using a population-based study, researchers used a Medical Birth Registry in Sweden, gaining data on about 5,000 type 1 diabetic pregnancies. They also used approximately 1,200,000 pregnancies deemed â€Å"healthy† as a control group. In studying these births and the health of the children from 1991 to 2003, researchers found a prominent correlation between type one diabetic mothers and â€Å"preeclampsia, cesarean section delivery, . . . still births, perinatal mortality, and major malformations.† On top of these issues, there was a seen increase in preterm births and cases of fetal macrosomia among the diabetic group (Persson, Norman, Hanson, 2009, p. [Page #]).(Persson, Norman, Hanson, 2009) To get even more specific, a study was done about the sole issue of the number of stillbirths that result in diabetic pregnancies. Using pregnancies from 1990-2000, researchers analyzed characteristics of the pregnancy: the mother, her control over her diabetes, the pregnancy itself, and the still born. Looking through 1300 women, 25 stillbirths were found among 22 women. Within those stillbirths, 9 were caused by poor glycemic control, with the rest due to explainable (smoking, poor environment, diabetic nephropathy etc) or unexplainable causes. To further test how insulin boluses change through out pregnancy, a study was conducted to test the difference between the use of an insulin pumpShow MoreRelatedDiabetes Mellitus As A Disability1555 Words   |  7 PagesThe amount of patients being diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus has sky-rocketed these past few years. ‘†In 2010 the figures were 25.8 million and 8.3%†Ã¢â‚¬  and has increased in ‘†2012 to 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3%.†(American Diabetes Association, 2014); it is seen nationwide, and has now even begun to affect our youth. In South Texas Diabetes Mellitus seems to be the number one thriving disease affecting its general population. Diabetes Mellitus is now one of the most widely known diseases thatRead MoreEssay On Diabetes761 Words   |  4 Pagespatients with T1DM, glucagon secretion is not suppressed by hyperglycemia (Holt, 2004). The resultant inappropriately elevated glucagon levels exacerbate the metabolic defects due to insulin deficiency. In type 2 diabetes these mechanisms break down, with the consequence that the two main pathological defects in type2 diabetes are impaired insulin secretion through a dysfunction of the pancreatic ÃŽ ²-cell, and impaired insulin action through insulin resistance. In situations where resistance to insulinRead MoreEssay on Exploring the Different Forms and Effects of Diabetes555 Words   |  3 PagesDiabetes is a very well known disorder and serious illness. Also, Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism and the way our bodies use digested food for growth and energy. There are three types of diabetes, these include Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and Gestational diabetes (Bernstein). There are many factors that play into the development of this disease such as with Type 1 diabetes it is a disease that affects the way your body uses food. This type of diabetes is usually found in children as wellRead MoreDiabetes Is A Chronic Disease1517 Words   |  7 PagesIntrod uction Diabetes (Diabetes mellitus) is a chronic disease caused by number of reasons. Diabetic patients are characterized by hyperglycemia (high blood in sugar) resulting from defect of insulin secretion (Mellitus, 2005). World Health Organization (2008) defined the Diabetes untreated disease, known by chronic rise of the concentration of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Glucose is a major source of energy in our body; food converts to fats, protein, and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates during eatingRead MoreDiabetes And Its Effects On Diabetes1603 Words   |  7 Pages Diabetes is caused when a person’s blood sugar level becomes too high. This is often described as a lifelong condition. There are two types of Diabetes within the UK; Type 1 Diabetes, where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that the body uses to produce insulin. This can develop over weeks or even days. Type 2 Diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not react to insulin. Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1. Many peopleRead MoreGestational Diabetes Mellitus ( Gdm )1683 Words   |  7 PagesGestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a type of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy and caused by insulin resistance in the body. Risk factors of GDM include maternal age, ethnicity, family history, BMI, and deficiency of vitamin D. To be diagnosed with GDM, a woman must go through two screenings tests called the glucose challenge test and glucose tolerance test with high blood glucose resu lts. Proper management such as a healthy diet, physical activity, and medications are needed to preventRead MoreDiabetes Is A Chronic Disease1450 Words   |  6 Pages Introduction Diabetes (Diabetes mellitus) is a chronic disease caused by number of reasons. Diabetic patient characterized by hyperglycemia (high blood in sugar) resulting from defect of insulin secretion (Mellitus, 2005). World Health Organization (2008) defined the Diabetes untreated disease, known by chronic rise of the concentration of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Glucose is major source of energy in our body, food is convert to fats, protein, and carbohydrate. Carbohydrate when eat, convertRead MoreEssay Understanding Diabetes1726 Words   |  7 Pages Diabetes is a very well known disorder. Nearly eighteen million people in the United States alone have diabetes. Diabetes is a serious illness, and there are about 1,800 new cases are being diagnosed each day. To completely understand diabetes, a person must first know how the body works with the disease and then determine which type of diabetes he/she has. There are three types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and Gestational diabetes. There are many factors that play into the developmentRead MoreDiabetes Mellitus : A Type Of Diabetes1369 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Gestational Diabetes Mellitus is a type of diabetes that was first discovered during pregnancy. According to Canadian Diabetes Association (2015), three to twenty percent of women develop Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). GDM is a result of increased insulin resistance or glucose intolerance. Incidence of GDM varies by age, body weight, and ethnicity. Canadian Diabetes Association (2015) mentioned that individuals who are at greater risk include women over 35 years of age, womenRead MoreApply Principles Of Diabetic Nursing Care Essay1621 Words   |  7 Pagesthe glucagon hormone in the blood. It is characterised by a distinctive rash, diabetes, weight loss, stomatitis and hypoaminoacidemia (Goldman Schafer 2015, p. 101). c) Gluconeogenesis (1mark) Gluconeogenesis is the process in which the liver predominantly forms glucose from non-carbohydrate sources such as lactate, pyruvate, glycerol and amino acids, but can also occur to a smaller extent in the kidneys. It occurs when the carbohydrate source is not sufficient enough to meet the body’s energy

Areas Of Feasibility Free Essays

Also additional members of employee will be hired for the better arrive; trainings Of staff are necessity for the future tourist goers in Mat. Pico De Lord. To ensure the safety and wellness of each tourist Wanderlust Sojourners will help Mat. We will write a custom essay sample on Areas Of Feasibility or any similar topic only for you Order Now Pico De Core to recruit well-trained staff that are capable in giving better quality of services. Following are in line for refinement of service at Mat. Pico De Lord: Proposed Operational Hours: 6:00 AM- Opening hours 4:00 PM- Closing hours Overnight can be done as long as following restriction is being followed such as: 1. Potential hikers can climb the mountain for the allowable closing hours ND go down with the permitted opening hours 2. Weather is also to consider whenever potential hikers would like to do overnight. For the following restriction are to be followed well-trained staff should be hired. Security personnel, trained Tour Guides, and Registrars personnel. Wanderlust Sojourners can make a better Operational system in Mat. Pico De Lord such as; Improvement on accuracy and efficiency of sales, reservations, and accounting of revenues, Improvement of operational efficiency (elimination of repetitive tasks, current information readily accessible). Improvement of guest service (accurate and fast dissemination of guest information) Resources In order for the Mat. Pico De Lord to accommodate the changes it will need additional help to restructure. Since Mat. Pico De Core is a government owned the participation of National and Local Government unit will be a great factor, in need for the management and financing so the proposed project can be effectively executed. Most especially the local government, in the moment the project will gain its profits the Local will be the first hand to get the benefits of the project. Private sectors and Voluntary sponsored are also welcome. For the Government and private sectors to work together both must agreed upon through a variety of mechanisms including contracts and concessions. Marketing For the Mat. Pico De Lord to be well known, Wanderlust Sojourners will design a marketing Strategy that would help Mat. Pico De Core gained potential tourist. Wanderlust Sojourners Will make Mat. Pico De Lord as natural environment with a potential to build a recreational and adventurous experience to its potential tourist. Mat. Pico De Core would also endorse a rare opportunity to the community around it. It will revivalist the industry where in the community will benefit. Mat. Pico De Lord could facilitate coordination and make assistance to the community. While there is widespread public interest I preserving the area’s natural and cultural values. Wanderlust Sojourners will arrange a Marketing Strategy that will promote Mat. Pico De Lord. Wanderlust Sojourners will make Market Development wherein identifying and developing new market segment for current products (market expansion). Wanderlust Sojourners will also use Service Development treated for the modification of services offered. Diversification strategy will also likely to be use through acquiring business outside the site and Mat. Pico De Lord services offered. Use of Social Media (faceable, twitter, instating, and creating official weeping for Mat. Pico De Lord) and Prints Ads (newspaper and magazines) are to be done for the intense promotion of Mat. Pico De Lord to gain more potential tourist. With all of this Marketing Services Wanderlust Sojourners will help Mat. Pico De Lord to target and promote to the right tourists. Market Research The market areas would be defined based on distance from the site. Demographic characteristics for the resident market would be analyzed to provide an indication of support. How to cite Areas Of Feasibility, Papers

Continuing Crisis in Tertiary Education of Developing and Transition Countries free essay sample

Caste- The unequal treatment for the students that come from the tribe or ethnic groups are very evident. -In Venezuela, the widespread preferential admission for students of University professors and employees is an example of positive discrimination in favor of the children of the already privileged intellectual elite. In India, efforts to reduce barriers that linked to caste but still the representation of students from different tribes and castes are still low. . Language – contribute to social inequality in countries where tertiary education is conducted in a language different from that of primary and secondary education. In Sri Lanka and Tanzania- English is the language of tertiary instruction but French is used in their everyday’s living. 3. Gender- it is also a barrier in the education of tertiary level. Gender differences in tertiary enrollment in some of the countries are very visible as shown in the table: Gender Disparity in Enrollment and Teacher Deployment, Selected Countries, 1997 Region and country| Combined primary- and secondary-level gross enrollment ratio| Tertiary-level students per 1,000 population| Proportion of women in tertiary education (percent)| Share of female teachers (percent)| | female| male| female| male| | Secondary| Tertiary| AfricaBotswanaMadagascarSouth AfricaAsiaCambodiaChinaIndiaIndonesiaKuwaitYemen, Rep. We will write a custom essay sample on Continuing Crisis in Tertiary Education of Developing and Transition Countries or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Latin AmericaBrazilColombiaGuyanaIndustrial CountriesAustriaNew ZealandUnited States| 935140689562796834898710210899| 9051478698818569908785104105100| 5. 51. 614. 60. 33. 34. 88. 125. 91. 111. 718. 28. 928. 249. 958. 4| 6. 41. 915. 91. 76. 17. 915. 219. 37. 310. 117. 110. 231. 340. 148. 2| 4745481636356213535248485656| 4364273637544862555756| 28293717-382831264039| Source: United Nations (2000) Under the gender inequalities, it includes also the lodging or location of nstitutions. Universities are typically located in urban areas limiting access for rural female students since families may be less inclined to permit daughters than sons to live outside the home in mixed-gender environment in urban areas. 4. Family Income- The major determinants of inequality in tertiary education. -In the availability of free tertiary education, still families with high income are the ones who have the higher chance or opportunity for free tertiary education. The children of high and middle income fam ilies who can afford to cost of high quality private secondary schools are usually better prepared to pass the public university entrance examination giving access to free higher education. -Families who can afford private tutoring in secondary level have better chance in competitive entrance examination that will avail their children for free tertiary education. The raised of fees in tertiary level made a noticeable decrease in the enrollment that is being felt not only in the Philippines but in other developing and transition countries. Remedies/Actions made by different countries to achieve equality in tertiary education. * In India despite special provision free tertiary education and reservation of places for students from scheduled castes and tribes, The actual percentage of enrolled students from this groups are still low because of the proportionally small number of minority students who completed primary and secondary education. * In the Philippines the free tertiary education are mostly availed by those students with a families of higher income that afford them of high quality education of private school that made a better chance for entrance examination. In South Africa the affirmative actions are still to be fully accessed whether successful or not, that is the admission of deserving black applicants who have not been given an adequate opportunity to demonstrate their ability to succeed. * Actions were also made in the inequality of the women from men in the tertiary level in Africa: In Ghana and Uganda â €“ they gave bonus points for women in taking admission examination so that more of them pass the cut off points. Evidently from that action enrollment of women in tertiary level increase from 27- 34 %. In Uganda and 21-27% in Ghana. In Tanzania, instead of giving bonus points they give a six- week remedial course for the women to give them a chance to pass the admission examinations . Inequalities in the education of tertiary level is a problem since time immemorial, but countries can do positive actions to eradicate the problem or to decrease if not to completely solve it. Focusing on financial aid such as scholarships, grants, and students Educational loans seem to be more effective form of equity interventions for capable aspirants from minority or under privileged populations. In addition stronger efforts must clearly be made mush earlier in a student’s educational career, particularly at the primary and secondary level, so that all students have equal opportunity to compete for entry to tertiary education. Gina A. Grezula MEM B Problems of Quality and Relevance Although there are exceptions, the quality and relevance of research, teaching, and learning have tended to decline in public tertiary education institutions in developing countries. Many universities operate with overcrowded and deteriorating physical facilities, limited and obsolete library resources, insufficient equipment and instructional materials, outdated curricula, unqualified teaching staff, poorly prepared secondary students, and an absence of academic rigor and systematic evaluation of performance. Similar conditions can be found in many of the new private universities and other tertiary institutions that have emerged in many countries, especially in those that lack a formal system for licensing or accrediting new institutions. In the formerly socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, drastic reductions in public funding are jeopardizing the quality and sustainability of existing programs and even the survival of entire institutions. In many countries the poor quality of teacher training programs has detrimental effects on the quality of learning in primary and secondary education. Weak secondary education and scienti? c literacy, in turn, do not arm high school graduates with the necessary skills for successful tertiary-level studies. Most universities in developing nations function at the periphery of the international scienti? c community, unable to participate in the production and adaptation of knowledge necessary to confront their countries’ most important economic and social problems. Although few countries have exhaustive data to document the depth of the problem systematically, in countries where information is available the situation is alarming. For example, in 1995 a task force on higher education in the Philippines concluded, after reviewing information on critical education inputs and the results of professional examinations for the 1,316 existing tertiary education institutions, that only 9 universities and 2 colleges in the country were comparable in quality to international institutions. In India highly regarded programs such as those of the Indian Institutes of Technology exist side by side with scienti? c and technical programs of poor quality and relevance. Even Russia, once a world leader in advanced science and technology fields such as theoretical physics, nuclear technology, and space technologies, has seen a collapse of its Ramp;D sector. As reported in a recent OECD publication, in Russia â€Å"? nancial crises, decaying equipment, unemployment and higher wages in other sectors drove large numbers of researchers . . . away from science and technology† (Cervantes and Malkin 2001). In both public and private institutions the lack of full-time quali? ed teachers is an important contributor to poor quality. In Latin America, for example, the share of professors with doctoral degrees teaching in public universities is less than 6 percent, and the share with a master’s degree is less than 26 percent. More than 60 percent of the teachers in the public sector work part-time; in the private universities the proportion is as high as 86 percent (Garcia Guadilla 1998). In the Philippines only 7 percent of the professors teaching in tertiary education institutions hold Ph. D. s; 26 percent have master’s degrees. Expansion and diversi? ation of tertiary education systems has often led to internal brain drain because low-paid professors at public institutions seek second and third jobs in extramural positions such as teaching at better-paying private institutes and colleges. As colleges, universities, and scienti? c academies in transition countries struggle to adapt to the new realities of a market economy, they are hampered by a fragmented institutional structure, characterized by a large number of small, specialized institutions and a few big universities that have a near-monopoly on teaching at high academic levels. The small institutions are not able to diversify their programs and compete effectively, and the large, most prestigious universities are often too protected by regulations and have no incentives to engage in innovation. Hungary is unique in Eastern Europe; there, a centrally initiated merger plan has reduced the number of public institutions from more than 70 to fewer than 20. In spite of the global trend toward market expansion of tertiary education, governmental and institutional responses are not always favorable to the new tendencies. For example when countries expand tertiary education haphazardly to meet increasing social demand, there is a high risk of graduate unemployment. (To mention just two countries in different regions, in Nigeria graduate unemployment is 22 percent, and in Sri Lanka it is 35 percent. ) In many countries the mismatch between the pro? le of graduates and labor market demands is most apparent among graduates in the social sciences and humanities. The Republic of Yemen, for instance, has an oversupply of liberal arts graduates, and their skills do not meet the needs of the economy. On the faculty side, this can lead to an oversupply of teachers of nonscienti? c subjects. Tertiary education institutions often lack adequate labor market information to guide prospective students, parents, and employers. In many countries of Africa the toll of HIV/AIDS is changing tertiary education institutions in tragic ways. At the University of Nairobi, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of the 20,000 students are HIV positive (Bollag 2001; Kelly 2001), and in South Africa infection rates for undergraduate students have reportedly reached 33 percent (ACU 2001). Not only have students been directly affected by the pandemic, whether suffering from the disease themselves or caring for someone at home; so too have the faculty and administration. In some instances HIV/AIDS has robbed colleges and universities of their instructors and other personnel, crippling the institutions and further reducing the countries’ development opportunities, let alone their capacity to produce local leaders, civil servants, and trained intellectuals. Zambia’s Copperbelt University is said to have lost approximately 20 staff members in 2001, and Kenyatta University in Nairobi estimates that it lost 1 staff member or student per month during the same period. Problems of quality and relevance are not con? ned to traditional universities. Even in countries that have diversi? ed the structure of tertiary education, relevance can become a serious issue in the absence of close linkages between tertiary education institutions and the labor market. Jordan, for instance, has actively encouraged the development of public and rivate community colleges. Nevertheless, the status, quality, and relevance of these institutions have become so problematic that the country experienced a decline in community college enrollment from 41,000 in 1990–91 to 23,000 in 1995–96. Lack of access to the global knowledge pool and the international academic environment is a growing issue. In many countries poor command of foreign languages am ong staff and students complicates access to textbooks and the Internet, especially at the graduate level. In countries such as Malaysia and Sri Lanka that had opted for the use of the national language in tertiary education, officials are now considering reversing this policy to improve the quality of tertiary education, especially in the basic and applied sciences. Many countries that experienced a doubling or tripling of tertiary enrollments and increased participation rates for young people in recent decades have seen the negative effects of rapid expansion on quality. Issues of quality assurance and quality enhancement have become a major focus of attention (El-Khawas, DePietro-Jurand, and HolmNielsen 1998). Many governments, whatever the size and stage of development of their tertiary education sectors, have decided that traditional academic controls are inadequate for dealing with today’s challenges and that more explicit quality assurance systems are needed. Countries differ in their approaches to quality promotion. Some have taken steps to strengthen quality by introducing new reporting requirements or other mechanisms of management control. In Argentina the authorities have introduced quality assurance mechanisms that depend on an enhanced information and evaluation system and new rules for funding public universities. About 20 transition and developing countries have developed accreditation systems, while others have established evaluation committees or agencies that carry out external reviews. In many cases independent bodies have been established. While the most common setup is a single national agency, in some countries, such as Colombia and Mexico, separate agencies are responsible for different institutions, regions, purposes, and types of academic program. Such variation in the approaches to quality assurance bodies re? cts political and cultural preferences within each country, differences in government leadership, and the varying stages of development of tertiary education sectors. The scope of responsibilities given to quality assurance systems has varied widely. Scotland and England, for example, have procedures for monitoring teaching effectiveness, while Hong Kong (China) is focusing on high-quality management processes. Some countries, such as Chile, have established systems for licen sing new institutions and certifying educational credentials. Others have directed their efforts toward rewarding research productivity, either of individual scholars (as in Mexico) or of entire academic departments (as in the United Kingdom). There is also wide variation in the extent to which quality assurance agencies have managed to address issues related to student transfer and to study abroad. Countries and agencies also differ in their concerns arising from the expansion of new modes of educational delivery, including video-based education, interactive transmission to remote sites, and, most recently, Internet-based learning. MARIFE F. GAN MEM B Change-Resistant Governance Structures and Rigid Management Practices In many countries, the governance structure and management traditions of public tertiary institutions are characterized by rigidities and a total lack of flexibility which inhibits any type of reform or innovation. In the name of academic freedom, institutions (and their individual constituents, faculty, administrators and students) frequently operate with limited accountability for their use of public resources or for the quality of their outputs (e. . , graduates, research). Ingrained institutional cultures, together with poor management practices and lack of accountability, explain some of the inefficiency dimensions identified earlier. The time-honored committee approach to management in universities suffers from lengthy, sometimes politically- laden, consensus-based decision making. It often lacks the agility for effective interaction with a surrounding corporate culture. The ownership of t ertiary institutions has often shifted from clients, e. g. society and students, to staff. The reason d’etre for some institutions has become providing employment and benefits for staff rather than being educational establishments geared towards the needs of the students. Such systems are rigorously guarded by cadres of academic leaders represented in academic councils who operate within a framework of institutional autonomy that is almost exclusively accountable to staff and academics. Academic leaders such as rectors, deans and heads of departments are not trained in management of large complex institutions. In many public universities in Latin America and Eastern Europe, reform-oriented rectors stand little chances of getting elected because they are perceived as a threat to established practices. When there is a change of rector, the entire management team is changed with the ensuing loss of institutional continuity. Often the institutional support systems do not provide guidance in terms of 12 monitoring and evaluation of the institutions’ own performance. Few institutions have a governance structure allowing for the participation of representatives of employers and civil society. Universities in countries as diverse as Russia, Bangladesh and Bolivia have no Boards of Trustees that would constitute an explicit external accountability channel. Reliance on performance indicators as management and planning tools is not a common practice in most countries. At the national level a stalemate often exists between academically powerful rectors conferences or councils and governments that continue to negotiate line item budgets seldom linked to institutional performance or national strategies, but generally reflect the needs of regional constituencies. This leads to a political rather than a professional system of management and governance. The consequence is a deficient governance system lacking flexibility and innovative capacity because programs are developed to serve the needs of existing staff rather than the country’s development goals, and lack of programmatic accountability because academic autonomy is not paired with financial and legal responsibility. In Brazil, the Law of Isonomy establishes uniform salaries for all federal jobs including those in the federal universities. Prolonged procedures at the level of the ministries of finance and education often cause delays in transfer of funds to tertiary education institutions. The purchase of laboratory equipment is also affected by such inefficiencies; by the time the equipment arrives it is often less up to date than originally intended and institutions end up receiving equipment supplies after the courses have taken place. In many countries and institutions, administrative procedures are also rigid when it comes to making changes in academic structure, programs or mode of operation. In Uruguay, for instance, it is only when confronted in the id-1990s with competition from emerging private universities that the venerable University of the Republicwhich had exercised a monopoly over higher education in the country for 150 years started a strategic planning process and considered establishing post-graduate programs for the first time. Another example of institutional inflexibility occurred in Venezuela, wh ere IESA, a dynamic private institute of business administration, had to wait several years to receive the official approval from the Council of Rectors for a new MBA program designed and delivered jointly with the top-rated Harvard Business School. Japan has also experienced severe institutional management rigidities. In response, the Ministry of Education recently decided to grant national universities corporate status and legal personality with the assurance that the independence of universities would be respected. The aim of this significant gesture was to provide national universities with more flexibility for managing the resources provided them through government grants. This represented a structural adjustment introducing market mechanism and accountability thereby obviates the need for institutions to seek government approval for their management decisions. In Nicaragua, the recently established University of Mobile from the US state of Alabama has been denied a license to operate by the Council of Rectors keen on protecting the Nicaraguan public universities from foreign competition. In Romania, CODECS, the first distance education institution in that country created in the early 1990s, initially faced difficulty getting recognition of its degrees by the national higher education authorities and opted instead for an alliance with the UK Open University an institution with degrees recognized by the same Romanian authorities. At a recent meeting of the US-based International Association of Management Education (April 2000), leaders of business schools expressed alarm at the slow and bureaucratic response of their institutions to technological advances and labor market changes. Eastern Europe and Central Asia also suffer from many similar constraints, but with a different historical context and dynamic. Following the collapse of the state socialist regimes, universities and other tertiary education institutions reclaimed their autonomy from state control. In some cases, protection from government intervention has been included in the newly revised constitutions. However, this autonomy has rarely been accompanied by corresponding financial authority or improvement in the institutions’ management and strategic planning capabilities. Even university and college leaders have tried to resist the newly gained autonomy for fear of reduced public funding. Further, line- item budgeting and limited control over revenues and savings do not provide incentives to encourage medium- term development strategies. A particular rigidity problem inherited from the Soviet system is the institutional separation of research and teaching, the former being administered and conducted principally in scientific academies. In countries with a binary system, academic doctoral training is assigned to universities whereas technical and applied (technical and teacher training) programs are assigned to colleges with very limited or no possibilities of partnership or transfer. Such a lack of integration of education and research as well as the lack of articulation between different forms of institution within national systems can seriously compromise the quality and competitiveness of tertiary education in these countries. Finally, tertiary education systems in many countries are not designed to deal with civil constituents. In some countries students can often muster sufficient political power to block entire systems from functioning over prolonged periods of time. One example of such overwhelming control occurred in 1999 in Mexico where UNAM, the country’s largest university (270,000 students), was forced to closed down for almost an entire year. The cause: a student strike in response to a proposed tuition fee increase from a few dollars to 120 dollars a year. Other countries have seen an alarming increase in campus violence which can be politically motivated (Colombia) or even the result of criminal activities (Bangladesh). In some countries of Africa, particularly West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal), strong academic staff unions have regularly interrupted the academic calendar for a year or more in strike actions designed to win them higher salaries. Such disruptions can severely damage the functioning of the institutions. Another element of distortion is cheating, which seems to have become more widespread in many settings throughout the world. According to the rector of the Georgian Institute of Foreign Affairs, for instance, â€Å"†¦ corruption has become practically a total form of existence [in the former republics of the Soviet Union]. Recent allegations of corruption in Chinese college admissions have tainted the objective process of selection of students. In Kenya in February 2002 authorities there claim to have broken up a ring within the Ministry of Education that had been producing and selling bogus university diplomas, polytechnic certificates, exam results, academic transcripts, an d even counterfeit identification documents such as passports. Finally, student democracy sometimes works against the academic interests of the very students it is intended to protect. In some systems extended campaigning and election periods for student or rector office can detract from teaching and learning and lead to inefficiencies rather than to better opportunities and improved education for the students. One example of the potential negative effects of student democracy can be seen in Nepal where classes are regularly suspended for at least a month during student elections time. In many countries, the growing dissatisfaction with interruptions from student politics at public universities has fueled the expansion of private tertiary education. While the growth in the number of private institutions can often be explained by increased demand for tertiary education, in many instances it is a reaction to the disenchantment with public universities which are perceived to be less attractive because of political agitation and resulting poor academic quality. References: * http://www. usp. ac. fj/worldbank2009/frame/Documents/Publications_global/Challenges_for_higher_ed_systemsEn01. pdf * www. ruforum. org/system/files/WorldBankEducationReport. pdf * http://www. mext. go. jp/english/topics/21plan/010301. htm