The World of Popular Music

Tony Palmer's All You Need is Love: The Story of Popular Music (New York: Viking Press, 1976---$15.00)

Ron Schaumburg's Growing Up with the Beatles (New York: Pyramid Books, 1976---$5.95, paper)

Paul Gambaccini's Paul McCartney in His Own Words (New York: Flash Books/Quick Fox Inc., 1976---$3.95, paper)

Ritchie Yorke's The History of Rock 'n Roll (New York: Methuen/Two Continents, 1976---$5.95, paper)

Sharon Lawrence's So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star (New York: Dell, 1976---$1.75, paper)

Geoffrey Stokes' Star-Making Machinery: The Odyssey of an Album (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1976---$8.95)

Dave Dexter, Jr.'s Playback: A Newsman/Record Producer's Hits and Misses from the Thirties to the Seventies (New York: Billboard Publications, Inc., 1976---$9.95)

Ralph J. Gleason's Celebrating the Duke, and Louis, Bessie, Billie, Bird, Carmen, Miles, Dizzy, and Other Heroes (New York: Delta Books, 1976---$3.95, paper)

Alec Wilder's American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975---$6.95, paper)     

The elusive quarry: Total quality in higher education

The paper has a conceptual nature, and will depart from the literatures on performance management in general and public management in particular and confront them with the literature on higher education studies. Higher education mirrors the developments of other sectors, such as the increasing interest in performance measurement and the continuous enlargement of the basis for performance measurement, from financial, operational, and stakeholders’ towards developmental perspectives. The paper states some developments in performance management in higher education, and argues that it might be moving towards performance governance, as observed with other public services. The originality of the paper rests on an analysis of the developments in higher education in light of developments in organisational performance in general, and in the public sector in particular. It thus presents a hypothesis for further empirical testing.     

Book review

Gerald H. Gaither, ed. (1998) Qualify assurance in higher education: an international perspective [New Directions for Institutional Research No. 99]. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass. 107 pp., $23.00 pb, ISBN 0–7879–4740–7.     

Employability through the curriculum

Abstract

Employability, it is argued, can be embedded in any academic subject in higher education without compromising core academic freedoms. A strategy for curriculum change is described, which is sensitive to both governmental expectations and traditional academic values ‐ and is relatively easy to use. The strategy provides a way of preserving legitimate diversity in response to the homogenising tendencies of the human capital policies that are influential in many advanced economies.     

Formative Assessment and its Relevance to Retention

Formative assessment is of critical importance to student learning. With learning and teaching, and also retention, high on the agenda of higher education, the professionalism of academics as educators is of increasing significance. A key component of educators' professionalism—formative assessment—is weakly conceptualised, and hence it is likely that the contribution of formative assessment to student learning and retention is not being optimised. The first, larger part of this article discusses formative assessment in the context of the current political and structural environment of higher education. The second part considers how formative assessment might better contribute to student development and retention, particularly in the critically important first year of a higher education program.     

Developing a Quality Culture in Higher Educaiton

Although quality and qualityassurance have become embedded into the discourse ofhigher education, the development of a quality culturewithin higher education has (paradoxically) laggedbehind the implementation of quality assurancepractices. Part of the paradox, as far as learningand teaching are concerned, can be attributed toexternal demands which are homeostatic, when thefuture of higher education seems to be needing aradical commitment to curricular development. Thispaper sets the development of a quality culture in apolitical context, explains the relevance of single-and double-loop learning, argues for a conception ofmanaging for quality, identifies some aspects ofinstitutional dysfunctioning, lays out some qualitiesof a learning organisation, and suggests some ways inwhich institutional leaders might approach the task ofdeveloping a quality culture.     

Undergraduate non‐completion in England: Some implications for the higher education system and its institutions

Abstract

This paper, through a review of recent literature and policy documents, highlights: the rates of participation in higher education in the UK; the widening participation agenda and the potential impact of key financial changes in the funding of higher education, particularly for students from lower socio‐economic groups.