Learning Resources

Abstract: The authors explore institutional effectiveness and offer suggestions for developing meaningful institutional effectiveness plans for institutions of higher education. Their discussion is based on their review of institutional effectiveness plans from nearly 30 institutions of higher education as well as SACS publications. The article includes an exploration of the topic of institutional effectiveness, suggestions for developing meaningful institutional effectiveness plans, and potential problems that were identified through the experiences of other institutions. An extensive list of suggested readings, which includes many online references, follows the article.

Abstract: The quality of campus life in large universities has declined over the years as faculty have given up responsibility for student life outside the classroom and institutions have become ever more bureaucratized. To solve this problem, universities should establish systems of small, decentralized academic communities modeled ultimately on the residential colleges of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In the United States, Harvard and Yale Universities first adopted this residential college model in the 1930s, and it is now spreading to many institutions, public and private, large and small.

Abstract: Increasingly, historic or merely old houses near campuses are being absorbed by universities to fulfill their educational mission and round out the facilities inventory. But are they worth converting? Experts in assessing and adapting these residential structures discuss the pro's and con's.