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Attention to the value of higher education degreesincluding their connection to workforce demandshas increased over the last decade (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2010; Gaston, 2010). In response to the call by government leaders to increase the number of US citizens completing college degrees, many foundations, non-profits, and institutions are promoting new initiatives to ensure that the increased productivity of colleges and universities is linked to quality. One of the most innovative and promising initiatives in this regard is Tuning. This report explains how tuning is a faculty-driven process intended to articulate what a student should know and be able to do in a given discipline at the point of degree completion. The process involves consultation with various higher education stakeholders in creating a framework that establishes clear learning expectations for students at each degree level. A key goal of Tuning is to improve the alignment of students mastery of agreed-upon learning objectives for specific degrees and the relevance of said learning objectives to the workplacethat is, how outcomes match entrance needs in the field. ; Midwestern Higher Education Compact Cross-State Tuning Initiative

Tells the story of the formation of a new state in north-western Europe and the rise of the Burgundian house in the fifteenth century, and how a power-hungry dynasty was able to reach a new equilibrium with the elites. The outcome had the lasting effect of laying the foundation for the modern states of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg.

Contemporary research on service delivery has been preoccupied with the issue of privatization. Specifically, the concern has been with whether a governmental or non governmental entity is more effective and efficient in delivering publicly provided goods and services. In this paper I offer and alternative perspective on service delivery which examines the full array of institutional arrangements used by municipal governments to deliver different goods and services. I relate these choices to characteristics of individual goods and services and derive a simple thesis. The way governments arrange for service delivery is a function of the scope and content of their service responsibilities. Different goods and services are more effectively and efficiently provided by different modes of service arrangement. The question is not whether one sector is more widely used than another, but rather whether governments have effectively matched their service responsibilities with the appropriate method of service arrangement.

Der Autor diskutiert die Möglichkeiten des "preferency voting" zur Steigerung der Wahlbeteiligung in Österreich. Es steht seines Erachtens außer Zweifel, dass die "usability" einer Wahlrechtskodifikation dazu beitragen kann, die allgemeine Wahlbeteiligung anzuheben. Von dieser "usability" wird es abhängen, ob "preferency voting" in diese Richtung oder in die gegenteilige Richtung führt. Ob den österreichischen Wählern die Möglichkeit gegeben werden soll, die Reihung auf den Parteilisten zu beeinflussen, ist nur vordergründig eine komplexe politische Frage. "Reihen und Streichen" sowie "Kumulieren und Panagieren" erscheinen aber nach den vorliegenden Erfahrungen wenig geeignet, um Einflussmöglichkeiten der Wähler in einem praktikablen System zu gewährleisten. Ohne Verstärkungseffekt durch eine Wahlarithmetik (gegebenenfalls mit verfassungsrechtlicher Absicherung) erscheint ein Vorzugsstimmen-Wahlrecht nach Meinung des Autors eher sinnlos, sieht man von der Möglichkeit einer politischen Verwendung dieser Regelungen in einem Wahlkampf ab. Dabei sind parteiinterne Vorzugsstimmen-Regelungen, die von den gesetzlichen Regelungen abweichen, zwar politisch legitim, aber nicht frei von Risiken. (ICI2)