The paper focused on the role of the leader (individual and collective) in the processes of local development, especially in the programming of local development and community perceived as a learning organization. The analysis concerned the small rural municipalities. The studies allow to make the following conclusions: • Economic success and associated with it the diversification of the rural areas depends on many factors, especially from local activity related to the programming and acquiring of external funds. • A few models of public participation are possible in the programming and the developmental processes. It seems that the stronger social relations and local trust are in the communities, the greater chance is for active using of social development factors, • Currently the most often existing local leader is a group, which guarantees continuity of the development on the local scale regardless of the circumstances, • Local collective leader is also a guarantee for the existence of networks, communication channels between diXerent social groups, that is building the civil society and strengthening of social capital, • women play an increasingly important role among the local leaders.
The author deals with a problem of quality of higher education, discussed widely in the Western Europe and the US. She analyzes reasons of the growth of interest in the improvement an measurement of quality for teaching and non-teaching processes occurring in the institutions of higher learning. She discusses the changing role of the State in the management of systems of higher education in the EC. The changes which take place in the steering of higher education reflect political and social trends. A new idea of self-regulation assumes that the government defines general frames in which the universities may develop their own manner of work. Referring to Guy Neave the author states that many European governments shifted their interest from the input to the output of higher education. Introduction of new mechanisms of quality control is a condition of the introduction of new priorities by governments. Mechanisms of the quality improvement in institutions of higher education, and specially a model of management transferred from business to post-secondary education, i.e. TQM, Total Quality Management are presented as well. The largest part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of mechanisms and procedures of quality assessment in the institutions of higher learning. Two extreme models of quality control are presented: one, by an external authority, by self-governing community of fellows, as well as mechanisms of peer review and accreditation. The author states that now there is some resistance against application of only quantitative criteria to the evaluation of quality of institutions of higher learning. The search for other means of measurement of their quality is based on a strong belief that quality is made of such unmeasurable elements as scholarly climate, atmosphere of work, innovativeness and creativity. A solution may be found in linking the internal and external control. The two types of control used separately raised several reservations. ; W artykule prezentowany jest szeroko dyskutowany w Europie Zachodniej i w USA problem jakości szkolnictwa wyższego. Analizowane są przyczyny, które w latach osiemdziesiątych spowodowały wzrost zainteresowania zarówno doskonaleniem, jak i pomiarem jakości procesów dydaktycznych i pozadydaktycznych zachodzących w instytucjach szkolnictwa wyższego. Autorka omawia zmieniającą się rolę państwa w zarządzaniu systemem szkolnictwa wyższego w krajach EWG. Twierdzi ona, że zachodzące zmiany w sterowaniu szkolnictwem wyższym są odbiciem tendencji politycznych i społecznych. Prezentuje mechanizmy doskonalenia jakości w instytucjach szkolnictwa wyższego, a w tym - dość szczegółowo - jeden z modeli zarządzania przeniesiony ze świata biznesu do szkolnictwa ponadśredniego, tj. TQM (Total Quality Management). Najwięcej miejsca w artykule zajmuje analiza mechanizmów i procedur oszacowywania jakości w instytucjach szkolnictwa wyższego. Autorka omawia dwa przeciwstawne modele kontroli jakości, tj. poprzez autorytety zewnętrzne i poprzez społeczność akademicką. W ramach tego rozróżnienia autorka omawia, m.in., mechanizm peer remem i mechanizm akredytacji.
Growth in popularity of computer (video) games is a noticeable change in recent years. Electronic entertainment increasingly engages the wider society and reaches to new audiences by offering them satisfy of wide variety of needs and aspirations. As a mass media games not only provide entertainment, but they are also an important source of income, knowledge and social problems. Article aims to bring closer look on the common areas of games and comics. On the one hand designers and artists working on games are often inspired by comic books, as well as they create their licensed adaptations and separate "interactive issues". On the other hand more and more often we can see comics based on popular games. Study present the areas of agreement, cooperation or dependence like: technologies used to create games and comic books, use of comic books to comment events in the gaming industry and organization of exhibitions or events popularizing the works from both fields.
