Planning and Management for Excellence and Efficiency in Higher Education.

Overview & Synopsis

This round table discussion involved some 50 participants and seven panelists and focused on planning and management for excellence and efficiency in higher education. Basic issues or problems facing higher education were identified including coping with increasing student numbers, raising the quality of teaching, training and research programs, tackling these goals while operating under severe financial constraints, strengthening internationalization in higher education, and securing optimal employability of higher education graduates. The discussion led to the following recommendations for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's proposed Plan of action for research and training on governance, management and administration in higher education: a systematic gathering and dissemination of information on new development in the planning, management, administration and financing of higher education; encouragement of research on planning and management of higher education; an international comparative study on excellence and efficiency in higher education based on micro-level analyses of individual institutions; training programs for key university administrators; encouragement and facilitation of international cooperation in higher education; and research on inter-university cooperation with emphasis on planning, management and implementation. (JB)