This article describes the introduction of a government-wide policy evaluation system that is underway in Japan, exemplified by the policy appraisal-evaluation system of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI, the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry). The initiative in METI was started in December 1999, preceding the implementation of a government-wide system. "Policy evaluation" as a term is not limited, in this context, to ex post evaluation but includes ex ante assessment and performance measurement as well. Information as to what extent and how outcome measures are used under the systems is also provided.

In 1998, the Government of the United Kingdom conducted a Comprehensive Spending Review which examined the resources allocated to each area of spending, and for the first time decided on and published the service improvements and reforms required in return for the resources allocated to departments’ expenditure programmes. These requirements were set out in Public Service Agreements (PSAs) for every central government department published in December 1998.  Each PSA sets out the aim and objectives of each department as well as performance targets, including measures of operations and outcomes. The government’s second spending review in 2000 resulted in revised PSAs, and excluded those expenditure programmes for which the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly have executive responsibility following the devolved constitutional arrangements.

Le but de la présente étude est d’examiner l’origine et les méthodes de financement des universités privées à l’aide de capitaux publics au Japon. Au milieu des années 70, le Parlement national a voté pour la première fois de son histoire une loi permettant d’allouer l’argent des contribuables aux établissements privés d’enseignement supérieur. Le législateur a justifié son action en invoquant le fait que plus de 75 % des étudiants japonais fréquentaient des établissements privés, ces derniers étant confrontés à de graves difficultés financières. Cependant, l’adoption de cette loi a donné naissance à une série de controverses et de débats parmi les intellectuels et les éducateurs s’agissant des mécanismes de financement, de la transparence et de l’autonomie d’établissements d’enseignement supérieur bénéficiant d’argent public.

Mergers have for many years been a fact of life in the for-profit private sector. Recently they have become more common in the public sector and in the not-for-profit private sector. Estimates place the number of mergers among colleges and universities in the last decade at approximately 500. Why do colleges and universities merge? When they use the term "merger" what do they understand it to mean? How is a merger alike or different from other forms of inter-institutional combination. This study addresses those questions by examining the factors that motivate merger, and by determining the extent to which these factors are unique to merger or motivate other forms of inter-institutional co-operation as well. To do this, the study develops a taxonomy of inter-institutional combination, and of the factors that induce institutional behaviour towards co-operation.

Les études comparatives récentes des politiques d’éducation ont fait apparaître que, si les réformes de l’enseignement supérieur en Extrême-Orient paraissent suivre des orientations semblables, les plus récentes visaient cependant des priorités différentes. La convergence très nette des principes et des objectifs généraux ne suffit pas à expliquer le processus complexe de changement et les interactions dynamiques entre les forces qui s’exercent aux niveaux global, régional et local et qui déterminent les politiques éducatives de chaque pays. Cet article étudie l’impact des pressions résultant d’une évolution générale vers une logique du marché sur les politiques d’enseignement supérieur, en particulier sur la manière dont cet enseignement s’est transformé à Hong-Kong (Chine) et à Taiwan avec la vague d’adaptation au marché. Il concerne en premier lieu l’analyse des modalités et des stratégies adoptées par les deux gouvernements pour réformer leur système d’enseignement supérieur, en réponse à l’évolution du contexte local socio-économique et politique et de l’environnement régional et global. L’accent est mis sur l’accès à l’enseignement, son financement et sa régulation.

All over the world governments withdraw from full funding of their universities. Nowhere this world-wide trend is illustrated more sharply than in Russia. The share of higher education in the gross domestic product has declined drastically. This has led to a dramatic reduction of the higher education budget in real terms. A consequence is the growing share of non-governmental money in the yearly budgets of the higher education sector. The basic sources for this new funding are national, international and private. They come as well from foundations as from multinationals. Their distribution over the institutions and, within the institutions, over the different departments seems extremely unequal. Therefore old academic traditions only survive in fewer and fewer schools and, within these schools, in fewer and fewer centres of excellence. For a great number of institutions the basic educational subsidy does not permit a decent remuneration of their academic staff. This forces a majority of them to look for a second and even a third job outside the university. This again weakens the institution and leads to a widening range of quality of institutions and, within each of them, of departments and centres. At the same time the field is wide open for the development of private schools, which often only select types of educational activities which are remunerative in the market...

Les fusions se pratiquent depuis de longues années dans le secteur privé à but lucratif. Elles sont récemment devenues plus fréquentes dans le secteur public et dans le secteur privé à but non lucratif. On estime à près de 500 le nombre de fusions qui sont intervenues entre universités et collèges au cours de la dernière décennie. Pourquoi universités et collèges fusionnent-ils ? Quand ils parlent de « fusions », quel sens donnent-ils à ce mot ? Quelles sont les analogies ou les différences entre les fusions et d’autres formes d’associations interinstitutionnelles ? Dans cette étude, on aborde ces questions en examinant les facteurs qui motivent la fusion et en cherchant à savoir dans quelle mesure ces facteurs sont propres à la fusion ou motivent aussi d’autres formes d’association interinstitutionnelle. A cette fin, on élabore une taxinomie des associations interinstitutionnelles et des facteurs qui déterminent le comportement institutionnel vis-à-vis de la coopération.

Recent comparative education policy studies discover that even though there seems to have been similar trends in higher education reforms in East Asian societies, the recently initiated higher education reforms have really had diverse agendas. Thus, the considerable convergence of policy rhetoric and general policy objectives may not satis-factorily explain the complicated process of changes and the dynamic interactions between global-regional-local forces that shape education policy-making in individual countries. The present paper reflects upon the impact of the global marketization forces on higher education policy, with particular reference to how the higher education sector in Hong Kong and Taiwan has transformed under the global tide of marektization. The core of this paper is to examine the ways and strategies that the governments of Hong Kong and Taiwan have adopted to reform their higher education systems in response to the changing local socio-economic-political context and regional-global environments, with a particular focus on provision, financing and regulation.

This article suggests some simple, low-cost methods that may help directors of higher education facilities to visualise their school’s position on the international market. The approach draws on examples from some fifty management schools throughout France.

Cet article propose quelques éléments méthodologiques simples, peu onéreux à mettre en oeuvre, susceptibles d’aider les responsables des établissements de formation à faire le point sur le positionnement international de leur unité. La démarche est illustrée par des informations relatives à une cinquantaine d’établissements français de formation à la gestion.

The aim of this study is to examine the rationale for, and methods of, funding private universities with public money in Japan. In the mid-1970s, the National Parliament passed the first law in its history that permitted the allocation of taxpayers’ money to private colleges and universities. Lawmakers justified this action on the premise that over 75% of Japanese students were attending private institutions and that these institutions were facing great financial difficulties. However, the passing of the law created a whole new series of controversies and arguments among scholars and edu-cators with regard to the mechanisms of funding, accountability, and autonomy of higher education institutions that received taxpayer money.

Par commodité, nous pouvons classer les ouvrages évoqués dans cet article dans deux groupes : dans le premier groupe, deux traitent de l’accès ; dans le second, quatre traitent de la gouvernance et la gestion.

The Best Practices are designed as a reference tool for Member and non-member countries to use in order to increase the degree of budget transparency in their respective countries. The Best Practices are organised around specific reports for presentational reasons only. It is recognised that different countries will have different reporting regimes and may have different areas of emphasis for transparency. The Best Practices are based on different Member countries’ experiences in each area. It should be stressed that the Best Practices are not meant to constitute a formal "standard" for budget transparency.

This article explains the "new" institutional framework for fiscal policy-making in the EU countries agreed first in the Maastricht Treaty and later complemented by the Stability and Growth Pact. This framework introduces a – probably unprecedented – supra-national institutional framework for national fiscal policies. It also serves as a basis for monitoring and assessing fiscal policies and their compatibility with price stability-oriented monetary policy making.