The Role of the Practice of Excellence Strategies in Education to Achieve Sustainable Competitive Advantage to Institutions of Higher Education-Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at Al-Azhar University in Gaza a Model

This study aims to look at the role of the practice of excellence strategies in education in achieving sustainable competitive advantage for the Higher educational institutions of the faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, a model, and the study considered the competitive advantage of educational institutions stems from the impact on the level of each student, employee, and the institution. The study was based on the premise that the development of strategies for excellence in education, and its implementation is a vital important prerequisite to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in higher educational institutions. The study followed a systematic exploratory descriptive methodology through review of the theoretical literature, and the adoption of the experience of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at Al-Azhar University in Gaza as a model for its unique experience in the field of excellence in education. The study results showed that the most important are: There is a strong correlation between the level of exercising excellence strategies in education and the achievement of higher educational institutions to the sustainable competitive advantage. The results include a general required number of important sub results on the subject of the model - Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at Al-Azhar University in Gaza as follows: - The student considered the academic focus of the operation in the development process of the workers’ skills, particularly academics at the university helps to distinguish students and increase the employment rate after graduation. - The existence of consistency in development efforts and quality improvement for all three levels (student, employee, and the university), and this contributes to the Faculty excellence. - The Faculty has been able to achieve competitive advantages by offering excellent services without harming the efficiency, and this alone is a great success because improving service properties requires great investments, which negatively affect the continued institutional development. The study also reached a set of recommendations as follows: - The need to exercise excellence strategies in education, excellence reward at the national level, and those higher educational institutions follow the criteria for measuring the competitive advantages of its institutions always. - There is a need to increase efforts to implement programs of excellence, the allocation of adequate time, reward outstanding efforts as well. There is a necessity for each faculty to achieve competitive advantage and sustainability, using the general philosophies of competitive advantage, but with a different strategically content from what is in the private commercial sector, it reflects the Faculties mission and objectives, depending on making improvements and excellence in processes that ensure the safety of its outputs. As well as the need to find a balance between the work of teaching and research work of the faculty members, this has important implications regarding the criteria used in the process of excellence evaluation. The study recommended the adoption of strategies for excellence in education on a national public policy level mainly in the processes of change in higher education institutions. The need to support the existence of a common understanding of the efforts of excellence to create a general culture that appreciates excellence in faculties and universities. This underlines the need for transparent, fair rewards systems, to encourage innovation in education. The need to conduct a comprehensive surveys on the graduates of faculties and universities including the areas of employment and skills, because that will give accurate indications of the graduates and will help to establish a link to a more precise about the relationship of excellence strategies with the competitive advantages

New York City's Contract for Excellence: Closing the Funding Gap or a Funding Shell Game?

This report is entitled New York City's Contract for Excellence: Closing the Funding Gap or a Funding Shell Game? The answer to the question posed by the title of the report is "both." The state's Contracts for Excellence funds are promoting educational equity and closing the funding gap between the highest-poverty and lowest-poverty schools. However, the City's "shell game" is undermining this important progress through supplanting. To remedy the findings of this report it is incumbent on the state Commissioner of Education to make a determination as to whether supplanting of Contract for Excellence funds occurred and to order a restoration of these funds by New York City. Otherwise the additional funding secured as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity is being undermined and student progress cannot be expected to result

Critique [of Equity and Excellence in Education--Compatible Concepts or Hostile Abstractions? by Theresa E. McCormick]

Theresa McCormick argues that equity and excellence in education should not be accepted as being on opposite ends of a continuum, but rather should be viewed as two related components of education. The twin concepts of equity and excellence are compatible and must be identified as important goals of education. Educators at all instructional levels in all subject disciplines need to include a study of and value these educational and social concepts. These concepts can be taught to young people as fairness and goodness. More mature students can examine the concepts from the perspective of several academic disciplines

Reaching DEEP in Math (Developing Educational Excellence and Proficiency in Mathematics)

This paper describes the DEEP in Math Program developed in the academic year 1998-1999 from a collaborative effort of the Louisiana Systemic lnitiative Program (LaSlP) and the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE). It includes evidence of impressive results in low achieving schools and in high-poverty districts targeted by the effort. The plan was for LaSlP to give intensive content and leadership training in Summer 1999 and academic year 1999-2000 to carefully selected. well-qualified math leaders. These leaders were then employed full-time in the 1999-2000 academic year and beyond by their local education authorities to work with all math teachers in a few designated schools at some cohesive subset of grades 3-8

Principal Leadership and Educational Excellence

This study, which was qualitative in nature, seek to find a better understanding on how and why the seven experienced secondary school principals being interviewed, who were considered to be high performers, had run their schools successfully and efficiently. Data collected was organized into different themes and categories, which was then compared to various school leadership and management theories observed in the literature. The main literature and research finding which prompted this survey were: i) the concept of school leadership as suggested by Pounder et. al. (1995), where the researchers contented that school leaders might include the Principal, senior teachers, parents or even students; ii) the concept of 'policy leadership' as suggested by Azahari (1994); and iii) the Burke-Litwin's Model of change and performance (1992). In this study, seven experienced secondary school principals (having a 00-2 grade in average) in and around the Klang valley were interviewed and asked on a series of questions regarding current educational issues and topics. Additional information was obtained through observations and documents in the schools. This study was intended to categorize opinions and experiences of the principals so as to have a better understanding on the concept of 'effectiveness' in their schools and its relation to certain traits of the principals. Hence data collected was used to facilitate the discovery of knowledge about how leadership behaviour of administrators was organized. This was then discussed under six main categories, namely: 1) the principals' perceptions of their leadership roles and responsibilities; 2) the principals' perceptions on educational policies; 3) the principals' perceptions on role accountability; 4) the principals' perceptions on management theories; 5) the principals' administrative approaches; and 6) the principals' approaches to improve school effectiveness. Some of the opinions of the principals interviewed were summarized as follow: 1) School effectiveness depended on the academic achievement of the schools, and it depended on the 'input' or the qualities of the students; 2) The 'popularity' of a school does not equate to its effectiveness; 3) The objectives of the schools were more 'shaped' and 'influenced' by the aspirations of the parents, rather than the national objectives of the country; 4) School principals do not participate in deciding on policy' matters, as these are decided at the top. The school principals are 'policy leaders'; 5) Performing principals had the capability of exercising the 'limited power' as policy leaders to instruct their subordinates to perform. This they do it through the exercise of' informal powers' like being informative, leadership by example, having a 'good network' with the people in high positions etc.; 6) The New Remuneration System (SSB) is good in theory, but it is tedious and time-consuming to have it fully carried out in the schools; 7) The SMART-school concept was received generally with skepticism. The concept was perceived as one that links to high-tech aids like computers, Internet communications etc. 8) Soliciting external funds was of the utmost priority and responsibility of the ambitious school principals; 9) School principals and school leadership should have a shift in the paradigm to adjust to the changing times of the Information Technology era and 10) School principals should be leaders and managers in their own right