Counting What Is Measured or Measuring What Counts? League Tables and Their Impact On Higher Education Institutions in England

This report investigates league tables and their impact on higher education institutions (HEIs) in England. It presents findings from two strands of research: – an analysis of five league tables selected for the study, their methodologies and the underlying data employed, and – an investigation of how higher education institutions respond to league tables generally and the extent to which they influence institutional decision-making and actions. The purpose of the research is to stimulate informed debate about the approaches and limitations of the various league tables, and greater understanding among the users and stakeholders of the implications of making decisions based on these sources of information

Assessing the Efficiency of Mass Transit Systems in the United States

Frustrated with increased parking problems, unstable gasoline prices, and stifling traffic congestion, a growing number of metropolitan city dwellers consider utilizing the mass transit system. Reflecting this sentiment, a ridership of the mass transit system across the United States has been on the rise for the past several years. A growing demand for the mass transit system, however, necessitates the expansion of service offerings, the improvement of basic infrastructure/routes, and the additional employment of mass transit workers, including drivers and maintenance crews. Such a need requires the optimal allocation of financial and human resources to the mass transit system in times of shrinking budgets and government downsizing. Thus, the public transit authority is faced with the dilemma of “doing more with less.” That is to say, the public transit authority needs to develop a “lean” strategy which can maximize transit services with the minimum expenses. To help the public transit authority develop such a lean strategy, this report identifies the best-in-class practices in the U.S. transit service sector and proposes transit policy guidelines that can best exploit lean principles built upon best-in-class practices

An Examination of the Factors that Influence the Strategic Priorities of Ireland\u27s Public and Private Higher Education Senior Managers

Globally, higher education is experiencing transformative changes, and higher education institutions now operate in highly competitive and dynamic environments. Funders of higher education, including governments, subsequently, require the strategic spending of funding, and expect higher education institutions to deliver a satisfactory return on investment. In this landscape, and in the context of Ireland’s challenging economic environment in recent years, this research seeks to understand precisely what factors influence the strategic priorities of Ireland’s higher education senior managers. Research on strategic planning in Irish HE is limited, particularly in the context of Ireland’s volatile economic environment, in recent years, and global developments in higher education. The current research uses a qualitative approach and aims to bridge the gap in HE literature, particularly Irish HE literature. It derives key insights from managers in relation to selecting, implementing, and attaining their organisations’ strategic priorities. The empirical research was conducted with 49 senior higher education managers in Ireland’s universities, institutes of technology, and private HEIs to elicit and capture their unique perspectives and experiences. This research demonstrates that developments in the domestic environment predominantly influence the priorities of Ireland’s HE managers, particularly the role of the Irish government, and the economic and financial environment. This research builds upon existing higher education literature in relation to factors influencing higher education systems and institutions and, specifically, suggests that higher education trends and developments occurring outside of Ireland have less relevance for HE managers in this study. Based on the research conclusions a model was developed, which illustrates the primary findings to emerge from this study. Additionally, a framework for the pursuit and attainment of ambitious strategic priorities was created to, in particular, illustrate that HEIs and senior managers require five particular enablers in their immediate and wider environments, such as flexibility, autonomy, and trust from their key stakeholder. Through the creation and preservation of these enablers, managers are optimally positioned to pursue and attain ambitious strategic priorities, and to engage in impactful strategic planning. This research, therefore, synthesises strategic planning best practice and, additionally, highlights the critical role of relevant HE stakeholders in adhering to its implementation

Application of the value creation wheel to increase the impact of earth observation on urban planning - Vcw 2: identifying the most attractive geographical market for the building health monitoring solution by latitudo 40

Urban Planning enables functional cities while maintaining high quality of life for citizens.However, rapid urbanization and increasing effects of climate change are raising the need forsustainable urban areas worldwide. Earth Observation can provide valuable insights to localgovernments,allowingformoreinformeddecisionsandthereforehelpingtomitigateclimaterisk.For this individual contribution, close collaboration with Italian company Latitude 40 was used for finding an attractive new geographical market for their Urban Heat Island monitoring solution. Application of the Value Creation Wheel identified the Petah Tikva subdistrict of Israel as the final target region

Performance measurement in African semi-autonomous revenue authorities : The case of Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. How can performance measures in African semi-autonomous revenue authorities (ARAs) be strategic, efficient and effective?

Semi-autonomous revenue authorities (ARAs) have been established all over the world as a distinctive institutional model outside the traditional public service aimed at enhancing tax administration, and thereby raising tax revenues. In order to boost the robustness of their operations, substantial expenditures have gone towards modernising ARAs. Expenditures have been guided by medium-term corporate-wide plans, and the results monitored, assessed and reported using performance measures. Performance measurement has proved challenging for ARAs to implement and sustain in practice. Some of the challenges evolve around weak capacity, implementation costs, issues to do with quantification, competing demands from a wide range of constituents, the inappropriate selection of measures and a bias towards performance measures that focus on finances. As a means for enhancing performance measurement, there are practices, lessons and theoretical perspectives that can be discerned from the broadspectrum of literature on performance measurement in the public sector and ARAs from around the world. This thesis explores how performance measurement in African ARAs can be more strategic, efficient and effective by ascertaining which key factors shape its adoption. The research focuses on the in depth study of three ARAs in Sub Saharan Africa, involving a combination of structured interviews with internal and external stakeholders, the administration of a survey instrument and review of ARA documents. The final chapters of the thesis deploy fuzzy set logic techniques to identify and test the significance of various causal conditions in the adoption of performance measurement in ARAs, as a plausible answer to the research question

Strengthening pro-poor targeting of investments by African utilities in urban water and sanitation - the role of the International Development Association of the World Bank: Case studies from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tanzania

This report for WaterAid presents findings from research into the impact of selected IDA-funded projects on water supply and sanitation services in urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with particular emphasis on the impact on poor areas and households