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This is the first in a series of three linked articles describing the major changes which are taking place in English public‐sector higher education as a result of the Education Reform Act 1988 and the replacement of the former National Advisory Body by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council. Colleges in the sector are now free‐standing corporations, with new governing bodies heavily dominated by business interests. Government policy is to increase efficiency and value for money in the sector and thus to expand student numbers without a proportionate increase in costs. This article traces the first major acts of the new PCFC, especially the introduction of a new funding system, part of which brings competitive tendering into the state education system for the first time. The new system has posed significant new challenges to college management and could well be extended to schools and further education.

This is the third in a series of three linked articles describing the major changes which are taking place in English public sector higher education as a result of the Education Reform Act 1988. The new Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council had introduced a radically different system of competitive tendering which, although it was being brought in incrementally was already having a significant impact on institutional management. The way in which the competitive tendering exercise was operated and its outcomes is examined. The conclusion is that this exercise was an important development in the fundamental redirection of higher education in Britain.

This is the second in a series of three linked articles describing the major changes which are taking place in English public sector higher education as a result of the Education Reform Act 1988. The new Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council had introduced a radically different system of competitive tendering, which although it was being brought in incrementally, was already having a significant impact on institutional management. This article examines the tasks facing such managers, trying to compile crucially important bids against a background of changing ground rules, insufficient and inadequate information and very little market knowledge.

Action research which considers performance indicators within an English polytechnic is outlined, with emphasis on the analysis of course monitoring, review and validation documentation. Extracts from an interim research report are presented, together with related conclusions and recommendations.

Malcolm Ramsay's article looked at the empowerment of older people through good advice and information. Continuing this theme in our next article, Carol Munn‐Giddings et al describe a unique project that has equipped older people with the necessary research skills to go after the information themselves and is giving them the confidence to directly shape local services. Providers and commissioners ‐ beware!

This paper aims to examine which organisational learning conditions and individual characteristics predict the learning outcomes nurses achieve through informal learning activities. There is specific relevance for the nursing profession because of the rapidly changing healthcare systems.

In total, 203 nurses completed a survey assessing their perception of the available learning conditions, the learning outcomes they acquired by executing their job and their self-efficacy, proactive personality and learning motivation. After checking the structure and reliability of the instruments by means of confirmatory factor analysis and the calculation of the internal consistency of the scales, a multivariate multiple regression analyses was performed because the different learning outcomes (dependent variables) were correlated with each other.

Results show that learning outcomes as a whole are significantly predicted by opportunities for cooperation and feedback. Regarding generic and job-specific learning outcomes, analyses showed the same predictors for both levels of learning outcomes: opportunities for feedback and self-efficacy. Higher proactivity and opportunities for cooperation are related to higher organisational level learning outcomes.

The main limitation of this study is that its findings rely on cross-sectional survey data; hence, further research is needed to confirm these initial exploratory results.

The current study is one of the few studies that empirically relates organisational learning conditions to learning outcomes acquired by employees while considering the personal characteristics of the employee. It offers insight into which learning conditions are able to foster the acquirement of different learning outcomes.