A profile of current interinstitutional cooperation of home economics programs at private institutions of higher education

The study developed a profile of interinstitutional cooperation that home economics programs at private higher education institutions in the United States are currently involved in with other higher education institutions. Five research questions guided the study: (a) With what type(s) of higher education institutions are home economics programs at private colleges/universities cooperating? (b) What are the current types and extent of interinstitutional cooperative activities engaged in by private college/university home economics programs? (c) What are the major reasons expressed by administrators of private college/university home economics programs for engaging/not engaging in interinstitutional cooperation? (d) What are the structural and process characteristics of interinstitutional cooperation engaged in by home economics programs at private colleges/universities? and (e) What types of future interinstitutional cooperative relationships are desired by private college/university home economics program administrators?; A researcher-developed survey instrument was sent to the chief administrator of the home economics unit at 109 private colleges/universities. The response rate for usable surveys was 70.6%. The data were analyzed by participation/non-participation in cooperative relationships. Frequency distributions, percentages, and rankings were calculated to describe the data. A content analysis of written comments was made to determine opinions of respondents to specific issues concerning interinstitutional cooperation.; Conclusions reached by the study concerning interinstitutional cooperative of private college/university home economics programs are: (a) a moderate degree of cooperation occurs with public, private, and international colleges/universities; (b) little cooperation occurs with junior/community colleges and none with vocational technical colleges; (c) cooperative activities center around academic programs and student exchange; (d) increasing program quality and diversity were the most frequent reasons for interinstitutional cooperation; (e) distance and time constraints were viewed as major deterrents to cooperation with mission incompatibility and lack of interest as underlying deterrents to cooperation; (f) the preferred format for cooperation was a few, stable, enduring, informally structured relationships; and (g) moderate interest was expressed for developing future interinstitutional cooperative relationships regarding academic program activities with other private colleges/universities or at business/non-academic sites.