"Housing is important because hotels send out the wrong message," Baden says, refering to past years when some students were housed in hotel rooms. "I much prefer dorms, where rooms are uninviting and people don't want to spend a lot of time in them and are forced into common spaces. That's where the learning happens."

But while all of the summer students live together, and their programs are under the organizational umbrella of the PPE, each is totally independent and the programs cater to a wide variety of student needs.

Institute for Educational Management

Each summer the IEM--which completes its 20th reunion ceremonies today--brings together college presidents, vice presidents and deans to discuss and analyze problems in the management of higher education.

In its earlier days the IEM, modeled after a similar program at the Business School, focused discussions on the campus issues of the time, such as, Levine suggests, "how to respond to campus rioting." True to its Business School roots, the IEM utilized the case-study method which continues to dominate the PPE summer programs today.

Although the IEM has developed and changed a lot since its 1969 inception, some students of the program suggest that the case study method is not as useful today as it might have been in the days of campus riots.

Charles F. Meng, the vice-president of administration and facilities at Georgetown University, says that straight lectures and multiple case studies might be better means for addressing some of today's issues.

And some of the program's graduates say they think it could be important to provide further in-depth analysis of some of the issues presented. 1989 IEM participant Jo Ann M. Gora, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J., suggested an "IEM II."

And Meng says that for veteran administrators, the program teaches too much of what experience has already provided.

"It's a great program," Meng says. "For new administrators, it does provide a level of information which is vitally important for them. But I've been at George-town for 14 years and the program for me was a lot of things I'd known."

But these complaints are minor compared to the praise which IEM graduates give the program.

"With the advantage of the expertise of the IEM faculty, you come away with a real sense of having gained in wisdom," Gora says. "And we rely on these programs to give us expertise in the areas of management, academic planning and financing."

"Currently, the IEM is the fast track to becoming a college president in America," Levine says. "[Ten] percent of presidents in the country are alumni of the program."

Levine describes IEM as a "boot camp," with a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. schedule during the week and half-days on Saturdays. Comparing the program to the regular degree programs at the Ed School, Levine says that the degree programs can be compared to West Point for soldiers, while IEM is a war college for generals.

The 1989 IEM brought together 95 participants in seminars designed to provide skills for advancing in higher education and for performing better in a current job, Levine says.