Internal efficiency of Higher education system in armed conflict-affected countries-Yemen case

Yemen has witnessed decades of political unrest and the current armed conflict has significantly impacted human development. The economic activity has been severely disrupted which in turn affected the delivery of public services including the financing and operation of the higher education system (HE), where efficiency was negatively impacted.The purpose of this research is to investigate the extent of which the internal efficiency of the Yemen HE has been affected. This will be achieved through analysing the main three domains of teaching and learning activities as well as the impacts of the adopted policies by HE management. Structured interviews with standardized closed-ended and open-ended questions were conducted online with 51 academics who have been purposely selected. Despite the devastating effects of the armed conflict, the HE has continued to perform its duties, providing space for learning and contributing effectively in social cohesion. Nonetheless, the education process has been impacted quantitatively and qualitatively.Yemen has been deprived of its well-qualified human capital, and the brain-drain is still ongoing. The continuity of conflict will yield a generation who is either uneducated or poorly educated, and this will in turn continue feeding the violence and jeopardizing Yemen’s future.This paper represents a first attempt to study the effects of Yemen’s armed conflict on HE. Future research should shed light on tracing students who abandoned education as well as the level of knowledge, skills and competencies of those lately graduated. The multi-dimensional effects of brain-drain are equally important.     

Explaining Estimated Economies of Scale and Scope in Higher Education: A Meta-Regression Analysis

Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching, research and other services and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However, debate continues on the precise nature of the economies of scale and scope in higher education given the mixed findings, largely because of significant institutional and other differences across studies. To address this, we employ meta-regression analysis to explore not only the overall level of scale and scope economies across more than 40 international studies conducted in Australia, the US, the UK, Italy, China, and elsewhere since the early 1980s, but also those factors that potentially affect their presence in the higher education sector. Our findings suggest that functional form and allowances for managerial efficiency have a significant impact on the estimated scale economies. In contrast, for scope economies, the key discriminating factors appear to be when the analysis was conducted, the diversity of the sample, and the national level of economic development.     

Estimating the degree cost functions of the Philippines public and private higher educational Institutions

A flexible one-output and two-input cost function is estimated for the degree program offerings of public and private higher educational institutions (HEIs) of the Philippines, employing the data from a nationally representative sample of 29 HEIs. This model, called Flexible Fixed Cost Quadratic cost function includes as output—full time equivalent degree program enrollment, and the two factor inputs—teaching cost and operating cost per student. Units of observation are the degree programs being offered by the sample HEIs. Results indicate that public and private HEIs exhibit structurally different cost functions, with the public sector enjoying markedly better cost efficiency and over-all scale economy.     

Globalization and higher education in Southern California: views from the professoriate

In this study, faculty at institutions of higher education in Southern California were surveyed to determine the ways they interpret the effects of globalization dynamics upon their various teaching and research activities. Faculty in the state’s three higher education tiers spoke positively about the intellectual benefits to be gained by exposure to different worldviews made possible by an increasingly diverse faculty and student body. Divisions were noted among the different tiers, however, with respect to their disparate levels of engagement with the private sector. The private sector was seen as having a negative impact upon the public sector’s research agenda while simultaneously being embraced by faculty at the community colleges. Faculty at the research institutions were typically critical of the overarching neoliberal paradigm and spoke in political terms about the ways this largely economic‐efficiency model was reorienting their teaching and research roles.     

Notes on Contributors

This paper will explore private sector participation in public sector education in the Australian context, focusing on case studies of Queensland and New South Wales, with reference to developments in other states and territories and internationally. In Australia, most states and territories have PPP policies and key projects include the Southbank redevelopment in Brisbane and the ‘New schools’ Project in Sydney. The case studies are both supported by Labor state governments and typify the state of affairs nationally, For Queensland, the Southbank TAFE Institute and Brisbane State High School have been brought into a new education precinct in order to ‘free up’ the system by outsourcing non‐core services and ‘free up’ valuable inner‐city land. In NSW, nine new public schools are being built by a private consortium, for a cost of $100 million as part of a program totaling $5 billion in areas under‐serviced by government schools. Yet despite a concerted effort to sell the value of PPPs, Australians appear to be ambivalent about ‘privatization’ of public services. This paper will look at whether PPPs are robbing the public sector to pay the private sector, and where this strategy is taking Australia and the future of our education systems.     

Improving Performance Indicators in Higher Education: The academics' perspective

Performance Indicators (PIs) are playing an increasingly important role in many western governments' approach to the management of higher education (HE) institutions, and this includes Australia. However, the introduction of PIs by these governments in the HE sector has been far from smooth. The literature on the limitations of PIs, particularly in research and teaching, are plentiful. This paper argues that an effective way to improve the application of PIs is to obtain input from university academics. It starts with a survey of the attitudes of Australian academics from four representative universities towards the application of PIs in their institutions. Although this was found to be generally negative, the academics did point out some strengths in the current PI system. Reasons for their dissatisfaction with the indicators were also covered, such as the inability of the current indicators to capture the dimensions of academic work, and privileging research over teaching. Furthermore, the academics provided numerous suggestions for improving the application of PIs in HE.     

The myth of the research‐led teacher

This paper examines the contention that achievement in research is a prerequisite for effective teaching in higher education. It also explores university level teaching more generally with the purpose of examining the links between teaching and research. Concept mapping, in particular, is described as a means of exploring both the knowledge structures of experts (teachers and researchers) and the cognitive changes that are indicative of meaningful learning among students. We use the approach to suggest that rich and complex networks are indicative of expert status, but that these are seldom made explicit to students in the course of teaching. Instead, simple, linear structures comprise most lesson plans or teaching sequences. This linearity is often made transparent through the lecturers’ use of PowerPoint presentations to structure teaching. Thus the transmission mode of teaching predominates in HE and evidence of authentic research‐led teaching remains scant. This is likely to reinforce surface learning outcomes among university students and be an impediment to the emergence of expert status. The linear chains that are commonly espoused in teaching lend themselves to rote learning strategies rather than to individual meaning making. The approach we describe here has the potential to reinstate expert status as the prime qualification for teaching in higher education. Where concept mapping is used to share and explore knowledge structures between students and experts, then learning can be shown to occur in ways that are synonymous with research and discovery. Using this approach, the teacher–student distinction becomes legitimately blurred so that the sharing and advancement of knowledge are concomitant. In conclusion, we suggest that this is a basis for a pedagogy that is appropriate to HE and distinct from the compulsory sector.     

The relative efficiency of charter schools: A cost frontier approach

Charters represent an expansion of public school choice, offering free, publicly funded educational alternatives to traditional public schools. One relatively unexplored research question concerning charter schools asks whether charter schools are more efficient suppliers of educational services than are traditional public schools. The potential relative efficiency advantage of charters vis-a-vis traditional publics is one of the mechanisms that supports the hypotheses that charters could improve performance for their students while using the same or fewer resources, and that the systemic effect of charters could lead to improved outcomes for traditional public students without requiring an increase in education sector resources.     

Renewing quality assurance at a time of turbulence

The current national and institutional focus on teaching and learning in higher education (HE) in the UK has led to a growing credentialisation of those teaching in this sector. There is now more emphasis on being recognised as being qualified to teach in HE and this information is being included in statistical reports, marketing documentation and other promotional materials. Thus, having a recognised qualification is becoming requisite for many, both those new to teaching in this sector and experienced colleagues, who hitherto had never needed to consider this. This paper considers some of the practicalities and potential pitfalls of introducing a professional recognition scheme for those involved in teaching and supporting learning across a university.     

Changing Research Perspectives on the Management of Higher Education: Can Research Permeate the Activities of Manager‐Academics?

The paper considers whether, and if so how, research evidence can permeate the world of higher education (HE) management in publicly funded institutions. The paper explores the author's experience of two recent research projects (1998–2000 and 2004) on aspects of managing UK HE institutions and issues arising from the preparation of the HE element of a third study of leadership and public service change agendas in education and health during 2004. Despite the topicality in education and other public services of debates about evidence‐based practice, there is little indication that this debate has permeated HE management qua management. The paper utilises Bourdieu's work on academics and social and cultural capital to explore why manager‐academics may resist taking the findings of research seriously in relation to their own work. It is suggested that, where there is reluctance to learn from research, this may reflect the changing nature of HE, the status of HE research as an academic field and form of academic capital and the relative paucity until recently of training in management for most UK manager‐academics.     

澳大利亚公立职教师资体系的构建特色

通过研究澳大利亚职教领域占主导地位、属公立性质的TAFE教育体系与构建特色,完整并正确地解释TAFE的实际状况,阐述澳大利亚公立职教师资良好的就业前景、灵活和弹性的用人制度与薪酬待遇、不同性质的教学工作、务实的资历要求和多元化的师资培训方法等。     

Education Management Organisations and the Privatisation of Public Education: A cross-national comparison of the USA and Britain

Education Management Organisations (EMOs), for-profit and non-profit management companies engaged in take-over and operation of public education, are becoming big business in the USA and the UK. It is estimated that in the US, EMOs were projected to generate up to $123 billion dollars in revenue in 2000. In the smaller UK system it is estimated that about 5 billion of services in public education could be contracted out to private organisations per annum. This paper examines the policy frameworks that have enabled EMOs to take-over and progressively contribute to the privatisation of public education in two national settings, the USA and England and Wales. The British scene is distinctive because government policies that have sought to expand the role of the private sector, via public-private partnerships, in the provision of public sector services and its strong accountability system, have provided opportunities for EMOs to be engaged in, or take-over, schools and educational administrative services formerly provided by LEAs. In the US, in the mid-1990s, EMOs were invited to take over school districts and specific schools. However, this practice has been succeeded by a new focus on taking over the management of charter schools. A large capital market that is able to finance enterprises involved in educational services supports the development of EMOs in the US. Our research findings, however, point to halting progress by EMOs in public education in the US. There have been well-publicised failures to deliver the promised better education at a lower cost and also well-documented failure to raise student performance levels in school and school districts. The paper concludes with reflections on the extent to which EMOs have taken forward privatisation and its implications for the governance of education.     

新形势下我国公共部门人力资源战略初探

在知识经济到来和建设服务型政府的新形势下,我国公共部门正面临着人力资源管理的战略性选择。应以充分发挥人力资本价值、优化组织结构、改善公共服务和提高公共部门的工作效率为目的,建立人力资源战略体系,推动公共部门顺应现代经济社会发展的要求。     

Writing Development for Lecturers Moving from Further to Higher Education: A case study

The move from further education (FE) to higher education (HE) presents FE lecturers with challenges and opportunities. One of the most testing is the expectation that, while carrying a heavy teaching load, perhaps participating in a course on teaching and learning in HE and possibly studying for a higher degree, FE lecturers will begin to do research and write for scholarly journals. It seems logical and sensible that they should receive development and support for this key professional role, particularly in writing for publication, since, for some, this is a new task. Development and support in scholarly writing are offered in some institutions. One example combined formal and informal development for FE lecturers over the short and long term. An Academic Writing course provided practical and theoretical development, while a writers' group gave support over the long term. Tracking one FE lecturer who participated in both the course and the group revealed 'highlights and lowlights' of the FE-HE transition. Analysis of 40 e-mails, written during one year, reveals the impact of this support and development on the lecturer: understanding of the HE sector, resolutions of teaching/research tensions and development as a writer. This paper describes the forms of development and support for scholarly writing, and represents a lecturer's experience of them. The lecturer's reflections on his documented experience are included: the e-mails understate the difficulties faced. Analysis of the e-mails reveals a development process: a framework is derived for enabling FE staff to become HE writers.     

Developing a code of practice for disability coordinators

In England and Wales the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs, and the role of the special needs coordinator, are well established at statutory level, but they are neither universal nor well established in the higher education (HE) sector. Where disability services do exist in HE, they vary in staffing, policy and practices, and disability coordinators have many concerns about the service they provide. In Australia the tertiary sector has recently developed a code of practice for students with disabilities, and in the USA the Association on Higher Education and Disability has developed a code of ethics for its members. A survey of HE disability coordinators on the issues and dilemmas experienced in their work and their views on the need for a code of ethics was undertaken in February 1998 by Skill (National Bureau for Students with Disabilities) and the University of East London. The findings and proposed strategies are discussed in the light of current initiatives for disability services in HE.     

Trainee teachers in unpaid teaching posts: volunteering,risk and vulnerability

This paper explores the experiences and perceptions of a little-known category of in-service trainee teachers in the Further Education (FE) and Skills sector in England: those who meet the practical teaching requirements of their course mainly through unpaid teaching as ‘volunteers’. The paper reports findings from mixed-methods research which used surveys, interviews and focus groups involving trainee teachers within a large FE–HE partnership. Themes relating to motivations to volunteer, the development of teacher identity within marginal roles, and the risks associated with unpaid teaching are discussed. For increasing numbers of trainees, unpaid teaching provides an opportunity for career entry. However, the quality of teaching experience gained is mixed, with some trainees receiving high levels of support, whilst others experience marginalisation and limitations on their developing teacher identities. The paper highlights the specific challenges to professionalism posed by unpaid teaching within the FE and Skills sector, and relates these challenges to a broader context of insecurity and risk. As work experience becomes an increasingly valuable commodity, this paper illustrates the pressures individuals face as they exchange payment and security for the opportunities volunteering provides.     

Shift happens; moving from the ivory tower to the mushroom factory

ABSTRACT

The values of higher education (HE) are undergoing a disruptive shift. How the rising cost of higher education is being shared between the student and society is driving many of the changes within HE. External pressures on institutions of higher education include reduced public funding, wider student participation and increased competition. These external pressures are influencing the current environment within HE. Academic capitalism encourages institutions to focus on efficiencies and outcomes. Administrators are increasing in numbers and in influence. Students in HE have more choice and are viewed as customers instead of apprentice learners. These collective changes are influencing faculty employment, working conditions, and teaching practices. Institutions are turning to a tiered faculty system. Academic work is being unbundled as paraprofessionals develop and deliver classes. Tenure’s influence is dwindling and an increasing number of faculty are hired as contingent employees. This article will address the external pressures and changing expectations of universities in Australia, the UK and US, and how changing values are influencing faculty, staff utilization and teaching practices.     

Higher education for public value: taking the debate beyond New Public Management

Many higher education (HE) system reforms in the past decades have been built on the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM). However, these reforms have not allowed HE to fully take its value for society into account. In recent years a growing call can be heard to orient the HE sector towards more collaboration, a focus on a larger set of socio-economic objectives instead of on performance alone, less pressure, more trust and legitimacy. In this article, it is stated that NPM has not sufficiently enabled the creation of public value (PV) by the HE sector. This article provides (1) insight into the flaws of NPM, (2) an understanding of PV for HE and (3) a new model to study HE reforms built on the concept of PV.     

Knowledge aid as instrument of regulation: World Bank's non-lending higher education support for Ethiopia

In the context of low-income countries, the role of donors in public policymaking is of great importance. Donors use a combination of lending and non-lending instruments as pathways of influence to shape policy directions in aid-recipient countries. This paper reports some findings from a doctoral study on the role of the World Bank in the recent higher education (HE) policy reform process in Ethiopia. It focuses on the nature and impact of non-lending assistance by the Bank to the Ethiopian HE subsystem. Based on an interpretive policy analysis of sector reviews and advisory activities of the Bank, and selected national HE policy documents, the following findings are highlighted. First, as a ‘knowledge institution’, the World Bank produces, systematises and disseminates knowledge through policy advice, policy reports, analytical sector reviews, and thematic conferences and workshops. Second, knowledge aid from the Bank not only has a profound discursive effect on shaping Ethiopian HE policy reform priorities in accordance with its neoliberal educational agenda but also undermines the knowledge production capacity of the nation. The paper also argues that, for an effective education policy support, the Bank needs to shift its modality of engagement from knowledge aid to research capacity building.     

创建法学实验教学示范中心的探索与实践

实验教学示范中心建设终极目标是为人才培养服务,必须符合是否有利于建立培养学生实践能力和创新能力的实验教学体系;是否有利于建设满足现代实验教学需要的高素质实验教学队伍;是否有利于建立现代化的高效运行管理机制;是否有利于提高实验教学水平和实验室使用效益。同时,介绍了公安大学公安执法实验教学中心近年来在实验教学体系构建、实验教学队伍建设、建立管理机制、改革教学方法和手段等多方面建设情况和经验,以及在实验教学效果、学生科研创新能力、实验室使用效益、社会各界评价等方面取得显著成效,大大地提高了学校实验教学水平,中心实现跨越式发展。