Assessing personnel practices in higher education: A case study in the hiring of females

This study develops a dynamic model of ideal minority representation in an employer's work force. The model assumes that the hiring and termination processes are random and takes into account both changes in the size of the work force over time as well as minority representation in the labor pool from which employees are drawn. Various parameter specifications representing alternative employer personnel practices are utilized to demonstrate their impact on the adjustment path of work force minority representation toward that found in the overall labor pool. The model is then estimated empirically to generate a point of comparison in a case study involving alleged sex discrimination in the hiring practices of an academic department at a major midwestern university. A test procedure is illustrated which allows formal statistical comparisons of actual work force minority representation and the ideal minority representation by the model.     

Assessing the Transfer Function: Benchmarking best practices from state higher education agencies

State higher education agencies in the US are in a propitious position to improve the educational environment for students who transfer from one institution to another within a state. This paper reports on the results of a nationwide survey on the assessment of the transfer function by state higher education agencies. Using a benchmarking methodology, the paper suggests some 'best practices' of state higher education agencies in the organisation and use of transfer student information systems. The paper has relevance for institutional personnel and public policy makers since the number of transfer-oriented institutions and the number of transfer students are increasing across the globe.     

A note on costing the teaching activity in higher education

This note explains one method of calculating unit costs for the teaching function in higher education. A formula is developed for allocating expenditures on the basis of a timetable analysis and tested on data from Lanchester Polytechnic and Loughborough University for the academic year 1972/73.     

Assessing institutional performance in higher education: a managerial perspective

Although many institutions are expending considerable effort in attempts to assess institutional performance and to utilize the results in improving performance, there are many impediments to the success of these endeavours. These include conceptual problems with the notion of institutional performance, inadequacies in the current measurement techniques and judgement procedures, and the mis-match between the results produced and management's information requirements. Institutional management in higher education has unique characteristics which give rise to particular information needs. The existing approaches to institutional evaluation vary in their ability to provide information meeting management's requirements.     

Comparing with caution: thoughts on aspects of higher education policy and practice

This paper is an edited version of a keynote lecture given by Professor Sir William Taylor at the Annual Conference of the History of Education of Education Society held at the University of London Institute of Education on 24 November 2001.     

Assessing and developing critical-thinking skills in higher education

Generic skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication are essential for students' success in higher education and their careers. This article presents findings from an international study of students' (n ≈ 120,000) generic skills from six countries using a performance-based assessment. Results indicate that higher education students, on average, gain generic skills between entry and exit. However, learning gain is less marked than could be expected and varies significantly among country samples. Various background variables such as gender, ethnicity, parental level of education, and primary language are also explored. The authors conclude that it is feasible to reliably and validly measure generic skills in a cross-cultural context and that assessment of these skills is an essential component of best practices in higher education.     

Rethinking feedback practices in higher education: a peer review perspective

Peer review is a reciprocal process whereby students produce feedback reviews on the work of peers and receive feedback reviews from peers on their own work. Prior research has primarily examined the learning benefits that result from the receipt of feedback reviews, with few studies specifically exploring the merits of producing feedback reviews or the learning mechanisms that this activates. Using accounts of their experiences of peer review, this study illuminates students’ perceptions of the different learning benefits resulting from feedback receipt and feedback production, and, importantly, it provides insight into the cognitive processes that are activated when students construct feedback reviews. The findings show that producing feedback reviews engages students in multiple acts of evaluative judgement, both about the work of peers, and, through a reflective process, about their own work; that it involves them in both invoking and applying criteria to explain those judgements; and that it shifts control of feedback processes into students’ hands, a shift that can reduce their need for external feedback. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. It is argued that the capacity to produce quality feedback is a fundamental graduate skill, and, as such, it should receive much greater attention in higher education curricula.     

Reclaiming literacies: competing textual practices in a digital higher education

This essay examines the implications of the ubiquitous use of the term ‘digital literacies’ in higher education and its increasing alignment with institutional and organisational imperatives. It suggests that the term has been stripped of its provenance and association with disciplinary knowledge production and textual practice. Instead it is called into service rhetorically in order to promote competency-based agendas both in and outside the academy. The piece also points to a tendency to position teachers in deficit with regard to their technological capabilities and pay scant attention to their own disciplinary and scholarly practices in a digital world. It concludes that there is a case for building on established theoretical and conceptual frameworks from literacy studies if we wish to integrate advantages of the digital landscape with thoughtful teaching practice.     

Changing concepts of equity in transforming UK higher education: implications for future pedagogies and practices in global higher education

This paper is about changing concepts of equity in UK higher education. In particular, it charts the moves from concepts about gender equality as about women’s education as a key issue in twentieth century higher education to questions of men’s education in the twenty-first century. These changing concepts of equity are linked to wider social and economic transformations, the expansion of higher education and the growth in the knowledge economy, or what has been called ‘academic capitalism’. Feminist theorists and activists, often called second wave feminists, developed concepts of gender equality in education, including higher education in the twentieth century, and these have been incorporated into higher education and policies with the expansions of higher education, especially around notions of widening participation. Notions of widening participation in policy and practice arenas focus on equity as about social class, socio-economic disadvantage, ethnicity and race, rather than specifically on gender questions. Equity is now twinned with diversity and where gender is now invoked it is largely about young and working class men’s disadvantage in relation to higher education. In this paper, I will also provide research evidence from the UK’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) which has been the UK’s biggest ever initiative in education research about equity and diversity as currently conceived in UK higher education. I will show how gender has been incorporated with diversity questions and has lost its critical and feminist edge. I conclude with addressing questions about the future of higher education policies and practices to address questions of equity and diversity, attempting to counter the systemic inequalities in current forms of UK higher education. There are opportunities for developing new, critical and feminist pedagogies. More inclusive or ‘connectionist’ approaches, rather than ‘teaching to the test’, would engage socially diverse men and women students in a range of higher education subjects and settings.     

Green management practices in higher education: the status of sustainable leadership

Tertiary Education and Management - The present study investigated the level of sustainable leadership among a random sample of 170 faculty members employed by one public university in Jordan. The...     

高职动漫专业人才培养的思考

本文在分析了国内动漫产业人才需求和教育现状之后,指出当前动漫专业人才培养面临的几个问题,并有针对性地提出解决这些问题的相关办法。     

高职教育人才培养模式中问题的思考

最近几年,高职院校有效的促进了地方社会和经济的发展,在普及高等教育的过程中发挥了很大的作用。可是高职教育在不断发展的过程中也出现了不少问题,这些问题都激发了高技能人才培养与社会经济发展之间的矛盾。所以高职教育一定要及时有效的解决这些问题,促进高职教育的可持续发展,促进我国地方经济的发展。文章主要分析了高职教育中人才培养模式的问题和对策。     

高等工程教育培养创新型人才的思考

中国要走新型工业化的道路,必须培养和造就大批高素质的工程技术人才。但是,当前工科院校创新教育存在诸如人才“基本功”不够扎实,“知识面仍显狭窄”,教材陈旧、教学方法单一,对学生缺乏创新意识和能力的培养,人文知识和人文精神存有缺陷等等问题。对此,作者提出了努力拓宽学生基础知识、培养学生创新型学习方法、改革教学内容和方法、推进个性化课程体系、探索按大类培养的宽口径专业教育模式、注重学生在学期间的研究和训练、培养工程意识和综合能力、营造创新人才培养的氛围和环境、探索开放性人才培养模式等对策。     

建工专业高等职业教育人才培养模式改革浅析

在建筑行业和建筑科技飞速发展的当前,如何改进当前的高等职业教育形式、培养出满足建筑科技发展的专业技术型人才已迫在眉睫。文章探讨了建工专业人才培养的现状和问题,并对人才培养模式改革进行了探讨。     

Reported pedagogical practices of faculty in higher education in the UAE

Higher Education - Higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a relatively modern phenomenon, but it is a sector which has experienced immense growth since the first national university...     

新形势下高职教育的人才培养

中国入世后，对人才有了更多更新的需求，高职教育应适应这一要求，培养具有创新能力，创业能力的国际化能力的新型人才。