Does schooling affect health behavior? Evidence from the educational expansion in Western Germany

During the postwar period German states pursued policies to increase the share of young Germans obtaining a university entrance diploma (Abitur) by building more academic track schools, but the timing of educational expansion differed between states. This creates exogenous variation in the availability of upper secondary schooling, which allows estimating the causal effect of education on health behaviors. Using the number of academic track schools in a state as an instrumental variable for years of schooling, we investigate the causal effect of schooling on health behavior such as smoking and related outcomes such as obesity. We find large and robust negative effects of education on smoking for women. These effects can mostly be attributed to reductions in starting rates rather than increases in quitting rates. We also find large negative effects of education on smoking for men. However, the precision of these is not robust to sample specification changes and results for men should thus be interpreted with caution. We find no causal effect of education on reduced overweight and obesity.     

Workplace Faculty Friendships and Work-Family Culture

Although various work-family policies are available to faculty members, many underuse these policies due to concerns about negative career consequences. Therefore, we believe it is important to develop an academic work culture that is more supportive of work-family needs. Using network data gathered from faculty members at a Midwestern university, this study investigated the relationship between friendship connections with colleagues and perceived work-family supportiveness in the department. It also explored the role of parental status in the relationship for men and women. Results show that faculty with larger friendship networks have more positive perceptions of work-family culture compared to faculty with smaller friendship networks, for all faculty except women without children.     

父权压迫下的牺牲品——析海尔曼《小狐狸》

通过细读海尔曼的《小狐狸》,发现家庭中的女性处于从属地位,男性对其施加父权压迫。父辈的财产传男不传女,女性的财产继承权被剥夺,女性在家庭中没有决定权。父权社会不给女性提供工作的机会,将她们的活动范围局限于家庭中,造成了女性对家庭中的男性的经济上的依赖。通过分析《小狐狸》中三位女性的人物形象,展现出由于父权价值观,三位女性均受到压迫和束缚,尽管个人的反应不同,但都变成父权压迫的牺牲品。     

‘She's not good with crying’: the effect of gender expectations on graduate students' assessments of their principal investigators

This paper explores how gender influences the way that faculty members are held accountable to gendered societal expectations related to scientists, faculty members, and leaders. In particular, women faculty members in the sciences, particularly those who lead large research groups, may be at a triple disadvantage: they must act in ways that contradict ideals of femininity in these multiple aspects of their professional lives. The data for this inductive, largely exploratory analysis come from a mixed-methods qualitative study of five chemistry research groups at a research-intensive US university. I find that gendered expectations do impact the way that men and women faculty are evaluated by their students, particularly the way that women faculty are judged.     

大学社会捐赠研究述评

大学社会捐赠作为大学筹资渠道多元化的一种重要实现途径,引起了国内外学者的广泛关注,在捐赠和筹款的相关理论和政策法规的研究上取得了较为丰富的研究成果。通过对国内外社会捐赠理论、大学社会捐赠的影响因素、大学社会捐赠的筹集以及相关法律政策研究四个方面所取得的研究成果进行比较和总结,分析目前这一研究领域研究存在的不足,认为当前应进一步加强大学社会捐赠的理论和实证研究,探索适合我国大学社会捐赠发展的有效路径。     

Faculty Research Productivity: Exploring the Role of Gender and Family-Related Factors

This study explores the role of several family-related factors in faculty research productivity for a large, nationally representative sample of university faculty members. The role of marriage, children, and aging parents is examined after controlling for other personal and environmental factors, such as age, rank, department, and intrinsic motivations to conduct research, that previous research has shown to influence research productivity. Analyses are conducted on a sample of 8,544 full-time teaching faculty (2,384 women and 6,160 men) at 57 universities nationwide. Results show that factors affecting faculty research productivity are nearly identical for men and women, and family-related variables, such as having dependent children, exhibit little or no effects on research productivity.     

Mind the Gap: How Students Differentially Perceive Their School's Attendance Policies in Germany

Truant student behavior can be due to various reasons. Some of these reasons are located in schools. So far, little is known about how student perception of school rules is related to truancy. This study aims to identify types of school attendance policies and how these policies are associated with individual truancy. Self-reports from the German student sample of PISA 2012 (N = 5,001) were analyzed to evaluate truancy and student perception of school attendance policies. A linear regression model was specified to predict truancy. Two styles of school attendance policies as perceived by students could be distinguished: active and passive. Students who perceived their school's attendance policy to be active were truant less often than students who thought their school's attendance policy was passive.     

Can the performance effect be ignored in the attendance policy discussion?

Should universities require students to attend? Academics disagree. One side in the discussion of university attendance policies has tried to dismiss any association between attendance and student performance, insisting that students have a fundamental right to choose what and when to attend. By merging student record data and course attendance data for three cohorts of final year undergraduate students at a London‐based university, we are able to isolate attendance effects for 674 students, giving us a large sample, without the inherent weaknesses of more traditional survey methods. We provide fresh empirical evidence for the positive association between attendance and exam performance, and argue for a more balanced view in the attendance policy discussion. Politicians and Higher Education policies are increasingly focused on employability, student retention and completion indicators. Carefully crafted attendance policies can have positive effects on pass and completion rates, primary policy targets of Higher Education funders and policymakers. Attendance effects therefore cannot simply be ignored.     

Determinants of university students’ attendance

ABSTRACT

Background: Attendance of university students at their timetabled teaching sessions is usually associated with higher levels of educational attainment. Attendance is usually considered to reflect students’ level of engagement with their course and to be critical to student success; despite the potential for technological alternatives, lectures and other face-to-face sessions still tend to be the primary method of teaching at university.

Purpose: Here we review studies which have investigated these determinants of attendance in order to gain a better understanding of whether – and how – Higher Education Institutions are able to improve attendance rates.

Sources of evidence: Electronic databases (e.g. ERIC, Web of Science) were used to identify articles exploring attendance in Higher Education settings.

Main argument: Some of the most debated determinants of attendance are reviewed: teaching issues (e.g. quality, style and format); effects of university expectations and policy (e.g. mandating attendance, awarding grades for attendance); scheduling issues; provision of materials online; and the effects of individual factors arguably outside of the Higher Education Institution’s control (e.g. finance, student employment, student demographics and psychological factors).

Conclusions: It is suggested that, although some individual factors influence student attendance and are arguably out of the control of HEIs, it is possible for them to facilitate attendance through adjustments to aspects of degree delivery such as attendance policies and monitoring, timetabling and style of teaching. Implications for policies on the recording of lectures, curriculum design and student term-time working are also discussed. Future research on student attendance should include longer and larger studies which simultaneously consider a range of influences; examining both inter- and intra-individual variability and different types of teaching sessions.     

Choice of majors: are women really different from men?

The gender wage gap persists in the workplace in part because women major in fields that lead them into lower-paid occupations than fields associated with majors men choose. An open question is why women are more likely than men to switch towards majors that lead to lower-paying careers. Drawing on research suggesting that women are affected more by negative feedback than men, we use unique administrative data from a large private university on the East Coast from 2008 to 2016 to test whether women are more likely than men to switch majors in response to low grades in major-related classes. We also test whether the prevalence of men in a major or a major’s reputation for being stereotypically male-oriented induces women to switch out of that major more readily than men. We control for other factors that may affect a student’s final major, including high school performance, gender composition of faculty and peers, and economic returns of majors. The results show that overall women and men are equally likely to change their majors in response to poor grades in major-related courses. We also find no evidence that women in male-dominated majors are more likely than men to switch out, but we find that men with very low grades in female-dominated majors are more likely to switch out of these majors than women. In addition, we find that women are more likely to switch out of majors that are both male-dominated and STEM in response to poor performance compared to men. Thus, our results suggest that only when women students experience multiple signals suggesting their lack of fit in a field (i.e., low grades combined with gender peer composition, and external stereotyping signals) they tend to switch out of the major more often than male students. We find that men exhibit this tendency in response to even fewer overlapping signals about misfit than women.     

Do universities benefit local youth? Evidence from the creation of new universities

In this study, I examine university and college participation rates, as well as graduate outcomes, following the establishment of a university in cities where there were previously none. The creation of a local university is associated with a large increase in university attendance among local youth in each affected city. However, the increase in university participation came at the expense of college participation in most cities. Furthermore, not everyone benefited equally from new universities in terms of university enrolment. In the short run, the creation of a local university is associated with a substantial increase in the probability of moving out of one city for men and women. For men, employment rates rise, while for women, there is an increase in business services and public sector employment.     

Gender differences in French undergraduates’ academic plans and wage expectations

Gender differences in wage expectations may affect investment in human capital and increase inequalities in the labour market. Our research based on a survey of first-year students at a French university aims to focus on expectations at the beginning of the career. Our results show that anticipated earnings differ significantly between men and women. One year after graduation, we find a gender gap in pay of 16%. A wage decomposition method indicates that most of this effect is due to anticipation of discrimination. Ten years after graduation, anticipated discrimination is still almost as dominant in explaining the gender gap in pay. Finally, using a survey of recent college graduates, we show that growth in the anticipated gender gap differs greatly from growth in the observed gender gap. Our findings highlight the importance of policies promoting higher educational aspirations for young women. Career guidance counselling for students may play a decisive role in contributing to give women more ambitious aspirations, which may in turn serve to reduce inequalities in the labour market.     

美国关于流动儿童教育问题的研究与实践

美国学龄人口的流动率较高,美国学者对流动儿童的教育问题也给予了特别的关注.许多研究表明,学龄人口频繁的流动既不利于流动儿童自身的学习,也会对学校甚至学区的教育产生影响.为此,美国通过完善立法、利用网络传递流动学生信息、帮助贫困的流动家庭、加强学校(社区)与流动儿童家庭的联系等措施,力图做到"不让一个孩子掉队".美国关于流动儿童教育问题的一些研究与实践对我国有一定的借鉴意义.     

Psychological and demographic predictors of undergraduate non-attendance at university lectures and seminars

Absenteeism from university teaching sessions is increasingly becoming a common phenomenon and remains a major concern to universities. Poor attendance has significant and detrimental effects on students themselves, their peers and teaching staff. There is, however, a lack of previous research investigating demographic and psychological predictors of non-attendance alongside salient reasons students offer for their absence; it is this ‘gap’ that the present study attempts to fill. We approached 618 undergraduate university students from a single UK university studying various courses to complete a bespoke questionnaire assessing their estimated percentage attendance at lectures and seminars over the academic year. Students answered demographic questions, completed psychometric tests of perceived confidence (Perceived Confidence for Learning) and university belongingness (Psychological Sense of School Membership), and rated the degree to which possible reasons for non-attendance applied to themselves. Multiple regression analyses were carried out separately for estimated attendance at lectures and seminars. Results demonstrated that significant predictors of poorer attendance for both scenarios were experiencing a lower sense of belongingness to university; working more hours in paid employment; having more social life commitments; facing coursework deadlines; and experiencing mental health issues. Improving a sense of belonging to university and targeting interventions at students working in paid employment may be effective means of increasing attendance. Providing support for students with mental health issues, structuring courses around coursework deadlines and helping students to organise their attendance around social activities could also be advantageous.     

Where the boys aren't: non-cognitive skills, returns to school and the gender gap in higher education

Nearly 60 percent of college students today are women. Using longitudinal data on a nationally representative cohort of eighth grade students in 1988, I examine two potential explanations for the differential attendance rates of men and women—returns to schooling and non-cognitive skills. The attendance gap is roughly five percentage points for all high school graduates. Conditional on attendance, however, there are few differences in type of college, enrollment status or selectivity of institution. The majority of the attendance gap can be explained by differences in the characteristics of men and women, despite some gender differences in the determinants of college attendance. I find that higher non-cognitive skills and college premiums among women account for nearly 90 percent of the gender gap in higher education. Interestingly, non-cognitive factors continue to influence college enrollment after controlling for high school achievement.     

The Scholar Must also Teach

Classroom incivility is a major concern in higher education today. Yet little study has been done of student perceptions of behavior in the classroom. Based on a survey of 3,616 students at a Midwestern public university, the present study provides useful information to faculty members and administrators about the behaviors students find most uncivil and how frequently they are experiencing these behaviors. In general, it appears that students are experiencing a fair amount of at least moderately uncivil behavior in their classes. These results have implications for how faculty and administrators develop policies designed to guide students toward appropriate behavior.     

Student Attendance Patterns and Performance in an Urban Postsecondary Environment

Interest in student transfer/attendance patterns remains high. There is considerable evidence that the traditional perception of transfer from a single community college directly to university is becoming less the norm than in the past. In a continuation of a research consortium project begun in 1992, an urban university and three community colleges investigated the complex nature of student attendance/transfer patterns and their effects on student achievement in terms of credits transferred, GPA performance after transfer, degree completion, and time to degree. While previous research has documented the varied patterns of student attendance/transfer, the goal of this phase of the study was to identify what effects, if any, these varied patterns have on student performance.     

The College Selection Process:

A recent trend among universities shifts from traditional MBA programs to specialized MBA offerings. Specialized programs are believed to cultivate stronger relationships with students, which lead to stronger alumni relationships and increased donations. This research tests this empirically by examining relationship perceptions and donation behavior among alumni of both traditional and specialized MBA programs from a university. The findings suggest that graduates of specialized programs are more likely to perceive relationships with their MBA programs than their traditional program counterparts. These graduates are also more likely to donate to their universities and to direct their donations toward their specialized MBA programs.     

高校社会捐赠：概念、类型与策略优化

我国高校办学经费历来以政府财政拨款为主,难以有效解决教育经费短缺问题。社会捐赠作为办学经费有益补充,我国高校社会捐赠主要有校友捐赠、企业捐赠、财团捐赠、乡贤捐赠、网络众筹等多种类型,社会捐赠为缓解国家财政经费投入压力提供了重要资金支持,但高校社会捐赠事业缺乏相关政策支撑与专业管理制度,高校自身普遍缺乏吸引力等状况很大程度上影响了高校社会捐赠的持续良性发展。为此,完善捐赠配套政策和外部政策激励、强化筹资运行保障、推动文化环境建设以及提升自身办学声誉是新时期高校社会捐赠高质量发展的重要策略。