The nature and role of religious studies at the University of Zambia: 1985–2005

The place of religion in higher education has been and remains a complex issue internationally. This article aims to outline the nature and development of Religious Studies at the University of Zambia in Lusaka (UNZA) as an instance of how religion entered higher education in an African setting. In doing so, it will also provide perspectives on the method that has been adopted in the study of religion and religious education and will highlight elements of the role which these disciplines strive to play at UNZA.     

Education,culture and politics: the evolution of Chinese education at The University of Hong Kong, 1911–1941

The University of Hong Kong (HKU), following its establishment in 1911, has assumed the mission of bridging British and Chinese cultures, to prepare European and Chinese elite youth for political and other professional careers, and thus to improve Britain’s cultural influence in competition with other western powers with regard to China. Dominated by its colonial character and pragmatic orientation, Chinese education at HKU was confined to no more than a supplementary subject at the initial stage. However, colonial crisis and cultural changes in the 1920s and 1930s, together with the endeavours of local cultural and commercial elites, made advanced Chinese education at HKU necessary and possible, and led to an independent unit for Chinese education and Chinese studies being established and strengthened. Organisational and curricular reforms before the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941 led to further modernisation and solidified the structure of Chinese education at this university, laying the essential foundation for its post-war recovery and development. The evolution of Chinese education at HKU demonstrated well the subtle entanglements of education, culture and politics in a colonial context, through which coexistence and tensions between tradition and modernity, between China and the West, and between the imperial and republican intellectuals were also vividly revealed.     

Creativity,Complexity and Self‐similarity: The Vision of the Fractal University

Creativity and communication processes in engineering education have become more and more necessary in highly complex structures such as technological networks and ‘virtual’ reality. These issues also include an educational challenge for university: all education for the future has to be based on experiencing reality. A new socio‐technical approach describes the engineering profession in all aspects beside technology, such as tasks, views, organizational structures or cooperation. Therefore, university and higher education have to change into self‐similar structures to support the learning of complexity in real life. The experiences of the Department of Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Technology in Aachen, as a socio‐technical, self‐similar and creative system, show such learning processes of students (and staff) in undergraduate education, research and organizational structures.     

“Traditional” Classroom Attitudes,The A.C.T. and the 16 P.F.

Abstract

A factor analytic study of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory indicated that a 'Traditionalistic" belief about child control was measured by that instrument. The relationships between the "Traditionalism" factor, the 16 PF, and ACT were examined for 101 students prior to admission into professional education courses. The naive student who espoused "Traditionalism" tended to be anxious, less intelligent and male. The ACT "English" and "Mathematics" test scores seemed to correspond more with measures of intelligence than the "Social Studies" and "Natural Science" scores, although all four together defined an "achievement" factor. Evidently the student registering greater achievement was "tender-minded" and "imaginative." Differences between male and female students who intend to teach suggest that they may best be taught differently.     

The “new” economics of education: Towards a “unified” macro/micro-educational planning policy

What has become the classical theory of the economics of education, first systematically laid down in the 1960s, is based on analysis of measurable variables. The concept of investment in human capital supposes that higher funding for education will increase productivity and income. Estimates of cost-effectiveness and returns to investment based on notional income foregone, have been features of this approach. Now, with a growing realization of the failure of the classical theory to deal with realities in the education market and to offer effective policy recommendations, other ideologies have again become more visible. The lack of attention given to the labor demand side of the education-earnings equation, and the inability of theoretical models to capture all complex variables in all sectors of the labor market, have been criticized. Also, it has again been recognized that education has a socialization role. The phenomena of undereducation and over-education have been investigated, and attention has been given to the implications of social conflicts and structural changes in the labor market. If human competences are to be developed, it is necessary to look beyond the classical model of the economics of education to microeconomic analysis and to economic and social conditions which will act as incentives.

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Zusammenfassung Die zur klassischen Theorie gewordene Rentabilität des Bildungswesens, die in den 60ern zum ersten Mal systematisch festgelegt wurde, basiert auf einer Analyse der meßbaren Variablen. Im Konzept der Investition in das menschliche Kapital wird angenommen, daß eine verstärkte Bezuschussung des Bildungswesens zu erhöhter Produktivität und höherem Einkommen führe. Merkmale dieses Ansatzes waren Einschätzungen der Kostenwirksamkeit und die auf schätzungsweise entgangenem Einkommen basierenden Investitionserträge. Im Zuge der wachsenden Erkenntnis, daß die klassische Theorie weder der Realität auf dem Bildungsmarkt standhalten noch Empfehlungen für eine wirksame Politik geben konnte, rücken andere Ideologien wieder in den Blickpunkt. Kritisiert wurden der Mangel an Aufmerksamkeit für die Nachfrage nach Arbeitskräften in der Gleichung: Bildung-Einkommen und die Unfähigkeit der theoretischen Modelle, alle komplexen Variablen aller Bereiche des Arbeitsmarktes einzubeziehen. Außderdem wurde die Sozialisierungsrolle des Bildungswesens erneut anerkannt. Das Phänomen der Unter- und Überqualifikation wurde untersucht und die Auswirkungen von sozialen Konflikten und Strukturveränderungen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt behandelt. Wenn menschliche Kompetenzen entwickelt werden sollen, muß man über das klassische Modell der Rentabilität des Bildungswesens hinaus an micro-ökonomische Analysen und wirtschaftliche und soziale Bedingungen als potentielle Anreize denken.

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Résumé Ce qui est devenu la théorie classique de l'économie de l'éducation, dont les premières bases ont été jetées méthodiquement dans les années 60, se fonde sur l'analyse de variables identifiables. Le concept d'investissement en capital humain suppose que des ressources importantes allouées à l'enseignement accroissent productivité et revenus. L'estimation du rapport coût-efficacité et le rendement de l'investissement fondé sur le revenu hypothétique de départ caractérisent cette approache. Aujourd'hui, alors qu'on s'aperçoit de plus en plus de l'échec de la théorie classique à traiter des réalités du marché de l'éducation et à offrir des recommandations quant à la politique efficace à suivre, les autres idéologies sont redevenues plus visibles. On critique l'attention insuffisante accordée au membre demande d'emploi de l'équation éducation-gain, et l'incapacité des modèles théoriques à saisir toutes les variables complexes dans tous les secteurs du marché de l'emploi. Par ailleurs, on reconnaît de nouveau le rôle de socialisation de l'éducation. On a effectué des recherches sur les phénomènes de sous- et suréducation, et l'on s'est penché sur les incidences qu'ont les conflits sociaux et les changements structuraux sur le marché de l'emploi. Si l'on veut développer des compétences humaines, il paraît nécessaire de transcender le modèle classique d'économie de l'éducation pour se tourner vers une analyse micro-économique et vers des conditions économiques et sociales stimulantes.

     

Television: The performance of nonresident students in the “economics U$A” telecourse

Abstract

Correspondence study represents the first and most persistent distance education format in American universities. Later called independent study, it enabled universities to disseminate instruction far beyond their campuses. Yet, national‐level leadership provided by the National University Continuing Education Association (NUEA) and its divisions has been relatively restrained. In contrast, leadership in the private correspondence school sector has been assertive, and sometimes even aggressive. The NUEA and its members shunned this approach, choosing instead to lead by persuasion and example. The NUEA developed standards of practice concerned primarily with replicating on‐campus teaching styles and values, rather than the promotion of distance education. With the abolition of its division structure, the NUEA's successor, the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA), has opted out of a leadership role in independent study. This paper concludes that the NUEA's initial attempt at leadership in distance education— while reasoned and principled—contained flaws that made failure inevitable.     

The Promotion of “Civility” and the Quest for the Creation of a “City of Peace”: The Beginnings of Trinity College,Dublin and of Harvard College,Cambridge, Mass.

The paper seeks to investigate the process of the “transfer of knowledge"from the reformed university in Cambridge to the quite alien socio‐political conditions of Ireland and later to the New World. The “transfer of knowledge” fiom the English to the Irish environment was seen as relocating an ideal replica of the original The same was intended in the case of the founding of Harvard by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Both new locations, i.e. Dublin (1592) and Harvard (1636), were identified by Puritans who took their role of “civilising” a wilderness and Christianising society very seriously. Universities, despite their medieval European origin, were thought of as vital instruments in the “civilising” process. A Puritan network, communicating between all three locations, can be identified; its members endeavoured to centre their “city of peace” on the universities and their refined scholarship; this seemed indeed easier in New England than in Ireland.     

Coming Out of the Campus Closet: The Emerging Visibility of Queer Students at the University of Florida, 1970–1982

This historical work chronicles the emergence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) student visibility at the University of Florida from 1970 to 1982. It focuses on the establishment of an LGBTQ student group and student reactions to queer visibility. This work relies heavily on the student newspaper for the student perspective, and shows how the emergence of queer students was part of the expansion of student affairs offices and how queer student movements grew from other social protest movements. Higher education history has almost entirely omitted queer experiences, and queer history has not looked deeply into higher education.     

Language,discourse and teaching the language arts: The development of imaginative self‐understanding

Paul Ricoeur asks that we conceive of the imagination less in terms of visual images than in terms of language. He develops this idea as part of the hermeneutic work of interpreting literary texts and posits that the world disclosed by the literary work provides a space for the imaginative consideration of new possibilities for the self. I describe some principles for educating children in a literary tradition that may assist in the development of linguistic expression and self‐understanding. Furthermore, some suggestions are made concerning the education of language arts teachers in this regard.