The case for affirmative action in higher education

Affirmative action is under attack, and the author responds, explaining affirmative action's historical principles and purposes, dispelling its myths, and discussing why it must remain a part of higher education.     

Not just racial quotas: affirmative action in Brazilian higher education 10 years later

This paper examines how affirmative action in Brazilian public universities has evolved from the start of the new millennium up to recent years. After an overview of the existing policies in public universities, we explain these patterns based on an analysis of the processes internal and external to the universities. Although these policies were initially thought of as racial quotas, class-based criteria have predominated, while the racial criteria became relatively circumscribed. Within the institutions, affirmative action brought new concerns about how to support and retain low-income students, as well as a discussion about racism, although the latter remains controversial.     

Quality issues in the internationalisation of higher education

Although the quality issue has become a central preoccupation inother domains of higher education, current internationalisation policiesand practices in higher education have developed without much concernfor quality assurance. The central thesis of this paper is that we havecome to a point in the development of higher education whereinternationalisation policies and practices face the limits of theirdevelopment unless the quality challenge is addressed in all itsconsequences. The paper first provides an overview of contemporary formsof and recent developments in internationalisation in higher education.From more or less `traditional' forms such as student and teaching staffmobility, internationalisation policies and practices nowadays move intoactivities such as exporting higher education via branch campuses andinstitutional co-operation, developing transnational university networksand virtual delivery of higher education, and the harmonisation ofhigher education systems. In these recent developments several issuesand challenges arise, which in one kind or another have direct links tothe quality challenge. The quality of internationalisation policies andpractices itself is an important problem, but of more importance are theissues of the recognition of foreign diplomas and degrees and therecognition of credits and credit-transfer. This paper takes a criticalstance towards for example the ECTS, which tries to solve these issueswithout much concern for quality. The way out lies in an integration ofinternationalisation policies and general quality assurance practices atinstitutional and policy levels.     

Short-cycle higher education: Purposes and issues

This article deals with a worldwide movement called short-cycle higher education - a level of education placed between post-compulsory/post-secondary education and university degree completion. Three types of short-cycle institutions are examined and evaluated: (1) extensions of secondary education, (2) expansions of universities and other senior institutions, and (3) units separated from existing schools.Purposes of short-cycle higher education are next discussed, and finally, major issues are identified, and directions taken by various nations contrasted. Particular attention is given to the relationship between short-cycle and university education referred to as articulation and transfer.     

《国防教育法》对美国高等教育发展的影响与启示

1958年8月美国国会通过的《国防教育法》,被认为是美国教育史上具有极重要地位的、维系美国国家安全的高等教育法案。对于该法案的立法原因及结果进行分析研究,对进一步完善我国的高等教育立法,推动、深化高等教育改革具有重要的启示意义。     

Legal issues and statistical approaches to reverse pay discrimination in higher education

There have been numerous lawsuits within higher education brought by females over pay inequity and many articles have been written on the topic. Although not as prevalent, there have been some recent instances where male faculty have claimed—with some degree of success—that the process used by their institutions to make salary adjustments for females was unfair and led to reverse pay discrimination. In this paper, we examine some of the legal issues and statistical approaches surrounding claims of reverse sex discrimination in pay in the field of higher education. We begin by reviewing the way in which legal cases examine sex discrimination in pay in academe and the different approaches that institutions can take to remove pay disparities for women. We show that across-the-board salary adjustments for women are less likely than individualized salary adjustments to raise concerns about the salary determination process and possibly reverse discrimination, and lead to lower costs to the institution. These differences arise regardless of the salary model specification used by an institution when making salary adjustments. Finally, we use a model developed by the plaintiffs in a salary equity study at one institution to demonstrate the effects of using different adjustment methods on the total cost to the institution when making salary equity adjustments for both genders.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the seminar series for the Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia. We would like to thank participants at this seminar and Andrew Luna for comments on previous drafts of this paper.     

高等教育大众化阶段若干问题思考

以科学发展观为指导，研究、分析了目前我国高等教育面临的新彤势、新任务，对大众化教育的质量标准、高校教学科研和社会服务、内部结构调整和优化以厦毕业生就业等问题提出了改革新思路。     

关于高等教育中两个根本性问题的思考

就高等学校开展的学习实践科学发展观所围绕的"培养什么人,怎样培养人"与"办什么样的大学,怎样办好大学"这两个根本性问题各自本身的以及它们与素质教育之间的关系展开讨论.首先,就前一根本性问题与文化、教育、高等教育、素质教育、人的全面发展以及它们之间的关系进行了讨论;其次,就后一根本性问题与高等教育、高等学校以及它们之间的关系进行了讨论;最后,就素质教育、文化素质教育以及与两个根本性问题之间的关系进行了讨论.     

Research issues in evaluating learning pattern development in higher education

This article concludes the special issue of Studies in Educational Evaluation concerned with “Evaluating learning pattern development in higher education” by discussing research issues that have emerged from the previous contributions. The article considers in turn: stability versus variability in learning patterns; old versus new analytic techniques; handling missing observations; measures of effect size; predispositions versus processes; and why it should be so hard to improve the quality of student learning in higher education.     

Funding,selected issues and trends in Tanzania higher education

The purpose of this article is to discuss the funding constraints as related to higher education in Tanzania. The article discusses also the trend of internal and external efficiency indicators. The funding constraints include: the low growth rate of GDP, balance of payment problems, inflation, devaluation of the shilling, absence of cost-sharing and resources mismanagement. Higher education is characterized by high unit costs, low capacity utilization and high teacher-student ratios and yet private benefits are high as compared to social benefits. Tanzanian higher education remains elitist and continues to serve a well-to-do minority.