Quality Faculty: the Key to Ensuring Successful Transnational Educational Offerings in Southeast Asia

In the past year, the competition for transnational educational offerings in the Asian region has become more intense. One of the latest strategies in an attempt to win enrolments is the lowering of fees by international educational institutions and the reduction in the number of classes required for degree completion. The press and prospective students have made it clear that with the current economic crisis, price is the major consideration in their selection. The results of a study of the experience of Curtin University, an Australian university operating in Singapore and Malaysia, indicate that if quality faculty are involved in transnational educational offerings, even in these turbulent economic times, students will pay above the going rate for the opportunity to obtain the educational experience.     

美国、日本、新加坡大学诚信教育及对我国大学诚信教育的启示

随着政治经济文明的高速发展,我国日益受到多元文化的冲击,在这样的背景下,大学生的道德品质尤其是诚信现状令人堪忧,因此,大学诚信教育显得尤为重要。大学诚信教育是学校德育的重要组成部分,它有助于规范大学生的行为。美国、日本、新加坡三国在诚信教育方面积累了丰富而宝贵的经验,能够给我国大学诚信教育提供许多借鉴和启示。     

Invest for the Long Term or Attend to Immediate Needs? Schools and the Employment of Less Educated Youths and Adults

For the past 20 years, researchers worldwide have shared a consensus that tracking leads to failure in school. But educational systems continue to use this practice for many reasons. One argument used to support the practice is that students who enter the vocational track early in their careers tend to enter the labour market more quickly. Data show, however, that when these people are in their 40s, they become the most vulnerable to poverty, especially during periods of economic recession. In addition to moving towards more comprehensive educational systems as the best long-term way to improve the chances of all future adults, our research demonstrates that schools can play a key role in preventing and reversing the risk of unemployment and poverty of low educated youth. The INCLUD-ED project has analysed effective actions in eight European countries (Slovenia, United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, Romania, Belgium, Finland, and Spain) that respond to the educational needs of those who have experienced tracking. These effective alternatives are vocational programmes that include an academic-type of curriculum and allow students to move to higher education, as well as adult education programmes in schools which meet families' training needs, improving their opportunities in the labour market.     

Quality Assurance: Meeting the Needs of the User

Both students and employers, the main users of the higher education system, need to have confidence that qualifications attest accurately to past achievement and current ability. The standards represented by higher education qualifications need to be explicit and, in an employment market that is increasingly global, qualifications must have a universal currency. The frameworks of higher education qualifications published recently in the United Kingdom provide explicit benchmarks, and do so in a manner that enables international comparisons to be drawn.
Users need assurance that the programmes of study leading to qualifications are effective in enabling the learner both to achieve, and to demonstrate achievement of, the standards embodied in intended learning outcomes. Students in particular want to know that the education in which they are investing will meet their expectations. However, proposed changes in quality assurance of higher education suggest an unwillingness on the part of institutions to demonstrate that the standards embodied in the qualifications framework are being delivered. The interests of the providers appear to be given supremacy over those of the users.     

The Project on Innovative Teaching Methods — An Overview

Over the past several years, the education system in Singapore has undergone very significant and far-reaching changes, especially in terms of the programmes and resources available to teachers and pupils. New textbooks and teaching materials have been introduced into the schools by the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS). Within the Institute of Education (IE), teacher education programmes for pre-service trainees and in-service teachers have also undergone review and change to meet new needs and expectations.     

On the Margins or Moving into the Mainstream? Higher Education in Further Education in England

As many students are now enrolled on higher education programmes in further education today as the total of all higher education students – whether in universities, advanced further education or teacher training – at the time of the Robbins Report in 1963 when the advance towards mass higher education first got under way. These programmes make a vital contribution to the diversity and, in particular, the accessibility and flexibility of higher education provision in England in 2009. Yet higher education in further education receives limited, and dwindling, policy attention. It is sometimes treated as a marginal, and even anomalous, provision. Yet the realisation of a truly lifelong learning system will depend crucially on the local delivery of higher education that is perhaps better tailored to social demand and economic imperatives.     

Pathway from vocational education and associate degree to higher education: Chinese international students in Australia

Understanding factors influencing international students' decision to engage in international education is essential for education providers to better cater for students' educational expectations and enhance their attractiveness to international students. Whilst there has been extensive research on the reasons why international students undertake cross-border higher education, international students' motivations for enrolling in vocational education and associate degree programmes are still under-researched. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 30 international students from China, this research found that pathway to higher education appears to be the most important factor motivating international students to undertake vocational education and associate degree programmes. In addition, prospect of immigration, English language proficiency, previous academic performance, agent's recommendations and relatives' and friends' advice are amongst the important factors that students take into account in their decision to choose vocational education and associate degree programmes. This research also examines why Chinese international students have chosen vocational education programmes in a dual-sector university over vocational education colleges. It found that the flexibility to articulate to higher education, international reputation of the programme, practical training and favourable location are key issues that these students draw on when making their decision to study in a dual-sector university.     

高中生高等教育需求的经济动因分析

本文通过估计高中生期望的高等教育回报率及其高等教育需求的影响,检验了人力资本理论的基本假设。研究表明,高中生对高等教育的市场回报率有比较准确的预期,他们的高等教育需求也受其期望的高等教育回报率的显著影响。个体的高等教育需求与人力资本理论的解释是一致的,即个体对高等教育的需求,受高等教育的经济回报所激励。     

When China opens to the world: A study of transnational higher education in Zhejiang, China

The economic transition in China since the late 1970s has led to not only drastic social transformations but also rapid advancements in science and technology, as well as the revolution in information and communications technology. In order to enhance the global competence of the Chinese population in coping with the challenges of a knowledge-based economy, the higher education sector has been going through restructuring along the lines of marketization, privatization and decentralization. Responding to the the challenges of globalization, the Chinese government has opened up the education market by allowing overseas universities to offer programmes on the mainland. This article sets out in this wider policy context to examine the current developments of transnational higher education in China, with particular reference to how students in Zhejiang province enrolling in these overseas programmes, especially those offered by Australian providers, evaluate their learning experiences. This article will also discuss the major concerns raised by the respondents in our study regarding the newly emerging transnational higher education programmes, with particular reference to examining how far these new programmes would affect the regulatory framework in Chinese higher education.     

Between the Hammer and the Anvil: lifestyles of Russian students in the years of permanent crisis

This article attempts to look at Russian students in the broader social, economic and political context as it has developed over the past 13 years. While society needs higher education to consolidate its identity that was deeply wounded by the shock of the political and economic collapse of the early 1990s, it still lacks the means to maintain it. As a result of a complex interplay of various actors and their short‐term interests, Russian youth is being literally stored as students in higher education institutions, barely able to survive physically, with little hope for improvement in a foreseeable future.     

德国的博洛尼亚改革与高等教育学制与学位结构变迁

经过十年来的博洛尼亚改革,德国在2009/2010冬季学期已有79.2%的专业采用了颁发学士/硕士学位的新学制。也就是说,颁发新型学位的专业已经在很大程度上取代了颁发传统学位的专业。不过,在新型学士/硕士专业注册的学生人数目前仅占全部学生人数的42.9%。这表明,博洛尼亚进程虽然改变了德国传统的学制与学位结构,但在德国尚未实现其预定的目标。传统与新型学制和学位的并存是当前德国高等教育体制的一个突出特点。此外,当前改革中出现的一些问题也令德国对博洛尼亚改革的改革变得必要。     

Accountability, Assessment and Doctoral Education: recommendations for moving forward

This article opens with an overview of the pressures that have led to heightened calls for accountability in higher education, both in the US and Europe. Noting that doctoral programmes have, to date, drawn minimal attention in the accountability debates, the authors note that these programmes cannot stay forever on the sidelines. Drawing on their knowledge of the American context in particular, the authors go on to outline current efforts to assess the quality of doctoral programmes in the US with attention to how these efforts respond to accountability demands. They urge the higher education community to re-shape the accountability discussion, shifting its centre from government to higher education and the institutions training doctoral students who will become faculty. Crucially, they argue that graduate programmes should train doctoral students to undertake and use discipline-appropriate assessment measurement and scholarship as part of their future work as college and university instructors. If doctoral students emerge as faculty with an understanding of how to conduct assessments for the purpose of improving student learning, they will advance not only their fields, but higher education more generally.     

The Assurance of Academic Excellence among Non-traditional Universities

The author argues that so-called non-traditional universities, particularly those offering postgraduate course and degree programmes to mature students in mid-career, have come into existence to fulfill a growing demand for further training that is not being met by the traditional "bricks-and-mortar" institutions. Yet these institutions, if they are not accredited, are stigmatized as diploma mills. If they do manage to become accredited, they may have been forced to adopt characteristics of classical universities that detract from their non-traditional innova tions. The author thus sketches a set of standards that non-traditional higher education providers should uphold and proposes that the traditional and the non-traditional higher education institutions develop mutual tolerance and co-operation and that both encourage the traditional accreditors to broaden their perspectives.     

SELECTION FOR UNIVERSITY STUDIES AND ECONOMIC COMPETITIVITY

Citing statistics from a recent OECD report on education, the author offers some generalizations with regard to the ways in which increasing economic competition will influence the functioning and the course programmes of higher education. Operations will have to become increasingly efficient, and course programmes, increasingly targeted towards the fulfillment of economic goals. Enrollments will have to expand to respond to the demand for highly trained manpower, the technical, economics, and management fields being particularly important. Counselling will play an increasingly crucial role in assuring that students make the best choices and withstand the rigours of what will be a tougher university life. Although European universities and course programmes are converging, a certain variety and the retaining of distinct cultural traditions will also be a source of competitivity.     

The (bio)politics of engagement: shifts in Singapore's policy and public discourse on civics education

This article provides a historical overview of civic educational policy and political discourse in Singapore from 1959 to 2011, focusing on changes in the role attributed to students in the education process. A review of educational programmes and analysis of political speeches reveals that an earlier transmissionist approach that focused on value inculcation and factual knowledge has been supplemented recently by policy and discourse emphasizing student engagement. The authors link their analysis to larger political changes that have been taking place in Singapore. They argue that the push for more participatory forms of civics education parallels an ongoing shift in the ruling party's political ideology from economic pragmatism to a communitarian ideology that emphasizes citizens' responsibility. From the point of view of political rationality, promoting active student engagement in civics education can be seen as governmental efforts to build a strong civil society through early socialization into civic responsibility and voluntarism. Viewed as a technology of power, engagement is also seen as a new biopolitical intervention aimed at regulating political participation.     

由改良到革新:从实用主义到大职业教育主义--1913～1926年黄炎培职业教育思想简析

1913年，黄炎培提出实用主义教育学说，对小学普通教育进行改良，使其能切近学生生活实际。1917年，针对当时学生学非所用、用非所学、毕业即失业的现象，黄炎培倡导职亚教育，希望通过革新普通教育，使学生在校得到一技之长，毕业后能在社会上谋生。其时，由于中国民族资本主义工商业的衰落，对职业教育的需求渐少，职业教育办学陷入困境。黄炎培于1926年提出大职业教育主义，认为应对普通教育进行彻底革新，只有加强与社会经济的联系与沟通。了解社会、经济的需求，与社会、经济的发展保持良性互动，职业教育才可能得到顺利发展。     

Global,Social, and Economic Influences on the Access Policies of South African Higher Education

The access policies of South African universities are influenced by sets of global, social, and economic factors. Although the second and third sets are predominantly local (South African), they are influenced by the first factor that gives rises to a fourth imperative, the economic factor. The latter, which is of increasing importance and is affected by the fact that students can ''vote'' for higher education institutions and programmes with their feet, is tricky. For if institutions sacrifice their core values to market imperatives, they will lose much of their utility as education institutions.     

University Admissions: Empowering the Applicant

There are three sets of 'primary stakeholders' in the university entrance process: academics, school teachers and applicant students. This process is currently subject to intense media interest, scrutiny by parliament and new Government policies calculated to influence the social composition of higher education. One instrument of potential student empowerment is currently missing from this process: Post Qualification Application (PQA). At present, 'conditional offers' of places are made by universities before examination results are known, with school teachers estimating grades in advance. Students have to make choices about the university to which they aspire before they know their grades. A different set of arrangements, under which applications would only be made after grades are known, might give students greater confidence to make appropriate choices. PQA has been supported by UCAS, the body which facilitates admissions, and by four enquiries over the past nine years, including a parliamentary select committee and a study of the organisation of the school year. If PQA became feasible, it could help alter the power exchange in the higher education 'market' in favour of the student and complement current government higher education priorities for recruiting more students and removing historic distortions in the social composition of universities.     

经济学视角下“过度教育”的多因素分析

在高等教育大众化的进程中,随着高等教育规模的迅速扩张,人才的供给与需求出现失衡,研究生也出现了就业困难、高知低就、薪资水平下降等过度教育现象。本文从经济学理论和实际相关因素入手,分析了影响教育过度的因素有市场、用人单位、社会经济发展阶段、高等教育的结构、传统社会文化心理的影响等。     

Crossing the ‘bridges’ and navigating the ‘learning gaps’: Chinese students learning across two systems in a transnational higher education programme

ABSTRACT

Chinese universities are actively pursuing cross-border collaborations in the form of transnational higher education programmes. Our study captures the experiences of Chinese students to illuminate how they navigate their learning journeys in a China-Australia articulation programme. To communicate the complexity of learning in modern transnational higher education programmes, we employed activity theory as the theoretical framework to explore cross-cultural contradictions shaping students’ experiences of learning. Assessment, programme rules, teaching strategies, and class and campus settings created contradictions that students had to negotiate as in-between learning spaces. We argue that cross-system contradictions play important roles in transnational higher education programmes. Therefore, instead of seeking to eliminate these contradictions or smooth cross-educational differences, these contradictions should be leveraged as learning opportunities to enrich transnational higher education programmes.