When the “Other” Is the Teacher: Implications of Teacher Diversity in Higher Education

The Urban Review - Using qualitative methods, I explore these questions: What is it like for women of color to teach in predominantly white universities? What happens in the classroom of a...     

On General Education in Higher Education Institutions of China Mainland

This thesis points out the main problems consisting in general education in higher education institutions （HEIs） of China mainland. General education need to be further improved and so does the quality of general education curriculum. The faculty construction should be more reasonable; the teaching administration models and the evaluation system should also be perfected. This thesis is also aimed to put forward the countermeasures： to pay more attention to general education, improve the quality of the general education curriculum with every effort, develop the faculty urgently, ameliorate the teaching administration models and establish the scientific and proper evaluation system of general education curriculum, and so on.     

“La Migra” in the Classroom: Transfronterizx Students Exploring Mobility in Transnational Higher Education on the US-Mexico Border

Based on an ethnographic study of a pre-engineering freshman course at a large university on the US-Mexico border, I explore how 4 Latinx undergraduate students, 2 of whom crossed the border on a daily basis to pursue higher education (HE), built a Lego robot that they named La Migra (a colloquial term for US Border Patrol). In particular, I demonstrate that the students drew from local authorized border crossing activities to design the robot to accelerate cross border mobility. In using the new mobilities paradigm (Sheller &; Urry, 2006 Sheller, M., &; Urry, J. (2006). The new mobilities paradigm. Environment and Planning A, 38(2), 207–226. doi:10.1068/a37268[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Urry, 2007 Urry, J. (2007). Mobilities. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]) and borderwork (Rumford, 2008 Rumford, C. (2008). Citizens and borderwork in Europe. Space and Polity, 12(1), 1–12. doi:10.1080/13562570801969333[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), I also show that the design of the La Migra robot, rather than a public good, was actually symbolic of the uneven distribution of mobility. In total, findings contribute a particularistic account of the understudied significance of physical border crossing to mobility in the context of transnational HE.     

Unravelling Quality in Higher Education: What Say the Students?

Abstract

The extant literature on quality assurance in higher education points to a dearth of empirical studies on students’ conceptions of quality in higher education. This interpretivist article reports on a study that explored the conceptions of quality in higher education by final year undergraduate students in six academic disciplines at Makerere University, Uganda. Data for the article was collected from 50 final year students in eight discipline-specific focus group discussions and was analysed using thematic analysis. Four conceptions of quality in higher education were evident from the participants’ responses, namely: quality as transformation (value-added); quality as fitness for purpose; quality as excellence; and quality as consistency/ perfection (zero-errors). Nevertheless, transformation and fitness for purpose featured as the dominant conceptions of quality in higher education and these conceptions of quality did not take place in a vacuum. The students rationalised transformation and fitness for purpose by what they perceived the purpose of higher education to be. The multiple and yet competing purposes of higher education occasioned the two definitions of quality in higher education. Therefore, consensus on the meaning of quality can be hastened by arriving at a common purpose of higher education in a given society rather than engaging with the notions of quality themselves. This thinking presupposes the idea that the purpose of higher education varies across time and space and the definition of quality in higher education should be responsive to the prevailing purpose(s) of higher education in a given society.     

Who Benefits from the Massification of Higher Education in Taiwan?

The objectives of expanding higher education are to foster advanced personnel and realize the concept of achieving equal access to education. The problems created by the expansion of higher education in many countries, including Taiwan, in fact indicate a divergence from originally anticipated objectives. Such problems include the uneven allocation of resources, tuition differences between public and private schools, and vicious competition in the face of declining student enrollments, all of which contribute to concerns about educational quality issues. Of additional interest is whether Taiwan's focus on university enrollments of disadvantaged ethnic groups has created a trend toward greater educational opportunities for its aboriginal people. Nevertheless, the distribution of resources is increasingly concentrated on elites from high socioeconomic backgrounds and in a few public universities. All of these factors have facilitated an increasing class reproduction in higher education. The original elites continue to enjoy a wealth of resources. Yet while more and more students gain access to higher education, their institutional teaching quality and learning environment still fall behind that of the elites.     

Analysis of Private Higher Education in China

Considering the nature of education, the author holds that the fundamental function of education is to serve the customers, with relation to the internationalization of higher education in China. This paper illustrates the inevitability of development and the relative differences, by the discussion of benefit or non-benefit orientation of China＇s private higher education. It points out the direction of its development and the conjuncture of survival with the conclusion that the best option is development, provided the maintenance of our education sovereignty.     

Identifying the Role of the International Consortium “MIT/ LINC” in Supporting the Integration of ICT in Higher Education in Emerging Countries

The goal of this research effort is to provide insights on what core needs and difficulties exist toward the implementation of ICT in higher education in emerging countries and how a consortium like LINC can best support these efforts. An exploratory research design combining a survey, on-site interviews, participant observation and document analysis were employed to answer the research questions. Main challenges in establishing technology- based learning environments were identified in the area of pedagogies, finances, technological infrastructure, cultural change, organization, and management. LINC, as an non-political organization embedded in an academic environment, can take an important role in facilitating the dialogue among participants through various platforms, take an active role in promoting joint programs and assist with efforts to “localize” tools and practice.

Access to Gender‐Sensitive Higher Education in Eastern and Central Europe: Reflections from the CEPES Project on “Good Practice in Promoting Gender Equality in Higher Education”;

Summarizing the incomplete results of the UNESCO Programme on “Good Practice in Promoting Gender Equality in Higher Education”;, the author asks that any assessment of the progress made in the area of gender‐sensitive education take regional specificities into account. The regional environment is at best neutral and usually hostile to feminism in subtle ways. In spite of the lack of tradition and experience in gender‐sensitive social institutions, valuable things have been happening in the region. Placed within their socio‐economic and political contexts (and not necessarily judged according to western standards) individuals, programmes, and institutions are pioneering in the field. Access to the benefits of an education incorporating a coherent gender dimension is, for the time being, limited. Some reasons for this situation are outlined in this article.     

Examining the Meaning of Vague Quantifiers in Higher Education: How Often is “Often”?

Research in Higher Education - Researchers, assessment professionals, and faculty in higher education increasingly depend on survey data from students to make pivotal curricular and programmatic...     

Transforming the “Third Mission” in Norwegian Higher Education Institutions: A Boundary Object Theory Approach

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in Norway have been subjected to several reforms in recent decades. There are transformed relationships between institutions and their environment, and higher educations’ third mission is emphasized. To improve our understanding of HEIs’ third mission, this paper employs boundary object theory, enabling us to see how shifting projects are shaped and negotiated within these institutions. The paper concludes with a discussion of five main projects that are evident in third-mission presentations: the entrepreneurial project, the local and regional involvement project, the mode 2 project, the popular-science project, and the reputation project.     

Arctic Space,Lonely Place: “Mammy Moments” in Higher Education

Many ideologies and cultural practices influence the way we think about Black women. Specifically, the Mammy trope permeates the walls of higher education in ways that leave Black female professors feeling disrespected, not acknowledged, and questioning their own intellectual ability. The ways in which students, faculty, and staff interact with Black female faculty members is termed accordingly as “Mammy moments.” “Mammy moments” are the overt and covert behaviors, attitudes, preconceived notions, and stereotypes that are held on, over, and against Black female professors. Historically, the Mammy trope is depicted as unintelligent, invisible, and self-sacrificing. The author argues that these same depictions are apparent in higher education. Black female professors are presented and represented as lacking the skills, knowledge, and capabilities to be a critically component and credible college professor.     

Are Students Customers in Finnish Higher Education?

This study examines Finnish higher education students’ perceptions of whether students are customers, based on qualitative interview data. The article contributes to the discussion on students as customers by giving attention to students’ own voices from a country where tuition fees are not generally collected. The data are presented and analysed using a matrix of preference and perception of seeing students as customers. While the data contained student voices insisting that it is not appropriate to talk about customers because money is not involved, different orientations showing either a preference or perception of students as customers were also described. It is concluded that seeing a student as a customer might be a solution to various higher education challenges which are not all related to tuition fees.     

Towards the re‐articulation of the work of teacher educators in Higher Education institutions in England

In recent years, teacher educators in the Netherlands and the USA have developed professional standards for their occupational groups. These standards have been used to identify the professional expertise of teacher educators, to analyse their professional development needs, and to provide assessment mechanisms for accreditation. This article begins by outlining the impact of changes in pre‐service work on teacher educators' work in England and arguing that a re‐articulation of the work of this occupational group is needed. It then analyses the Dutch and American initiatives, and, drawing on discussions at the Association for Teacher Educators in Europe conference in 2005, debates the potential and relevance of drawing on these models for developing a similar framework with teacher educators in England. The article concludes that, whilst developing rigidly defined standards would be inappropriate, considering the intra‐professional development of a broad professional framework would facilitate the identification and understanding of teacher educators' complex work, and provide a springboard for providing enhanced induction and professional development opportunities.

Ces dernières années, les formateurs d'enseignants aux Pays‐Bas et aux Etats‐Unis ont mis au point des critères de compétence pour leur corps professionnel. Ces critères ont été utilisés pour identifier l'expertise professionnelle des formateurs d'enseignants, analyser leurs besoins en matière de développement professionnel, et permettre d'établir des mécanismes d'évaluation de leurs compétences afin de les accréditer. Cet article débute par une analyse des initiatives hollandaise et américaine. S'inspirant des discussions qui ont eu lieu à la conférence de l'ATEE de 2005, il se poursuit par un débat sur le potentiel et la pertinence d' élaborer à partir de ces deux modèles une structure semblable pour les formateurs d'enseignants d' Angleterre. L'article conclut que, tout en reconnaissant qu'il serait inapproprié d'établir des critères rigidement définis, l'existence d'une structure générale de critères professionnels permettrait de mieux identifier et de mieux comprendre le travail complexe des formateurs d'enseignants, et fournirait une base pour un meilleur système d'intégration et de developpement professionnel.

In letzter Zeit haben Lehrerausbilder in Holland und der Vereinigte Staaten berufliche Normen für ihre Berufsgruppe entwickelt. Diese Normen sind um die Fachkenntniss der Lehrerausbilder zu feststellen, die Bedarfe ihre berufliche Weiterbildung zu analysieren und um die Beurteilungsmethode der Zulassung zu versehen benutzt worden. Dieser Artikel fängt mit einer Untersuchung den holländischen und amerikanischen Iniativen an. Sie zieht an Gespräche der Association for Teacher Educators in Europe Konferenz 2005 heran, und berät das Potenzial und die Bedeutung die Benutzung der zwei Ausfuhrung um ein ähnliches System mit Lehrerausbildern in England zu entwickeln. Die Artikel kommt zum Schluss dass, obwohl klar abgegrenzt Normen zu entwickeln wäre ungeeignet, der Betracht der Entwicklung eines breiten beruflichen System würde die Erkennung und das Verstandnis der kompliziert Arbeit des Lehrerausbilder ermöglichen und ein Sprungbett für die Besorgung eine erweiterte Einleitung und berufliche Weiterbildung Möglichkeiten anbieten.

En los últimos años, los formadores de profesores de Holanda y EE.UU han creado normas profesionales para sus grupos ocupacionales. Esas normas se utilizan para identificar la cualificación profesional de los formadores de profesores, así como para analizar sus necesidades de desarrollo profesional, y proporcionar mecanismos de evaluación para la acreditación. Este artículo comienza analizando las iniciativas holandesa y estadounidense. Tomando como punto de partida los debates que tuvieron lugar en la Conferencia de la Asociación para la Formación del Profesorado en Europa (ATEE, por su sigla en inglés), celebrada en 2005, el artículo discute las posibilidades y la importancia de usar esos modelos con vistas a crear un marco similar para los formadores de profesores en Inglaterra. El artículo concluye que, mientras la creación de normas definidas rígidamente sería inadecuada, la creación de un amplio marco profesional facilitaría la identificación y la comprensión del complejo trabajo que realizan los formadores de profesores, además de servir de trampolín para proporcionar integración y oportunidades de desarrollo profesional.     

Social Implications of the Opportunities for Romanian Higher Education in the New World Order∗

An overview is given of the course of development and the social role of higher education in Romania since the revolution of December 1989. The pros and cons of private higher education institutions are presented with the added note that the existence of these institutions saves money for the Romanian state and subsidizes the salaries of professors teaching in the state institutions. Suggestions are made as to how to improve the teaching/learning environment both for students and for teachers, and a plea is made that higher education in Romania, both public and private, avoid becoming overly market‐oriented. Rather, higher education should contribute to the remaking of civil society.

     

Examining Competition in Ontario’s Higher Education Market

Financial challenges have forced many publicly funded academic institutions in Ontario to adopt a corporate model and to use market tools to compete in the higher education market and maintain their enrolment and revenue levels. This study has analyzed how competition affects publicly funded universities in Ontario. Competition was examined by relating universities’ expenditures on price and non-price competitive variables (awards, marketing, graduates, and professors), as well as population to the total number of applicants, total number of enrollees, and capacity filling ratio over the period of 2006–2013. The study used quantitative research design and panel data regression method to draw conclusions. This study provides empirical evidence on how the effect of the adopted competitive variables varies for each university.