Art for a few: exclusions and misrecognitions in higher education admissions practices

In this article, we examine the policy and practice of admissions to art and design courses in the context of the UK widening participation (WP) agenda. We draw on our qualitative study of admissions practices funded by the National Arts Learning Network (NALN). To provide context and background, we outline and critique WP policy discourses, focusing on issues of admissions and access, followed by an analysis of our research data, drawing on the conceptual tools of subjectivity and misrecognition. In using this analytical approach, we attempt to expose the subtle and insidious workings of inequality and exclusion in processes of selection. We argue that admissions policy problematically conflates notions of ‘fairness’ and ‘transparency’ and fails to address complex socio-cultural inequalities in processes of recognition of the potential student-subject of art and design. We show how a focus on individual practices rather than on policy discourses and processes of subjective construction helps to hide the ways that ‘potential’ is constructed in ways that privilege and recognize particular student subjectivities, whilst excluding Others.     

Science for employment and higher education

The results of a survey of the views of employers and tutors in higher education on the scientific curriculum for 16‐ to 19‐year‐olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is reported. The results show that a limited range of scientific ideas are seen as essential by representatives of all areas. Both employers and tutors in higher education believe that developing a student's capability in a wide range of generic skills (including mathematics skills) should be an aim of courses leading to advanced science qualifications. Higher education tutors tend to require higher levels of thinking in the use of the ideas than do employers. The implications of taking note of employmnent and higher education needs for secondary science education are discussed.     

Quality assurance and women in higher education

This paper examines a range of positive and negative consequences for women of Quality Assurance (QA) initiatives in one Australian university. Drawing on Foucaults concepts of governmentality and power/knowledge, it is argued that the popular repressive hypothesis of power via governmentality hides a positive and potentially productive dimension of power. Following recent work by feminist political theorists, my claim here is that a corporatist managerial discourse such as QA can be used strategically for a politics of transformation in the interests of women. The paper begins with an outline of the parameters of debate about and critiques of the QA agenda in the Australian higher education sector, and highlights some potentially negative consequences for women in terms of their structural location in the university. An overview of QA audit processes then leads into a closer examination of one universitys response to QA initiatives. The culture and management style of this regional university was significantly transformed from an informal and pastoral model to one with open systems of accountability and performance targets built around equity issues. In that regard, it is argued, equity target groups including women, became the visible focus of the development and implementation of new systems designed to bring equity into the mainstream. In closing, I argue that in this particular university, the new managerialism of QA was indeed a panoptic mechanism of making visible: productivity, equity groups, procedures and outcomes. But in an institutional context where open systems were lacking and womens contributions invisible and undervalued, the QA agenda brought new opportunities not only for women but for other groups previously marginalised and silenced.     

Distance higher education for women in Saudi Arabia: Present and proposed

This paper describes the recent history of distance higher education in Saudi Arabia with particular reference to the education of women. It compares the contribution to external study for women of the General Presidency of Girls' Education (GPGE) with the introduction of intisab (a system which allows individuals to pursue higher education without attending lectures) in three universities founded for men. It records the growing numbers of women wishing to enter higher education and the withdrawal of intisab from two universities in Riyadh. It identifies the limitations placed on women's higher education as compared with men's and notes the generally conservative attitudes to the role of women found in Saudi Arabia. It oudines discussions over the last 15 years, concerning an Arab open university, which have yet to result in action. Finally, it reports a recent survey which reveals strong support for an open university for women in Saudi Arabia. Such an institution would gready increase access for women to higher education while, at the same time, be compatible with Islamic custom concerning the segregation of the sexes and a woman's primary role as wife and mother.     

Girls in science and technology in secondary and post-secondary education: the case of France

Based on surveys undertaken by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) and by the Direction de l'évaluation de la prospective et de la performance (Directorate of Evaluation, Forecasting and Performance), this article examines the evolution of female student enrollment in scientific streams in secondary and post-secondary education in France over a period of approximately 20 years, from 1985 to 2008. The aim is to study the changes and constants in girls’ choices in science and technology education. The results show that girls’ choices to study science and technology have undergone clear changes during this period. These changes have been positive at the secondary level, but rather more ambiguous at the post-secondary level. Both an appraisal of positive developments and the persistently low representation of women in scientific fields will be offered.     

高等教育利益相关者理论研究的几个问题

利益相关者理论引入高等教育领域以来,学术界已经有了不少关于高等教育利益相关者的研究成果,它正在成为高等教育的重要研究视角和分析框架.笔者从大学利益相关者的概念界定、分类、应用等几方面做一疏理,并提出进一步研究的意见,以更好地推动高等教育利益相关者理论的发展.     

高职、中职教育异同辨

高职、中职教育同为职业技术教育,二者在办学层次、人才培养规格、课程内容和毕业胜任的岗位等方向迥然有别,应各自办出特色、健康发展。     

Voluntary turnover and women administrators in higher education

A salient characteristic about the U.S. workforce is the continual process of voluntary employee turnover, which can be problematic for employers who invest a substantial amount of time and money in recruiting and training employees. This paper discusses the effects of workplace policies and practices on the voluntary turnover of women administrators in higher education. According to the results from in-depth interviews with ex-administrators of one Ivy League university, the top three reasons were conflict with supervisor, inadequate advancement opportunities, and incompatible work schedule. The results from this study revealed several interesting findings which add to our understanding of the staff turnover process for midlevel administrators in institutions of higher education. The findings could offer important insight into implementing cost-effective retention programs to help reduce unwanted turnover among women administrators in colleges and universities.     

Qualitative inequality: experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education

This article examines the lived experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education (HE) as a counterpoint to understandings of gender equity informed only by data on admission, progression and completions rates. Drawing on a critical qualitative inquiry approach, we analyse and interpret data drawn from focus group discussions with female students and academic women in two public universities in Ethiopia. Individual accounts and shared experiences of women in HE revealed that despite affirmative action policies that slightly benefit females at entry point, gender inequality persists in qualitative forms. Prejudice against women and sexual violence are highlighted as key expressions of qualitative gender inequalities in the two universities. It is argued that HE institutions in Ethiopia are male-dominated, hierarchical and hostile to women. Furthermore, taken-for-granted gender assumptions and beliefs at institutional, social relational and individual levels operate to make women conform to structures of disadvantage and in effect sustain the repressive gender relations.     

Girls and basic education in Ghana: a cultural enquiry

This paper attempts to do three things: first to provide an argument for acknowledging and using the cultural dimension in educational development; second to put the case for a culturally more appropriate research methodology; and third to address the issue of access and gender in schooling within a cultural framework.Using predominantly life history interviews with women teachers and girls in and out of school, the research identifies three domains of enquiry: the home, economy and school, where problems and solutions of girls' access to schooling are to be found. It concludes with implications for policy makers at national and local level.     

Girls in Science and Technology: The development of a discourse

This article discusses the contribution of educational research to the emergence of a discourse on 'the problem of girls in science and technology' in the Netherlands. Research has not only produced findings and recommendations, but also conceptualisations of the problem. We argue that it has gradually become self-evident to think of the attitudes, achievement and choices of girls pertaining to science and technology as the problem of gender inequality in education. The results of many studies focusing on connections between teacher behaviour, the subject matter and school characteristics on the one hand and attitudes, achievement and choices of girls on the other, appear to be disappointing. We suggest that both the questions that were asked and the way they were investigated are responsible for the disappointing results. We propose that research on gender and education should not be limited to the investigation of statistical correlations between school characteristics and student outcomes, but should also study the mechanisms and processes that mediate between these factors. Insights from women's studies on the social construction of gender and on the development of gendered identities could be useful in addressing this issue.     

Creating space for learning: conceptualizing women and higher education through space and time

This paper highlights the strengths of giving visibility to the concepts of space and time in research related to women's lives and higher education. It is based on research that explores the everyday practice and experience of women higher education students at a community college in the north of England. It focuses on the ways in which space and time to study are both socially and personally constructed. The concepts of space and time are drawn on to theorize and analyze women students' experiences and to draw attention to the ‘behind scenes of power and control’ shaping action (Layder, 1993 Layder D 1993 New strategies in social research (Cambridge, Polity)  [Google Scholar], p. 249). Women students from a range of backgrounds are considered, including younger/older, mother/non‐mother and differential class and geographical heritage. The paper highlights three issues. Firstly, the increasingly restricted ground available for academic studies in women's lives, resulting from the restructuring of paid work, social welfare and higher education. Secondly, the hierarchy of values and ambiguous meanings attached to higher education when women attempt to study. Thirdly, the intense negotiations undertaken by women students in order to construct space and time for academic work.     

Muslim women in higher education: new sites of lifelong learning

How does a traditional research-led university embrace the implications of lifelong learning and widening participation? If it lowers its entry requirements or offers a more flexible approach to adult learning, can it continue to strive for and attain academic excellence? Using a project designed to increase participation by an under-represented group, this paper explores the institutional issues involved in developing lifelong learning strategies in partnership with local colleges and community organizations. Lifelong learning is not cheap to deliver, as non-traditional students may need additional learning support. Off-campus delivery can decimate an orderly campus-based timetable, extra exam boards had to be set up; extra books and learning resources have to be duplicated across different sites. However, the institutional benefits include greater flexibility in university procedures, and a source of enthusiastic mature learners from an under-represented group.