Path analysis of a theoretical model of persistence in higher education among low-income black youth

Path analysis is used to examine the process of persistence in higher education among a sample of 403 low-income black youth attending a variety of institutions throughout the United States. The model explores the role of college experiences — academic and social integration and academic achievement. Although social integration was misspecified, the model expiains 32% of persistence variance when academic integration is specified prior to academic achievement. The direct effect of college grades is strongest, accounting for half of the explained variance. Academic integration is actually more important than previously believed, exerting an indirect influence through grades. Since college experiences are more important than background characteristics, persistence among low-income minority youth could be improved by program interventions.     

E-learning in engineering education: a theoretical and empirical study of the Algerian higher education institution

Technology-mediated education or e-learning is growing globally both in scale and delivery capacity due to the large diffusion of the ubiquitous information and communication technologies (ICT) in general and the web technologies in particular. This statement has not yet been fully supported by research, especially in developing countries such as Algeria. The purpose of this paper was to identify directions for addressing the needs of academics in higher education institutions in Algeria in order to adopt the e-learning approach as a strategy to improve quality of education. The paper will report results of an empirical study that measures the readiness of the Algerian higher education institutions towards the implementation of ICT in the educational process and the attitudes of faculty members towards the application of the e-learning approach in engineering education. Three main objectives were targeted, namely: (a) to provide an initial evaluation of faculty members’ attitudes and perceptions towards web-based education; (b) reporting on their perceived requirements for implementing e-learning in university courses; (c) providing an initial input for a collaborative process of developing an institutional strategy for e-learning.

Statistical analysis of the survey results indicates that the Algerian higher education institution, which adopted the Licence – Master and Doctorate educational system, is facing a big challenge to take advantage of emerging technological innovations and the advent of e-learning to further develop its teaching programmes and to enhance the quality of education in engineering fields. The successful implementation of this modern approach is shown to depend largely on a set of critical success factors that would include:

1. The extent to which the institution will adopt a formal and official e-learning strategy.

2. The extent to which faculty members will adhere and adopt this strategy and develop ownership of the various measures in the context of their teaching and research responsibilities.

3. The extent to which the university will offer adequate support in terms of training, software platform administration, online resource development and impact monitoring and assessment.

     

The politics of mergers in higher education in South Africa

How do political forces come together to influence merger forms and outcomes? This question is posed in a context of an analysis of the forms and outcomes of three “case studies” of mergers that took place in South Africa in the past decade. The theoretical stance, borne out by the data under review, places political actors at the centre of the explanation for change and continuity in the merger of institutions. While there are clearly broad lessons that could apply in other national contexts, the paper recognises that the fact that most published studies on mergers originate in established economies like those of Norway, Australia, England, the USA. The paper poses the question, therefore: do mergers follow different processes and deliver different outcomes in the social, economic and political contexts of third world institutions?     

大众化理论视野下澳门高等教育发展的研究

澳门回归十年,高等教育有了很大的发展。如何统计毛入学率是认清其发展阶段的关键,据经过修正以后的毛入学率估算,澳门高等教育已经迈入普及化阶段。澳门的环境影响、借力发展和求实务用、灵活的修读方式、量与质发展的非均衡性等是澳门高等教育由大众化向普及化进程中呈现的特点。在大众化理论的视野下,须对澳门高等教育的布局、理念、经费以及质量作进一步的思考。     

政治经济现实与高校素质教育

不同时期的经济与政治环境下的教育包含不同的教育内容,基于此,本文讨论了高校素质教育与德智体全面发展的内在关系与内涵区别,提出素质教育应体现现实政治经济的要求的观点。     

Building local research capacity in higher education: a conceptual model

Building local research capacity is an enduring challenge that confronts many higher education systems particularly when aspirations for a knowledge economy dominate policymaking. While research capacity has received tremendous attention among international development agencies and scholars, the discourse is largely oriented towards infrastructure, skills training and best practices. This study interrogates the concept of local research capacity building as a dynamic process. By contrasting the policy rhetoric with the lived experiences of academics based in Kazakhstan, we propose a conceptual model to illustrate the diverse levels of research capacity building: resources, locality, relevance, human capital and culture. This study examines research capacity building in the context of the internationalisation of higher education as researchers become increasingly mobile. We argue that investing in infrastructure and human capital are insufficient for capacity building. Rather, sustainable capacity building requires research that is relevant to the local context and a cultural environment that can nurture a vibrant research community.     

Developing curriculum evaluation research in higher education: Process, politics and practicalities

Demands for greater accountability, globalcompetition, and concern about standards have allcontributed to the increasing interest in evaluationin universities in the UK. At the same time, bothpedagogic research and teacher development in highereducation are gaining prominence.This paper describes the initial development of aprogramme of systematic curriculum evaluation researchwithin a `new' university. The focus of the research is a newundergraduate curriculum which emphasises graduateoutcomes and incorporates the development of core`capabilities' within the subject context. Our taskhas been to develop a longitudinal programme ofresearch that will combine both a summative evaluationof educational outcomes with formative evaluation oflearning processes to inform continued curriculumdevelopment.Questions of performance indicators, measurement, andeducational outcomes all come under scrutiny in acontext of multiple purposes and stakeholders, themicropolitics of the university and wider debatesabout the purpose and effectiveness of undergraduateeducation. This paper explores these issues and theirimplications for the development of a curriculumevaluation strategy, describing the initial stages ofthe multi-level longitudinal design that is emerging.     

高等教育理论创新的思考

无论是高等教育发展还是高等教育学科发展,都需要高等教育理论有新的突破和创新。因此,高等教育理论创新,不仅有重大的现实意义,也具有十分重要的学科意义。高等教育理论创新有两种趋势:一是通过高等教育学科知识的不断分化,建立高等教育分支学科体系,从而实现高等教育理论创新;二是引入不同学科的理论和方法解决高等教育问题,并从中实现高等教育的理论创新。对于上述两种情况,都采用举例的方式作了详细的说明。     

When professors confront themselves: Towards a theoretical conceptualization of video self-confrontation in higher education

The use of video self-confrontation (VSC) Throughout the paper, the abbreviation VSC will be used for video self-confrontation. as a method to reinforce desired behaviors or induce changes in human behavior, has been increasing in recent years. The major reviewers of the literature on VSC in the last three decades point out that there is relatively little qualitative and quantitative research which explores the underlying processes of VSC and its theoretical conceptualization. Moreover, there is still a need to prove many of the claims advanced by practitioners about the effectiveness of VSC. This article reviews two of the theoretical conceptualizations and tentative explanations of the VSC process. The first is based on affect, such as self-confrontation, dissonance, anxiety, stress, distress and eustress. The second explanation is based on a cognitive and information-processing approach and includes: feedback, self-concept, self-efficacy and attribution theories. The article describes an emerging integrated conceptualization which may provide better insight into the process which should be the focus of further studies. The main purpose of VSC in higher education is to improve teaching-learning processes. Faculty's commitment to this purpose is determined by many factors, such as: their perception and attitudes towards the research/teaching dichotomy and the university's reward system; their motivation and concepts of self-efficacy and self-fulfillment; and their attribution mechanisms of success or failure in teaching. All these factors greatly influence their readiness to be motivated in VSC processes and the effectiveness of their VSC uses. VSC is a powerful technique which has a great potential in facilitating behavioral changes. It can cause harm or be wasted if not used properly. Suggestions for optimal uses are presented.     

The politics of innovation in French higher education: The university institutes of technology

The creation of the French university institutes of technology (IUTs) in 1966 is characteristic of attempts by a number of industrialized nations to establish institutions of higher education better adapted than the traditional university to new cohorts of post-secondary students. The IUTs provide intensive short-cycle programs to train middle-level personnel in technical and administrative fields. Although the courses are designed as terminal, over one-third of IUT graduates go on to higher education, including a disproportionate number of students from lower social strata. Their staff are drawn from the universities, technical secondary education and the professions. Administratively, the IUTs occupy an uneasy position partly connected with the universities and partly under direct ministerial authority; there is substantial involvement on the part of representatives of employers and trade unions as well. Despite this ambivalence of function and status, the IUTs are now well established as a modestly successful innovation. They represent a major aspect of the attempt by French policy-makers to introduce more effective methods of instruction and evaluation into the universities and to render them more responsive to the needs of the society and the economy.The first draft of this paper was originally presented at the 1974 Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., November 7–9, 1974. A similar version appears in: Ladislav Cerych, ed., Between School and Work. Paris: European Cultural Foundation, The Institute of Education, 1975.     

追溯传统文化教育之理论模式实现母语高等教育之中国梦想

面对日益严峻的大学语文在高等教育中边缘化的尴尬境遇,研究者们不得不给语文冠以母语这一具有崇高意义的词语来强调其重要性,本文正是在此命题启发之下,追述传统伦理性教育理念,探寻中华审美文化理想,从古代教育文化典籍中探索语文高等教育之价值,获得启迪,并希望在母语高等教育的光环下,能够引发更多的关注与研究,促进语文课程高等教育事业的健康发展。     

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.     

Towards a general model of quality assessment in higher education

In this article a number of elements of a general model of quality assessment in higher education are presented. On the one hand these elements are put in a historical context of quality assessment in Medieval universities and, on the other hand, deduced from the recent experiences with quality assessment in both North-American and Western European countries. With respect to the historical context a distinction is made between the intrinsic and the extrinsic values of higher education. Two types of quality assessment related to these values are also distinguished. Concerning the recent experiences with quality assessment systems, the practices in the U.S.A., Canada, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are explored. In the final section the general mode of quality assessment is discussed in the context of the distinction between the intrinsic and the extrinsic values of higher education.     

通过成本回收扩展高等教育:社会效率角度的理论研究

对许多发展中国家而言 ,政府在扩展高等教育时常常面临很大的财政困难。结果 ,高等教育的入学机会常常规限于较低的水平 ,许多愿意承担一定成本的个体则被排斥在高等学校之外。本文应用局部均衡分析模型证明了成本回收是调动私人资源扩展高等教育进而缓解这种状况的有效方法     

Collective academic supervision: a model for participation and learning in higher education

Supervision of graduate students is a core activity in higher education. Previous research on graduate supervision focuses on individual and relational aspects of the supervisory relationship rather than collective, pedagogical and methodological aspects of the supervision process. In presenting a collective model we have developed for academic supervision of Danish master students, we seek to fill these gaps. The underlying pedagogical rationale for the model is that students’ participation and learning are interconnected. The model provides possibilities for incorporating a progressive and systematic interaction between master students in their individual writing processes. In the article, we investigate the potentials and challenges of the model and draw on analyses of six individual interviews with master students and one focus group interview with five supervisors. Our findings show that students learn core academic competencies in collective academic supervision (CAS), such as the ability to assess theoretical and practical problems in their practice and present them to peers. The analysis reveals that interaction between divergent projects and voices in CAS can be highly productive in academic learning. However, the model also challenges both students and supervisors because both parties are used to a one-to-one supervisory relationship and not prepared for different modes of participation and learning. According to both supervisors and students, the majority of supervisors need better training in the facilitation of collective supervision processes.     

Ambivalence and the politics of knowledge: The struggle for change in German higher education

This article argues (a) that universities are profoundly ambivalent institutions; (b) that this ambivalence explains a great deal about their behavior that would otherwise remain inexplicable; (c) that one of the most striking manifestations of this ambivalence can be found in universities’ attitudes towards change; and (d) that this ambivalence has its roots in a fundamental tension in modern society about the university’s purposes. There is good reason to believe that this set of observations holds true for universities everywhere, albeit to different degrees and in different ways. As a case in point, this article focuses on the process of change (and non-change) in German higher education over the past ten years.     

Addressing the wicked problem of quality in higher education: theoretical approaches and implications

This article explores the wicked problem of quality in higher education, arguing for a more robust theorising of the subject at national, institutional and local department level. The focus of the discussion rests on principles for theorising in more rigorous ways about the multidimensional issue of quality. Quality in higher education is proposed as a wicked, ill-defined problem that is under-theorised yet associated with high stakes policy-making and funding, particularly at the macro national level. Theoretical frameworks informing the quality debate in higher education are explored before proposing four sensitising concepts as potential vehicles for enhancing theory-building around quality in higher education. The article concludes by considering practical implications for governments, universities and departments grappling with the complex suite of problems associated with defining, theorising, measuring and demonstrating quality in higher education.     

论高等教育产业属性的理论基础与特征

高等教育的产业属性是教育与社会关系演变的结果。本文从大学理念、教育的基本规律和经济学三个方面分析了高等教育产业属性得以存在的理论基础;生产性和市场性是高等教育产业的基本特征。