Examining organizational climate in institutions of higher education

Two major questions related to organizational climate have existed in the organizational theory literature for the past twenty years. First, at what level of analysis should the construct of climate be operationalized (i.e., does climate have greater relevance at an organizationwide or subunit level?). Second, in what specific ways do organizations with positive climates differ from those with comparatively more negative climates. This study examines organizational climate in nine four-year public colleges and utilizes data from 2,937 respondents. The most significant findings are: (1) Climate does have relevance at the organizational level in that it distinguishes carnpuses from one another, but subunits, particularly academic departments, account for the largest proportion of variance; (2) administrators have significantly and consistently more positive perceptions of organizational climate than do faculty; (3) faculty at campuses with comparatively more positive climates report greater goal clarity and performance standards.     

卡内基高等教育机构分类法透视

建设研究型大学已经成为中国政府和社会关注的问题，可是，中国目前尚未有关于中国研究型大学的分类方法，本文对美国研究型大学的卡内基分类进行评述，以此为中国研究型大学的研究提供借鉴。     

德国高校层次结构分析

德国院校的结构"纵向分三层,横向分若干类",近年却呈现"四圈层"的特点。德国高校在层次结构、高校设置、成人教育、科研与教学等四个方面所具有的特点,在稳定高等教育系统、规范高校设置、就业制度与高校层次、全日制教育与业余教育关系和高校层次划分等方面的做法,都有可供中国借鉴之处。     

论高等学校定位

高等学校定位 ,包括高等学校在整个社会大系统中的定位 ,一所学校在整个高等教育系统中的定位 ,学校内部各要素在学校发展中的定位三个层面。当前应重点研究的是高等学校在高等教育系统中的定位 ,其实质是高等教育系统的分层。在对高等学校进行定位时 ,应综合考虑社会发展的需求、相关学校的状况以及自身具备的优势等各方面的因素 ,展其所长 ,要有大视野、大智慧和大手笔     

Examining the ethical environment in higher education

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the world have found themselves faced with new challenges on issues of ethics. Much of this has been centred on issues of assessment: plagiarism, buying essays, sharing/lending of previously passed work and the stealing of marked/returned work of others. Institutions still treat academic misconduct as largely a behavioural difficulty rather than an issue of ethics (or education), suggesting that academia places a far greater emphasis on combating new forms of dishonesty than it does on encouraging ethical habits and a healthy ethical environment. To date, the majority of research in this area has examined these forms of academic misconduct from the point of view of the student and/or the university, with the perspective of academics receiving very limited attention. Our hypothesis is that academics are perhaps best placed to provide the education needed to create and sustain an ethical environment, and we argue that being ‘ethically aware’ is a critical factor in the development of academic competence for all parties. This study adds to existing research in three ways: firstly, by highlighting the importance of an overall framework for an ethical environment within HEIs; secondly, by suggesting an ecological model of key parties (the university, students and academics) with responsibility for this environment in assessment; and thirdly, by including new evidence (generated by a survey of academics) to extend our understanding of their views on these issues.     

多学科高等教育研究的制度保障探析

多学科研究方法是高等教育研究的重要方法,已在我国高等教育研究界达成共识。在多学科高等教育研究中,多学科研究活动如何组织、对多个学科的研究成果进行整合及利用学科规训制度巩固多学科研究方法的独特地位这些关键性问题亟待澄清。依托大学优势成立跨学科高等教育研究中心,培养具有多学科背景的高等教育研究人才,鼓励对外交流和扩展研究视域,为多学科高等教育研究构建制度保障,有利于促进高等教育学科体系的完善和实践研究水平的提升。     

A new indicator for higher education student performance

The debate on academic achievement is a heated issue that involves all the higher education contexts. This paper attempts to provide an indicator that can make the measurement of university student performance easier and that can be easily applied to different systems, making comparisons more fair. The Italian University System is used as a starting point to make several considerations on the current measures and to build up a new performance indicator. Then, a generalization for other marking systems is shown and finally a quantile regression is performed to investigate some determinants of the new performance indicator, also with respect to the current one.     

论并校中的融合

将并校带来的机遇性优势转化成现实优势的关键 ,在于实现实质性融合 ,其实质是体制创新和资源重组 ,体现在“四个融合”和“五个统一”上。在并校改革中 ,融合的速度和深度影响甚至决定着学校发展的速度和水平。合并组建的新校要在并校提供的学科结构框架上 ,从自己的办学目标出发 ,选择适合自己的学科融合模式 ,进一步优化学科结构 ,为融合发展打下坚实的基础。校园精神的融合 ,是实质性融合最牢固的根基。校园精神融合的实质 ,是在继承历史文化“遗产”和消融历史文化“壁垒”的过程中 ,实现校园精神的更迭和创新     

关于高校思想道德教育工作的再思考

在社会思潮纷繁的背景下,我们要正视思想道德领域价值取向多元化倾向,在事关为谁育人、育什么人的高校意识形态阵地旗帜鲜明地强调德育工作中价值导向的一元化,弘扬社会主义的主导价值观．要充分发挥德育的化功能,优化育人环境,把坚持“三个面向”、培育“四有”新人作为高校德育工作的方向和目标．     

地方高校发展与高等教育政策调整

近年来,我国地方高校在规模迅猛扩张的同时,普遍陷入了多重发展困境之中。从制度变迁的类型和路径依赖两个角度来看,这种困境产生的制度根源有两个:一是以中央政府为主体的激进式强制性制度变迁的局限性,二是对传统高等教育管理模式的路径依赖。今后高等教育政策调整必须遵循两个基本的指导思想:一是弥补激进式强制性制度变迁的局限,二是摆脱对传统高等教育管理方式的路径依赖。     

Internationalising higher education: comparing the challenges of different higher education institutions in Malaysia

Internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia is seen as a means for improving and empowering higher education so that the higher education institutions in the country can become comparable to the best in the world. While the government has spelt out the directions as well as some of the targets for internationalisation, higher education institutions in the country have been internationalising for different reasons and with different levels of priority and intensity. Public universities, especially the older ones, have been engaged in internationalisation as part of their academic growth and development. Concurrently, a variety of private institutions of higher learning has evolved since the opening up of private higher education from the 1980s. These include private universities that have been established by large corporations, smaller private colleges that have been elevated to the status of degree-conferring institutions as well as branch campuses of foreign universities. The objective of this paper is to examine the different concepts and challenges of internationalisation faced by the different types of higher education institutions in the country, using the case study approach. It was found that in each of these cases, the concept of internationalisation and the challenges faced are different, although funding is raised as a problem in three of the four cases. These different challenges imply that current policies may have to be fine-tuned in order to address the different needs of these institutions in their respective efforts to internationalise.     

高校科技竞争力评价指标体系之构建

本文提出高校科技竞争力的概念，借鉴洛桑国际管理开发学院的国际竞争力评价准则，构建了高校科技竞争力指标体系，从科技基础、科技投入、科技产出和科技环境出发评价高校科技竞争力。     

我国普通高校的分类标准与分类管理

借鉴美国卡内基教学促进基金会的大学分类体系,并根据我国实际,可采用不同层次的学生数量、最高层次学生与本科生的比例、主要科研成果产出和政府资助的研究经费四个指标,建立我国普通高校的分类标准。     

Transfer students in institutions of higher education

The primary purpose of this study is to describe the extent of college transfers over two years since initial matriculation and to examine differences in background characteristics between transfers and nontransfers (i.e., persisters, withdrawals, and graduates). Data involved a national probability sample of the 1972 entering class. Major findings include the following: 25% of the 2-year college students transferred to a 4-year institution, and 16% of 4-year college students moved to another 4-year institution. This later group of students tended to hold higher socioeconomic status and college grades but lower ability test scores than persisters. Implications of the findings are also discussed.     

A Quest for website accessibility in higher education institutions

Researchers increasingly suggest that accessibility remains a prominent issue across the World Wide Web (www). This study raises awareness about issues of access in higher education. This qualitative research design utilized a listserv that invited university based webmasters to use freeware to evaluate the overall accessibility of their institutions' homepage website. Participation was voluntary and evaluations were gathered electronically. Our sample indicated that most universities' homepages were non-compliant with the www.WorldWideWeb Consortium guidelines. One particular institution, however, satisfied all W3C guidelines earning a perfect Triple A. Simply stated, this exemplary website serves people of all exceptionalities. Studying this institution's implementation process, we propose that other institutions might emulate this exemplary model to achieve greater website accessibility for all constituents.     

Constructing a brand identity scale for higher education institutions

Malaysia is a newly industrialized market economy and reliant upon foreign direct investment to increase its economic outlook. Being located in a strategic position between Asia, Australasia and Oceania has made it an attractive proposition for foreign higher education providers wanting to expand their international presence. Despite this, there are many market and regulatory challenges facing foreign providers operating as private higher education institutions (HEIs) within Malaysia. To gain a competitive edge they must clearly understand how the many cultures, values, norms, behaviors, and mindsets within Malaysia can be used to drive strategy. Unfortunately, very little is known about Malaysian perceptions of private HEIs compared to public HEIs. By drawing upon utility theory, the aim of this research is to construct a scale for measuring brand identity of HEIs in Malaysia. Data from a sample of 371 students from private and public HEIs in Malaysia were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling to form a two-factor measurement model consisting of visual and verbal identity cues. Tests of differences were performed, which showed dimensions such as distribution channel, public relations, promotion, core service, price, and system having significant differences between private and public HEIs.