Western Countries in the Eyes of Beijing Youth with Higher Education

In July 1999, Beijing Institute of Broadcasting conducted a survey on college students' views on major Western countries. The subjects were between ages 20 to 35 and had an education equal to or higher than an undergraduate degree. The survey adopted the method of quota sampling and a total of 200 subjects filled out the questionnaires. Among them, there were 101 men, 99 women; 99 with bachelor's degrees (including current undergraduate students), 63 with master's degrees (including candidates for master's degree), 38 with Ph.D.s and Ph.D. students; 116 subjects were already working and 94 were college students. Ten or twenty years later, these people will become the major force in Chinese society. It's important to know what they think of Western countries. In order to do this, the current survey was mainly concerned with the extent to which they understood and liked countries such as the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.     

Employment outcomes and satisfaction levels in graduates of the gerontology master's programs in Spain

ABSTRACT

There has been an increase in the aging population in developed countries. This has led to a need for trained people in the gerontological field. The most common academic way of specializing in this field in Spain is via a master's program. It is well known that investing in human capital increases knowledge, productivity, and the probability of getting a job. The question is if these kinds of educational programs are useful to provide real preparation for students and if the programs are useful for getting into the job market. We asked graduates to supply the answers. A survey was completed by 144 graduates from the Universities of Salamanca and Seville. Most graduates selected these master's programs to increase their probability of getting a job. A total of 64.6% reported that they had got a job, 38.8% of which got one in the first 2 years after graduating. A total of 55.6% felt that they had got a job thanks to having done the master's program. The usefulness of the acquired knowledge (47.9%) and social networks (28.8%) was seemingly high when getting a job. A high percentage of students (67%) found a job in this field after completing the master's program, and they got their first experience in a relatively short period after graduating. Investment in human capital is considered useful by graduates. The labor market is interested in highly qualified specialists. To have a postgraduate degree is still an advantage in getting a job, even after the 2008 economic crisis.     

Characterizing the Decision Process Leading to Enrollment in Master's Programs: Further Application of the Enrollment Process Model

ABSTRACT

As part of an ongoing market research function, the administration at a private university's business school implemented a project to better understand the composition of its master's students. This research was an extension of a similar study conducted for the school's doctoral programs. Like the earlier study on doctoral students, a behavioral approach that employed a theoretical model of the decision process leading to enrollment was applied to master's students. This enrollment process model was utilized to guide the implementation of a survey that sampled the school's current students. Application of this model to questionnaire development procedures is also presented. Based on the information collected, the decision process leading to enrollment in the master's business programs was characterized. Quadrant analysis was applied to selected data derived from the enrollment process model in order to develop a two dimensional profile of students. In practice, this depiction provided insight to student perception of ideal versus actual program characteristics. The usefulness and applicability of the enrollment process model in achieving enrollment management objectives is also discussed.     

Central China University of Science and Engineering Adopts New Measure

The costs of living and studies for postgraduate students will be paid by their mentors. Postgraduates, however, must assume more of their mentors' duties regarding scientific research. The state grants postgraduate students a monthly living allowance, but for a master's degree or doctoral student this is currently a mere 200-plus yuan. The Central China University of Science and Technology has decreed that, starting with postgraduate students enrolled this year, this sum shall be paid by the mentors. The allowance for students working toward a master's degree will increase to 270 yuan, and that for students pursuing doctorates to 350 yuan. Adding this to the research subsidies paid to postgraduates by mentors out of their research grants, it is estimated that a student studying for his or her master's degree will have between five hundred and six hundred yuan per month, and doctoral degree students between seven hundred and eight hundred yuan per month. It is estimated that this reform will result in priority development for disciplines closely concerned with economic development.     

向上流动意味着向下放弃吗？ ——农村大学生与父母间的情感关系研究

现有研究主要关注向上流动的农村大学生进入大学后的学业与社会表现，而较少关注他们与家庭的情感联系。本研究利用全国范围的定量调查数据以及访谈数据，探索正在接受高等教育的农家子弟在向上流动的过程中与父母的情感联系。研究发现，从本科、硕士到博士阶段，农家子弟与父母的情感关系呈现出“U型”趋势，从最初的感激亲密到中期的埋怨疏离，最后走向了更高层次的包容理解，本科后期至硕士教育阶段成为农家子弟与父母间关系最为紧张的阶段。这种情感关系的起伏转变，在很大程度上与人生重大事件有关，这些事件触发了根植于城乡二元结构间的资源与文化不平等，使这些农家子弟饱受“阶层的隐性伤害”。     

The importance of affects,self-regulation and relationships in the writing of a master's thesis

While the number of postgraduate students is increasing, the writing of a master's dissertation still poses numerous challenges to them. The outcome of this work depends just as much on technical and methodological skills as on affects, self-regulation, and the relationship to the supervisor. In order to test a comprehensive model including all these dimensions for this specific task, we sent a questionnaire to students who had recently completed their master's thesis. The collected answers highlight the importance of the self-regulation of both cognition and affects in such an endeavor. The quality of the relationship with the supervisor is also essential. In light of these results, changes regarding the training of students and the coaching methods of supervisors seem necessary.     

Jiang Nanxiang Stresses Following Three Principles in Implementing Academic Degree Programs

Xinhua News Agency (Beijing, September 8) reported that Jiang Nanxiang, minister of education, gave a report on university programs to the twentieth session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee on September 7. He said that in August of this year, the Evaluation Subcommittee of the State Council Committee on Academic Degrees had approved China's first 145 units? to confer doctoral degrees in 805 specialties, and 471 units to confer master's degrees in 2,957 specialties. It also approved a list of 1,143 faculty members to supervise doctoral students.     

European Survey of Master's and Doctoral Dissertions in Science Education

Editorial comment and summaries

English

Drs Kjöllerström and Lybeck present here a brief report of their European survey of master's and doctoral dissertations in science education, undertaken subsequently to a workshop on Research in Science Education in Europe held at Malente, FR Germany in 1976. The full report of their survey has recently been published by the Institute for Science Education (IPN), Kiel, FR Germany.

The article published here reports on the distribution, size and organization of science education research groups, their areas of research interest and higher degree programmes. It also surveys the main areas of science education research at master's and doctoral level undertaken during the period 1971‐1976, and the employment taken up by master's and doctoral students upon completion of their studies.     

Teaching Research

Different assumptions about reality and knowing underpin different research methods. Contrasting a phenomenological/ interpretivist approach with the assumptions of positivism, I describe teaching about philosophical issues in master's and doctoral courses. At the master's level, exercises in observation introduce students to social constructionist concepts; at the doctoral level the framework emphasizes five levels of re-presentation of experience: attending, telling, transcribing, analyzing, and reading. Greater attention to methodological diversity and contrasting philosophical underpinnings would strengthen research education in social work.     

Enhanced learning pathways and support for coursework master's students: challenges and opportunities

The focus of this paper is on student learning pathways – with particular reference to the factors motivating coursework master's students to seek entry to a doctoral programme – along with the implications for higher education policy and practice. It is argued nationally and internationally that although a number of challenges continue to confront those with responsibility for teaching and supervising coursework master's students, there are opportunities for renewal especially in terms of the provision of enhanced student support. Located within an international context of postgraduate education, a case study from Australia is provided to highlight the need for more flexible doctoral pathways at a time when calls for revitalised and expanded research workforces are intensifying.     

The purposes and processes of master's thesis supervision: a comparison of Chinese and Dutch supervisors

The number of international Chinese students enrolled in research programmes in Western universities is growing. To provide effective research supervision to these students, it is helpful to understand the similarities and differences in the supervision process between the host country and their home country. We explored which learning outcomes supervisors of master's theses aim for in two cultures, China and the Netherlands, and how they help their students to achieve these learning outcomes. Semi-structured interviews with 10 Chinese and 10 Dutch supervisors revealed, besides a strong resemblance, some clear differences between the two groups. For example, the Chinese supervisors aim to prepare their students for future jobs and use explicit assessment and regulation to monitor student progress, while the Dutch supervisors aim to enhance student well-being and use implicit regulation, emotional support and frequent posing of questions to facilitate student learning. Implications for cross-cultural and international education are provided.     

Field Supervision of Counselors in Training: A Survey of the North Atlantic Region

Most of the research on supervision has focused on supervisors in academic institutions (faculty members or doctoral students). In this article the authors describe a study in which they examined supervisors in community agencies where master's level counselors were assigned for practicum and internship training. The survey suggested that agencies were heavily invested in supervising graduate level counseling students and providing them with a rich clinical experience. Respondents typically had a master's degree, used various models of supervision, and provided feedback by means of self-report and audiotape or videotape review of counseling sessions. Results suggest that these supervisors had little contact with the concurrent academic supervisor and may have had little formal training in supervision. Implications of this survey include a need for more training for supervisors in graduate counseling programs and a need for more liaison between campus and field supervisors.     

Using Self-Study to Develop a Third Space for Collaborative Supervision of Master's Projects in Teacher Education

Teacher education is constantly being renewed in response to continuous social, economic and technological changes. In 2008, teacher education in Iceland was extended from a three-year to a five-year master's degree program and this significantly increased the number of students at the master's level. To respond to these changes, 3 university-based teacher educators organized collaborative supervisory meetings for 18 master's students during the school years 2012–2014. We used self-study methodology to analyze our progress and inspire our development as supervisors. The goal was to gain a better understanding of how we learn together in collaborative supervision and to develop, adapt, and change our teaching and learning practices. Data included reflective notes and journals, recordings of students' and supervisors' meetings, e-mails, tickets out of class, and material from Moodle. Constant analysis of data was conducted with personal reflection and collective discussion, using theories to scrutinize data. Our findings show that, by working together on supervisory issues, we expanded our resources, strengthened our collaboration and trust, developed our professional identities, and improved our collective supervisory efficacy. We discovered that self-study provided an in-between space for us to explore cultures, roles, and visions as we collaboratively contested, defined and recreated our roles as supervisors.     

Testing the Engagement Theory of Program Quality in CACREP‐Accredited Counselor Education Programs

This study examined the engagement theory of program quality ( Haworth & Conrad, 1997 ), which highlights positive student learning outcomes that result from stakeholder involvement in program evaluation within master's‐level graduate programs. A total of 481 master's‐level counseling students and 63 faculty members, representing 68 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)–accredited counselor education programs, participated in the study. Findings reveal that engagement theory is a potentially useful quality assessment resource for CACREP‐accredited programs in their efforts at enhancing and sustaining program quality.     

Personal Growth of Counselor Trainees

This study compared the level of self-actualization of beginning and advanced students in a master's program in counselor education using the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI). The advanced students scored significantly higher than the beginning students on two POI Scales, Feeling Reactivity and Acceptance of Aggression. The beginning students were more like a sample of normal adults than a sample of self-actualizing persons; however, the advanced students were more like the self-actualizing group.     

PROGRAM EVALUATION: MEETING THE APPLIED RESEARCH EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF MASTER'S LEVEL STUDENTS IN GERONTOLOGY

The research education offered by a master's gerontology program should focus on the career and academic goals of the student population as determined by the nature of the particular program. The purpose of this article is to describe how the Master's of Arts (M.A.) gerontology program at UNCC addresses the research methods needs of its students through a two-course series. The basic research educational needs of the students are addressed in a brief discussion of the first course. The primary focus, however, is on this program's inclusion of a second course on evaluation research. Evaluation research is described as an effective way to address the applied research needs of the students of UNCC M.A. gerontology program, through heightening awareness of accountability to investors of services for older adults, linking both the generator and consumer roles of research, and inculcating a philosophy of professionalization essential to the professional development of the students.     

Aging Research with Students in a University with a Strong Teaching Mission

A National Institute on Aging-funded pilot project to study advice-giving by older adult mothers to their middle-aged daughters was undertaken in a medium-sized teaching-intensive university. The student body and community are highly diverse, and many undergraduates are first-generation college students. In this context, undergraduate psychology majors and master's students were hired as research assistants. Their tasks were to enter and check data as well as to recruit and test older-adult and middle-aged women in their homes and by telephone. The students were successful in all tasks, with the exception of recruitment, an especially difficult task even for the primary investigator. The research program also served the university's mission of community involvement.     

Learning to become graduate students: Japanese women's experience in the research unit in engineering

Based on the analysis of 16 interviews with women first-year master's students at two national engineering schools in Japan, this article examines the socialisation role of compulsory undergraduate research experience in Japanese women's decisions to pursue graduate education and choices of the programme. The findings suggest that research experiences in a small independent research unit within the major department convinced Japanese women engineering students of their academic and social success as graduate students in the current environment. Although participants generally adapted themselves to the research unit through their research, there is a variation in the degree to which they were smoothly integrated into the research unit, reflecting organisational and individual differences.