QUALITY ASSURANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL ACCREDITATION IN EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS: PROCEDURES AND OPERATIONAL ASPECTS: WORKING DOCUMENT

This article forms the Working Document for the Conference bearing the same title. It reflects the fact that this Conference is the second in what is planned to be a series on quality assessment and accreditation in higher education. Thus it calls for an appraisal of the transition from policy statements to operational developments. The participants in the Conference are invited to describe developments in their countries in terms of the adoption of legal provisions; the establishment of bodies in charge of quality assessment and institutional accreditation; the identification of criteria, performance indicators, and assessment standards; the development of procedures for self‐study and peer‐review; and the identification of the policy and administrative consequences for higher education of the processes of quality assessment and accreditation.     

高等教育制度变迁中的制度创立者、机遇和预见

本文利用美国和德国高等教育制度变迁的历史比较数据,试图对导致制度变迁的三类因素的普遍性和运行机制进行评价。这些因素是:机遇(或外因)、内因以及理性的人类预见。其中理性预见是引起制度变迁的因素当中最少出现的,笔者例举了制度创立者和政府对制度变迁的干预来加以说明,并讨论了这些干预的相对效果。     

PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ESTABLISHING A EUROPEAN TRAINING FOUNDATION

The following is a reprint of the explanatory memorandum of a proposal formulated by the Commission of the European Communities for the establishment of a European Training Foundation. The Commission views the Foundation as a means for aiding the education and training systems of eastern Europe, starting with those of Hungary and of Poland, to adapt to the new conditions prevailing in that region of Europe. According to the indicative calendar presented, the Foundation should be in existence by June or July, 1990.

     

EUROPEAN DISSERTATION SUMMARIES

To alleviate teachers’ reluctance toward practical work, there has been much discussion on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, teaching materials, and failsafe strategies for practical work. Despite these efforts, practical work is still regarded as a challenging task for many elementary science teachers. To understand the complexity of teachers’ conflicts in practical work, this study examines teachers’ ideas about teaching and learning that influence teachers’ decision‐making and action on teaching practical work. More important than knowing technical–rational aspects of practical work is to understand the internal contradictions that teachers have to resolve within themselves regarding their capabilities and beliefs about science teaching and practical work. Using stories and experiences of 38 third‐year university students in a science method course in Korea, we seek to understand the conflicts and negotiations that they experience as they make decisions regarding practical work throughout their course. Reflective writings and group discussions on their lived experiences and concerns were used to probe participants’ ideas on teaching using practical work. From written and verbal data, themes were saturated in terms of the aspects which could (dis)encourage their practice. Results suggest that there are multifactorial challenges in pre‐service teachers’ understandings and concerns in practical work. Besides time, materials, and curriculum, pedagogical assumptions and values also compositely challenge the minds of teachers. As the pre‐service elementary teachers negotiated within themselves the importance of science in classroom and social levels, the question is raised about their identities as pre‐service elementary teachers to appreciate the balance between science teaching and practical work.     

EUROPEAN DISSERTATION SUMMARIES

Co‐operative learning means shared leadership where there is not just one leader in a group but where each member of the group is a leader. A leader demonstrates academic as well as collaborative skills in helping the group achieve a goal. Some academic skills are verbal interactions such as initiating ideas, responding by summarizing or suggesting procedures. Collaborative skills that build and maintain a good working relationship within the group include verbal interactions of praising group members and inviting others to get involved. The purpose of this study was to examine the verbal interactions and non‐verbal behaviours within unstructured learning groups. The verbal interactions were classified as positive if they aided the group to accomplish its goal and negative if they inhibited the group accomplishing its goal. Twenty‐eight students from seven intermediate‐grade level classrooms, grouped heterogeneously for sex and race and homogeneously for their ability in science, were selected for observation as they were doing a science activity. In general students’ verbal interactions were positive (i.e., there were more than four times more positive interactions than negative interactions). Further, in reviewing the positive interactions, students presented ideas more than four times as much as any of the other types of interactions. Females encouraged other members to participate in the activity significantly more than the males did. There was a trend in the number of times the equipment (clay) was handled; the males handled it more than the females as a function of race. Qualitative analyses revealed consistent patterns of interactions within groups of black and white males and females.     

INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

A common finding in the literature is that institutional structures have little to no impact on student engagement and development. I argue that theory suggests peer ability (as measured by selectivity), institutional density, the differentiation of the curriculum, and the research orientation of the institution should all affect student engagement. Using the nationally representative Beginning Post-secondary Student survey, a non-linear selection on observables correction for selection bias, and a multilevel modeling approach, I find that institutional structures do affect student engagement in predictable and substantively significant ways.     

国外高校内部的民主管理--特征、案例及启示

本文讨论了以教授参与为特征的校内民主管理的意义和原理 ;在对世界高等教育的两类体制模式作了区分之后 ,列举了一些案例 ,说明民主管理方法的可通用性 ;此外 ,针对我国高等教育的历史和现实情况 ,本文还解释了校内民主管理方法与其他方法或概念之间的联系与区别 ,指出不能期望“一抓就灵”。     

INSTITUTIONAL SELECTIVITY AND INSTITUTIONAL EXPENDITURES: Examining Organizational Factors that Contribute to Retention and Graduation

Many institutions of higher education increasingly are concerned with retention and graduation rates. Focusing on private Baccalaureate Liberal and General colleges and universities, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between institutional selectivity and institutional expenditures and retention and graduation rates. Framed by Berger’s (2001–2002) view that organizational behavior can impact student departure, this inquiry examined if expenditures for instruction, academic support, student services, facilities, institutional support, and institutional grants (i.e. student financial aid) could predict retention and graduation rates at baccalaureate-granting institutions. Institutional selectivity and institutional expenditures, specifically those that directly contributed to students’ academic integration, were found to contribute significantly to retention and graduation rates. Recommendations are suggested, including using the results to inform resource allocation strategies that can enhance retention and graduation rates.     

THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN: A COMMON EUROPEAN CONCERN

The true emancipation of women should become a common European concern and a common European goal. Emancipation means that no socio‐cultural or biological constraint should prevent women from obtaining the same chances and opportunities as men. True emancipation, which is still a distant objective in most of the European countries, implies that access to professional life should not have to be paid for by an exhausting cumulation of domestic and professional roles. A recent research programme on the student population of the University of Geneva provides data which are relevant in this respect. Female students are less likely to have internalized norms of behaviour which facilitate adaptation to a competitive environment in which women have to compete with men. Being subject to cross pressures and torn between two sets of behavioural norms, young women are often ambivalent in their attitudes. The conclusions of the Geneva research are consistent with other research results in other countries. The major explanatory factor is early socialization. True emancipation of women requires a long‐range education policy aiming at gradually reducing the differences in the socialization patterns of boys and girls.     

MAKING STUDENT RETENTION AN INSTITUTIONAL PRIORITY

A study was conducted to determine the reasons behind the unusually high rate of student attrition at Mountain Empire Community College. The results, which suggested that work and family conflicts were the primary contributors to attrition, led to the formation of a task force that was charged with the development of a comprehensive student retention plan. A college‐wide retreat involving all faculty, staff, and administrators was conducted to inform all constituents about the college's retention effort and to involve the entire college community in working together to understand how to implement effective retention strategies. Finally, a standing retention committee was formed at the college to oversee implementation of the retention plan, a plan which is research‐based and reflective of the long‐term commitment the institution has made to the improvement of the student persistence rate.     

INTEGRATING RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING

Fundraising has long been a central activity in four‐year institutions, whereas community colleges have only recently begun to see the necessity for such efforts. Resource development and private fundraising as a community college function have only been marginally understood and often are only instigated in times of financial crises. In today's educational arena, development needs to become a long‐term core function in order to maximize the funding base of community colleges. This article gives a brief look at the historical background of fundraising in community colleges, contrasts such efforts with the four‐year institutions, and discusses the matter of integrating resource development with institutional planning processes. Several examples of successful community college development efforts are given, along with a discussion of several planning models that might be used as guides for integrating resource development efforts with institutional planning.     

比较制度分析的若干要素

制度是一种社会结构,由文化认知、规范和规则三个要素构成。它们既独立存在,又相互依存,提供了不同的意义和秩序基础,对于社会结构特征具有很强的解释力。制度理论在研究关注点、研究方法、分析层次和结论方面表现出多样性的特点。新兴的制度理论研究有以下几个动向:一是在承认制度是社会秩序和政治稳定性的基础之外,开始关注制度对于组织结构和行为的影响;二是采用特性研究方法和过程研究方法,前者注意比较与不同制度相对应的成本和效益,后者强调制度的产生和变化;三是在注重分析趋同变化过程的同时,也开始注意趋异和多样化过程;四是在多种分析水平上开展研究,从单个组织到组织域,甚至到更加宏观的系统层次;五是关注世界系统和全球化这两种力量对于国家——政府结构和行为的影响。     

Socrates Programme:文化多元背景下欧洲的教育对策

当下文化多元的世界格局,对教育提出了新的挑战,如何应对这前所未有的文化碰撞成为了人们关注的焦点之一。Socrates计划是欧盟推出的一项跨国教育交流项目,其目的是强化“欧洲域”意识、加强教育的交流与合作、鼓励教育创新。这是欧洲在处理多种文化间关系、应对全球化挑战、促进欧洲一体化进程中所采取的一项积极措施,当中的系列措施能够给中国的跨文化教育带来些许启发。     

THE INFLUENCE OF A DESIRABILITY HALO EFFECT ON RATINGS OF INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

A rationale is provided for hypothesizing that a counterpart of the social desirability variable influences environmental ratings based on student perceptions, and a test is made of the hypothesis. The High School Characteristics Index was administered to 2819 high school seniors from 11 high schools. Social desirability scale values for the 300 items and 30 scale scores of the HSCI were obtained from 85 students in Education, and these values were correlated with the endorsement percentages and average scale scores for the students in each of the 11 high schools. Results indicated an appreciable "desirability halo" effect for some student bodies, with wide differences among student bodies with respect to the strength and direction of that effect. The results are interpreted as a serious challenge to the validity and discriminative capability of environmental assessment techniques based on student perceptions.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY INVOLVEMENT IN INSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE

The current study provided an investigation of 110 faculty who were very involved, moderately involved, and not involved in governance activities in community colleges. No differences were found between the three groups on characteristics of an ideal governance process or the roles faculty have in shared governance. Differences were found in responses to general perceptions toward faculty involvement in governance.