British Asian women and the costs of higher education in England

This article will examine Asian women’s experiences of financial support in higher education. The article is based on 30 in-depth interviews with Asian women who were studying at a ‘new’ (post-1992) university in the South East of England. Women identified themselves as Muslim, Hindu and Sikh. The findings reveal that women’s religious and cultural background affects their attitudes towards financial support whilst at university. Through their participation in higher education, women are able to use their social and ethnic capital to enable them to receive financial and other kinds of support necessary for their success in higher education.     

As Capable as Other Students: Tanzanian Women with Disabilities in Higher Education

Globally, persons with disabilities are underrepresented in higher education. In sub-Saharan Africa, where opportunities for higher education are especially limited, women are unlikely to continue their education. This research investigates women in Tanzanian higher education with the double marginalisation of being a woman and having disabilities. The women were interviewed on what factors enabled access and participation for their educational success. A thematic analysis of qualitative data was applied. All of the women interviewed were motivated to complete their degrees. Key enabling factors were encouragement from their families and previous teachers, full participation in student life and sufficient financial support. Student life integration, especially peer study groups, and university staff training were emphasised along with structural modifications needed for campus facility access. They understood the importance of education, especially as women with disabilities, and the impact educated women with disabilities have as role models for young women, those with disabilities and without.     

Childbirth Education for the HIV-Positive Woman

Pregnant HIV-positive women have unique education needs during the perinatal period. HIV-positive women need information regarding the differences in recommended care they can expect to experience both for themselves and their newborn. Differences in recommended care are related to minimizing transmission of the HIV virus. This article discusses the unique educational content needs of HIV-positive pregnant women. Providing women with appropriate information about what their labor and delivery experiences will entail can help them make decisions and promote a positive birth experience.     

Perceptions of Quality of Higher Education: An Exploratory Study of High School Guidance Counselors

ABSTRACT

Perceptions of the quality of higher education are thought to have considerable impact on the decision making process to attend higher education institutions. High school guidance counselors are known to be influencers of higher education attendance through their work with high school students in the selection process. This paper reports an exploratory research program designed to assess the perceptions of high school guidance counselors regarding college and university quality. Ten measures of quality, an overall measure and rune specific indicators were utilized. A total of 256 guidance counselors provided measures of quality on 434 of the 435 institutions of higher education listed. Based on this data it was shown that overall perceived quality is primarily determined by five components; good academic programs, leadership opportunities, good job after graduation, opportunities for financial aid, and good value for the money, and that some 77.3% of the variance in overall quality was predicted by the five components.     

John Hull and the money culture

John Hull's recent educational writings have included several on what he calls the ‘money culture’. This is analysed and criticised in this article. Hull offers a Marxist and a neo‐Marxist account of the role of money in western societies utilising the labour theory of value, false consciousness and the materialist interpretation of history. It is contended here that the labour theory of value is fallacious and that false consciousness therefore lacks significant content: the problematic notion of ideology needs putting on a firm foundation, so teachers can see how best to liberate their student from a bogus spirituality. The materialist interpretation of history is held to be valuable, but not to the extent of invalidating, for example, past Christian hymns for present use. The surface manifestations of the money culture comprise legitimate areas of concern in education, such as popular materialism and economic competition on a world scale. These, it will be argued, can be treated in education, without assuming insecure Marxist foundations. Such areas of concern may properly be approached, in schools and with adults, by the impartial presentation of controversial issues and careful attention to moral values of the world's religious traditions.     

Effects of Motivational Interventions on the National Assessment of Educational Progress Mathematics Performance

One of the reasons often cited h r the low average level of proficiency demonstrated by U.S. students on national and international assessments is that there are no consequences or stakes attached to performance on the tests and, therefore, students are not motivated to invest their best effort. In this study, money was chosen as an incentive, but we hoped that short written instructions would be almost as powerful as money and easier and more desirable to implement in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Our results indicate that, at least for Grade 8 participants, student effort can be increased by financial rewards offered at the time of test taking, and that such effort can result in an increase in NAEP math test scores. Thus, from a policy perspective, scores from low-stakes tests may not represent what the student knows. Rather, such scores represent what students will demonstrate with minimal effort     

Promoting Financial Literacy and Latino Males’ Success at Community Colleges

Latino males across the country enroll in community colleges with the purpose of obtaining an educational degree, which could lead to accomplishing professional and personal aspirations. Even if Latino male students enroll in post-secondary education, they continue to be disenfranchised, vanished, and often rejected through the higher education pipeline. Research regarding access to education shows that money matters to the success of Latino students. Through a metasynthesis, this practice briefly identifies that there is little to no empirical research conducted that explores how Latino male community college students elicit, engage, and explore financial literacy programs. This paper makes recommendations for post-secondary institutions, practitioners, and policymakers to promote Latino males’ success at community colleges.     

Women,Access and Progression: An examination of women's reasons for not continuing in higher education following the completion of the Certificate in Women's Studies

This study is an exploration of the reasons why women who had successfully completed an access course did not progress on to higher education. Following a review of the relevant literature on women as returners to education a number of main themes are identified and discussed. The study is based on in-depth interviews with women who did not continue on to higher education following the successful completion of the Certificate in Women's Studies at the University of Ulster. This research highlights the difficulties faced by women who want to continue with their studies. From the interviews three main obstacles to progressing further with higher education emerged; caring responsibilities, financial constraints and lack of career advice. It is argued that women as mature students face particular difficulties due to their role and position in society. Also the women themselves have been conditioned into putting their own needs after the needs of their families, and their personal development is often not afforded a high priority. Finally it is suggested that government's commitment to widening access to higher education is simply rhetoric if it does not take account of the broader inequalities faced by women. Policies to improve access appear to be somewhat at odds with the removal of the financial support necessary for study at higher education.     

浅谈财务危机管理机制在企业中的作用

本文从财务危机与财务危机管理的含义入手,着重分析了企业财务危机管理的内容以及企业财务危机处理的基本程序和措施,从而说明财务危机管理机制在企业中发挥的巨大作用。     

我国民办高校借鉴美国私立高校筹资方式研究

民办高校可持续发展离不开多渠道的资金筹措方式。受内外条件的制约,当前我国民办高校的筹资渠道单一,由于近年来高校生源的持续减少,"以学养学"的办学模式导致的资金缺乏已成为制约民办高校生存和发展的主要瓶颈。借鉴美国私立高校的筹资方法,结合我国民办高校办学的实际及特点,畅通资金渠道,实现多元化、全方面的筹资方式,对民办高校在新时期、新环境下应对生源减少新挑战、提升竞争力和知名度、取得健康长远发展具有重要意义。     

Data Systems Linking Resources to Actions and Outcomes: One of the Nation's Most Pressing Education Challenges

The inadequacy of present-day public school financial and performance reporting restricts policymakers. With existing spending and activity information now generally available, public officials can determine only overall education resource levels and make allocative decisions only among gross input categories such as relative amounts of labor and materials. If policymakers knew with greater precision for what activities school resources were actually employed and could systematically link resources to results, the consequence might well be greater (a) knowledge regarding schooling and progress toward an “education production function,” (b) distributional equity of educational resources, and (c) opportunity for informed public discussion of education.     

退款与兴学：民初北京政府与教育界关于退还庚款用途的争论

民初政局动荡,教育经费奇缺。列强各国有意退还庚款消息传出以后,教育界即意图根据美国退还庚款用于教育的先例督促政府以各国退还庚款专门用于办学,北京政府方面则因财政困难意欲将退还庚款用于其他用途,而列强各国对于退还庚款用途也举棋不定。以全国教育会联合会为代表的教育界将列强迟迟不退还庚款的原因归咎于政府不肯将其用于兴学,由此引起了北京政府与教育界之间关于退还庚款用途的争论。     

Findings on Economies of Scale in Higher Education: Implications for Strategies of Merger and Alliance

Studies on economies of scale seek to establish atwhat size an institution functions at an optimal level ofefficiency. Higher education mergers produce an increase in thescale and scope of an institution, and are commonly driven on anexpectation of economic benefit. To what extent are greatervalue for money, savings in government expenditure, significantinstitutional financial benefit, achieved through the pursuit ofeconomics-of-scale-focused policies? The paper investigates thevaried findings of sixteen studies into economies of scale andscope in higher education, associated cost factors and cost/sizerelationships, and considers the strategic implications.

     

Enhancing Communication and Language Development in Young Children With Developmental Delays and Disorders

Research concerning the determinants affecting access to postsecondary education has primarily been conducted in two spheres: academic preparation and financial aid. Although these two strands of literature are often treated as oppositional hypotheses, they need not be. This article fuses the two bodies of research while discussing the relatively untreated role of information concerning both academic preparation and financial aid as an important determinant in a student's probability of accessing postsecondary education. The evolution of empirical models regarding important determinants in postsecondary access are presented with the proposition of next steps, including the role of information, that will allow for a more fully specified model in studying what variables affect whether a student continues her education after high school graduation.     

Academic and social integration in higher education: a survey of satisfaction and dissatisfaction within a first‐year education studies cohort at a new university

A survey of student satisfaction and dissatisfaction was undertaken within an undergraduate education studies cohort at a new university in the English Midlands. The cohort included both ‘traditional’ and ‘non‐traditional’ students and represented an increasingly typical ‘widened’ community of students within higher education. This student‐ informed survey enabled expression of facets of experience which were found to be deeply satisfying or deeply dissatisfying by the cohort and which also had the potential to impact upon their academic and social integration. The cohort was asked to link facets found deeply satisfying or deeply dissatisfying to the likelihood of their retention and degree completion or the likelihood of their exit from the institution. Themes emerging were concerned with teaching and learning, debt and money worries, workload and support. Many of the facets identified fall within institutional control and can be managed in order that both ‘traditional’ and ‘non‐traditional’ students may achieve integration, maintain their personal vision and be retained. The survey methodology employed can be adapted to accommodate contextualization within other higher education institutions. It is suggested that engagement with such survey methodology represents investment in both institutional, educational and financial health.     

Problems with Feminist Standpoint Theory in Science Education

Feminist standpoint theory has important implications for science education. The paper focuses on difficulties in standpoint theory, mostly regarding the assumptions that different social positions produce different types of knowledge, and that epistemic advantages that women might enjoy are always effective and significant. I conclude that the difficulties in standpoint theory render it too problematic to accept. Various implications for science education are indicated: we should return to the kind of science education that instructs students to examine whether arguments, experiments, etc. are successful, rather than ask who presented them; when considering researchers and students for science education programs we should examine their scholarly achievements, rather than the group to which they belong; women should not be discouraged from engaging in “mainstream” science research and education (or other spheres of knowledge considered as “men’s topics”) and men should not be discouraged from engaging in what are considered “women’s topics” in science (or outside it); we should not assume that there are different types of science for women and for men, nor different ways for women and men to study science or conduct scientific research.     

Prospects of higher education of the challenged women in India

The present study aimed to explore the various constraints faced by orthopaedically challenged women in their way towards higher education in Indian society. The tools used for the investigation are the General Information Schedule (GIS), Socioeconomic Schedule, and Interview Schedule. The sample consisted of 100 orthopaedically challenged women collected on the basis of a situational sampling technique from eastern parts of India (West Bengal). The findings are discussed in relation to the barriers to higher educational opportunities for challenged women in India. The study found that the brute physical or architectural barriers, financial constraints and the attitudinal barriers have a significant influence on higher education of the challenged woman. Furthermore, the study also found huge rates of wastage and stagnation at the primary and secondary level of education. The paper concludes by recommending the need for an overall approach for counteracting various constraints that exist in the early level of their education, without which we can hardly dream of higher education of the challenged women in a country like India.     

Contested womanhood: women’s education and (re)production of gendered norms in rural Pakistani Muslim communities

In a world marred by the fears of religious extremism, Muslim women have become subjects of various global projects that aim to modernize ‘traditional’ Muslim societies through women’s education and empowerment. Embedded in these discourses is an assumption that all educated Muslim women will empower themselves through challenging the ‘oppressive’ structures of their families and communities. This paper challenges these homogeneous narratives of education and empowerment through highlighting the complexities of educated women’s daily lives in rural Pakistan. We situate the lived experiences of rural educated Pakistani women in global mainstream as well as in local historical narratives regarding the role and purpose of education for women. Our analysis reveals how the educated women participants’ lives were shaped by a complex gendered hierarchy that facilitated educated women to take on new roles while simultaneously requiring them to maintain harmonious relationships with family and community members.     

Student parents,hardship and debt: a qualitative study

To date little is known about the effects of financial hardship on student parents, who remain a significant although largely unrecognized proportion of the student population. The objective of this study was to gain an insight into their concerns and illuminate issues which may have far‐reaching consequences not only for the mental and physical health of student parents but also for their children. Interviews were conducted with 12 women who are parents balancing home life with studies and, in some cases, work. Questions were directed at obtaining information relating to both direct and indirect pressures of financial hardship on home and family life. Questioning covered eight topics: change in lifestyle; financial situation; work; sacrifices—financial or otherwise; financial resources; financial impact on mental or physical health; impact on children; doubts over worth of study. For the majority, financial adversity affected their psychological well‐being. In many cases parents reported that their own stress adversely affected their children. Questions were also raised regarding parents' ability to meet the dietary needs of their children. Quality of home and family life also suffered as a consequence of financial hardship. Students' reflections on their experiences offer a clear insight into the emotional costs of further education exacerbated by financial hardship for both them and their family.     

Students' experiences with popular music: the case of Beijing,China

Since the 1980s, the establishment of a socialist market economy has quickened the pace of China's economic development; at the same time, increased modernization and globalization have influenced, to varying degrees, the development of music and music education. With reference to 12 secondary schools in Beijing, this empirical study examines Chinese students' preferences for popular music in their daily lives, and in what ways and to what extent they prefer to learn popular music in school. Data were drawn from survey questionnaires completed by 2,423 secondary students in the 12 schools, together with follow-up interviews with 55 of these students, between March and May 2012. This study provides empirical data that both supplements and challenges existing literature on popular music and music education in a Chinese context. It also highlights a discussion on the complex relationships between students and teachers and between Chinese authorities and teachers regarding the introduction of popular music into school music education.