Adult higher education in the Netherlands: National policy and local practice

Policy papers published by the Ministry of Education and Science in the Netherlands show that the government is strongly interested in the concept of recurrent education. One possible way of implementing this idea is through university level evening programs. In the Social Science Faculty of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam the evening program in sociology (which was established through the institution's own initiative) has recently taken on an institutionalized character. This article reports the results of research on the first year's experience of the day and evening students who began their studies in 1974. Attention is devoted to evening student recruitment, motives to take up university study and sociology in particular, minimum conditions within the institution's infrastructure, the curriculum and output. University evening education in general is also discussed and some policy conclusions are formulated regarding the realization of university evening education in the Netherlands.Translation: Drs. Ray Jurkovich.     

Assessment policy and practice in higher education: purpose,standards and equity

This paper places a discussion of assessment in higher education (HE) in the UK within the wider policy context. It argues for a critical sociological analysis to consider some of the issues, themes and debates in relation to assessment in HE at this time. Recent trends in assessment policy and practice are discussed, alongside a consideration of the purposes of assessment. It examines the moral panic around standards, especially in the context of widening participation, and moves on to discuss concerns of equity in relation to assessment. Issues of identity and power relations are central to these debates, and the paper concludes with a plea for social justice, rather than selectivity and inequality, to be prioritized.     

Comparing higher education systems

This paper discusses the range of comparative studies which might legitimately be attempted. It considers the separate issue of whether they must necessarily be directed towards the testing of pre-constructed hypotheses. It describes how the Brunel-Gothenburg-Bergen international team is attempting to compare their three national systems and academic working within them.     

Financing higher education in India: principles,practice, and policy issues

Financing higher education in India has been a complicated problem due to theoretical and practical problems. It has been largely a state funded activity with about three-quarters of the total expenditure being borne by government. The shares of non-governmental sources such as fees and voluntary contributions have been declining. At the same time the needs of the higher education system have been growing rapidly. It is being increasingly realized that public budgets cannot adequately fund higher education, particularly when sectors of mass education are starved of even bare needs. Hence of late several policy proposals are made, including privatization. This article critically reviews these proposals, and argues that the Indian higher education system is not yet ready for privatization. At the same time the need for experimentation with several alternatives, including student fees, students loans, graduate tax, and privatization in general is emphasized.     

高等教育发展趋势与政策分析

近几年是我国高等教育发展最好的历史时期,是发展思路非常清楚的时期,同时也是争议颇多的时期。目前,我国高等教育面临的长期国情是:穷国办大教育、经济发展不平衡、望子成龙愿望、以发展促问题解决;新的挑战为:大众化新平台、全面建设小康社会、经济全球化大趋势、城镇化发展;新的理念有:可持续发展、和谐社会、创新型国家、终身学习。为此,我国高等教育的进一步发展必须坚持学校的多样化分类发展与特色定位,这是教育教学的根本要求;需要促进现代大学制度建设,这是高等学校内部管理保障的要求;需要加强评估对拨款的影响,这是高等学校外部的保证要求;还要引导高等学校的区域扩展,这是全面建设小康社会的教育需要。     

蔡元培与蒋梦麟高等教育思想和实践之比较

蔡元培与蒋梦麟是师徒、同乡,具有相近的文化和教育背景,均在中国现代教育史上产生了重要影响。他们在高等教育思想和实践方面,具有前后相承的紧密联系。高等教育实践方面,师徒相继、蔡规蒋随,共同成就了北大的现代声誉。高等教育思想方面,从“兼容并包、思想自由”的办学方针、“学术至上”的大学理想,到“教授治校”的民主管理模式,蔡元培开风气之先,蒋梦麟则坚守余绪,共同为现代高等教育理念在中国高教领域生根发展做出了不懈的努力。     

夏丐尊教育实践与教育思想研究

夏丐尊以毕生精力从事教育、写作及编辑、出版工作，集教育家、文学家、出版家于一身。他在长期的教育实践中，形成了以教书为手段、以育人为目的的独具特色的教育思想。学习研究他的教育实践与教育思想，对当前的学校教育及教师的“教”和学生的“学”，都具有十分重要的指导意义。     

胡适的高等教育思想探析

胡适是一位具有强烈爱国心的自由主义知识分子。他的高等教育思想是其再造文明这一终生梦想的重要组成部分。胡适认为高等教育是为祖国再造文明,并使国家走上现代化道路的重要途径。他的高等教育思想主要体现为科学与人才并重、坚持学术独立与追求思想自由的教育理念。     

Assessing personnel practices in higher education: A misleading note of caution

Williams and I provided a model of the ideal or random flow of people from a pre-selection pool of applicants to a post-selection work force. Dometrius and Sigelman claim that our test of the ideal versus actual work force composition lacks statistical power. They also claim that our assumption of random terminations is unreasonable. I show that their two claims are wrong, because they did not use relative measures of female representation in the work force, and because they base their modification of our model on unsupported supposition.     

The policy object: a different perspective on policy enactment in higher education

This paper proposes a new perspective for higher education policy research. It introduces the concept of policy object to designate the discrete preoccupation(s) of a policy text (e.g. a new governance regime, a quality system, or new degrees) and suggests that actor conceptualisations of the policy object intersect with other elements in the policy process to shape enactment and outcomes. First, the policy object concept is described. It is argued that the policy object does not have an objective existence and two concepts are proposed to explain it: ontology and enacted ontology. The former refers to what actors believe the policy object is, a socially-construed context-determined conceptualisation, whereas enacted ontology refers to what the policy object becomes further to enactment under the influence of ontology. Second, the paper presents the findings of a comparative study of master degrees further to the Bologna process in different national and institutional settings to illustrate the policy object approach. This research puts forward arguments to suggest that the policy object could be an important variable to consider in policy research. This somewhat different lens, inviting fine-grained attention to a specific policy object (its ontologies and enacted ontologies), could bring additional insight into policy outcomes.     

廖世承职业教育思想及实践

廖世承作为我国1919－1925年间兴起的“新教育”改革和教育实验运动的倡导和参与,对我国教育的近代化和科学化作出了不可磨灭的贡献。他不仅在教育心理学、教育统计和智力测量等方面的研究成绩卓,而且在职业教育方面也提出了许多真知灼见,并在东南大学附中开展实验研究,为当时的职业教育提供了一个实验基地。本探讨了廖世承的职业教育思想和实践,从中折射出廖世承以其高深的学术基础献身于教育第一线的崇高的人格魅力。     

深化我国高等教育体制改革的几点思考

经济、科技的全球化进程，未来社会知识化、信息化的发展趋势，要求我国高等教育必须进行整体性变革和制度创新，这需要继续深化高等教育的改革。改革的重心仍然是体制，通过改革建立起政府宏观管理、学校面向社会自主办学的体制。在教育改革、教育发展战略的选择上，要考虑与社会发展相适应的问题，坚持教育发展与社会发展相适应的基本规律。     

陶行知教育思想对提升高等教育教学质量的启示

随着高等教育大众化的到来,高等教育的教学质量成为人们关注的热点问题。剖析陶行知先生的高等教育思想,特别是“社会大学”的理论和实践、学理和学制等方面的思想,对当前高校如何推进教学改革、提升教学质量,具有现实的启发意义。     

The role of rankings in higher education policy: Coercive and normative isomorphism in Kazakhstani higher education

The present study aims to investigate the role of rankings in Kazakhstani higher education policy and their influence on a group of national universities in Kazakhstan. The analysis draws attention to the role of the Kazakhstani government and accreditation agencies in developing coercive and normative isomorphism in Kazakhstani higher education. The analysis of university missions and development strategies of a group of universities with a special status has revealed that national universities are pushed towards an Anglo-American model of a research university. Further research is suggested to assess the response of Kazakhstani higher education institutions (HEIs) to these coercive and normative pressures.     

The positive attitude approach for teaching in higher education: An untrodden path for policy and practice

This article reports on a study in which a new conceptual framework for fostering a positive attitude towards teaching in higher education (PATTHE) was developed. The PATTHE framework builds on a holistic four-dimensional theoretical concept and is not limited by the specificity of teaching within a particular discipline or national higher education context. The four dimensions of PATTHE pertain to (a) emotional dimension, (b) professional development, (c) constructivist approaches to teaching, and (d) the teaching and research nexus; all of which are relevant for empowering quality teaching at personal, institutional and/or national higher education policy levels. The purpose of our study was to test and analyse this conceptual framework. Creative qualitative research methods were used including identification of keywords, evoking participant opinions through visual materials, reactions to vignettes, and by documenting discussions regarding the proposed PATTHE conceptual framework. A purposive and critically informed approach was used for the selection of twelve higher education experts as research participants. Responses from the selected education developers were collected through an online protocol system. Research results revealed that participant reflections on a positive attitude towards teaching showed a high level of agreement with the proposed conceptual framework; the proposed theoretical concept is thereby deemed well-constructed and acceptable with minimal extensions.     

我国现行高等教育成本分担政策评议

我国近年实施的高等教育成本分担政策,对高等教育大发展发挥了重要作用,功不可没。当前社会中存在的对高等教育成本分担政策的责难在于一种受剥夺的社会情绪。这种情绪产生于国家、社会、个体之间权利与义务的不平衡,学费偏高与学校经费浪费的对比,学费上涨过快与困难学生资助制度实施的滞后。应正确理解高等教育成本分担理论,采取切实措施消除这一政策实施过程中的负效应,继续发挥其促进高等教育发展的功能,以保证我国高等教育事业的可持续发展。