Élite Versus Mass Higher Education‐‐A Misconceived Dichotomy?

The proposition that the massification of higher education has contributed to a democratization of society is examined and questioned. While it is true that the absolute increase in the numbers of persons obtaining some kind of higher education qualification has risen considerably over the last twenty years in Europe, most of this increase has concerned the so‐called non‐university sector. Mass recruitment to the traditionally elite institutions has not occurred; even less have graduates of non‐elite backgrounds succeeded in penetrating the positions of influence, leadership, and power in society. In short, massification has obscured the fact that the traditional elites are still very much able to perpetuate themselves and to remain in control.     

HIGHER EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT: CHANGING CONDITIONS FOR DIVERSIFIED STRUCTURES OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The article begins with an overview of the history of the importance given by European systems of higher education to the twin questions of the proper structures of higher education and the link between higher education and employment. From the mid‐1950's to the present, the debates on the two questions have sometimes been closely linked and sometimes barely linked at all. The point is that the link between increased employment and higher education is very complex and that signals are unclear. There is no proof, for instance, that over the long‐term, graduates of non‐university higher education institutions will be better protected against unemployment than graduates of traditional universities, particularly those from non‐traditional and diversified programmes within these universities. Still a non‐hierarchical diversity of institutions and programmes seems best suited to the long‐term employment prospects of students. Also, information sources on higher education and employment must be made more accurate and more comprehensive.     

The Rise of the Australian Comprehensive University

Australia is now moving into a unitary system of higher education following the current merger of the advanced education sector with the universities. As Australia will be without a non‐university higher education alternative, the resultant institutions are appropriately termed comprehensive universities. This article examines government policies which resulted in this extensive restructuring and discusses inadequacies in the conceptualisation of the post‐Dawkins university. Responses to the prospect of nationwide amalgamations and the ways in which they are being carried out are also discussed. Reference is made to the main challenges which will confront the new comprehensive universities.

Some have called the new changes in Australian higher education “a revolution”, a characterisation which is not altogether hyperbolic.     

Non‐profit education providers vis‐à‐vis the private sector: comparative analysis of non‐governmental organizations and traditional voluntary organizations in Pakistan

Under the New Policy Agenda, international development institutions have promoted non‐profit organizations (NPOs) in developing countries, on a dual logic: firstly, they deliver social services more efficiently than the state; secondly, they mitigate equity concerns around privatization of basic social services by reaching out to the poor. Based on a survey of twenty prominent non‐profit education providers in Pakistan, this paper illustrates that the NPO sector is not monolithic: non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the education sector under the patronage of international donors follow markedly different models of education provision to those of Traditional Voluntary Organizations (TVOs) reliant on domestic donations. While the social service ethos of the TVOs makes them distinct from the private sector, it is not the case with the NGOs: their model of education provision, rather than meeting the education needs of the poor, ends up cultivating markets for the private sector among poor communities.     

Images of excellence: constructions of institutional prestige and reflections in the university choice process

Here, the narratives of a group of non‐traditional students who entered traditional UK universities are examined. A number of participants felt there was a kind of romance or exotic quality to the sights, sounds and smells of traditional institutions, which constituted part of the attraction. The process of becoming a student at an elite or traditional institution involved an oscillation between anxiety and ambition. Occasionally, students would become disillusioned with particular traditional universities, usually due to an act of rudeness—for example, a ‘snotty letter’ that deflected them. Yet their choices remained within the traditional sector. The participants subscribe to what Bourdieu called the ‘doxa’ or the largely unwritten rules of the overall game. The results confirm the recent interest in intra‐class differences and affirm the need to make sense of how individuals’ habituses can be transformed to accommodate the changes accompanying the move to university.     

The Creation of a Vocational Sector in Swiss Higher Education: balancing trends of system differentiation and integration

The article discusses the establishment of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education as a complement to the existing two‐tier system of cantonal Universities and federal Institutes of technology. The origins of this new player, its missions and organisational features are discussed. This overall discussion is placed into the context of changing landscape of Swiss higher education policy characterised by increasing pressures for geographical reorganisation of the higher education sector under the auspices of a more direct role of the federal government. The article makes two points. First, it argues that the creation of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education combines two contradictory trends. On the one hand, this new sector tends to provide differentiation at the system level, through the creation of a new, more marked‐oriented sector of higher education. On the other hand, system differentiation at the system level is threatened by increased demands for greater inter‐institutional cooperation and system integration, emanating principally from the federal level. Second, the article also argues that the distinction between ‘academic/scientific’ vs. ‘vocational/professional’ education generally referred to when studying the emergence of non‐university sectors in higher education, is not pertinent for the analysis of the Swiss case. Two reasons are brought forward to sustain this argument. First, this distinction reinforces an artificial binary divide, no longer relevant to assess the evolution of higher education institutions placed in a context of academic and vocational drifts. Second, the ‘academic’ vs. ‘professional’ opposition does not take into consideration the political organisation of the country and how this impacts on policy making in higher education; a crucial element in the Swiss context.     

The maintenance of quality in the public sector of UK higher education

Since the establishment of the UK binary system of higher education in the mid-1960s, the Council for National Academic Awards and the public sector institutions have together evolved a distinctive system for quality maintenance.The paper has three goals: to identify the key elements in the interactions between the CNAA and its associated institutions; to sketch the shifting balance of responsibilities from the CNAA to its associated institutions; and to make some observations on course review in the public sector compared with the university sector.Central to the UK public sector is the sense, within institutions, that the responsibility for the maintenance of quality is an essentially corporate enterprise. That corporate review process has, until the present time, been conducted through the framework of a national peer review system. However, the university and the public sectors are converging in their course review processes, with individual institutions assuming greater responsibility for the quality of their courses. These changes make uncertain the continuation of the national context for course review.     

高等学校属于第三部门

在高等教育发展过程中 ,为避免商业化的潜在倾向变为现实 ,有必要从理论上对高等教育定位。第三部门是指政府与企业组织以外的所有组织的集合。在组织定位上 ,所有的高等学校都是第三部门性质的。整个高等学校组织群体会一直朝着理想的第三部门组织——高自治、非营利的方向迈进     

Human resource development in the agriculture sector: three levels of need

This paper defines human resource development (HRD) as a functional process that involves learning interventions which are both determined by and have implications for public policy, public and private sector institutions, and the HRD specialists operating within the institutions that seek to implement these interventions. HRD is considered a force for optimizing human growth, organizational effectiveness, and national development through skills enhancement in the workforce. The agricultural workforce is broadly divided into four major segments, and these are related to three arenas of educational activity: in‐service training and development, non‐formal extension and extension‐type educational programmes, and school curricula. Following the definitions section, the paper takes up the question of basic needs of HRD in the agriculture sector (HRD/AG) at the policy, institutional and operational levels. Finally, there is a brief review of the global forces, both exogenous and endogenous, affecting HRD/AG. The conclusion calls for carefully diagnosed, systematically implemented HRD/AG policies to ensure for the development of profitable agriculture in a clean environment.     

Effect of Entrepreneurial Behaviour on Researchers' Knowledge Production: Evidence from Canadian Universities

The article studies the differences in knowledge production between academic researchers. In this perspective, it attempts at first to answer the following question: what factors explain differences in knowledge production between Canadian researchers in natural sciences and engineering? After a presentation of some of the empirical evidence related to this first question, a distinction between two types of academic institutions, entrepreneurial versus non‐entrepreneurial universities, is introduced. Drawing from this distinction, four empirical models are suggested to test differences in knowledge production between entrepreneurial and non‐entrepreneurial researchers. The results show, first, that funding, time devoted to teaching activities, research team and individual attributes have a similar but differentiated impact on knowledge production of entrepreneurial and non‐entrepreneurial researchers. Second, there are some unbalanced effects of the variables co‐operation, time devoted to research activities, academic fields and university size on the knowledge production of Canadian researchers on natural science and engineering.     

建立大学筹款的激励机制——论配比基金的作用与意义

在高等教育大众化阶段,大学的经费紧张问题将会长期存在。为此,成立大学基金会,多渠道筹集社会办学资金,成为解决高等教育办学经费不足的历史必然选择之一。世界各国和地区的实践和经验表明,设立政府配比基金,发挥政府资金的杠杆作用,促进大学筹款,有利于引导社会资源更多地向教育领域优化配置,从而有力地推动我国教育事业的发展。     

The economic impact of eight research universities on the Boston region

Abstract

The greater Boston region's eight research universities play a key role in the region's economic health and welfare. They are magnets for research and development talent and for billions of dollars in investment. These institutions contribute S7.4 billion dollars to the regional economy, jobs for about 50,000 university employees and 37,000 workers in related areas. They produce an annual talent pool of 31,000 graduates many of whom elect to remain in the region and contribute to the exploitation of university patents and licensed technology that sustain the regional economy, as well as its social and cultural institutions. Drawing on economic impact studies conducted for eight institutions in the Boston region we will describe the impact of these universities on the Boston region. We will review the implications of this large concentration of research activity on the region's economy, labour force, pre and post university educational structures, political leadership, funding sources and social and environmental quality. This paper will explore the issues facing these eight research institutions as they pursue their desire for sustained growth and development. Among these are changes in national research funding priorities, financial incentives for innovation, conflicts with non‐university sectors of the economy including competition for housing, manpower and economic resources.     

Meeting Literacy Needs of Pre‐service Cohorts: Ethical dilemmas for socially just teacher educators

Australian teacher education, like the rest of the university sector in Australia, is under significant pressure and highly politicised. In this paper, we examine ethical dilemmas facing teacher educators who, in a context of difficult and eroding work conditions, grapple with literacy needs of pre‐service students. We focus particularly on building an analysis and a broad framework for improving university literacy work, encompassing ethical commitments to our students, our employing institutions and, most importantly, to children and youth from families less powerfully positioned in the social structure and in Australian schools. Our analysis is informed by the conceptual framework of Pierre Bourdieu and by critical literacy work, especially that of African‐American educator Lisa Delpit. The paper concludes with suggestions for framing literacy work within a teacher education programme designed explicitly around social justice ethics.     

‘Not necessarily a bad thing …’: a study of online plagiarism amongst undergraduate students

Whilst the copying, falsification and plagiarism of essays and assignments has long been a prevalent form of academic misconduct amongst undergraduate students, the increasing use of the internet in higher education has raised concern over enhanced levels of online plagiarism and new types of ‘cyber‐cheating’. Based on a self‐report study of 1222 undergraduate students, this paper explores the nature and patterning of online plagiarism amongst students in UK higher educational institutions. The data find around three‐fifths of students self‐reporting at least a moderate level of internet‐based plagiarism during the past 12 months, with significant differences in terms of gender, educational background and—most notably—subject discipline. Students’ online plagiarism was also found to correlate strongly with their self‐reported levels of offline plagiarism. The data therefore highlight the need to contextualize online plagiarism in relation to the wider ‘life‐world’ of the contemporary university student and, in particular, the role of the internet in their everyday non‐academic lives. The paper concludes by discussing how university authorities may go about addressing internet‐based plagiarism in the contemporary university setting.     

Double Degree Courses: A Viable Proposition for the CAE Sector

Double‐degree courses (studies in which two disciplines are taught in conscious relationship to one another) are almost exclusively a phenomenon of the university sector in Australian tertiary education. This article examines the double‐degree program from the college perspective. It describes a rationale for the approach and suggests why colleges should pursue this type of study program; it describes several organisational models which have been initiated in various institutions both in Australia and overseas; it considers the areas in which such development might take place in a college; it discusses the advantages and limitations of these courses and it highlights some of the difficulties and issues in their implementation.     

第三部门视野下的高等学校筹资

高校筹资是高等学校生存和发展的命脉。现在我国高等学校都面临着资金上的困难，虽然对公立高校实行了成本分担制度，但效果并不是很理想。民办高校筹资情况更加不容乐观，基本上是以学养学。筹资困难和现在我们单纯二元式的高等教育观有很大关系，如果将高等学校看作第三部门的组织，则应当有助于高校筹资的多元化。     

Structural changes in higher education systems in Western Europe

This article gives an overview and analysis of structural changes of higher education systems in Western Europe, and how the various countries have changed their systems over the last four decades. Emphasis is placed on the development of a non‐university higher education sector in most countries. The question to be discussed is the extent to which the various countries converge to a common structural model for the organization of higher education – either a binary system which is the most common model today, or a unified but hierarchical system as in the United Kingdom.     

Teaching and Research: What Balance for the Universities of the Twenty‐First Century?

The union of teaching and research in universities has a very long history with roots pre‐dating the Humboldtian conception of the research university. A major part of this union is personal, in the person of the academic staff member who has been trained through research and will invariably engage in both teaching and research in a university. Even researchers working in exclusively research organizations will have been trained in universities. Moreover, the research undertaken in universities will tend to be transparent, partly the result of the normal practices of academic freedom and of the traditions and procedures of university autonomy, and therefore, more likely to be the beneficiary of public trust than the research undertaken in research institutions, the latter tending to be viewed as more secretive and patron‐oriented. Although globalization may require universities to become enterprises of a non‐business type, along the lines of the medieval corporation, even this new paradigm will continue to require a proper balance between research and teaching, the one supporting the other.     

Institutional policies for part‐time undergraduate higher education in Scotland

Financial pressures, restrictions on full‐time participation and the public commitment to access and lifelong learning, suggest that part‐time provision may be increasingly important in undergraduate‐level higher education. However the scale and organisation of part‐time provision varies across institutions, and its future development may depend on decisions taken at institutional level. This paper describes Scottish institutions’ policies for part‐time provision of first degrees and Higher National Certificates and Diplomas (HNCs and HNDs). It is based on interviews with senior managers in all 23 Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs), and in 11 further education (FE) colleges. Most institutions planned to expand part‐time provision. New (post‐1992) universities were the most committed to expansion; non‐university HEIs and some old universities were the least committed. Policies for expanding part‐time provision were often part of a broader strategy for flexibility. The research revealed two contrasting models of flexibility: many universities pursued flexible integration, bringing full‐ and part‐time study into a common web of provision, whereas FE colleges typically pursued flexible differentiation, maintaining the distinctions between (and within) the modes. Institutional polices were influenced by four sets of factors: institutional mission, other institution‐specific factors, government policy and funding, and demand; funding arrangements and demand were seen as the main drivers. Finally, we question whether the greater formal autonomy of institutions led in practice to more independent decision‐making, and whether the trends anticipated by our interviewees are in fact well entrenched.     

Developing Place‐Based Pedagogies to Challenge Institutional Authority

This article discusses a current research project being undertaken by Tate Liverpool with a local university. The study is exploring the impact of a school‐in‐residence programme on children, teachers and the gallery. The invitation to schools to undertake these residencies fits with current agendas within the museum and galleries sector where institutions internationally have increasing ambitions towards handing over to their audiences, encouraging them to take ownership of their physical and intellectual spaces. However, the power dynamics at play, in terms of who makes the invitation and on what terms, have ethical implications that make taking up this offer challenging and potentially limiting. This article will begin to explore the possibilities of Place‐Based Education and its pedagogy as a practice to challenge these positions for both the teacher and gallery.