Motivation for return to study as a predictor of completion of degree amongst female mature students with children

The motivation for return to study, as measured by the Continuing Education Women Questionnaire (modified), of 117 mature age female graduates with children was compared with that of 118 former mature age female students with children who had discontinued a degree program before graduation. Motivation was found to relate to a number of predictors, including previous education, age, marital status, family life cycle stage, satisfaction with previous employment and family support for return to study. Interrupters as a group were found to be similar in motivation to graduates. However, certain subgroups of interrupters scored higher on those aspects of motivation which stressed study as a way to ameliorate or escape from unpleasant or difficult life circumstances. These same difficult circumstances in turn made graduation more unlikely and led to discontinuance. The conclusion is drawn that life circumstances may be a more parsimonious predictor of attrition in this population than motivation.     

Returning to STEM: gendered factors affecting employability for mature women students

This paper adds to current discourses around employability by arguing for an explicit recognition of gender, in particular in relation to women’s employment in male-dominated sectors such as science, engineering and technology. This is not limited to young first-time graduates but continues and evolves throughout the life course. Mature women students, who are returning after career breaks, face a number of barriers in re-entering such employment sectors. Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of women graduates in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, who participated in a UK government-funded online programme aimed at supporting them to return to work, the paper examines three gendered factors identified as being of particular influence on outcomes – gender role normativity, locality and mobility, and structural and institutional barriers. The paper concludes by identifying strategies deployed by those that successfully returned to employment, including retraining, networking and doing unpaid or low-paid work.     

Using successful graduates to improve the quality of undergraduate engineering programmes

This paper reports on a study of engineering graduates identified as high performers by their work supervisors. The study involved 20 graduates from different universities working in seven companies covering electrical, civil, mechanical, telecommunications and environmental engineering. The aim of the study was to identify the capabilities that were seen to be most important for successful engineering practice during the first few years after graduation, and to evaluate the extent to which universities were typically developing these capabilities. The reported study is a pilot for a larger scale study of a number of professional disciplines which will be used to shape the ongoing evolution of the undergraduate programmes in these disciplines at UTS. The results reaffirm the fact that while technical expertise is a necessary capability for successful practice it is certainly not sufficient. A range of 'emotional intelligence' capabilities appears to be judged by graduates and their supervisors alike as being very significant success factors. By focusing on the entire undergraduate experience rather than just what is taught, course designers can do much to provide learning opportunities to develop the capabilities identified.     

STEM Professionals Entering Teaching: Navigating Multiple Identities

In this qualitative study, we identify the complexity of the transitioning identities of four STEM career changers to better inform teacher education programs on how to be more mindful of the needs of this population as they return to the life of a student again on their path toward a new career in teaching. Findings suggest the career changers relied upon their identities from their previous careers to engage students in science; however, support is needed, both in terms of the coursework and returning to be a student again. Additionally, support is necessary for intervening in difficult placements and work situations as these STEM career changers make the transition to their newly chosen career of teaching science.     

返乡哈萨克族大学生就业现状调查及对策研究——以木垒县大石头乡为例

大学生就业问题是当前全社会非常关注的问题,新疆农牧区也存在大学生就业的难题。由于经济、社会等各种原因造成了返乡哈萨克族大学生就业难,从而引起了一定数量的人才由农牧区流向城市。此外,在哈萨克斯坦"回归"移民政策吸引之下流向了哈萨克斯坦。因此,返乡哈萨克族大学生的就业问题是影响当地社会稳定与发展的一个问题,也可能成为跨界民族问题的潜在诱因。     

Lifelong Debt: Rates of Return to Mature Study

High rates of return to first degrees have been used to justify increased student financial contributions to higher education. However, no discrete study of rates of return to mature graduates has been carried out although mature graduates now form a significant proportion of the student population. The General Household Survey 1983–1992 was used to examine the earnings of mature graduates compared with those of matriculates. The GHS yielded 616 mature graduate men in full-time work and 296 mature graduate women who were in full-time employment. It was found that the rate of return to mature male graduates was just above one per cent. With recent added costs, new male mature graduates can be forecast to make a sizeable loss on their study. Rates of return to women mature graduates were higher, between five and six per cent, and, based on these figures, the recent increased cost of mature graduate study should be covered by increased earnings. However, these calculations are based on average earnings for the modal age cohort of mature graduates. Those who are older when they complete or earn below the average (a large percentage) will not recoup the costs of study.     

Considering Self: Shaping MFA Students' Professional Identity and Habits of Mind

If the roles students play earning an MFA and the work they pursue after graduation vary considerably, how do those within MFA programs prepare students for professional lives? Where does one's sense of self as an art student begin to shift toward a professional identity? This article addresses literature about earning the degree and the work-related lives of MFA graduates as well as what some scholars claim should be taught within graduate-level visual arts programs. Supporting students' multifaceted lives, the author shares pedagogies employed within a course for MFA students that assist in clarifying understandings of self and professional identity.     

返乡哈萨克族大学生就业现状调查及对策研究——以木垒县大石头乡为例

大学生就业问题是当前全社会非常关注的问题,新疆农牧区也存在大学生就业的难题。由于经济、社会等各种原因造成了返乡哈萨克族大学生就业难,从而造成一定数量的人才由农牧区流向城市;同时,在哈萨克斯坦＂回归＂移民政策吸引之下,也流向了国外。因此,返乡哈萨克族大学生的就业问题不仅会影响当地社会稳定与发展,也可能成为跨界民族问题的潜在诱因,值得我们研究和重视。     

Widening participation in postgraduate studies in Greece: mature working women attending an e‐learning programme

This article examines issues relating to widening participation in postgraduate study programmes in Greece. It focuses on a group of mature women and examines their experiences from attending a novel postgraduate e‐learning programme at the University of the Aegean. It presents findings from a study, which looked into mature women’s decision to return to higher education in relation to their responsibilities stemming from marriage, motherhood, work and housework. In particular it examines how these women balanced their different and often conflicting roles, managing to operate within very tight time schedules and demands from their postgraduate studies. The findings of this study have policy implications for issues of equality of educational opportunities and participation in higher education in Greece and elsewhere.     

性教育师资职前培养现状分析

以目前国内唯一仍在持续招生的性教育辅修专业为例,以全部10届462名报读学生为总样本,采用问卷调查为主要方式,调查其报读动机、家庭支持度、学习体验、学习前后的观念变化、在工作中开展性教育的情况等。81.8%的学生报读性教育辅修专业时具有知性懂爱的动机,却仅有8.4%的学生希望在将来教学过程中教授性相关知识;专业学习前后学生在性与性教育方面知识、技能和态度综合自评差异极其显著(p≤0.001);毕业后开展过性教育的人数比例为53.5%,而成为教师的毕业生有高达69.2%以上的人开展过性教育;80.0%的学生在工作和学习中向身边的人普及过性教育。学生报读动机更多是出于自身接受性教育的需要,通过学习能提升开展性教育的意愿,仍然能很好地达成培养目标;从事教师职业的毕业生开展性教育活动的比例较高,远高于从事其他职业的毕业生;师范专业学生学习性教育非常必要,意义重大。     

A winding road – professional trajectories from higher education to working life: a case study of political science and psychology graduates

This qualitative and longitudinal study focuses on graduate employment and the development of graduate employment paths. The aim of this article is to explore the present professional trajectory from higher education to working life, with particular reference to graduates from two different study programmes at Linköping University in Sweden: Political Science and Psychology. More specifically, the article focuses on how graduates construe their professional trajectories in terms of their envisaged future work as senior students, and later as novice and early-career professionals with 18 and 34 months of work life experience. The results indicate that graduates’ professional identities and vision of their future work change over time. The set of categories, depicting the graduates’ vision and experiences of their professional trajectories, do not seem to follow a specific temporal and logical progression in their career. Rather, they appear in different order and at different points in time after graduation. The results, instead, endorse the discourse of lifelong learning and the need for flexibility and employability on the labour market.     

Hierarchical Mentoring: A Transformative Strategy for Improving Diversity and Retention in Undergraduate STEM Disciplines

In the United States, less than half of the students who enter into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate curricula as freshmen will actually graduate with a STEM degree. There is even greater disparity in the national STEM graduation rates of students from underrepresented groups with approximately three-fourths of minority students leaving STEM disciplines at the undergraduate level. A host of programs have been designed and implemented to model best practices in retaining students in STEM disciplines. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors Program at Louisiana State University, under leadership of HHMI Professor Isiah M. Warner, represents one of these programs and reports on a mentoring model that addresses the key factors that impact STEM student attrition at the undergraduate level. By integrating mentoring and strategic academic interventions into a structured research program, an innovative model has been developed to guide STEM undergraduate majors in adopting the metacognitive strategies that allow them to excel in their programs of study, as they learn to appreciate and understand science more completely. Comparisons of the persistence of participants and nonparticipants in STEM curricular, at the host university and with other national universities and colleges, show the impact of the model’s salient features on improving STEM retention through graduation for all students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.     

Career Outcomes of STEM and Non-STEM College Graduates: Persistence in Majored-Field and Influential Factors in Career Choices

Using data from a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of college graduates, this study examines student transition from college to their chosen career paths and identifies factors influencing college graduates’ choosing an occupation related to ones’ undergraduate major. Within the context of expanded econometric framework a wide range of variables are considered, including monetary and nonmonetary costs and benefits as well as cultural and social capital measures. Using multinomial logit regression analyses, the results suggest positive career outcomes associated with individuals who have an occupation closely related to their college major, such as a better income profile and greater job satisfaction. Major-based differences are also examined between STEM and non-STEM graduates, and patterns of changes are documented for 10 years after graduation. An important perspective offered by this study is to consider career outcome as an extended definition of institutional effectiveness and student success. Based on the empirical findings, policy implications are discussed with the hope of bringing attention and improvement to the relationship between the higher educational system and the labor market.     

Women into science and engineering? Gendered participation in higher education STEM subjects

This paper considers gendered patterns of participation in post‐compulsory STEM education. It examines the trajectory of learning that takes students from A‐level qualifications, through undergraduate work and into employment or further study. It also uses a long‐term view to look at the best available evidence to monitor participation and attainment over an extended period of time. The findings suggest that almost three decades of initiatives to increase participation in STEM subjects have had little noticeable impact on the recruitment data and gendered patterns of participation persist in several subject areas. This is despite more women entering HE and little gender difference in the entry qualifications for STEM subjects. While more women are studying science, as broadly conceived, than ever before, recruitment to key areas, namely physics and engineering remains stagnant. However, for those women who do remain in the ‘science stream’ patterns of employment in graduate careers and further study appear relatively equitable.     

Skills utilisation at work,the quality of the study programme and fields of study

This paper examines the factors that may have impact on the extent to which the knowledge and skills of master’s degree graduates in Norway are utilised at work, three years after graduation. The focus is on the impact of the quality of the study programme as well as the graduates’ fields of study, when also taking into account other factors influencing the utilisation of skills. The analysis indicates that the quality of the study programme has an independent effect on skills utilisation at work. The analysis also shows large differences in skills utilisation according to fields of study, even among graduates who are not formally overeducated for their job. Not formally overeducated graduates in humanities and social science utilise their knowledge and skills less frequently than other similar graduates. The findings involve challenges for higher education institutions and graduates, as well as employers, to find ways that the expertise of master's degree graduates could be better exploited.     

地方院校化学类新型人才培养模式探索

在高等教育大众化的背景下,地方院校发挥教育职能,凸显办学特色,提高毕业生就业率尤为重要.周口师范学院化学系以教学为中心、以考研为抓手全面提高教育教学质量,培养化学类新型人才,实现学生可持续发展和高层次就业,连续5年考研录取率占毕业生总数60%以上,一次性就业率95%以上.成功的培养模式为地方院校化学类新型人才的教育和培养提供了很好的借鉴.     

To Choose or Not to Choose Science: Constructions of desirable identities among young people considering a STEM higher education programme

In the literature, there is a general concern that a less number of students choose to study science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). This paper presents results from a Danish longitudinal study which examines students’ choice of whether or not to continue studying STEM after upper-secondary school. In particular, this study focuses on students who held an STEM subject as one of their favourite subjects at secondary educational level, but who chose not to study STEM at the tertiary level. This paper explores how students’ perceptions of STEM relate to their identity work. The data used, primarily consist of interviews with 38 students at the end of upper-secondary school. The analysis explores the students’ expectations of what higher education STEM might be like. These expectations are contrasted with the first-year experiences of 18 of the 38 students who eventually entered a higher education STEM programme. The results show that the students who did not choose STEM, perceived STEM as stable, rigid and fixed, and, hence, too narrow a platform for developing and constructing desirable identities. The experiences of those students who actually entered a STEM programme turned out to be similar to these expectations. However, many choosers would also prefer their studies as less rigid and fixed. If the institutions could adjust to the form and content of the courses, it might both meet the interests of choosers and non-choosers and thereby both increase recruitment and retention at STEM higher education programmes.     

No regrets? Measuring the career benefits of a psychology placement year

We report an analysis of whether a psychology placement provides significant benefit to graduates’ careers. Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey data six months post‐graduation suggested that placement programme graduates across the university are significantly more likely to be (1) in work and (2) in graduate‐level jobs. For psychology, the association between graduates’ placement status and employment status at the same time was not significant overall. However, when analyses were split by degree classification obtained, it was shown that amongst those graduates with 2.1 degrees reporting themselves as working, more placement vs. non‐placement programme graduates had obtained graduate‐level jobs (63% vs. 33%). In 2.2 classified graduates there was no significant association. This pattern persisted in the data from a survey of psychology alumni (from 18 months to six and a half years post‐graduation). Psychology placement programme alumni were also more satisfied with their careers. Although placement graduates earned marginally more, this difference did not reach statistical significance. This study was therefore able to show some measurable and persistent effects of a psychology placement year, although whether the benefits can be claimed to outweigh the costs is inconclusive. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.