The changing landscape of grading systems in US higher education

The following study explores the landscape of grading systems utilised in higher education, focusing on the frequency of different types of assessment scales (including Straight Letter, Plus/Minus, and other alternative policies). Although numerous studies have explored the relationship between university grading system and student behaviour, motivation, and overall perception of education experience, little research has been done to quantitatively analyse the number of colleges and universities that employ a specific grading policy. The present study addresses this gap in scholarship, using a sample of 620 schools from 12 states (and the District of Columbia) in the Northeast region of the USA. Results of the study find significant patterns of difference in the grading procedures across universities.     

Imagining a future: changing the landscape for third space professionals in Australian higher education institutions

In the last decade there has been a shift in the discourses around professional staff in higher education that has been influenced by neoliberal agenda that focused on driving education reforms. Earlier discussions centring around nomenclature variations have progressed to those about creating and developing borderless professionals operating in the third space – a notional space where professional staff and academic staff with diverse and valuable skills work as equal professional partners on complex and multifaceted projects. This article looks at the evolution of the debates around professional staff. It considers how the notions of professionalism and professionalisation are being reconceptualised in the third space. Discussion progresses towards capability building and developmental opportunities of aspiring third space professional staff in higher education settings. Possible pathways of engaging with and empowering professional staff in designing their future careers and professional identities are considered. Building a community of research practices under the auspices of the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) and engaging postgraduate students in the university third space project work are proposed as potential areas for further research in the field of professional staff capability building.     

论高校内部的学术尊重

建立在学术制约上的学术尊重,应以学术自重为基础,而学术自重应以学术自律为起点。在大学内处理好学术权利与行政权利关系是学术尊重的关键。在具体的办学实践中,高校可采取行政权力扶持学术权利、利用学术权力与行政权力的互补性提升学术尊重;同时,通过提升学术自律水平、倡导学术创新达到学术自重,建构学术尊重的制度保障体系,形成尊重学术权利的文化氛围。     

Internationalisation of higher education: European experiences

‘Internationalisation’ is generally defined as increasing cross-border activities amidst persistence of borders, while ‘globalisation’ refers to similar activities concurrent to an erosion of borders. Study mobility is viewed as the most visible component in this framework in Europe with ERASMUS as the largest scheme of temporary mobility. ERASMUS was a trigger for a qualitative leap of internationalisation strategies and policies since the 1990s: towards cooperation and mobility on equal terms, and towards systematic and strategic internationalisation. The ‘Bologna Process’ aimed to make higher education more attractive to students from other parts of the world and to facilitate intra-European mobility; however, many other activities are needed to stimulate mobility, and the Bologna Process pursues many other objectives. It remains to be seen whether supra-national and national policies and institutional strategies will continue to opt for wide-ranging cooperation based on mutual trust or whether the ‘competition paradigm’ will determine the scene.     

Tensions within the changing Chinese higher education system

Frontiers of Education in China -     

Tuning engineering education into the European higher education orchestra

The ‘Bologna process’ is promoting fundamental changes throughout European higher education. Education ministers appear determined to reach, by 2010, a significant convergence of the national educational systems. This implies the necessity of adapting curricula in terms of structures, contents, learning attributes, learning tools and assessment methods. The EC ‘Tuning’ project was set up in order to investigate the feasibility of this process on the basis of ‘available experience and recent developments in several of the Member states… particularly from previous and on-going European co-operation in the context of the Socrates programme’. The Tuning project, initially aimed at five areas only (mathematics, geology, business, history, educational sciences), was later extended to other areas, including engineering: synergy groups were formed for this purpose. This paper summarizes the final report of the Engineering Synergy Group, which examined the ‘tuning’ of engineering education (EE) into European higher education, taking advantage of the work of previous and current thematic networks, such as H3E, EUCEET and E4. A set of recommendations is presented in the final section of the paper.     

深刻转变中的我国高等教育(续)

四、开创中国特色社会主义高等教育事业新局面江泽民同志历来非常重视教育和大学,他从建设中国特色社会主义事业的全局出发,对教育和大学在改革开放和社会主义现代化建设事业,特别是在建设中国先进文化中的历史地位进行过多次精辟的论述。在党的第十五次代表大会上他就指出:“社会主义现代化建设应该有繁荣的经济,也应该有繁荣的文化。”“发展教育和科学,是文化建设的基础工程。”在庆祝北京大学建校一百周年大会上他又进一步指出:“我们的大学应该成为科教兴国的强大生力军。”“为了实现现代化,我国要有若干所具有世界先进水平的一流大学…     

Academic social cohesion within higher education

This article explores the theoretical foundations of social cohesion as it relates to higher education institutions. In so doing it seeks (a) to understand the core elements of social cohesion—social capital, human capital and ethical behavioural norms that serve a common good—and (b) to establish a flexible framework for understanding the combined contributions of higher education to society. Tertiary institutional phenomena (those occurring in higher education) that are involved in the creation of social cohesion are hereafter termed academic social cohesion. The particular emphasis is on higher education’s role in cultivating moral awareness as a vital product of institutions’ primary activities. These core functions of colleges and universities are discussed in relation to both academic social cohesion and the degree to which they should involve the creation of specific ethical norms.

Translating strategy,values and identities in higher education: the case of multi-campus systems

Tertiary Education and Management -     

Constructing academic identity in the changing Russian higher education context: preliminary perspectives

ABSTRACT

Currently, Russian academics are facing significant demands because of a new, urgent requirement to pursue their research in accordance with international standards. Until recently, these academics were used to working within a familiar community and communicating their research via the Russian language, but now, they are expected to move beyond that and function on a global level, which can challenge their academic identities. A qualitative study was carried out in a research-intensive Russian university. The aim was to explore academics’ experiences and perceptions of the dynamic changes in their academic work with a particular focus on the limitations and pressures they meet in their career path towards global research. The data were collected by means of reflective journals during a course on English for academic purposes. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The results showed that global trends turned out to be unachievable for Russian academics due to the lack of specific knowledge, attributes and skills required to do research globally. This might be the first study from Russia contributing to the literature on academic identity construction. The article provides insights into the experiences and perceptions of Russian academics and offers a research agenda for further investigation to bridge identity shifts in academia. In terms of practical purposes, the results will be used as a source of preliminary data within a broader research project aimed at supporting Russian academics in their research in an international English-speaking academic context.     

White Western male teachers constructing academic identities in Japanese higher education

In research on gender and teaching in higher education, the experiences of male teachers as men, and of whiteness in a non-majority-white context have received little attention. As one step towards addressing this gap in the literature, this paper analyses interview accounts of white Western men working as English language teachers in Japanese higher education. The paper demonstrates, first, ways in which disembodied academic identities are constructed by erasing the men's racialised gender and sexuality. Second, it shows how favourable images of white Western male teachers are produced through a series of negative contrasts based on gender and race. Third, it suggests that men's homosocial networks may serve to facilitate male predominance in the Japanese university system. The analysis contributes to current understandings about the construction of white Western masculinities in academic institutions, in international education, and in English language teaching as a globalised industry.