University administrators’ conceptions of quality and approaches to quality assurance

As the quality of university education garners increasingly more interest in both the public and in the literature, and as quality assurance (QA) processes are developed and implemented within universities around the world, it is important to carefully consider what is meant by the term quality. This study attempts to add to the literature empirical data from interviews conducted with senior administrators within Canada’s province of Ontario. A quality assurance framework was developed by the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents in response to international trends in QA and implemented by all 21 Ontario universities in 2011. This phenomenographic study explored the conceptions of quality held by senior university administrators and their strategies for implementing QA processes. Results revealed a range of QA approaches that are employed within Ontario’s universities. Rather than the two categories of retrospective QA and prospective QA that Biggs (High Educ 41:221–238, 2001) postulated, results indicate a more complex spectrum that involves three main approaches to QA: an approach aimed at defending quality, an approach aimed at demonstrating quality, and an approach aimed at enhancing quality. These approaches are considered in relation to Biggs’s (High Educ 41:221–238, 2001) ideas about quality enhancement and a revision to his model is proposed.     

Using Institutional Selection Factors to Develop Recruiting Profiles: Marketing Small,Private Colleges and Universities to Prospective Student Athletes

This paper discusses two important concepts—internationalization and the international marketing of higher education—and how they influence international students' choice of Canadian universities. The paper is based on two studies: one on 140 East Asian international graduate students who enrolled at two large Ontario universities in the academic year 2003–2004, and the other on 95 international undergraduate students who enrolled at an Ontario university in academic year 2005–2006. The research findings show that market segmentation determines the applicability of internationalization and/or marketing of higher education. Activities related to the internationalization of education play a critical role in influencing the research-oriented students' choice of a Canadian graduate school. Marketing activities have a direct impact on graduate students' choice in professional programs. “Twinning” or “incountry” programs—a blend of internationalization and international marketing approach—have a strong influence on undergraduate students' choice to come to Canada.     

Conceptions of Contemporary European Universities: to do research or not to do research?

The article examines the extent to which the notion of a publicly-funded university as an institution engaging in both teaching and research is likely to be sustained in the European higher education space of the future, given the variety of pressures (including funding and mass higher education) on such a conception of a university and changes in how national governments regard the purposes of higher education. Relevant literature on the changing purposes of universities is reviewed. For illustrative purposes, the article uses an example of recent legislation, the 2004 Higher Education Act, in England, whereby research degree awarding powers are no longer a pre-requisite for the conferral of university status. The position in England's higher education system with regard to research and teaching is contrasted with that of a second UK country, Scotland, which has contrasting policies on teaching and research in universities. The article examines the research-teaching debate from the perspective of individual academics, universities and policy-makers, using recent empirical data where available. It is suggested that whilst academics and their institutions (for different reasons) may be in favour of retaining a link between teaching and research and may resist changes to this, policy-makers faced with rising demands on the public purse may see such links as suited only to an academic elite. Such pressures apply equally to other member countries of the European Higher Education space, so the outcomes of this policy debate about the centrality of research and teaching to universities have many implications for the future shape of European higher education.     

Autonomy and control: a university funding formula as an instrument of public policy

Formulas are used in many jurisdictions to allocate public funds among universities which may then have considerable autonomy in the internal allocation of those funds. This paper provides first an overview of formula funding as it affects university education. This is followed by an exposition on the balance between autonomy and accountability in the Province of Ontario. Formula funding in Ontario is used as a case study to evaluate how effective formula-funding has been in encouraging autonomous universities to work towards the attainment of public policy objectives. The analysis shows that four mechanisms have in fact been used - namely formula funding, designated extraformula grants, incentive funding, and controls - and that some objectives are better supported by different mechanisms. The paper concludes with a discussion of the evolution and an evaluation of formula funding in Ontario against the objectives given for its introduction.     

Examining Competition in Ontario’s Higher Education Market

Financial challenges have forced many publicly funded academic institutions in Ontario to adopt a corporate model and to use market tools to compete in the higher education market and maintain their enrolment and revenue levels. This study has analyzed how competition affects publicly funded universities in Ontario. Competition was examined by relating universities’ expenditures on price and non-price competitive variables (awards, marketing, graduates, and professors), as well as population to the total number of applicants, total number of enrollees, and capacity filling ratio over the period of 2006–2013. The study used quantitative research design and panel data regression method to draw conclusions. This study provides empirical evidence on how the effect of the adopted competitive variables varies for each university.     

How do students choose a university?: an analysis of applications to universities in Ontario, Canada

This study uses a unique set of microdata on university applications to examine the role played by institutional attributes in choices made by graduating high school students between the 17 universities in the Province of Ontario, Canada. We estimate a rank-ordered logit model that uses all information contained in each applicant’s ranking of institutions. Applicants prefer universities that are closer to their homes, spend more on scholarships and teaching, and offer higher levels of non-academic student services. Smaller class sizes are preferred by female applicants but not by males. High levels of research activity discourage applications. Smaller, primarily undergraduate institutions suffer from a low placing in the annual national university rankings but larger universities do not.     

Chinese Women's Culture: From Tradition to Modernization

At the National Conference on the Work of College and University Admissions convened in Zhengzhou in early March of this year, the State Education Commission proposed that, in order to deepen the reforms of college and university tuition requirements, college and university admissions, and job placement for college and university graduates, those colleges and universities that have a feasible plan of action may, with approval, carry out reform spot experimentations. It also proposed that those colleges and universities carrying out these spot experiments will, when admitting students this year, no longer lower the enrollment qualification scores for students who are paying their own tuition and students who are being entrusted for education by enterprises or government units; instead, all students admitted by these colleges and universities will be expected to remit a certain amount of tuition for their education. At the same time, the colleges and universities must, by setting up scholarships for superior students, special-item scholarships, and student loans, further deepen the reform of the system of job placement for graduates. This is what is meant by what is commonly referred to as the joining the tracks between "publicly funded students" and "self-funded students."     

论高校自治与大学生受教育权的保护

近来,大学生诉高校案件接连不断,这反映出高校自治与大学生受教育权之间存在着紧张的关系。这种紧张的关系主要是立法的缺陷尤其是空白性授权、高校内部管理失范、行政体制的缺陷以及回应型司法的缺失造成的。高校自治与大学生受教育权从紧张走向和谐,需要准确认识二者的辩证统一关系,从立法上保证高校自治的能动性,加快高校的良法自治进程,并完善受教育权的救济渠道。     

From centrally mandated to locally demanded service: the Russian case

This paper first highlights recent changes in the environment of Russian universities and considers how institutions of higher education (HEIs) are responding to the challenges and opportunities of the new environment through drawing on case studies of three relatively successful universities. Secondly, it considers how the recent changes, by pushing universities to seek new and more locally based sources of revenue, have lead to a significant modification of the concept and practice of university service. While the Russian university in the Soviet period was expected by virtue of the collectivist ideology to supply service to the people, these activities tended to come from above as gifts to society. In the new environment, service is both increasing and is becoming more sensitive to local needs. The overall effect may be to energize the Russian university, but there is considerable concern that it may at the same time erode the long-standing tradition of intellectual excellence.     

Public by Day,Private by Night: examining the private lives of Kenya's public universities

This article examines the emergence of the public university in Kenya as a key provider of private higher education, characterised mainly by the phenomenon of the “private public university student.” It probes the broader socio-economic reforms circumscribing the privatisation of Kenya's public universities and the local and global forces responsible for these reforms. From the enrolment patterns of Kenya's public universities, where state-subsidised students are becoming a diminishing minority and where a range of exclusive programmes for private students (mainly taught in the evenings) are a growing trend, it may be argued that a new kind of private university is emerging; namely, private universities owned by public universities.     

Stakeholders’ perception of who influences the decision‐making processes in Ontario’s public postsecondary education institutions

This paper reports the findings of a study conducted on stakeholders’ perception of who influences the decision‐making processes in Ontario’s public postsecondary education institutions. The study identified and interviewed representatives of those stakeholder groups that are frequently written about as the main forces behind decision making in colleges and universities. This is a qualitative research study in which four institutions were selected for case studies. The findings suggest that administrations are the most influential, and faculty unions/associations are the least influential in Ontario’s (Canada’s second largest and most populated province) public colleges and universities. It is concluded that those in central positions with access to information from all levels, and who are in close proximity to the gatekeepers of the institutions, will dominate the decision‐making processes in postsecondary education institutions. They will be the generators and harvesters of ideas and implementers of decisions.     

当前大学生思想政治教育模式的应对性研究

随着大学生权利意识的不断增强,传统的思想政治教育必然面临诸多挑战。当前,大学生权利意识增强对高校德育所带来的挑战更加明显,高校现有的思想政治教育模式很难应对这种挑战,主要存在两个问题。发展与创新高校现有的学生思想政治教育模式,构建高校学生思想政治教育应对模式,是改进与加强当前高校学生思想政治教育工作,应对大学生权利意识增强挑战的着力点。     

University autonomy and public policies: A system theory perspective

This article addresses problems facing universities because of external pressures for changes in their teaching, research, and governance and management policies and practices to align them with public policies. The view is put that governments are introducing public policies in times of economic recession to achieve rationalisation of human, physical and financial resources in higher education and to foster initiatives that shape university teaching and research to serve the needs of society and assist in national economic recovery. Examples of these external pressures, which have resulted in intrusions into the autonomy of university governance and management, are provided in the context of general system theory. It is assumed that the pressure of public policies on universities will continue and that each university should have a development plan for its present and future teaching and research activities, which has the endorsement of the government higher education advisory agency so that university management can function on a secure basis. The effectiveness and efficiency of functioning at the various levels of the university system should be assessed by periodic evaluative reviews. The quality of management by academic leaders should be fostered by the establishment of national centres for the study of higher education management and policy. The relationship between government higher education advisory agencies and universities should be renegotiated so that, as interdependent and interrelated parts of the higher education system, they work in joint co-operation to ensure the most effective and appropriate development of each institution. Nevertheless, a state of equilibrium between the university system and the supra (social) system within which it exists will never fully be achieved. The fundamental role and functions of a university require that it be concerned with teaching and researching both ageless and current phenomena. Hence, a perfect equilibrium state cannot exist if external social pressures are for the main weight of university activities to be shifted to providing service for the current needs of society.     

Public university entry in Ghana: Is it equitable?

Public universities in Ghana are highly subsidised by the central government and account for about 80 per cent of university students in the country. Yet issues of fairness in terms of entry into the public university system have so far hardly been addressed. To find out whether participation in public university education is equitable, the authors of this paper carried out a binary logistic regression analysis. Individual data were collected from 1,129 (614 male and 515 female) final year senior high school (SHS) students for the 2009 cohort. The authors measured student, father and mother characteristics likely to influence admission to a public university. The results show that the major predictors of public university entry are students’ academic ability, quality of SHS attended and number of siblings. This seems to suggest that there is a significant bias in the selection of students from different socio-economic groups for admission to highly subsidised public universities. The implication is that public financing of university education in Ghana may not be equitable.     

Faculty renewal in Canada and Ontario: No forthcoming shortage! (with particular reference to education professors)

The age profile and other characteristics of the full-time professoriate in Canada and Ontario are discussed, with particular focus on the geographical source, previous activity, and age distribution of new appointments to university teaching posts. Patterns of inter-institutional mobility within the regions of Canada for junior and senior faculty are presented. Analysis includes the sources and implications of attrition and changing age profile trends. Historical data, in most cases from the 1970s onward, are presented and analyzed. The increasing use of part-time faculty is discussed, particularly in the context of diminishing federal and provincial government financial support for universities. Discussion on the future demand and supply of professors in Canada and Ontario is presented, but focuses on Faculties of Education. Some reference is made to the comparable situation in Australia, the United States, and other major industrialized countries. Despite the rapidly aging professoriate, the article concludes that there will not be an overall shortage of university teachers in the coming decade or so.     

大学道德教育的当代困境及可能路径

现代大学被当做一个培养高层次人才的专门机构,追求专业化的高深学问是其关注的核心问题。大学教育在一味追求专业化的过程中,＂培养人才＂的目标掩盖了＂培养人＂的目的,＂做事＂的教育替代了＂做人＂的教育;关乎受教育者如何成人的道德教育被放逐在大学以外;本应引领社会道德风尚的大学却受到社会道德状况的左右,大学道德教育面临着一系列的困境。走出这一困境,需要重新认识大学教育的宗旨和精神,从而为大学道德教育的弊端找到可能的解决路径。     

当前高校生态教育的困境与超越

加强大学生的生态教育是和谐社会建设的必然要求。当前高校生态教育真正落到实处并取得突出成效的并不多,要走出困境,实现超越,就应该打破“随意性“,加强生态教育的教学规范;打破“闭关“局面,加强相关课程的生态渗透力;突破资源“瓶颈“,加强生态教学的保障;营造生态氛围,提升校园文化的生态感染力。     

The program risks of work-integrated learning: a study of Australian university lawyers

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a risky business in higher education. The strategic opportunities that WIL presents for universities cannot be achieved without taking on unavoidable legal risks. University lawyers are involved with managing the legal risks as part of their internal delivery of legal services to universities. It is important to identify the risks that potentially arise, so these can then be managed. A case study involving Australian university lawyers reveals the ‘program risks’ of WIL. Program risk is a type of legal risk that relates to the conduct of universities, host organisations and students before, during and after a WIL placement, as well as the personal characteristics of students that can expose the university to legal risk. The research findings may be applied by university lawyers, academic disciplines and university management to evaluate and improve risk management in WIL programs.     

Stellen Hochschultypen differenzielle Entwicklungsmilieus dar?

The German higher education system has three different types of universities. This study aims to investigate the effect of choosing one particular university type on central personality traits (vocational interests, vocational motives and the Big Five). Existing results clearly show that the individual types of universities recruit students with different backgrounds. Whether differential development during and after studies is determined by university type (i.e. socialization effects in a broader sense) or whether it denotes a consequence of pre-existing differences among students of the university types will, for the first time, be examined using propensity-score matching. To do this, data of a large longitudinal study in Baden-Wuerttemberg were used in order to compare 1568 students at traditional universities (Universit?ten), universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen), and universities of cooperative education (Berufsakademien) in their second, fourth and sixth year after university entrance examination. Socialisation effects were tested in propensity-score based parallelised sub-samples (N?=?622). Results show that differences between university types can mainly be explained with selection effects and that the effects of attendance at the university types itself were hardly differential.     

Preparing students with intellectual disabilities to audit inclusive university courses

There is a growing trend toward including adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in further education. However, there is a lack of literature on the preparation of students with ID to attend further education. This article, by James Wintle of Queen's University, Ontario, describes how a non‐profit organisation, CALC Prep, prepares adults with ID to audit university courses. Eighty hours of observations were conducted over the course of one term at this organisation. A grounded theory approach was used to identify themes within CALC Prep's curriculum. Themes within the curriculum that were considered most useful for students preparing to audit courses at the university included familiarising the students with the university, enhancing self‐awareness, enhancing self‐expression and building literacy skills. Additionally, recommendations for improving the transition of students with ID from the preparation programme to auditing university courses are offered.