'Sin,Sex, and Segregation': Social control and the education of Southern women

This article investigates the paradoxical processes of social control and social change within the institution of public education in the US South, early in the twentieth century. Through historical sociological analysis, it reveals how New South leaders used the 'dividing practices' of 'sin, sex, and segregation' to disenfranchise African-American males, to win support for segregated public schools, to segregate public higher education by race and gender, and to implement a race, class, and gender differentiated curriculum. It also shows that despite built-in limitations, the educational foundation of the new social order contained contradictory and ambiguous processes. This article focuses on the consequences of these processes for Southern women, especially North Carolina women.     

Successful Women Researchers in the Social Sciences: A case study of Catalan public universities

This article examines the factors which contribute to the success of female academics engaging in research in social sciences. The data were obtained through a series of interviews carried out at public universities in Catalonia with women, all of whom were the heads of research groups recognized by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government). These results reveal several aspects relevant for women academics, at both the individual and institutional levels, in terms of employment opportunities, management of research programmes, development of teaching strategies and individual time management. This should assist the development of institutional policies and practices within higher education to help women build successful research careers.     

On Deferred Dreams,Callings, and Revolving Doors of Opportunity: African-American Women’s Reflections on Becoming Principals

From a life course perspective, this article examines how an intergenerational sample of 20 African-American women in Chicago describe and make meaning out of their struggles and advancements to make inroads into the principalship. Being born on opposite sides of the Civil Rights Movement distinguishes markedly how these women perceive their experiences and share their stories about their journey to become principals. In the face of woefully restricted professional opportunities, African-American women born prior to the Civil Rights Movement portray their journey as a progression from conceding to “deferred dreams” to fulfilling their “callings.” In contrast, African-American women born after the Civil Rights Movement view their journey as one availing them to new horizons of professional opportunity. Their divergent reflections on the salience of race and gender in the professional realm sheds light on the scholarly contention that the tradition of activist-leadership in African-American education has waned in the 21st century. Tondra L. Loder is an assistant professor in the School of Education at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research interest concerns the impact of social change and policy on the lives of urban educators and urban education from the theoretical and methodological perspectives of the life course and life history. Her teaching interests are in social foundations and urban education.     

Educational Equity Policies and the Centralization of American Public Education: The Case of Bilingual Education

Sixty years ago, federal guidelines regarding the instruction of special populations in American public schools were nonexistent. Racial minorities, language minorities, women, the poor, and those with physical and mental disabilities had not been identified as groups that needed special protections. Much has changed since then. Federal legislation that is designed to ensure that all of these groups have access to equal educational opportunities in the United States is now in place. This article examines the evolution of policies surrounding bilingual education to illustrate that the need to ensure the educational opportunities of certain student populations compelled the federal government to become more involved in the governance and oversight of American public education. The implementation of such federal “protection policies” designed to expand educational opportunities for traditionally underserved groups of students ultimately fortified and solidified the federal government's more pronounced role in public education.     

Affirmative Action for Gender Justice in South African and Kenyan Education Systems

Abstract

Since women struggled to access higher education during the colonial era, tackling gender imbalances post-independence became a major focus for Kenya and South Africa. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that affirmative action has not guaranteed gender equity in South African and Kenyan higher education systems. the author argues that, although higher education is generally available to all in both countries, women still struggle with access and “success”. This is besides the existence of post-independence higher education policies and parallel gender frameworks meant to bolster women’s access. The article uses a critical and thematic exploration of secondary literature, theory and data. The article contends that the unresolved gap between policies and the reality of the lived experiences of women exacerbates inequalities. It is suggested that both countries refocus and recalibrate existing policies and remedial action measures in order to ensure that academically deserving women are able to access and participate meaningfully in higher education.     

Access to what? Mission differentiation and academic stratification in U.S. public higher education

Academic policy initiatives have long been apowerful lever for mission differentiationwithin U.S. public higher education. Althoughthe higher education literature has examinedbasic issues in the design of public systems,the tension between access and differentiationhas not been explored. Drawing uponcomparative case studies of public highereducation in Massachusetts and New York, thisarticle examines recent policy initiatives toterminate academic programs, eliminate remedialeducation, and promote honors colleges withineach state system. The analysis depicts howthese policies contribute to increasedstratification of programs and students withina state system as well as within particularcampuses in a system. The authors argue thatpolicy analysis in higher education shoulddevelop a more refined conceptualization ofaccess that examines the cumulative impact ofcontemporary policies on the stratification ofstudent opportunity.     

论择校与教育公平的追求——从择校政策的演变看我国公立学校体制变革的时代走向

本文以我国政府在基础教育择校问题上的认识及政策演变作为切入口,同时对过去十年中始终纠缠在教育投入不足与治理教育乱收费的中小学择校政策进行全面而深入的审视,以期能在此基础上就新的思维框架提出若干新的建议与对策。     

When Special Education Goes to the Marketplace: The Case of Vouchers

This article examines the role of market-based policies in special education, focusing on the case of voucher programs. It examines the nature of contemporary social reforms, while discussing school choice as the theoretical linchpin of a market model for educational reforms. Moreover, it includes analysis of why the market-driven rationale of vouchers erodes the public functions of special education. Despite their current implementation on a small scale, vouchers have the potential to become a threat to free and appropriate public special education.     

Gender segregation in the employment of higher education graduates

This article examines the employment and placement in the working life of Finnish higher education graduates (i.e. graduates from universities and polytechnics), focusing on gender equality. It reports a study on gender segregation in higher education and working life, considered in relation to Nordic gender equality policies. The data were gathered via a questionnaire administered to graduates in business and administration (n?=?1067) and in technology (n?=?1087), three years after their graduation. The results showed that men were able to secure permanent and full-time employment more often than women, and men achieved better correspondence between their degree and their employment. However, gender divergence manifested differently in polytechnics and universities; thus a higher (Master’s) university degree seemed to have a compensating influence on the effect of gender. Despite Nordic equality policies, female and male graduates were placed in the labour market according to tendences of gender segregation.     

Centralization and diversity: Evaluating the effects of government policies in U.S.A. and Dutch higher education

The article details a comparative study of higher education policies in the U.S.A. and The Netherlands. The policies are similar in their attempt to centralize the governance of public higher education in state and national systems in an attempt to promote and maintain diversity. The authors examine the policies in the context of previous research on higher education and provide data that shed light on the growth of degree programmes within public universities. Findings show that public higher education systems in several U.S.A. states and The Netherlands have not grown less diverse over time. Other findings provide mixed support for the argument that centralization is an effective means of limiting homogeneous growth in public systems of higher education.     

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.     

Quest for building world-class universities in South Korea: outcomes and consequences

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the Korean government’s policies for building world class universities (WCUs) and their implications for Korean higher education institutions. Primarily through an extensive literature review, but also through a discussion of field interviews and the experiences of one of the authors as a public official in education policy making, this study examines the Korean government’s policies to establish WCUs, as well as the outcomes and consequences of these policies. Using the framework suggested by Salmi (The challenge of establishing world-class universities. The World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009), the study seeks to answer the following research questions: (a) What policies has the Korean government implemented to build WCUs since the late 1990s? (b) How has the government’s quest to build WCUs transformed the Korean higher education system? Specifically, how have HEIs in Korea responded to the policies implemented? (c) What issues and challenges has the Korean higher education system confronted in its quest to build WCUs?     

高等教育大众化过程中我国财政性教育经费投资的结构分析

本文以1999年扩招以来中央预算内财政支出和地方预算内财政支出为研究对象,采用1998年和2003年中央部属院校和地方所属普通高等学校预算内生均经费作为主要指标进行实证研究,以此来分析中央和地方两级政府投入的变化特点,并得出结论:中央投入在扩招过程中相对集中,从而强化了高层次地区的优势,而地方投入的基础性作用增强,有效地对中低水平地区予以支持,最终使地区间高等教育经费差距有所缩减。     

‘The sky is the limit’: higher education,gender and empowerment in the Bedouin community in the Negev in Israel

This article addresses the meaning that female Bedouin from the Negev in Israel give to higher education. I shall focus the discussion on the processes in which personal and social contexts merge into one another. Although there has been an increase in the number of investigations of the ways in which Bedouin women in the Negev in Israel participate in the public sphere, a survey of the literature reveals that no investigations have been conducted on the meaning educated women attribute to higher education during the course of their lives. Through an analysis of ten in‐depth interviews carried out between 1998 and 2001, this article examines issues such as gender, empowerment and social mobility amongst young Bedouin women in Israel.     

Dissection of a truth regime: the narrowing effects on the public good of neoliberal discourse in the Virginia performance-based funding policy

A major role of all public higher education institutions is to foster the public good. In democratic societies, the public good emphasizes the more collective activities and benefits and how resources are accessible to all in a society. Institutions of higher education create new knowledge, promote cultural tolerance, increase civic activity, and have lasting intergenerational effects among other things which all serve to enhance the collective activities of a polity. Since public higher education institutions promote the public good, and since public higher education institutions are governed by policy, educational policy becomes a crucial determiner of the public good. Moreover, policies are constructed with language or discourse. Thus, the discourse of policy, which has the power to structure the actions, speech, and thoughts of those affected by the policy, has a direct impact on the public good. In light of this importance, this paper critically examines the discourse of educational policy.     

“I never thought this could be for me”: aspirational capital,identities, and political engagement among first-generation college students in São Paulo

ABSTRACT

Today, young adults from lower-income backgrounds are pursuing educational trajectories that would have been distant dreams for their parents. In many Global South countries, this expansion has followed a neoliberal logic in which private universities purport to provide students skills and increased earning capacity, and employers the necessary human capital to compete in global markets. This article examines these processes in Brazil, where federal policies have contributed to a dramatic growth in private, for-profit higher education in recent years. Building on ethnographic research in São Paulo’s expansive peripheries, our analysis examines three inter-related themes: higher education and life aspirations; intersectional identity construction; and political/community engagements. We argue that while neoliberal ideologies and policies are a key component of Brazilian higher education, many first-generation college students actively – and critically – challenge everyday oppressions and create new life possibilities in the context of enduring inequalities.     

Public vs. private schooling as a route to universal basic education: A comparison of China and India

This article examines whether focusing primarily on public schooling can lead to more rapid achievement of universal basic education (UBE) than relying on a mixture of public and private schooling. Through a structured, focused comparison, we find China's greater emphasis on public schooling has contributed to higher enrollment, attendance, graduation rates, gender parity, and proportion of students entering higher education than India, the country with the world's largest private sector in primary and secondary education. This comparison suggests that greater emphasis on public schooling in developing countries may lead to more rapid UBE attainment than encouraging privatization.     

Globalisation and Higher Education Restructuring in Hong Kong,Taiwan and Mainland China

Globalisation and the evolution of the knowledge-based economy have caused dramatic changes in the character and functions of higher education in most countries around the world. However, the impacts of globalisation on universities are not uniform even though similar business-like practices have been adopted to cope with competition in the global marketplace. The pressure for restructuring and reforming higher education is mainly derived from growing expectations and demands of different stakeholders in society. In the last decade, government bureaucracy, public service institutions and higher education institutions and universities have been significantly affected by the tidal wave of the public sector reform around the world. Apart from improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services, universities are confronted with a situation in which the principles of financial accountability and responsiveness to stakeholders prevail amidst the massification stage under the condition of global economic retrenchment. In response to such pressing demands for change, policies and strategies of decentralisation, privatisation and marketisation are becoming increasingly popular measures in university governance. Reform strategies and measures like quality assurance, performance evaluation, financial audit, corporate management and market competition are adopted to reform and improve the performance of the higher education sector. This article examines the most recent higher education reforms and restructuring in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, with particular reference to the issues related to globalisation of decentralisation and marketisation in higher education.     

Public-Private Dynamics in Higher Education in the Western Balkans

The article analyzes the public-private dynamics in the context of eight Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia). This article examines whether and to what extent these governments “level the playing field” between private and public higher education providers, not in the sense that they have equal chances to succeed, but that they all play by the same set of rules and are able to compete fairly. The article first addresses the emergence of a private higher education sector and the access of this sector to public resources. Next, it discusses the extent of “privatization” of public higher education institutions and whether these are prompted to be more market oriented. We find that the boundaries between the public and private sectors are blurred and the relations aggravated while each of the sectors is faced with its own set of challenges to legitimacy and long-term financial sustainability.     

Divorce, gender role, and higher education expansion

In Western societies the past two decades have witnessed a great increase of women's participation in higher education and a multiplication of responsibilities as a result of the expanded role of women. This article examines higher education enrollment between 1970 and 1987 in the United Kingdom and the United States. It is guided by a theoretical model contending that educational expansion occurs where people choose education as an adaptation to increased deprivation and uncertainty. By linking the expanded role of women to the expansion of women's participation in higher education, and by using the rising rate of divorce as an indicator of the increased disenfranchisement among women in patriarchal societies, this study attempts to uncover the hidden forces behind the recent expansion of women's participation in higher education. Multiple regression is used for the statistical analysis. The results show that the divorce rate is positively related to women's enrollment in higher education in the United States. The results also show divergent enrollment patterns between the two sexes regarding the effect of unemployment in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It is argued that gender role expectation is crucial to understanding the different effects of divorce and unemployment on the divergent enrollment patterns of men and women. The article also explores important differences in the areas of educational opportunities, the magnitude of the impact of divorce, government policies regarding women's welfare, and the differing role of credentials in social mobility in the two countries under study.