‘Beyond 2015’, within the modern/colonial global imaginary? Global development and higher education

Efforts to emphasize higher education’s role in development have grown in recent years, but important questions remain about the motivations and effects of these initiatives. In this paper, we employ the concept of a ‘modern/colonial global imaginary’ to consider the impact of the enduring power relations and uneven politics of knowledge in the relationship between higher education and development. Specifically, we consider the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ (ACU) ‘Beyond 2015’ campaign, which was launched in anticipation of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals. We argue that despite the ACU’s intention to provide ‘a platform for diverse voices, particularly from the global South’, the campaign was structured in a way that discouraged dissenting perspectives. More broadly, we consider available possibilities and limitations for challenging mainstream development agendas.     

Characteristics of U.S., Japanese,and British Commonwealth universities offering education in agriculture

The purposes of this study were: (1) to compare universities that do and do not provide training in agriculture in the United States, Japan, and the British Commonwealth, and (2) to examine similarities and differences among those nations with respect to characteristics of agricultural universities. In all these nations, universities that offer training in agriculutre are significantly larger than universities that do not. In the United States and Japan, but not in the British Commonwealth, agricultural universities are characterized by a significantly greater technical emphasis. In Japan alone agricultural universities are significantly more affluent than other universities. A hierarchical grouping of the United States, Japan, and 17 British Commonwealth nations on similarities among their agricultural universities yielded three broad clusters. Those appear to reflect, respectively, U.S., British, and African approaches to agricultural higher education.     

Constituting collective consciousness: Information literacy in university curricula

Information literacy, encompassing the ability to access, evaluate and use information in contemporary ICT environments, today has a place on the graduate profiles of many Australian universities. Growing recognition of the importance of information literacy at national and institutional levels, raises the fundamental question of how to raise the awareness of a university community about this significant issue in order to make it a focal point in learning design and support. In 1999 the Australian Catholic University (ACU) tackled this question and responded by conceiving a university-wide teaching and learning enhancement project that targeted staff at all levels of the university, across all campuses and all disciplines. In reporting this project, Bowden and Marton's (1998) framework of depicting learning as changing awareness at the individual and collective level is adopted. Key features of the project are discussed, including our developing interest in influencing the ACU collective consciousness, key strategies for bringing information literacy into focus, the learning that occurred at a collective level, and ways of continuing to thematize information literacy. We conclude with some reflections on the collective consciousness framework in relation to the academic development context.     

基于区域合作的高校对外汉语专业人才培养与就业研究

高校对外汉语专业是一个应用型学科,同时又是一个交叉型学科。开展高等院校特别是地方高等院校对外汉语专业教育教学调查的目的是通过整合和调适,使地方高等院校对外汉语专业建设进一步完善和优化。通过各地高校的区域合作,形成高等教育联合体,充分发挥各高校优势,科学发展地方高校对外汉语专业建设的基本途径。     

Effective strategic planning in Australian universities: how good are we and how do we know?1

Strategic planning was introduced to Australian universities as part of the Commonwealth Government higher education reforms of 1988. The ‘Dawkins Reforms’ implemented extensive structural reform, changed executive leadership roles and responsibilities, commenced the ‘managerialisation’ of the Australian university sector, introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme and facilitated the transformation of Australian universities from collegial academies to modern, ‘enterprise’ universities.

There is an abundance of published marketing material celebrating ‘effective’ strategic planning outcomes in the myriad of strategic plans published by Australian universities. Yet, a recent study indicates that strategic planning remains a contested internal leadership function in Australian universities almost 30 years after traditional academic planning was replaced with commercially-focused strategic planning. This paper will review the effectiveness of strategic planning practices in Australian universities guided by the rhetorical question: ‘how good are we and how do we know?’     

论澳大利亚陆克文政府向“被偷的一代”表示道歉的路径选择

澳大利亚前总理陆克文在任期间推行较为积极的土著政策,其中向土著居民表示道歉开了澳大利亚联邦政府土著政策之先河。为了体现工党政府此举的良苦用心,并且希望得到土著社会的认可以及非土著社会的同情与支持,陆克文政府在选择以何种名义向土著居民尤其是向"被偷的一代"表示道歉、道歉的前奏、道歉的时间和场合以及道歉的方式和内容等方面均做了精心策划和准备。可以说,陆克文政府对向土著居民尤其是"被偷的一代"致歉的路径选择是深思熟虑的产物。从最初在联邦大选中作出承诺,上任后选择以联盟议会的名义致歉,倾听"被偷的一代"的故事,到决定在新一届联邦议会开幕式发表致歉,并采用了"讲故事"、"设想"以及"作出承诺"等方式来表达真诚的歉意,而事后又对"被偷的一代"成员之一拉纳.隆伽拉.费耶进行了回访,各环节之间存在合理的逻辑关联,构建了一个有机的整体。正因为如此,陆克文政府的政治道歉赢得了很好的社会反响,从而有力地诠释了政治不仅是一门严谨细致的科学,也是一门饱含情感的艺术。     

Evolution of Higher Education Finance in Australia

Central policymakers are becoming more aware of the possibilities of implementing their policies by using 'softer' discretionary financial instruments in preference to 'harder' directives and conditions attached to granted funds. A typical technique within this softer approach is to offer block grants to any target organization which contracts to pursue specific policy goals and to account for their achievement. Policymakers effectively perceive themselves as 'quasi-consumers', prepared to 'buy' the achievements of their target organizations. Following its new self-perception, the Commonwealth has 'invited' higher education institutions to 'enjoy' the financial benefits of its new Unified National System. Membership is open, however, only to those institutions which undertake to achieve specific organizational reforms desired by the Commonwealth. Moreover block recurrent grants flow to member institutions only after teaching and research targets have been individually negotiated and contracted. An endnote updates the final section on the Relative Funding Model.     

Commonality among diversity

Senior lecturer, Department of Education, University of Hong Kong; board member, Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration; founding chairman, Hong Kong Council for Educational Administration Author of China's Education on the Move (1990), Planning Basic Education in China: Two Case Studies in the Province of Liaoning (research report for UNICEF, published by IIEP).     

Australian Universities 1939‐1999: How Different Now?

Between 1939 and 1999, when the Australian population increased from 7 to 19 million, university enrolments rose from 14,236 to 681,870. Until 1974 the most notable changes were the increases in the size of universities and of departments (which encouraged greater specialization), continued increases in research expenditures, in the percentage of postgraduate students, and a gradual decline in collegiality. In 1974 the Commonwealth Government assumed full responsibility for government grants to universities and abolished fees at just that time when growth rates in the economy fell sharply. Government influence on the universities increased, and there were some departures from the no-fees policy for international and postgraduate course-work masters and diploma students. Then in 1988 the Government decided to abolish the distinction between universities and colleges of advanced education, to create through amalgamations a smaller number of much larger universities and to set a specific mission for each university in the interest of economic growth. The Tertiary Education Commission was abolished and the universities dealt directly with the Minister and his Department. The Universities became distinctly more managerial, less collegial, and the range of courses and degrees was greatly expanded. There are now legitimate doubts about the quality of some degrees. Student fees came back, but in a way that reduced the financial burden on the government without giving the universities greater freedom. The government sponsored collective bargaining for university staff but as universities were not given the capacity to earn much additional income, increases in salaries increased student/staff ratios and induced a decline in morale.     

Management of Research Funding

This paper was delivered to the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ Congress at Penang, August 1986. It commences with a discussion of the purposes of universities, and emphasizes the tension between the internal mission of the university ‐‐ the preservation, transmission and extension of knowledge, implying scholarly autonomy in academic decision‐making ‐‐ and the external forces requiring a responsiveness to community requirements and national objectives. This tension is never fully resolved, but a variable point of balance between opposing forces results. The polarity of the internal mission of universities and the external forces acting on them is mirrored in the debate about research management. Five major issues in research management are considered: selectivity in supporting individuals, the role of national objectives, single versus pluralist funding, pure versus applied research, concentration versus dispersion. Finally, the importance of universities maintaining priority in undertaking disinterested fundamental research is stressed.     

班级心理委员在高校心理健康教育中的作用刍议

近年来,高校在大学生心理健康教育工作中纷纷建立起班级心理委员制度,虽然国内心理委员制度起步晚、不完善之处很多,但是由学生担任班级心理委员具有教师所不能替代的重要作用。高校心理健康教育工作者应充分挖掘学生人力资源在心理健康教育中的效力,以促进心理健康教育工作的开展。     

Efficiency by Performance Indicators? Evidence from Australian Higher Education

In its drive for higher efficiency and effectiveness in higher education, the Australian Commonwealth Government released its policy on higher education, Higher Education: A Policy Statement during the late 1980s which contributed to the introduction of performance indicators to manage and assess the performance of the higher education system. The research component of annual Commonwealth funding to universities, called the Research Quantum, is now distributed by a set of performance indicators: external research income, publications count and higher degree research completions. This paper analysed the impact of these indicators on the research activities of Australian university academics based on Leibenstein's model of X-efficiency. Although the impact of performance indicators on university academics was found to follow the pressure-effort relationship, for some respondents, the increase in effort as a result of heightened pressure had involved strategic behaviour. Two conditions that are identified for the minimisation of an institution's X-inefficiency despite high staff effort are a high ratio of maximising to non-maximising decisions for both the staff and institution, and for all the institution's essential objectives/activities, and not just those which are measured by the performance indicators. The implications of these findings for the development and application of performance indicators are discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

集团上市对我国民办高校发展的影响 ——以X集团及其2所成员高校为例

我国一些民办高等教育集团在港股上市融资，对民办高等教育发展带来全新影响。通过对某上市的民办高等教育集团进行探索式案例分析，揭示出集团上市对旗下高校产生的影响：集团为民办高校铺设了联结政府和市场的沟通桥梁，上市融资扩充了集团的办学资本并影响了资源在成员高校之间的流动与配置，上市集团的管理理念和运作模式对高校传统办学体制产生了冲击。这些影响通过资本市场的介入和企业化管理体制的嵌套来施加，体现出教育、市场两种组织规律的博弈和融合。应慎重把握规模扩张和内涵发展之间的平衡关系，探索企业化管理和传统教育管理之间的融合模式，健全民办高校资产监管和质量评价机制。     

University finance in a period of rapid inflation

Universities are labour intensive and particularly liable to suffer in periods of cost inflation. An index has been derived to show that between 1965 and 1974 university costs increased more rapidly than other prices.The article shows that linking university budgets to cost indexes is not a complete answer to the problem. However universities often do not help themselves by maintaining that standards must be preserved at all costs. All these problems have been exacerbated by the end of the rapid expansion of the 1960s and 1970s.In the final section some steps are suggested which can help universities to soften the blows caused by inflation and government attempts to cut public budgets for higher education.A condensed version of a paper written for the Conference of Executive Heads of the Association of Commonwealth Universities at Wellington. New Zealand, February 1976.     

新时期大学生党建工作的实证研究——以广州地区高校为例

笔者在广州市6所高校进行了大学生党建问题的调查研究,调查主要从大学生入党动机、大学生党员发展情况以及大学生党员模范作用发挥三方面展开,并在调查研究的基础上提出相应的对策建议。     

新时期大学生党建工作的实证研究———以广州地区高校为例

笔者在广州市6所高校进行了大学生党建问题的调查研究,调查主要从大学生入党动机、大学生党员发展情况以及大学生党员模范作用发挥三方面展开,并在调查研究的基础上提出相应的对策建议     

Research planning and management in non‐traditional research discipline areas

Abstract

In its drive for higher efficiency and effectiveness in higher education, the Australian Commonwealth Government released its policy on higher education, Higher Education: A Policy Statement during the late 1980s which contributed to the introduction of performance indicators to manage and assess the performance of the higher education system. The research component of annual Commonwealth funding to universities, called the Research Quantum, is now distributed by a set of performance indicators: external research income, publications count and higher degree research completions. This paper analysed the impact of these indicators on the research activities of Australian university academics based on Leibenstein's model of X‐efficiency. Although the impact of performance indicators on university academics was found to follow the pressure‐effort relationship, for some respondents, the increase in effort as a result of heightened pressure had involved strategic behaviour. Two conditions that are identified for the minimisation of an institution's X‐inefficiency despite high staff effort are a high ratio of maximising to non‐maximising decisions for both the staff and institution, and for all the institution's essential objectives/activities, and not just those which are measured by the performance indicators. The implications of these findings for the development and application of performance indicators are discussed.     

社会转型期高校学生党员管理模式创新探究

高校学生党员教育与管理是加强高校党组织建设的重要途径。在社会急剧转型的大背景下部分高校学生党员呈现出入党动机复杂化、政治理论水平不齐、模范带头作用不明显等问题,着眼于加强基层党组织建设和充分发挥学生党员的先锋模范作用,创新高校学生党员的管理模式必须转换党员管理理念,健全党员管理机制,完善党员管理手段。     

以全面、自由发展为目标构建大学生党员教育体系

从加强与改进大学生党员教育出发,以马克思人的自由、全面的发展为大学生党员教育的指导思想,以人的发展作为教育的终极目标,将党员教育纳入高校人才培养的体系中,建立新的教育体系。     

Disciplinary cultures in an Australian college of advanced education

Recently scholars have called for more detailed historical study of the teaching lives of academics across countries, systems and institutions. This article contributes to the research on the professoriate in its widest sense. The article focuses on the disciplinary perspectives and cultures of academic staff employed in one of Australia’s oldest colleges of advanced education during the period 1965–1982. It examines official beliefs, slogans, and truisms, which formed part of these perspectives. Disciplinary perspectives include the academics’ views of the subject, the important problems for the subject, and the criteria of utility of the subject. Australia’s Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Advanced Education saw colleges of advanced education compared to universities enrolling students with different interests, stressing part‐time studies, concentrating on applied courses rather than humanities, being closely attuned to the labour market and workforce needs and being principally teaching institutions. They were to be equal but different to universities, but came to be viewed as equal but cheaper. A crucial issue is the extent to which the disciplinary perspectives of college of advanced education academics matched those that the legislators envisaged.