Modeling black student academic performance in higher education

Recent research has noted differences in the predictive efficacy of educational attainment models produced for whites as opposed to blacks; and called for more resolution in the findings on blacks in advance of further comparative analyses. The National Study of Black College Students (NSBCS) is employed to develop a model that distinguishes between high- and low-performing black undergraduates attending public, four-year institutions. In the NSBCS sample (N=695), discriminant function analysis identifies several institutional and student characteristics which are related to black students' educational outcomes. Specifically, students with both high occupational aspirations and high academic performances tend to be male, attend comparatively larger schools, and, to a lesser degree, be relatively well-adjusted upperclassmen. When academic performance is the sole issue, it is positively correlated with institutional quality, but the advantage belongs to black females. Contrary to the suggestions of previous research, black community sentiment did not have relationships with educational outcomes to the extent expected. These results suggest that future models of black educational attainment marry traditional Wisconsin-type measures with institutional and student attributes.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1983 meetings of the American Sociological Association, Detroit, Mich.     

法国高等教育管理体制变革中的教师学术职业

法国作为中央集权管理体制的典型代表,正经历着高等教育分权的变革。大学自治对教师职业存在的重要影响,在学术责任、聘任与晋升制度、质量评估等方面,表现为教师流动性低、教学与研究结合困难、评估缺乏激励性、学术职业前景黯淡等。增强大学的自主性、改革僵化的管理体制是解决学术职业发展中的矛盾的重要前提。     

Collective academic supervision: a model for participation and learning in higher education

Supervision of graduate students is a core activity in higher education. Previous research on graduate supervision focuses on individual and relational aspects of the supervisory relationship rather than collective, pedagogical and methodological aspects of the supervision process. In presenting a collective model we have developed for academic supervision of Danish master students, we seek to fill these gaps. The underlying pedagogical rationale for the model is that students’ participation and learning are interconnected. The model provides possibilities for incorporating a progressive and systematic interaction between master students in their individual writing processes. In the article, we investigate the potentials and challenges of the model and draw on analyses of six individual interviews with master students and one focus group interview with five supervisors. Our findings show that students learn core academic competencies in collective academic supervision (CAS), such as the ability to assess theoretical and practical problems in their practice and present them to peers. The analysis reveals that interaction between divergent projects and voices in CAS can be highly productive in academic learning. However, the model also challenges both students and supervisors because both parties are used to a one-to-one supervisory relationship and not prepared for different modes of participation and learning. According to both supervisors and students, the majority of supervisors need better training in the facilitation of collective supervision processes.     

论新闻媒体参与高校评估的作用与特点

高校信息是高校评估的重要依据之一.目前我国高校信息在高校和外部评估主体间的分布是不均衡的;高校信息能否及时、全面、迅捷、准确地公布和传递给高校外部评估主体,对于高校评估的理论和实践影响甚大.新闻媒体是信息的最大天然载体和传播者,通过加强新闻媒体在高校评估过程中的作用,可有效解决高校信息的分布不均衡问题.     

The exigencies of student participation in university governance: Lip services and bottlenecks

This study was conducted to explore the level, type and quality of student participation in the governance milieu of twenty public universities in Ethiopia based on secondary data availed at a national level. The findings reveal that despite their demands and aspirations, students' participation in university governance is still at its lowest ebb across most of Ethiopian public universities both in terms of their representation at the available hierarchical structures and the quality of participation in matters of substantial importance to the student body. Given the multitude of advantages the institutions and students can garner from meaningful student participation, it is argued that changes need to be made in terms of improved representation, type and quality of student participation.     

Goals and governance of higher education in India

In this paper, we explore the evolution of the Indian State’s role in governance, and the implications this has for goal setting. We find that the Indian government’s activist role in governance marked a change from the colonial period. This, we suggest, was not due to changes in the relative influence of different stakeholder groups. It was instead due to new national developmental goals, particularly industrialization. Fairly quickly after independence, we find that higher education governance came to be exercised in different ways between the center and the states. Control over the system’s governance was to later become an arena of contest between the national (central) government and the provinces (states), leading to disagreements on strategies, such as on funding and regulation. In later phases, particularly in the third phase that began in 1984 and continues to the present, the disagreements intensified because educational priorities started changing due to the changes in the relative influence of stakeholder groups and new forces such as globalization.     

Bridging the gap: supporting student transitions into higher education

This research focused on the early experience of students entering an undergraduate course in a post‐1992 university that is committed to widening participation. Using Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital and habitus as a theoretical framework, data were collected from students using an online questionnaire and small‐group discussions during the critical first days and weeks when they need to fit in to their new environment. The research was designed to consider whether there is a ‘new student’ in higher education (HE) and to consider the possible influence of cultural capital and habitus on a student’s transition. Data were collected using an online questionnaire with a response rate of 52% (n=180), and this was followed up with five small‐group discussions with 25 of the respondents. Participants self‐selected to take part in the small‐group discussions but the sample did reflect the cohort in relation to ethnicity, age and gender. The data collected from the questionnaire provided a snapshot of the students’ early experience within the university, and data from the small‐group discussions were used to triangulate this and allow emerging themes to be explored in greater depth. The results showed that the majority of the students (70%) were combining work with study and most students spent a minimal amount of time on campus, perhaps supporting the concept that there is a ‘new student’ in HE. Perceptions about their transition varied, but most of the students expressed concern about the perceived need to be an independent learner. Students stated that they needed more structured activities on campus to encourage them to fit in, and more support from academic staff, with clear instructions about what was expected.     

Massification in higher education: large classes and student learning

In introducing the special issue on Large Class Pedagogy: Opportunities and Challenges of Massification the present editorial takes stock of the emerging literature on this subject. We seek to contribute to the massificaiton debate by considering one result of it: large class teaching in higher education. Here we look to large classes as a problem in promoting student learning, quality education, and consequently as a challenge to socio-economic development. That said, whilst large classes do pose very specific challenges, they also hold promise and opportunities for innovation in support of student learning. Here we consider the contributions to this special issue from a cross section of disciplines and higher education environments.     

Stakeholders and Senates: the governance of higher education institutions in South Africa

This article investigates the issue of the governance of higher education institutions and argues that governance by Senates is more appropriate than governance by stakeholders for such institutions. It discusses the ambiguous democratic credentials of stakeholder politics and argues against this mode of politics in the governance of higher education institutions, especially in respect to their ‘transformation’. In terms of distinctions between convergent and shared interests, service and constitutive institutions and the essential lack of transparency of academic practices, it argues that higher education institutions should be governed by the body of accomplished academics. The conclusion is not that Senates cannot be corrupt, but that to substitute governance by stakeholders for governance by Senates cannot solve that problem.     

高等教育生师此实证研究:以河北省为例

对1998-2003年河北省普通高等教育生师比进行实证研究,并在与全国平均水平和高校评估标准比较的基础上,提出2015年以前,河北省应大力压缩非教学人员比例,采取较高水平的生师比政策,可确定在16-21之间,以加快河北省高等教育大众化的步伐.     

论高等教育研究与政府决策的界面管理——以国家助学贷款为例

高等教育研究与政策决策容易陷入相互脱节状态,主要原因在于两者之间存在严重的界面障碍,极大地限制了高等教育研究成果被政府决策的采纳和应用.以国家助学贷款为例,构建有效的高等教育与政府决策的界面管理具有重要意义.但是,目前两者之间还存在许多界面障碍,主要原因在于文化冲突、目标差异和信息粘滞.消除高等教育研究与政府决策界面障碍的策略包括专业化知识共享、跨文化沟通,以及自组织协作等.     

Perceptions of quantitative methods in higher education: mapping student profiles

A number of studies have concluded that when students have greater confidence about their math skills and are aware of its usefulness, they have a more positive perception of the subject. This article aims to examine whether this pseudo linear trend in the relationship between affective and instrumental dimensions is also true of the university context. Special attention is devoted to the articulation of these dimensions in structuring student perceptions of quantitative methods so as to identify the various forms that this interaction can assume. Our second aim is to understand how the perceptions of these subjects are constructed by students from degree courses in distinct scientific areas. Can we speak of group dynamics whereby socialization within each degree course triggers the sharing of similar perceptions? We concluded that a certain linear trend can also be identified in the university context in the relationship between the affective dimension and usefulness of quantitative methods i.e., that the highest levels in the perception of the usefulness of these subjects corresponded to the highest levels of self confidence and enjoyment of the subjects. However, in addition to this scenario there is another configuration in which negative feelings coexist with the recognition of the usefulness of quantitative methods subjects. Namely, lower levels of self confidence and enjoyment of these subjects can also be associated with high levels of perceived usefulness. We also concluded that there is evidence of what we designated a certain course culture in the perceptions about quantitative methods. Nevertheless, when our observation is extended to the scientific area the heterogeneity of the perceptions becomes evident. Another important finding is the rejection of the thesis, at least in the university context, that defends the lack of self-confidence in quantitative methods among females student.     

Stigma and student mental health in higher education

Stigma is a powerful force in preventing university students with mental health difficulties from gaining access to appropriate support. This paper reports on an exploratory study of university students with mental health difficulties that found most students did not disclose their mental health problems to staff at university. This was primarily due to fear of discrimination during their studies and in professional employment. Many students went to considerable efforts to hide their mental health condition and in doing so struggled to meet university requirements. Of the minority who did disclose, most received helpful assistance with both their studies and management of their mental health condition. The university was the main source of support services including counselling, disability, student union and housing. A range of measures are required to address the impact of stigma and mental health to empower students so that they can disclose in the confidence that they will be treated fairly.