The Students' Role in French Academic Deliberative Democracy

Since 1968, according to the French higher education law, elected students must participate in the different academic boards in every university. As trustees, they must formulate opinions about the institutional policy. Moreover, they must deliberate on equal terms with teachers. According to a common discourse, this democratic activity is still considered as a nonsense because of some students’ structural weaknesses: very low turnout at the elections of their representatives, very high absenteeism rate of these miselected representatives and incapacity to formulate responsible and pragmatic proposals. This students’ uselessness in the academic participatory governance process would come from a post‐modernist air du temps: youth apathy, individualism, democratic societies’ crisis . . . In accordance with the scientific questioning about the contemporary processes of political communication, I propose an alternative set of explanations focused on the spirit and practices which rule French academic boards. I assume that the development and improvement of student participation are also limited by endogenous factors that are closely linked with the functioning of the academic boards. I propose an ethnographic analysis of a French university board. I compare the elected students’ absenteeism to the others members’ (teachers, staff members and guests) attendance rates. Then I study the cultural patterns which structure the interactions. Discursive freedom would be the sine qua non condition of academic autonomy and the structural explanation of weak student participation by teachers.     

Education decentralization,school resources,and student outcomes in Korea

Government decentralization is in worldwide use for education reforms. It takes different forms across countries from political and fiscal perspectives. It is a unique feature that the governance of Korea is politically decentralized, but it remains fiscally federalized. In this article, we utilized both political and fiscal perspectives to evaluate her decentralization by school resources and student outcomes. After analyzing the panel data, we find that fiscal decentralization is positively related to student outcomes. In contrast, we find little evidence on any relationship between political decentralization, school resources, and student outcomes. Lastly, we draw useful policy implications for developing countries whose decentralization moves like Korea.     

Student school elections and political engagement: A cradle of democracy?

Studies have found that prior involvement in student politics while in school seems to be a good predictor of adult political engagement. While most studies of adults have obtained retrospective data on participation in school elections, there have been few studies of students about this activity. We contribute to this latter relatively unexplored area by reporting the results from a national survey of Australian secondary school students about the relationship between participation in school elections and future intended political engagement activities. We found that voting in school elections is positively related to feeling prepared to vote as an adult, to being committed to vote when 18, to political knowledge, and to engagement in forms of peaceful activism. Running for student government office is related to political knowledge and participation in peaceful activism. These results reinforce the findings of adult retrospective studies, and show that participation in school elections serves as a beneficial experience in the preparation of students for life as an active adult citizen. The implications of these findings for the structure and conduct of student elections in schools are discussed.     

Student Participation in Shared Governance: A Means of Advancing Democratic Values?

Student participation in shared governance of higher education institutions is considered in the context of a civic role for higher education in a democracy. Statutory provisions for the governance of Irish higher education institutions are reviewed by reference to models of shared governance. Findings from a survey of actual levels of student participation within higher institutions in the Republic of Ireland are discussed and compared with patterns in Europe. The rationale for student participation in governance is critically examined with particular attention to the consequences of the client/customer paradigm. The case is made that participation in shared governance is a necessary but insufficient condition for the realisation of the democratic ideal. The relationship between academic democracy and political democracy is explored, highlighting the key role which academics have to play in creating the conditions for the nurturing of democratic values.     

The ideology of student engagement research

In a series of recent papers, Nick Zepke has criticised those researching student engagement in higher education for uncritically supporting neoliberalism. The current highly politicised nature of higher education means that clarity about the political implications of engagement research is crucial. This conceptual paper argues that in focusing on literature on students’ engagement in learning, Zepke overlooks another substantial body of engagement literature, on students’ participation in decisions about learning and teaching. By exploring the political alignment of two of the key models used to conceptualise students’ engagement in decision-making, the paper argues that a central element of the research into student engagement is in fact directly opposed to neoliberal approaches to higher education. Student engagement has been deployed both for and against neoliberalism. Zepke has argued that the research on engagement sides with neoliberalism; I show that the research that focuses on student engagement in decision-making supports the opposition.     

Students in Higher Education Governance: The Portuguese case

This article aims at analysing and discussing student participation in Portuguese higher education institutions and, specifically, in university governance. In a first moment, it describes this participation under both the previous (1988–2007) and the new legal frameworks (since 2007). A discussion of the changes introduced by this last framework and the extent to which it has contributed to the erosion of student participation in governance is undertaken. Next, the article deals with the ways students are involved in quality assessment at both its systemic and institutional levels. The case of a specific Portuguese university is used as an example of how this involvement takes place. The article concludes with a discussion on the main features of Portuguese student participation in governance, focusing on its effectiveness and suggesting measures for improvement.

     

Students and the Governance of Higher Education in Norway

The article discusses the question of student participation in higher education governance at the national and the institutional levels in Norway. Two ideal-type perspectives on governance are developed in order to illuminate the Norwegian case: a democratic perspective and a market perspective. The article provides a brief overview of the historical development of student participation in higher education governance, emphasizing how students view their own role in the governance arenas in which they participate. Close attention is paid to student participation and influence in quality assurance schemes at both the national and the institutional levels. In the conclusion, the article discusses how the recent developments are changing the balance towards the market model of higher education governance, without obliterating significant elements of the hitherto predominant democratic governance model.

     

Student activism and student exclusions in South Africa

On average, about 25 percent of students leave higher education (HE) institutions annually in South Africa because they are excluded on academic and financial grounds. To resist such putouts, student boycotts and protests are common despite the fact that student organizations were incorporated into decision-making processes at HE institutions (defined as universities and technikons in South Africa) in 1997. By examining recent student protest behaviour, this paper explores the dimensions of various protests and examines some of the effects of student participation in HE governance structures.     

Unleashing student potential through democratic participation in decision making: controversies and prospects

The idea of students participating in decisions that affect them as individuals, organisations and/or communities is recent and urgent. The participation of students in decision making has gained global support, yet it does not seem to be regarded as a main vehicle for promoting democracy in educational institutions. This conceptual paper aims at demonstrating the difficulties perceived to hinder student participation in educational institutions. It further proposes strategies that may favour the increased and improved involvement of students in decision making processes. The reviewed literature on student participation informing this article highlights positive outcomes from engaging students as decision makers in education.     

Findings on economies of scale in higher education: Implications for strategies of merger and alliance

This article examines the implications of the rise of managerialism for student participation in university governance. It explores this theoretically by proposing a matrix of ideal‐type regimes of student governance based on the work of Hyden, Olsen and others. The working of this typology is illustrated in a case study of the student political dynamics involved in governance changes at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in the decade after the transition from apartheid to democracy. The study finds that after two waves of university democratisation, UCT experienced a rise of managerialism which entailed incisive changes in student–university relations. Changes could be observed at various levels, including the emergence of a de‐politicised form of student activism and the adoption of a consumerist student political discourse. It is argued that the rise of managerialism thus precipitated a momentous change in the legitimation of student participation in university governance.     

学生的参与及其发展价值

学生的参与是描述学生在与学业有关的活动中投入生理和心理能量的状态变量.儿童对课堂学习活动的参与对其心理发展具有重要意义.本文从理论分析与实证研究两方面对学生参与的发展价值进行了阐述.     

The Grand Duchy on the Grand Tour: a historical study of student migration in Luxembourg

Since Luxembourg became independent in 1839, practically the entire political, economic and intellectual elite of the country has been socialised abroad. It was only in 2003 that the Grand Duchy set up its own university; before then, young Luxembourgers had to study in foreign countries. Over the past 150 years, Luxembourg has thus experienced exceptionally lively student migration. This migration is almost unique in Europe; however, academic research has paid little attention to the consequences of the migration experience of whole student generations on Luxembourgish society. The data presented in this paper demonstrate that migration has opened up chances for participation and access to positions of social power, while at the same time the networks of students became an instrument of social exclusion. Thus, the migration experience over the past 150 years not only led to a strong degree of social–cultural cohesion within the national elite; paradoxically, international student mobility has also had deep effects on the preservation of national identity.     

The determinants of student achievement in Turkey

Recent achievement test results show that Turkish students have been performing poorly compared to students from other countries. Using science literacy results from the PISA 2006 survey, we aim to measure the determinants of student achievement in Turkey within the education production function framework. We find that program types have large effects on student achievement. Since many students are allocated across program types as a result of a centralized exam, we try to control for past academic achievement and also for differences in the average socioeconomic background of students in a given school. The results indicate that students cluster in schools according to their socioeconomic background, and previous academic record is important, however, the effects of program types persist. Policies to augment socioeconomic background, such as conditional cash transfers and lifelong learning programs that prioritize parents will increase educational output.     

Educational disenchantment and the university student

In contrast to much of the research on contemporary university students of the post-activist generation, the study reported here rests on a model of the student as a quasi-citizen within the university political system. As a major political socialization environment for students, the university engenders feelings of academic disaffection among students. This study, based on a survey of 2,122 students enrolled at three mid-western universities in 1974, attempts to investigate the antecedents and consequences of felt academic disaffection for students. Five major findings emerge from this research. First, feelings of academic disaffection are relatively high among the students interviewed. Second, when the dimensionality of academic disaffection is investigated, these students typically express disaffection concerning the university and university administrators, with the latter group fostering most of the disaffection. Third, the students at the three universities surveyed generally differ regarding their evaluations of university functioning, their feelings of academic disaffection, and their desires for university reform, in each case with Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIU-C) students being significantly distinct from students at Northern Illinois University (NIU) and University of Kentucky (UK). Fourth, students' perceptions of authoritarian governance and an unsatisfactory academic environment at their universities tend to generate both university and administrative disaffection. Last, university and administrative disaffection result in a predilection among students for reform in the university, preferably devoid of administrative intervention.     

Effects of student participation in decision making at school. A systematic review and synthesis of empirical research

This article reviews empirical research on the effects of student participation in school decision-making processes. Out of 3102 searched citations, a total of 32 publications met the inclusion criteria. The qualitative analyses employed in this review yielded a typology of student participation, a categorisation of the diverse effects of student participation and an overview of the quality and quantity of related research (available evidence). We found moderate evidence of positive effects of student participation on life skills, self-esteem and social status, democratic skills and citizenship, student-adult relationships and school ethos. We found limited evidence of positive effects on academic achievement, facilities, rules or policies, and health; we also found low levels of evidence of negative effects. We did not find sufficient research on the positive effects of student participation on peer relationships or on effects on teachers. Different forms of student participation seem to have different effects, but first and foremost, this review indicates a need for more comprehensive high quality research.     

‘Looking for the perfect beat’: the power of black student protest rhetorics for academic literacy and higher education

Drawing on three modes of inquiry—personal narrative, teacher research and historical work on black student protest in higher education—this article describes the writer's experience first as a college student and then as a teacher in a classroom where a student activist shaped the social consciousness of his peers. The politics of the student activist is set in the context of a historical continuum that goes back to the black student protests of the 1950s. A distinct set of black student protest rhetorics is used to locate deep‐rooted political critiques of higher education. These rhetorics are critical for re‐imagining vernacular and discursive possibilities in the academy and encompass very different notions of language and literacy from standard tropes of academic discourse as access.     

Wellbeing and retention: A senior secondary student perspective

Non-completion of senior secondary schooling continues to be a matter of concern for policy makers and practitioners in Australia today. Despite the efforts of governments to improve participation and retention rates, 30% of students drop out of school before completing Year 12. Further, some students remain at school, just biding their time until graduation. Within this context, we investigate whether the wellbeing of the students is a key factor in supporting senior students in deciding to continue at school. The article reports on the first phase of a two-year study of factors impacting on quality retention and participation of 250 Year 11 students from two school communities. This initial phase focuses on the senior students’ perspective of their wellbeing in Year 11, and includes our development of a suite of scales to measure the impact of students’ social connectedness and academic engagement on academic achievement and retention. Data from the survey of students are enriched through student focus groups. The article identifies critical dimensions of what students regard as a healthy senior school culture; that is, a culture conducive to a positive and productive experience in terms of their retention, participation and achievement. Implications for school and system policy and governance are proposed.     

博士生多元化培养的构想及实现路径 ——基于我国博士生教育质量研究20年的反思

1999年以来,我国博士生招生人数显著攀升,回顾我国博士生教育质量20年的研究,其思想纵向呈现出三个变化趋势:从专注学术取向到关注多元发展,从聚焦在学质量到追求发展质量,从强调显性成果到倡导综合能力。依据这一趋势,当下的博士研究生培养应以立德树人为根基,以科研能力为主干,以服务社会为枝叶。高校要以此为培养标准,树立起多元化培养目标,实现博士生全方位、多维度发展。具体到实践层面,鼓励博士生全面参与学校治理不失为实现博士生多维培养的有效途径,具体应以党建工作提升政治觉悟,以课题参与提升学术水平,以志愿服务厚植奉献情怀,以社会实践推动成果转化。     

Governance of Higher Education in Britain: The Significance of the Research Assessment Exercises for the Funding Council Model

This article uses the political struggles that have enveloped the research assessment exercises (RAEs) to interpret the UK's current funding council model of governance. Ironically, the apparently widespread improvement in the research performance of British universities, as demonstrated by RAE 2001, has made it more difficult to distribute research income selectively, which was supposedly the central objective of the whole evaluative process. Whilst enhanced research ratings may be seen as a cause for celebration in the universities, the failure to anticipate this outcome and, more significantly, to plan for its financial implications is seen in political circles as a failure of higher education management. The article explores the alternative models of governance that are likely to emerge as a consequence of this crisis and, in particular, whether the funding councils can have much freedom of action, given the tighter political control of policy goals and their critical dependence upon the academic profession for the conduct of the evaluative process.     

Higher Education in Wales: The (Re-)emergence of a National System?

This paper explores historical patterns of change in participation in higher education in Wales, using as an organising framework Halsey's (1992) distinction between higher education as an administrative and as a social system. The nineteenth-century development of Welsh higher education was both part of a distinctive national political project and reflected the specificities of wider Welsh society. Expansion through the early and middle decades of the present century eroded this distinctiveness, as both the governance of Welsh higher education and patterns of student recruitment and participation became increasingly integrated into an 'England and Wales' system. The more recent expansion of higher education institutions in Wales, as well as the participation of Welsh students in higher education overall, has further accentuated this social integration into an 'England and Wales' system. Currently, Wales exhibits a pattern of participation which is unique amongst the home countries, whereby the Welsh higher education institutions serve very substantial numbers of students from England (and to a much lesser extent elsewhere), whilst a large proportion of Welsh students register at institutions in England. This indicates that there is now a significant disjuncture between an increasingly distinct pattern of governance of Welsh higher education and a pattern of participation which is massively integrated in the 'England and Wales' system.