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.

     

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.     

Student Involmement in University Governance: A Need for Negotiated Educational Aims?

The paper argues for the need toincrease student participation in universitygovernance, especially in relation tohigh-level decision-making concerning the aimsand mission of tertiary institutions. The paperexamines the arguments in favour of, andagainst, student participation in universitygovernance. It also provides an overview ofthe findings of recent empirical studies on thetopic. The need for a process of negotiation inthe setting of higher education aims isemphasised and several suggestions are offeredregarding ways of increasing studentinvolvement in the aims-setting process.     

University‐school collaboration and needs assessment in the training of student leadership and peer support in Hong Kong

One hundred seventy secondary schools in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire designed to assess their needs for leadership training of students in different domains of school activities and their endorsement of university‐school collaboration in these activities. The questionnaire also assessed the extent and degree of support and involvement that schools intended to provide in training programs and in organized school activities for students to assume leadership roles in schools. Findings indicated that schools were in need of student leaders in different student activities, especially in those less related to academic concerns. It was stressed that in providing opportunities for student leaders to continue practicing their skills in school activities, other students might eventually benefit through participation in school activities and peer support programs organized by student leaders.     

Student Participation in Higher Education Institutions in Turkey

After the 2001 meeting of the European Ministers of Education held in Prague, higher education institutions in Turkey took serious actions in order to implement the goals of the Bologna Declaration (1999). Arrangements made for the democratization of universities and student participation in the decision‐making process formed one of the predominant actions. The formal point of these arrangements – aimed at student involvement in the university governance process via Student Councils and their representatives, was prescribed by law and forced universities to comply with the process. The present research provides information about the legal arrangements in higher education institutions concerning student involvement in the university decision‐making process and the obstacles met within the course of application. In addition, it presents the findings of an empirical study related to student representation and involvement in governance through the agency of the Student Councils.     

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.     

Non‐traditional students in Australian higher education: Persistent inequities and the new ideology of ‘student choice’

Abstract

Despite the expansion of access to Australian higher education in the past decade, the participation shares of rural and isolated people and people from lower socio‐economic backgrounds have altered little and remain unacceptably low. This paper reports findings from two national studies at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education that have examined student choices about higher education, especially the inhibiting factors still present for non‐traditional students. The discussion focuses on the dilemmas and challenges for Australian universities in balancing the adoption of entrepreneurial approaches to student recruitment with an unfinished equity agenda. The paper raises questions about the new ideology of individual choice influencing university policy and whether or not this can be reconciled with social equity objectives.     

Students’ Views Regarding their Participation in University Governance: Implications for Distributed Leadership in Higher Education

The paper examines the views of students regarding the extent of their participation in the management of their university and their satisfaction with the degree of this participation. After an examination of the literature on student participation in university governance, the author presents the results of a survey based on data collected from 135 students of the University of Cyprus in 2002. According to the findings, respondents believed that their involvement in the management of their institution was very limited. This applied to both high and low levels of decision making, even though respondents recognised that their input was greater in less important decisions. The perceived limited involvement resulted in feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction among students, with the majority of respondents demanding a higher level of participation for all three decision making situations considered in the study. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for the practice of distributed leadership at contemporary universities, with emphasis on the need to abandon outdated leadership models. Specifically, it proposes measures for increasing student participation in university governance in the framework of a distributed leadership approach designed to empower the key stakeholders of higher education.     

Prioritizing the education of marginalized young people in Brazil: a collaborative approach

This paper explores constructions of the ‘new’ university student in the context of UK government policy to widen participation in higher education. New Labour discourse stresses the benefits of widening participation for both individuals and society, although increasing the levels of participation of students from groups who have not traditionally entered university has been accompanied by a discourse of ‘dumbing down’ and lowering standards. The paper draws on an ongoing longitudinal study of undergraduate students in a post–1992 inner‐city university in the UK to examine students' constructions of their experiences and identities in the context of public discourses of the ‘new’ higher education student. Many of the participants in this study would be regarded as ‘non‐traditional’ students, i.e. those students who are the focus of widening participation policy initiatives. As Reay et al. (2002) discovered, for many ‘non‐traditional’ students studying in higher education is characterized by ‘struggle’, something that also emerged as an important theme in this research. The paper examines the ways in which these new student identities both echo the New Labour dream of widening participation and yet continue to reflect and re‐construct classed and other identities and inequalities.     

Estranged students in higher education: navigating social and economic capitals

ABSTRACT

Family is widely regarded as a cornerstone of student support. When family support exist as an essential form of social capital making, rupture of family ties places students in a disadvantageous position. This paper focuses on estranged students’ accounts of their experiences of higher education, highlighting how capital dynamics shape their academic trajectories. Based on interviews with 21 estranged students, our research uncovers different dimensions of estranged students’ struggles and successes as they move through academia. This paper explores the social imagination that surrounds the university student, or ‘student experience’, as resting upon family support. The authors propose that widening participation policies and practices need to be more attuned to the realities that mark estranged students’ experiences, as they are not only impacted by the scarcity of either economic or social capital, but also by the instability of interrelated capitals that contribute to precarious and volatile experiences.     

Traditional governance structures ‐ current policy pressures: The academic senate and Canadian universities

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify current policy pressures in Canadian higher education and explore their implications for academic decision‐making bodies based on data we obtained in our national study on university senates. We describe two inter‐related sets of public policy pressures that have emerged in recent years in Canada including on‐going financial restraint and a renewed interest in university research. We conclude by reviewing a number of important implications for Canadian university governance in the context of contemporary policy pressures.     

Dimensions of student success: a framework for defining and evaluating support for learning in higher education

ABSTRACT

The capabilities students need for success during and beyond higher education extend far beyond specific discipline skills to include the development of productive mindsets, the management of life circumstances and the way they relate to others and identify with their profession. The provision of support for these capabilities at university can be both diverse in scope and diffuse in delivery. Consequently, the development of streamlined and integrated evaluation strategies to measure the extent to which these capabilities are being successfully delivered can be challenging. This paper describes how one Australian university used a collaborative process to design an evaluation framework for student learning services. The framework, a first for this university, represents the breadth of student support, including a typology of support for learning: connectedness, mindsets, self-management, professional identity and academic capabilities. These terms, coined as dimensions, form the scaffold of university-wide delivery of support for learning initiatives.     

TOKENS OF TRUTH

This article describes the three-year evolution of a team-taught teacher education class entitled the “Social Contexts of Education” in the setting of an urban high school. The course developed a number of innovative practices, including collaborative instruction by K-12 and university faculty and the development of a parent engagement strategy that increased parent participation by 59% in the school's Fall Parent Night in the second year of the collaborative. The authors describe the rewards and challenges of such site-based activities, and indicate that while school and university partnerships are highly valued in many contemporary policy initiatives, student teachers may resist such partnerships, particularly when they are based in urban school sites with which they may have had little prior experience.     

Public Administration Education in Britain

Abstract

Students, quality assessment bodies established by the Government to determine output‐related funding, and other groups in society are placing more and more pressure on tertiary institutions to improve the quality of their teaching practices. Some institutions are responding to this pressure by implementing student‐centred approaches to teaching, where the students and course leaders become equal partners in determining the course work assessment process, teaching methods and learning outcomes. To a certain extent the learning outcomes are set by the Government's quality assessment bodies. However the course work assessment process, teaching methods and interpretation of these pre‐specified learning outcomes, can still be negotiated with the students in a student‐centred manner.

Many disciplines in tertiary institutions currently face, or can expect to face in the future, extremely large class sizes. Many argue that it is not possible to implement a student‐centred approach in the large class setting. Indeed, they suggest that there is a negative relationship between class size and the quality of the learning experience.

This paper examines the application of a student‐centred approach to a final year business studies course involving over 100 students completing their BSc (Hons). A survey of the students at the end of the year indicated that, relative to the other courses being taken by the students, this course achieved an unusual treble: higher levels of student learning, higher student workload, and yet, higher levels of student enjoyment. These results would tend to dispel the myth that student‐centred approaches can only be successful in the smaller class setting.     

Exploring Facilitators to Participation for Wheelchair Users at a South African University

ABSTRACT

The focus of research to date has been on barriers rather than facilitating factors to participation for wheelchair users at higher education institutions (HEIs). This article reports on a single case study that explored the facilitating factors which contributed to a young male student with a spinal cord injury’s participation at a South African university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the student and two peers whom he identified as key informants. The interviews focused on exploring his lived experience to identify factors which the participants perceived as facilitators to participation at university. The four most prominent facilitating factors that emerged during the data analysis were his drive, attitude, disposition and relationships. As the young man fully engaged in a variety of occupations at university, his sense of independence and self-worth were enhanced, which in turn led to him having a meaningful and productive university life, being able to manage any of the barriers he encountered on campus.     

University quality of life and learning (UNIQoLL): An approach to student well-being,satisfaction and institutional change

Institutional self-evaluation is becoming increasingly pertinent as the student population becomes more diverse and higher education institutions become more customer focused. This paper describes the philosophy and early stages of a large-scale institutional self-evaluation project, based at and funded by the University of Leeds. UNIQoLL (UNIversity Quality of Life and Learning) aims to monitor student well-being over time, on a university-wide basis. It explores students' perceptions of strengths and weaknesses in the university's academic and service infrastructure and the relationship of these perceptions to student well-being. It aims to 'close the loop' by facilitating change in academic and service infrastructure in the light of emerging findings in order to enhance the student experience. The focus on student psychological well-being in addition to satisfaction, the longitudinal approach and the university- wide scope make UNIQoLL unique as a system of institutional self-evaluation. A pilot study in which 23 departments ( n =3667 students) participated is described to illustrate the procedures and underlying philosophy of UNIQoLL. Selected findings from two pilot surveys are presented to illustrate the potential of the project in providing relevant and useful information for academic departments, university support services and university managers. Illustrative data relating to academic issues, accommodation, student finances and student well-being are presented. Long-term success of an institutional self-evaluation project like UNIQoLL depends on the active cooperation of and ownership of findings by departments, students and university agencies. It also needs procedures to be sufficiently rigorous to generate robust findings and yet be sufficiently manageable to be feasible and sustainable.     

论大学章程建设中的学生参与

大学章程之于大学犹如宪法之于国家。完善和制定大学章程是建设中国特色现代大学制度的需要,也是提高学校自主办学能力、协调校内外利益相关者的制度保障。从目前大学章程的建设过程和文本来看,学生作为学校活动的重要参与者,在事关自身权益等重大事项方面仍存在着缺乏参与、缺失维权途径等问题。加快健全和完善大学章程,尊重和彰显学生权益,进一步明确学生参与范围,保障学生参与学校治理的畅通途径尤其必要。     

A Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Approach for College Students

Abstract

This article explores the need for university counseling centers (UCCs) to implement brief therapies and describes one such treatment, intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP), as a particularly viable therapeutic approach in this setting. Because ISTDP is not appropriate for all students seeking therapy, a careful assessment of the client is conducted prior to deciding which treatment approach is best suited for the client. The different restructuring techniques that comprise ISTDP are discussed. The article ends with a brief vignette from a therapy session with a student involving ISTDP techniques.     

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.

     

Ownership and governance: the privatisation of New Zealand universities

Following the Learning for Life (Ministry of Education 1989) reforms in New Zealand, enacted in the Education Amendment Act 1990, and the development of an equivalent full‐time student (EFTS) funding system and student loan scheme, a taskforce was established to investigate the feasibility of a capital charge scheme for tertiary institutions, with responsibility also for examining the issue of governance. In late 1995 the New Zealand Vice‐Chancellors’ Committee in 1995 ‘became concerned that there were proposals for change in the relationship of universities to Government being developed at the officials level’, decided to be proactive in reviewing proposals on governance and commissioned Graham Scott, former Secretary to the Treasury, to write a paper on the ownership and governance of New Zealand universities. In essence, Scott in association with his colleague Simon Smelt (Scott and Smelt 1995) argue that the Crown is actively seeking ways to contain or reduce its financial risk. On this basis they argue for a private ‘not‐for‐profit’ trust model which, they maintain, would reduce the risk and performance concerns of the Crown while at the same time increase the commercial freedom of universities. This paper reviews current debates on governance and ownership of New Zealand universities, commenting upon the trust model and recent attempts to develop a model of ownership monitoring for TEIs (tertiary education institutions). It begins by contextualizing the discussion in terms of both structural adjustment policy and New Zealand's model of public management, before focusing on two opposing models of devolution. The paper then proceeds to review the governance of higher education in New Zealand against the background of the shift from so‐called ‘state control’ to ‘state supervision’, focusing on public sector reform, the contitutional consequences of privatization, and the issue of ‘representation versus technocracy’ arising out of the consideration of the ‘not‐for‐profit’ model of governance.