Higher Degree Completion and Completion Times

In discussing aspects of postgraduate student progress, currently under scrutiny as a potential performance indicator, this paper draws upon the most recent research in the Australian context. Thereby it sheds new light on differences by discipline and gender, further illuminates the circumstantial, individual and institutional factors which may lead to long enrolments and attrition, and examines some of the measures that could be taken to address the issue.     

The Influence of Institutional Retention Climates on Student Persistence to Degree Completion: A Multilevel Approach

Using multi-institutional data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s (CIRP) annual survey of entering freshmen, the Higher Education Research Institute’s (HERI) Faculty Surveys, campus registrars’ offices, and IPEDS data, we evaluated the extent to which peer institutional retention climates and faculty perceived campus climates influenced individual 6-year retention rates. We used hierarchical generalized linear models (HGLM) to examine the extent to which institutional climate (as measured by peer institutional retention climate and faculty perceived climate), net of students’ ability, expectations, and family socioeconomic status, influence students’ persistence behavior. We found that institutional retention climate, as defined by a student body’s aggregated report of withdrawal intentions, did independently determine whether a student would persist or not. While past research has overlooked peer and faculty climates, the results from this work call for the attention of peer institutional retention climates.

The Influence of Age at Degree Completion on College Wage Premiums

Although studies have shown a significant wage gain associated with the possession of a college degree, few have considered at what age the degree was received to estimate this college wage premium. Given the recent increase in the enrollment of older students, this study examines how the size of the premium is affected by college timing while focusing on a possible gender difference. Results from fixed-effects models show that those who complete their degree at 25 or older receive a significantly lower premium than those who graduate at a younger age, while the penalty for late graduation is much smaller for women than men. A further analysis suggests that the late college penalty is partly due to the delayed onset of the cumulative benefits higher education provides, and that women are penalized less for late degree completion because they gain less from college education over the course of time to begin with.     

The RA and TA experience: Impediments and benefits to graduate study

This study examines the growth and professional development of graduate students and compares these outcomes for students who have held assistantships and those who have not. In general, students perceive the assistantship to be a positive experience, but teaching assistants report less of a contribution to their professional development than do research assistants. Students with the without assistantship experience report the same growth in human relation and reflective thinking skills, but teaching assistants report the least growth in research skills, less even than students not having assistantships. Students with assistantships, both teaching and research, are more likely to be active within the external academic community by participating in professional societies and higher levels of scholarly productivity.This paper was prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Boston, November 1991.     

美国教育硕士培养变革的经验及启示——从基于课程到基于标准

20世纪80年代以来,美国基于课程的传统教育硕士计划质量低下,引发了教育硕士培养计划的变革。在这场变革中,国家专业教学标准(NBPTS)和评价方法作为指导框架,起到了关键性的作用。美国的经验和做法对我国的教育硕士培养改革具有借鉴意义。     

Impediments to communication in transition to terminal illness

Viewing themselves in two hypothetical roles-as terminal patients and as family members related to a terminal patient-48 adults were surveyed on their expectations and preferences about how information should be communicated when a terminal illness is first diagnosed. Identifying with the patient role, respondents believed patients should be told the truth immediately and unconditionally. In contrast, respondents indentifying with family members perceived conditions under which the rights of patients should be abridged. In this latter role, male respondents were significantly less likely than males to imagine themselves as able to inform a loved one about a terminal illness. Nevertheless, for both sexes, early childhood experiences communicating about death and dying were found to be a better predictor of the case with which respondents can imagine communicating with a terminally ill loved one than are current adult attitudes and experiences. Regardless of personal ease in discussing death, however, most respondents thought the physician, not family members or other health care professionals, should decide when and how the terminally ill adult should be informed--a noteworthy finding in light of the fact that 83 percent of all respondents consider physicians poorly equipped for this role.     

Admitting Impediments: or things to do with bodies in the classroom

This paper indicates how new theorising of the body can be brought to bear on pedagogical work as an erotic field. I make a case that the body of the teacher needs to be remembered in writing about teaching and learning, because it produces desire in pedagogical events, for good as well as ill. I show the ways in which recent work on corporeality counters mainstream educational writing about students and teachers. I then comment on some brief accounts of the experience of learning, using some of these concepts as a framework for my analysis.     

知识共享过程中的障碍与对策分析

一、知识共享是一个传播的过程知识与信息有密切的关系。按照信息论的观点,知识是同类信息的累积。Zack(1999)将数据定义为观察到的事实,信息是在一个有意义背景下中的数据,知识则是信息的有意义有组织的累积。知识的传递是以各种信息为载体的,是随着信息的传递而传递的。各种知识以信息的形式由知识拥有者向知识接受者传递,达到知识拥有者与知识接受者之间的知识共享,这是知识共享的基本过程。按照“信息论”关于信息运动的一般模型,信息运动基本过程可简化为:由信源产生的信息,编码后经过信道传输,再进行译码才能被信宿接收。这是信息传…     

Enhancing the Student Experience for Direct Entrants to the Penultimate Year of Undergraduate Degree Programmes

In higher education, modifications to student induction would be broadly beneficial in order to take account of the changing student population and its increasingly diverse needs. A case study of one rather innovative approach to induction is described where a pre-semester credit-bearing bridging module is mounted. This module is designed for Higher National Diplomates from the Further Education sector who have gained direct entry to the penultimate year of a university degree course. The module has five broad aims: to facilitate general integration into the university; to familiarise students with the main methods of teaching, learning and assessment that they will experience; to develop the skills necessary for successful independent study in higher education; to build self-confidence; and to improve the appropriate skills which will enhance career prospects.     

Determinants of Attraction,Retention and Completion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Degree Research Students: A Systematic Review to Inform Future Research Directions

Expanding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian (hereafter respectfully Indigenous) talent pool to undertake valuable roles in business, health, education, academia, government, policy development and community development is critical for addressing current disparities between Indigenous and other Australians. Parity of access and engagement with education plays a key role in facilitating participation in these roles but has not yet been attained. This article provides an initial systematic review of literature on the state of the evidence regarding access/attraction, retention and completions for Indigenous Higher Degree Research (HDR) students. This article identifies the quantity (number examined), nature (e.g. focus of study), quality (peer reviewed and evidence of methodological rigour) and characteristics (e.g. publication type, authorship) of the limited publications. Using specific search strings (words or phrases of relevance to the topic), a systematic review methodology was employed to search nine databases and grey (non-peer reviewed) literature from 1995 to 2015. The resultant 12 publications were mined with quality assessed and a predetermined framework used to extract and synthesise the characteristics from individual publications. This research contributes to existing literature about Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs internationally in identifying significant cultural and institutional barriers and highlighting institutional enablers which can contribute to attraction, retention and completion. Building on the prior limited research reported in the review, the article highlights the need for further research and provides an initial agenda of directions for universities and government to redress the disparity in entry and completion of Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs.

     

当代文化民族主义的兴起背景及其理论困境

现代社会的发展强化了各民族国家尤其是发展中国家的“文化寻根意识”,而这种意识将激发文化层面的民族主义,即文化民族主义的兴起。但是,这种民族主义由于本身蕴涵着多种矛盾性的存在,导致其在实践中面临着诸多困境,使其理论诉求很难落到实处。     

农民工子女进入城市公立学校之制度性阻抗

“两为主”政策的出台,在制度层面保障了农民工子女平等的受教育权,但是政策的出台并不等于问题的解决。从政策施行的实际效果来看,收效甚微。其原因主要是存在教育制度与其他社会制度的冲突、教育制度内部的冲突、正式教育制度与非正式教育制度的冲突。实现各制度之间的均衡协调是保障农民工子女顺畅地进入城市公立学校就读的关键。     

拔尖人才培养的国际经验:荣誉学位的视角

培养拔尖人才已成为当今世界各国高等教育发展的共同主题与诉求。英国、新加坡、澳大利亚和美国的实践表明,荣誉学位制度具有提高学生学习自主性与积极性、促进人才培养国际化、满足学生个性化需求等优势,这些拔尖人才培养的国际经验为中国新时代本科生拔尖人才培养提供了可资借鉴的现实启示与路径:统筹推进本科教育改革与拔尖人才培养,建立荣誉学位系统;严苛授予条件,扩大授予对象;提供个性化荣誉课程,完善培养方案;承认并保证荣誉学位含金量一致,成立第三方机构。     

博士生为什么延期?——国外博士生毕业时间影响因素研究

20世纪80年代以来,博士生延期毕业问题已经引起各国高等教育学界的关注。博士生毕业时间的影响因素可归纳为个人先赋性、外部环境、个体自致性三个方面。个人先赋性对博士生毕业时间的影响并不显著;学科文化、导师等大学支持系统、社会就业环境等,会间接影响博士生的毕业时间;博士生的个体自致性特征是影响毕业进程的关键因素。外部环境和个体自致性因素的叠加、消减作用,使博士生毕业时间的影响因素呈现出个性化、动态化和交互性的特点。对其内在机理的深入研究,有助于对博士生进行追踪式的个性化指导。     

一类低秩矩阵填充问题的快速优化算法

低秩矩阵填充问题是一个秩最小化问题,通常凸松弛为核范数最小化问题来求解.该问题针对有无噪声或有无约束的情形需要分开求解,这使得求解过程变得繁琐.本文建立了一个基于核范数最小化的低秩矩阵填充统一模型,借助临近算子,设计了一种有效且具有收敛性保证的不动点凸优化算法求解该模型.通过对仿真数据和真实数据的数值实验,本文提出的算法与经典的算法相比,在计算效率和精度上都展现出较好的效果.