The demand for tertiary education — An Australian study

In this article the demand for tertiary education by successful Higher School Certificate Candidates in Victoria is modelled along the lines of Handa and Skolnik (1975). This particular component of the overall demand is studied because of the particularly plentiful and accurate information available. The estimated effect of youth unemployment on demand raises a number of interesting hypotheses related to the traditional human capital variables of opportunity cost of education and expected future returns. These hypotheses are evaluated using the developed demand model.     

Lifelong learning: Implications for institutions

Lifelong learning poses a large number ofthreats and opportunities for the traditionalhigher education institutions. Not justprogramme offerings and means of delivery willhave to be restructured, but, morefundamentally, universities and colleges willhave to rethink and reshape their businessconcept, that is: their way of creating valueand maintaining their competitive edge overother providers in the education system.It will be argued that a business concept thatis based on the idea of creating value throughenhancing differentiation requires highereducation providers to move as much as they canto a student-centered provision of educationand training. This has far-reachingconsequences for the curriculum, the concept ofresearch, the interaction with students, andthe relationships with other institutions inthe education system. It may very well lead toan education system in which there is room forsome universities to transform themselves intodual-sector institutions, that contain both ahigher education part and a vocational part.     

The contingency rules theory of persuasion: An empirical test

The contingency rules theory of persuasion, as alternative to the traditional laws model, assumes that: (1) persuasive behaviors, including compliance‐gaining and responding activities, are governed antecedently by five varieties of self‐evaluative and adaptive behavioral contingency rules; and (2) the context where persuasive communicators interact determines the particular configuration of rules governing their persuasive choices. This research assessed the power of the proposed five‐part rule structure to predict subjects’ responses to messages as functions of the context variables, ego‐involvement, schematic complexity, and affective orientation toward a persuasive issue. Results supported the contingency rules model, in that a significant proportion of the variance in subjects’ behavioral intentions was explained by self‐evaluative and adaptive rules in each context examined in the research. Moreover, the particular mix of rules accounting for intended actions varied sharply as a function of subjects’ levels of ego‐involvement with the persuasive issues, the complexity of their cognitions regarding the issues, and their affective stances toward the issues. The advantages and limitations of the contingency rules theory vis‐a‐vis the laws paradigm are discussed.     

An empirical analysis of the performance of Vietnamese higher education institutions

This article provides an analysis of the academic performance of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Vietnam with 50 universities and 50 colleges in 2011/12. The two-stage semiparametric data envelopment analysis is used to estimate the efficiency of HEIs and investigate the effects of various factors on their performance. The findings reveal that HEIs in the surveyed sample show that there are still potential avenues to improve their existing performance. There appears to be a difference in the efficiencies of public and private HEIs in the reported year. It is noted that the inefficiency of HEIs are not entirely a result of managerial performance, but also influenced by other factors such as location, age and the contribution of tuition fees. Our results are expected to provide more understanding of the operational efficiency of HEIs for educational managers and policymakers to find possible solutions to improve the performance of Vietnamese higher education.     

Opening dimensions of variation: An empirical study of learning in a Web-based discussion

The discussions held in specifying an automaticvehicle as a project in a distance work-relatedcourse are in focus for an analysis of learningin networked discussions. Learning ischaracterised as coming to experience things indistinctly new ways, in keeping with theunderlying phenomenographic research approachfor the study. Group discussions are seen asone feature in the experience of, and theformation of, the context for learning, in anexperiential interpretation of activitysystems. The analysis has led to theidentification of pivotal contributions todiscussions that can be said to afford learningwithin the group, in the sense of openingdimensions of variation around criticalfeatures of the task. This is developed toproduce a taxonomy of contributions, withparticipatory, factual, reflective and learningcontributions, suggested to be necessary,though not sufficient, conditions for learning.The taxonomy is illustrated and discussed, asare its implications for tutoring in networkedcourses of this type.     

A conceptual approach for blended leadership for tertiary education institutions

Over the last 20 years, the tertiary education sector has adopted new administrative management approaches, with the aim of improving accountable and strategic focus. Over the same period, the question of how to build leadership capacity to improve learning and teaching and research outcomes has led to discussion on what constitutes academic leadership. While both these advances are needed, what is missing is integration between the two such that academics and professional staff are engaged collaboratively to achieve learning and teaching and research outcomes that are accountable within a strategic focus. This article builds on research into the use of distributed leadership to build leadership for learning and teaching that resulted in the design of a conceptual framework for distributed leadership. Based on this conceptual framework, it proposes a conceptual blended leadership approach to engage academics and professional staff working in collaboration.     

Australian experience with co-ordinating agencies for tertiary education

This article reviews Australian experience since the late 1950s with UGC-type co-ordinating agencies for tertiary education. It focuses particularly on factors which have influenced the development and adaptation of co-ordinating agencies, the establishment and transformation over time of the Australian Universities Commission, and recent developments in co-ordinating mechanisms at both Commonwealth and state levels. An attempt is made to evaluate the suitability of current arrangements and to consider likely changes.     

Meritorious work and faculty rewards: An empirical test of the relationship

Previous research that tested the relationships between faculty performance in research, teaching, and service and faculty rewards has been inconclusive for several reasons. This case study of a large department at a midwestern research university examines these relationships. In this department, teaching quality was found to be a significant determinant of salary, though teaching quantity was not. While research, as measured by publications and presentations, had a significant effect on one year's salary increment, it did not affect salaries over several years. Administrative service was found to be significantly related to salary, as was public service. Implications of the study for research and practical applications of the methodology are examined.     

应用元认知策略提高英语口语能力的实证研究

理工科学生口语自学能力薄弱,缺乏科学有效的方法,融合元认知策略培训的英语口语学习,对理工科学生英语口语提高产生了积极的影响。学生自主学习意识得到增强,并且计划、评估和监控等元认知能力也得到了提高。通过对A、B、C三组学生访谈及他们学年初、学年中与学年末的成绩比较,证明元认知策略培训十分有助于学生英语口语水平的提高,且坚持将元认知策略融合于口语学习中会取得更好的效果。     

Evaluating the effectiveness of KooLKIDS: An interactive social emotional learning program for Australian primary school children

The effectiveness of universal social emotional learning (SEL) programs are dependent on the incorporation of best practice principles, including an evaluative component. In the present study, the effects of a best practice, teacher-led SEL program was examined with 854 children aged 8–12 years. KooLKIDS uses an interactive multimedia format and animated character to help children develop their emotion regulation capacities, social and friendship skills, empathy and compassion for others, and self-esteem. A quasi-experimental waitlist-control design was used to examine the impact of KooLKIDS on social and emotional competence, behavioral and emotional problems, academic achievement and effort. Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated significant increases in social and emotional competence, and reductions in internalizing and externalizing problems in children post KooLKIDS program in the intervention group. The findings suggest that KooLKIDS has strong potential as a teacher-led, classroom-based, structured program for enhancing children's social and emotional learning.     

Differential use by male and female students of the Counselling Service of an Australian tertiary college: Implications for service design and counselling models

Conclusion In conclusion, the operation of systematic data gathering procedure in the RMIT Counselling Service has provided a body of data from a number of years, enabling analysis of sex differentials in utilization of the Service. Some differentials have been indicated and further lines of research suggested to ensure that the advertising strategies and counselling models employed by the Service are better matched to the gender characteristics of its client population.     

The weight of inquiry: conflicting cultures in New Zealand's tertiary institutions

Considerable problems have arisen in New Zealand universities as a consequence of the conflict between the statutory role of the university as the ‘critic and conscience of society’ and the dominant intellectual orthodoxy of cultural essentialism. A number of examples are used to show the extent to which culturalist ideological conformity compromises the scientific and critical analysis of social phenomena, thereby limiting the university's ability to serve as the critic and conscience of society. The New Zealand examples are located in the global context of culturalist orthodoxy. The writers claim that, as a consequence of the shift from class to identity politics that characterises multiculturalism, administrators and academics in a number of Western universities are now obliged to defer to politically powerful interest groups that derive their power to condemn from culturalist principles.     

An application of Jones and James' perceived climate questionnaire in Australian higher educational institutions

Attempts to explore the role of organisational climate in organisational effectiveness have been hampered by inadequacies in existing climate measures (e.g. Cameron, 1978a, 1978b). This paper describes the application of Jones & James (1979) perceived climate measures on a sample of senior level Australian academics. Six climate factors were identified: organisational conflict and ambiguity; two leadership components (facilitation and supportiveness; directiveness); work group cooperation in policy committees and immediate workgroups; and organisational and professional esprit. The data reduction procedures used produced results which strongly confirmed Jones and James findings but involved only approximately one-third of their variables. This represents a more efficient measurement approach and furthers the opportunity for understanding and management of climates in effective organisational outcomes. Implications for future studies of senior managerial perceptions of climate are discussed.     

An empirical test of a communibiological model of trait verbal aggressiveness

The purpose of this study was to test Beatty and McCroskey's communibiological model of trait verbal aggressiveness. In general, this model views trait verbal aggressiveness as an expression of temperament; specifically, that trait verbal aggressiveness represents low thresholds for the fight or flight (FFS) neurobiological system. This model further contends that behavioral inhibition circuitry (BIS) moderates FFS activation by tempering aggressive impulses, otherwise FFS activation would manifest itself in the form of physical rather than verbal attacks. Beatty and McCroskey (1997) propose that low thresholds for stimulating the behavioral activation system (BAS) should be related to trait verbal aggressiveness to the extent that the construct involves a proactive rather than a purely reactive interpersonal function. Because previous research indicated that psychoticism (P), neuroticism (N) and extroversion (E) represent psychological manifestations of the FFS, BIS, and BAS systems, respectively, hypotheses linking P, N, and E to trait verbal aggressiveness (VAS) were tested. A multiple regression equation based on disattenuated correlations explained approximately 46% of the variance in VAS scores. Specifically, (1) the results for P and N were consistent with predictions derived from Beatty and McCroskey's model, and (2) the results for E were indicative of a purely reactive function of trait verbal aggressiveness. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

An empirical test of anchoring the NEP scale in environmental ethics

Some argue that the new ecological paradigm (NEP) scale is incomplete and does not adequately reflect contemporary debates in environmental ethics. We focus on one specific shortcoming of the NEP, its lack of an item to reflect an ecocentric viewpoint. To test this concern, we administered the NEP to three different audiences and included one additional item to capture an ecocentric perspective. The empirical tests were designed to determine whether the addition of such an item changed results in a meaningful way. We find evidence that NEP may already capture ecocentric viewpoints, but our investigation leads us to question the validity and reliability of the NEP in capturing ecological worldview.     

高职课程选择的基本原则

课程选择即课程内容选择，它是课程开发的基本问题之一。高职课程选择有这样一些基本的原则：职业定向原则、多元互补原则、动态生成原则和人文渗透原则。     

基于用户互动模型的微博营销效果实证研究——以饭店业为例

随着微博的兴起,利用微博开展营销成为企业有效的营销方式。通过文献研究发现,微博数、微博内容、用户数、转发量对企业微博营销效果具有正相关。建立上述变量之间的多元线性回归模型,并以饭店业为例进行实证研究,搜集6家典型饭店微博的相关数据,使用SPSSl6．0软件进行回归分析。研究结果表明：微博数对企业微博营销效果相关度不显著;微博内容对用户数、转发量和企业微博营销效果有显著正相关,且功能型微博相关度高于情感型微博;用户数和转发量对企业微博营销效果有高度相关,且在0．01水平显著。针对6家饭店数据实证分析发现,黄龙饭店转发量因子o：值最大,开元酒店集团的品牌影响力a0因子得分最高,微博营销效果相对最好。