Towards Total Quality Management in Higher Education at Aston University—a case study

The theme of Quality has been embedded in Aston University's strategic plans for long term success during a decade of change brought about by the national policy to restructure the British Higher Education system. The philosophy and techniques of Quality Management have been applied as a means of ensuring continuous improvement and progress towards Aston's mission to be a leading technological university. The strategic plan has led to major projects including academic restructuring to ensure that departments cover disciplines consistent with the mission, and the provision of a high quality support infrastructure. The plan for growth is rooted in the concepts of understanding who the customers are, in understanding their needs and serving them well. The formation of a Quality Council has marked a further stage in the realisation of an integrated Quality Management programme. The purpose of the Council is to review the University's processes and Critical Success Factors in order to identify key areas for improvement. An extensive education and training programme has been launched and there has been experimentation with the vital Quality Management technique of Quality Function Deployment.     

Quality Assurance in Open and Distance, Education： a Case Study of Kota Open University

After a brief analysis of the concept of quality in open and distance education, information technology for quality assurance and Indian initiative for quality improvement, the paper examines the quality assurance measures at Kota Open University under the following areas ： planning academic programmes ; developing academic programmes ; producing learning materials ; implementing programmes ; reviewing courses/programmes ; and ing human resources.     

A Case Study of Students’ Motivation in College Algebra Courses

This paper examines data from a larger study that focused upon students’ experiences and motivations in a college algebra course. The study revealed that students failed this course because of various factors and continued to view this course as a “gatekeeper” class. Through a stepwise multiple regression, the analysis of the ARCS instrument showed that Attention, Relevance, and Confidence were strong predictors of Satisfaction in the course.     

Study on the Needs Analysis of Non-English Majors for English Learning——A Case Study on Dongchang College of Liaocheng University

Needs analysis is an important link in the process of course designs,and it is the important basis for teachers to organize teaching and evaluate teaching results.Based on the theory of needs analysis,taking questionnaire method,choosing 100 non-English majors of Dongchang College of Liaocheng University as research objects,the thesis investigates the current situation of English learning and teaching.     

On Reducing the College Students' Oral Anxiety by Teacher feedback——A Case Study of Guizhou University

With closer contact with the other countries,China needs a communication bridge—English,to help us adapt to this international world.So there is no doubt about the importance of oral English.There are still a lot of difficulties to improve language learner’s spoken English.In this thesis,the author use observation,questionnaire and interview to prove that teacher feedback is capable to on reducing language learner’s anxiety and improve their oral English ability.     

Programmed Learning in Engineering Education?A Preliminary Study

A recent study of programmed learning, including experimental use in an electrical engineering department, indicated that the most fruitful application of teaching machine methods is in the presently nonprogrammed or loosely programmed hours spent by students outside classroom or laboratory periods. Programs already developed for use in this study have been concerned with analytical skills; further programs under development are concerned with concepts. Larger scale experiments are planned in which additional questions can be answered, particularly as to whether exposure to programmed instruction adversely affects the capacity of the student to learn independently.     

University Studies and Concept of Reality—A Study of Effects of Education

The project's background

Research about the effects of education at an individual level are to a great extent concentrated to the higher levels of the educational system. Ever since the 1930's extensive research has been conducted, not least in the United States, about what effects on knowledge and values originate from university training. As this project has as its main purpose—with examples from a number of different fields of study—to describe and try to understand enduring effects of a cognitive nature which higher education can contribute to, there is reason to pay attention to those features in previous research that have concerned growth of knowledge and/or cognitive development. According to a survey that was made in a different context (Dahlgren, 1982), it is possible to classify the cognitive effects of education into three levels. The first level might be the one that is most evidently associated with formal education, i.e., the level where specific knowledge and skills within different subjects appear. It is of course not surprising to find that students that are about to leave an education where they have taken extensive courses in, for instance, biology and chemistry perform better at tests with problems of a scientific nature than a group of students that have recently started the same kind of education.     

Adult Education and Developmentin Rural Areas—— A Case Study on Hebei Agricultural College,China

Life- long education aims mainly at adults asthe receivers of its educational programs.Thus,how to successfully conduct adult education be-comes a key issue as to tell whether life- long edu-cation is a success or failure.Adult education inrural areas,esp.,in developing countries,seemsto be more important,since the more advanced asociety enjoys its civilization,the more people willenjoy its freedom,and the less restrictions theywill suffer from.Whereas in a less advanced soci-ety,people are mu…     

A Study of Urban–Rural Differences in College Student Employment—Based on National College Sample Survey Data

Abstract

Using large sample data from the 2013 National College Graduate Employment Survey, this article compares and analyzes differences in the job-seeking process and results for college students with urban and rural household registrations and uses a measurement model to explore factors affecting the starting salaries of college students. The research found that in the job seeking results, college students with urban household registrations had higher starting salaries than did college students with rural household registrations, and a greater proportion of college students with urban household registrations entered the main labor market. An overall analysis of the job seeking process shows that compared to college students with rural household registrations, college students with urban household registrations first showed a greater inclination to choosing management and technical professions. Furthermore, they obtain better quality positions by investing more economic resources, making more effective use of information channels, and using less time for job seeking. Finally, a study of the factors impacting starting salaries found that gender factors have a greater impact on college students with urban household registrations, the contribution rate of academic degrees toward starting salary is greater for college students with rural household registrations, and the intergenerational transmission of extent of education and income is more significant for graduates with urban household registrations.     

Does Neoliberalist-based Internationalized Higher Education Function in Chi-nese Context? A Case Study of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Despite the dispute on whether the impacts of globalization and internationalization on the development of economy, society, culture and education are true, the fact we cannot deny is that neoliberalis...     

Does Neoliberalist-based Internationalized Higher Education Function in Chinese Context? A Case Study of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Despite the dispute on whether the impacts of globalization and internationalization on the development of economy,society,culture and education are true,the fact we cannot deny is that neoliberalism and marketization have impose a great transformation on our daily lives(Mok,2010).China,as one of the powerful countries in the world,is inevitable to be involved in this trend.While confronting the changes in higher education in mainland China brought by neoliberalism,I intend to propose a question:Does Neoliberalist-based internationalized higher education function in Chinese context?In line with my research question,this article attempts to examine the validity of neoliberalism through a case study of University of Nottingham Ningbo China.The next section is a theoretical approach,and then is a case study.In conclusion,this article indicates that the function of neoliberalism,especially in the higher education in mainland China,is still way off.     

A Pragmatic Study of Gender Differences in Verbal Communication——A Case Study of Desperate Housewives

Male and Female languages refer to those which are usually used by men and women or those which characterize gender differences. Based on the theories of sociolinguistics and pragmatics, this thesis mainly provides a contrastive analysis of gender differences in conversation of Desperate Housewives from the perspectives of politeness principles. It aims at investigating how the pragmatic principles are violated or observed in the conversations of the characters in the series, finding out some to minimize the misunderstandings in inter-gender communication and achieve effective inter-gender communication.     

Analysis on Application of Cohesive Devices in C-E Translation——A Case Study of English majors of Yulin University

This paper is an empirical study which investigated English-majored sophomores' use of cohesive devices in performing C-E translation tasks in Yulin University.Through experimental analysis,the author comes up with three major findings,which can facility students C-E Translation.     

Reference in Translation——A Case Study of Translation of Kong Yiji

Reference is one of the cohesive devices of discourse,the comparison of which between English and Chinese will benefit translation practice,and a understanding of the differences in this aspect between the two languages is helpful in the reproduction of the original coherence of discourse.Based on the data of the Chinese novel "Kong yij" and its English translation,this paper will make a detailed analysis of the differences in reference and propose some translation strategies.     

A Tentative Study of Foreign Language Attrition over the Period of Winter Vacation—A Survey of College Students in Yanshan University

This paper first presents a review of language attrition research with its defi nition and classifi cation. Then, through a survey of college students, the infl uence of shortterm language attrition over the learners' cognition and affection is identifi ed. To decrease the negative factors, some pedagogical implications and suggestions are discussed and provided in the end.     

A Survey of University Students＇ Smoking -- A Case Study of Students of Inner Mongolia Normal University

大学生吸烟作为一种社会现象,其起因在一定程度上受到吸烟者外在环境与主观认知两方面的影响,也折射出当代大学生的生活方式、交往方式和社会心态。本文以内蒙古师范大学在校大学生为调查对象,对于在校大学生吸烟现象（主动吸烟与被动吸烟）进行了问卷调查,并对样本结论呈现出的特点进行分析,提出了采取相应措施以控制和降低在校大学生吸烟率。     

Russian in the University Curriculum: A Case‐study of the Impact of the First World War on Language Study in Higher Education in Britain

The outbreak of the First World War and the emergence of Russia as Britain’s ‘glorious ally’ swiftly changed public attitudes in Britain, which had been largely, but not entirely, hostile to Russia. The sense that Britain needed to cure its ‘abysmal ignorance’ of Russia, coupled with the strong desire to replace Germany, the enemy, as a trading partner with Russia led to the initiation of the teaching of the language at eight or more university‐standard establishments. The material and intellectual foundation of the nascent departments of Russian was a partnership between commercial‐financial and academic interests. Money from business sources was crucial in the introduction of Russian teaching at several of them. It was, however, only at Nottingham that the commercial sector actively tried (unsuccessfully) to control the behaviour of the college by restricting promised funding. Meanwhile, partnership with technical schools in recruiting teachers was a significant feature of the introduction of Russian to the higher and further education sector. Staff recruited consisted of both British scholars and expatriate Russians (or other Slavs). Russian departments or divisions were often actively supported within the university by specialists in other fields, who were strongly of the opinion that any serious university system should accommodate the study of a society and culture as significant as that of Russia. When it became clear after the October Revolution that Russia would not continue to support Britain, France and America in the war against Germany, the withdrawal of interest external to the universities did not cause the immediate demise of Russian studies in higher education; they were by this time established firmly enough to survive for intellectual reasons alone, and indeed they survive to this day in most of the institutions discussed here. University College, Nottingham, later to become the University of Nottingham, exemplifies in microcosm the principal trends and features of the national situation.