Competing Higher Education Futures in a Globalising World

Globalisation, together with readier access to capability‐enhancing technologies and to technological insights once restricted to a few leading economies, are resulting in greater competition within Europe, and more widely within the developed world, for influence of all kinds (not just influence over the choices that foreign students make about the Higher Education courses on offer to them from Europe, but also influence of a more overtly imperialist kind, extending to the policies, incomes and futures of others). This article looks at trends in one important market for European Higher Education, the Middle East (particularly the GCC countries), which has many providers from North America and Australia. As observed by the late Edward Said, the USA is particularly forceful in the Middle East. Its technological superiority is accompanied by fervour to introduce American methods and curricula, and strong belief in their merit, reminiscent of the belief of the old French empire that ‘France had a “mission civilisatrice”, to civilize the natives”. The danger, highlighted in a recent UNESCO report ‘New Ignorances, New Literacies’, is that the natives will not be listened to. Is Europe listening more or less than the USA, and is it being listened to? Despite attention‐gaining initiatives such as the proposed European Institute of Technology, EIT, and the commitment of EU governments to the Lisbon goals on competitiveness, there are indications of a drop in the influence of European Higher Education institutions in the Middle East. This paper explores the kinds of issues that may be at work, and the implications for European Higher Education policy.     

PANdora’s box: distance learning technologies in Asia

This article provides an international perspective on learning technology developments, with emphasis on the special challenges of designing distance learning technologies (DLT) in the developing countries of Asia. A commentary on the current achievements and problems of DLT designers is provided, based on the authors’ recent study tour of distance education (DE) initiatives in 11 Asian countries: Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The authors compare these initiatives with others they observed in their previous visits to DE institutions in North America and Europe, China and Japan. The prospects for collaboration among DLT projects and research initiatives are discussed and the emergence of a ‘Pandora’s box’ of educational possibilities is described—innovative, economical, and occasionally troubling in the challenges it provides to accepted DE practice.     

AI in training (1980–2000): Foundation for the future or misplaced optimism?

Since the beginning of the use of technology to support training and learning there has always been the belief that such new technologies would be able to add value either by reducing costs or increasing effectiveness. The 1980s and early 1990s were a period of enormous optimism as to the promise that such technology could bring. The governments of Europe and the US were generous in their funding of research in this area. In Europe research and development programmes such as ESPRIT, DELTA, RACE, ERASMUS and COMETT, to name only a few, funded a wealth of initiatives aimed at advancing the use of technology. At the margins of the early initiatives was the belief that AI must have a part to play in these developments. This paper reviews the early initiatives and suggests reasons why the potential for the use of AI in education and training has never been truly fulfilled.     

Theorising community gardens as pedagogical sites in the food movement

Community gardens are rich non-school sites of informal adult learning and education in the North American food movement. To date, however, they have seldom been the subject of research in environmental education. This paper argues that theorising on public pedagogy and social movement learning from the field of Adult Education might effectively be applied to frame the study of learning in community gardens. A brief history of community gardens in the USA is first given, followed by an overview of theory on social movement learning. A review of empirical research on the individual and collective benefits of participation in community garden initiatives is then used to illustrate the potential for research on the connection between learning and these benefits. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for further research.     

Body size and form of black and white female youths measured during 1974-1975 at Columbia, South Carolina.

From original data at age 13 years on 386 North American females (201 black and 185 white), statistics are presented for 10 somatic variables. The 2 ethnic groups yield similar means for standing height, arm girth, and leg girth; the black females, contrasted with their white peers, are shorter in sitting height, longer in lower limb height, and narrower in hip width. The Columbia subjects are compared with black and white females studied in North America several decades ago, and with black and white females studied recently in other parts of North America and in Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Lesser Antilles.     

The Pipeline of Engineering Studies in Classical Directions

This paper presents a philosophy for the education of professional engineers in Belgium at university level. The programme taught at the Catholic University of Leuven, and specifically at the Power Engineering Division of the Electrical Engineering Department of the Engineering Faculty, serves as an example. This is a typical example of a classical topic suffering from a dearth of students. These are attracted instead by such perceived glamourous study areas as robotics, communications and electronics. We will analyse how modem techniques may be emphasised in classical studies and may help to make these directions more attractive, and how they may help to give students sufficient technical knowledge, without losing emphasis on generalism. We will show how the curriculum must be organised to account for the specific situation of Belgium in a unified Europe. A comparison will be made with the North American situation.     

Personal,career, and learning skills needs of first-year university students

This study investigates the personal, career and learning skills needs of first-year university students. Consenting first-year South African students completed structured questionnaires assessing these needs in 1993 (n=1,817) and 1994 (n=2,209). The need for assistance with personal, career and learning skills concerns was found to be much higher in the South African student samples than for North American students.     

论基督教与美国自由主义的源起

发端于欧洲、孕育于中世纪、兴起于市民社会的自由主义意识形态,最终能够在北美扎根,并非偶然,它与基督教文化的影响密不可分。美国早期殖民地的环境与实践使基督教中的自由主义因素得以发展:从基督教自由观到公民自由观,从基督教契约观到个人自由观。北美殖民地的宗教和种族多样性进而培植了美国的自由主义。美国立国时期的先驱们接受并发扬了欧洲的基督教文化和自由主义思想传统,使自由、民主、平等精神在北美大陆深入人心。因此,美国的宗教自由从一开始即是美国经济自由和政治自由的基石,基督教也因此而成为美国自由主义思想的渊源。     

早期北美皮毛贸易的兴起

皮毛贸易是北美早期经济开发的一种模式,是欧洲和北美之间的国际贸易。本文论述了伴随早期殖民活动展开的北美皮毛贸易的情况,主要论述皮毛贸易兴起的原因以及18世纪之前欧洲主要国家在北美展开皮毛贸易的情况。     

文化交流视野下的美国动画剧本改编策略解 析

美国动画剧本大多采用名著改编的方式，其名著不仅来源于欧美文化圈，还来自亚洲、非洲、拉丁美洲等文化圈。美国动画在名著改编过程中为适应动画片的特点，进行恰当的动画化，文化移转过程中也有价值观的变更。     

证据驱动的教育政策在欧洲的发展:举措与挑战

本文在欧洲范围内考察了证据驱动的教育政策的发展与进步、以及致力于证据生产和推广的组织机构。此外,还讨论了欧洲发展以证据为依据的教育政策所面临的一些最相关的挑战。本文分析了欧盟委员会和其他相关机构的官方文件。为识别欧洲教育部门发展证据文化的主要挑战与问题,文章也研究了世界范围内与证据驱动的教育相关的文献。本文有助于理解欧洲发展证据驱动的教育政策所采取的举措和面临的挑战。     

Fostering Community College Leaders: An Examination of Leadership Development Programs

The study reported in this paper identifies leadership development practices within community colleges by surveying North Carolina community college presidents and evaluating an individual North Carolina community college's leadership institute. The results of the study indicate these community colleges indeed have an interest in leadership development activities for its employees, and the examined leadership institutes are quite effective and beneficial for its participants. Based upon these findings, two sets of recommendations are offered for fostering leadership initiatives within community colleges, namely, a focus on more significant topics for community college employees and developing a leadership learning community within a community college.     

"七年战争"与美国独立战争的关系研究

“七年战争”后,英国出于转嫁财政压力的目的而向北美殖民地征税,危及了殖民地的经济利益和自由;同时,其他欧洲大国势力退出了北美,使殖民地没有了外部的威胁,他们敢于和母国对抗。在北美殖民地独立战争中,其他欧洲国家出于削弱英国以达到恢复欧洲“势力均衡”的目的,支持了殖民地的独立战争。“七年战争”对北美殖民地独立战争的爆发和胜利具有重要的促进作用。     

Cross-Cultural Concepts of Adolescence in Europe,the United States and Japan

In the twentieth century, in Europe and North America, the origin and development of the concept of adolescence owes much to the growth of universal education. However, in the latter years of the present century the countries of Europe and North America began to experience relative economic decline and, at the same time, develop growing respect for the educational achievements of the countries of the Pacific Rim. This paper seeks to examine models of adolescence more closely both in the countries of the first industrial revolution and in the country that leads the world in academic achievement – Japan.     

论沙俄在北美殖民的失败及影响

俄国在美洲的殖民活动曾比较活跃。后来之所以失败,一方面因为俄国农奴制的落后和俄美公司商业和政治上的失败;另一方面,俄、英、美在美洲的争夺目趋激烈,俄国在处于弱势的情况下,被迫调整对外战略,退出美洲而保障它在欧亚的势力。俄国的北美殖民活动及其退出对北美地区及国际关系产生了重大影响。     

女性在欧美文化冲突中取向研究——亨利·詹姆斯小说中的20世纪初女性形象

在亨利詹姆斯＂国际题材＂小说中,塑造了众多踏上欧洲朝圣之路的美国文化女性形象,她们对欧洲优势的向往,也并非是为了物质层面的需求,而纯粹是一种精神的企盼,并带有一种强烈的美国文化意识和自我道德意识。本文主要以亨利.詹姆斯小说中的女性形象探讨从新世界来到旧大陆的女性在面临欧美文化的冲突时的文化选择和道德选择。     

An entangled history of ideas and ideals: feminism,social and educational reform in children’s libraries in Belgium before the First World War

This article examines one of the first children’s libraries in continental Europe, founded by Belgian feminists in Ghent around 1910. The transnational cultural transfer and transformation of the American children’s‐library paradigm is studied from the perspective of “entangled history”. The authors reveal a history entangled in transnational processes and partially overlapping intellectual networks of feminists, social and Lebens‐reformers and progressive educationalists. It is contended that the American notion of children’s libraries served the founders’ feminist, educational, social and Lebens‐reformist views. Discussion includes both national and transnational resonances, notably the interconnections with the Heures Joyeuses in Brussels and with similar Dutch initiatives.     

Framing ICT-enabled Innovation for Learning: the case of one-to-one learning initiatives in Europe

This article discusses 1:1 learning initiatives in Europe in the context of a mapping framework of ICT-enabled innovation for learning. The aim of the framework, visualised as a spider's web, is two-fold: (i) to provide a further understanding of the nature of ICT-enabled innovation for learning; and (ii) to depict the impact of existing and emerging innovative initiatives using ICT in the Education and Training context. We present 1:1 learning initiatives in Europe as a case of ICT-enabled innovation for learning with significant scale, scope, and impact at system level and being implemented in real settings. We identified and analysed 29 1:1 learning initiatives from 19 European countries reaching a total of approximately 620,000 schools and 16,800,000 students. The application of the framework to the case of 1:1 learning in Europe (implemented in multi-faceted educational settings) showed the current state of development and the emerging trends regarding the nature, the reach, the target groups and the impact of 1:1 innovation in learning. Regarding the nature of innovation, 1:1 learning strategies in Europe can be considered as mostly incremental. There is a need to progressively move the focus away from the devices and infrastructure to the learners and to 1:1 pedagogies. The framework can contribute (i) to policy interventions -at micro, meso and macro level- aimed at diversity and systemic implementation and (ii) to strategic planning by a multiplicity of actors such as policy makers, researchers and practitioners, increasing the impact of ICT-enabled innovation in Education and Training.     

Counseling in Costa Rica: A Comparative Study

With one of the world’s most comprehensive universal healthcare systems, medical tourism in Costa Rica has increased significantly over the past few decades. American tourists save up to 80 % of comparative costs for procedures, from heart surgery to root canal treatment. Although many Costa Rican healthcare professionals receive training in North America or Europe, there can be differences when compared to the same professionals in foreign countries. This paper examines the educational and role differences between counselors in the United States and Costa Rica. Implications for tourists in need of psychotherapeutic services while abroad or counseling professionals seeking foreign work experiences are discussed.     

A ROMANIAN STUDENT ABROAD CONSIDERS FOUR MYTHS OF AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION

One consequence of western aid to Romanian academic life has been the opportunity for young Romanian scholars, schoocco1led in their early university years under the aegis of the communist system, to study with western European and North American visiting scholars in Romania, and/or to attend higher education institutions in both western Europe and North America, and generally to participate in worldwide academic life. Such vital inter‐cultural, inter‐social, and inter‐political life experiences provide the expressed raison d'être of western academic aid.