Academic department prestige: A new measure based on the doctoral student labor market

Past rankings of academic departments have been based on a variety of factors including faculty publications, citations, and external perceptions. However well designed, these studies are conceptually flawed as means of assessing prestige. This paper views prestige as an ex ante condition related to an existing stratification system, rather than as an ex post result of productivity. As such, prestige can be measured by the academic department's ability to place its doctoral recipients. As a means of illustrating the use of this approach, an empirical analysis of accounting faculty placements from graduate schools in the United States was conducted. The resultant rankings were also evaluated for stability over time and against other program characteristics to illustrate the validity and the uniqueness of the measure.     

The reporting of university league table employability rankings: a critical review

Which are the best and worst universities in the UK for getting a job when you graduate? This question attracts readers of the employability rankings in national league tables. This study critically reviews the employability measure used in the rankings and its subsequent reporting in public news and commentary sources, such as national and local media, student and advisory websites as well as universities and the publishers themselves. A debate that is constrained by a reproduction of the content and apparent neutrality of the employability measure in the tables is revealed. Universities themselves are the most frequent commentators, and echo the content of the tables fairly uncritically. Analysis leads to a consideration that participants in higher education may not be served well by a proliferation of information that can lead to simultaneous over-simplification and obfuscation that does not result in clarity or trust. I will argue that prospective students and their advisers need to review information that is available critically, and that universities individually and collectively should facilitate the production of a more nuanced narrative about graduate career pathways that is not controlled by marketing and metrics.     

An empirical study of graduate student mobility underpinning research universities

The issue of international student mobility has had a profound effect on policy decision-making in the higher education system of essentially every country; however, the statistical data on this subject are insufficient, especially for graduate students. The purposes of this study are to substantiate the state of international mobility among talented graduate students in the sciences and engineering who will publish scholarly research in their future career and to present the mechanism of their moves between institutions. This paper quantitatively analyzes the trajectories of more than 7,000 scientists and engineers beginning at graduate school, obtained from the biographical notes attached to journal articles for authors in the fields of computer vision, robotics, and electron devices. The results suggest that mobility in various engineering fields at world-class research universities is subject to varied pull and push factors. In the fields of computer vision and robotics, a high world university ranking is a significant pull factor in the global mobility of graduate students, which may promote a US-dominated stratification between institutions of higher education, since the institutions at the top end of these rankings are generally in the United States. In contrast, in the field of electron devices, employment for highly skilled workers in domestic industries seems to act as an alternative pull factor for talented graduate students. This article also sheds light on the status of the universities that underpin first-tier research universities by providing undergraduate students to them, an important role that tends to be concealed in the world university rankings. Furthermore, this article suggests the existence of complementary relationships between the globally top-ranked research universities and the exporting top national research universities in various countries, a relationship that is key to the shape of the current global higher education system.     

Criteria for granting research training awards to graduate students

Survey data from 458 former health science graduate students were examined for correlations between variables that might be used in selecting research training award recipients and successful training outcome defined as a highly productive research career. Scores on six research outcome variables were used to cluster respondents into two groups: active and less-active researchers. After exploring factors underlying thirteen predictor variables, discriminant analysis was employed to identify predictive strength. There were no significant direct or indirect correlations between posttraining research activity and either the overall undergraduate academic grade of respondents or the amount of encouragement they received from the sponsors of their graduate award applications. An additional seven variables also showed no significant correlation with research career outcome. They were science hobbies as a child; undergraduate prizes and awards; summers spent in research; undergraduate publications; prestige and research orientation of undergraduate environment; and prestige of graduate institution. Four variables that showed promise as useful indicators of posttraining research activity were investigative personality; research orientation of the graduate environment; focused energy personality; and, to a lesser extent, preuniversity interest in science.     

职业生涯教育重在早培养规划意识

大学生职业生涯教育对大学生就业乃至一生事业的发展至关重要,因此,迫切需要将其贯穿到整个大学学习和生活中。本文从具体实例分析出发,着重阐述了及早培养学生规划意识对职业生涯教育所起的重要作用。     

Mid-career academic women and the prestige economy

Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with women academics based in London higher education institutions in the UK, this paper investigates the gendered nature of the prestige economy in academia. We explore how mid-career academic women strategise their career development and the opportunities and barriers they perceive, particularly in relation to the accrual of academic esteem. Concept maps were used to facilitate dialogue about career plans and provided an artefact from the interviewee’s own perspective. The analysis draws on the concept of prestige, or the indicators of esteem that help advance academic careers, against the backdrop of a higher education context which increasingly relies on quantitative data to make judgements about academic excellence. The interviews indicated that women generally feel that men access status and indicators of esteem more easily than they do. Many women also had ambivalent feelings about gaining recognition through prestige: they understood the importance of status and knew the ‘rules of the game’, but were critical of these rules and sometimes reluctant to overtly pursue prestige. The findings are valuable for understanding how women’s slow access to the highest levels of higher education institutions is shaped by the value that organisations place on individual status.     

Self-directed,genuine graduate attributes: the person-based approach

This paper examines the current understanding of the development of graduate attributes in higher education. The current understanding is rooted in the system-based, behaviouristic approach that emphasises the identification of graduate attributes and curriculum mapping. This approach gives little consideration to more relational-holistic, person-based approaches that emphasise students' agency in determining which graduate attributes they develop, why they choose to develop them and through what means. Although the system-based approach is necessary, this paper suggests that the person-based approach supplements it by addressing the development of meaningful graduate attributes for students in their evolving life and career circumstances. The development of quality graduate attributes involves more than the alignment of what is intended, taught and learned; rather, it occurs through students developing personal graduate attributes in a self-directed and genuinely engaged manner. This person-based perspective, stressing student self-directedness, has important implications for higher education that has as a principal goal the enrichment of student graduate attributes.     

Current Status of Graduate Education in Physical Education: Program Demography

The extent of specialization that exists among graduate students, faculty, and program of physical education was explored, particularly as it relates to published rankings of doctoral programs and other sources. Comparisons were made among data obtained from a questionnaire constructed by the investigators, the Gold Book: Directory of Physical Educators in Higher Education 1982–84, and two unpublished reports for the Research Council/Consortium. In addition, comparisons were made with results from other published sources. The graduate programs appeared to be meeting departmental employment needs, with the newly appointed faculty members having specializations consistent with the most prevalent departmental research specializations. Graduate programs were also shown to be fragmented and specialized in multidimensional aspects. As one might expect, the largest proportion of graduate programs and faculty specializations are in the areas of exercise physiology, administration, and professional preparation. However, the dissimilarity in the graduate programs was so diverse that evaluations and comparisons on global scales appear to be useless.     

大众化背景的精英教育

在发展大众化高等教育的同时,我们同样应当重视精英教育。我们的教育应当系统地培养政治精英、学术精英和国际精英。一流大学在某种意义上说就是造就精英的地方。面对学习型社会中的国家发展和全球化背景下的国际竞争,我们必须重新思考和设计精英教育。以才取人、公正筛选、精心培养、委以重任将是我国精英教育的一种思路。     

研究生教育对职业发展的影响分析——以C大学为例

毕业研究生所受研究生教育与个人职业发展的关系是研究生教育实践与理论的重要内容,也是最近几年学术界和政府日益关注的热点问题之一。本文通过对一所研究型综合大学的毕业研究生进行调查,了解他们当前的职业发展和读研期间所受研究生教育情况,并分析后者对前者的影响。最后,依据分析结果对研究生教育提出了相关改进意见与建议。     

What's in a name? The impact of reputation and rankings on the teaching income of English universities

This study examines the impact of universities’ reputation on teaching income and demonstrates how strongly reputation may affect the fees that they can charge. Higher Education is increasingly competitive and international, and institutions are preoccupied with national and international prestige. Research output is demonstrably central to reputation and, specifically, to global rankings, but less has been written about the benefits of high prestige for teaching income and the ability to charge high fees. This article uses English data to show the impact when fees are partially deregulated. Public universities with high rankings in global league tables and on domestic measures can command teaching income per student which is very much higher (in this case typically more than a third) than lower‐prestige institutions. This financial return to prestige further increases universities’ incentives to seek high positions in league tables and establish a reputational brand.     

The Reality and Prospects of the Academic Degree in Russia

With the move toward mass higher education in Russia, academic degrees have lost much of their prestige. It is now necessary to look more closely at the reasons for this devaluation, to explore ways to optimize the training of researchers in graduate school programs, and to integrate Russia’s system of science training into the European system.     

Prestige Among Graduate and Professional Schools: Comparing the U.S. News’ Graduate School Reputation Ratings Between Disciplines

Using a conceptual model, this study examines the variables associated with the U.S. News and World Report peer assessment ratings of graduate and professional schools in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine. What are the correlates of prestige among the nation’s leading graduate and professional schools, and are they consistent with prior studies of prestige? Not since the studies of the 1995 National Research Council (NRC) data have scholars examined the correlates of prestige for individual graduate programs, and no study has ever extensively examined the U.S. News graduate ratings. Using available data from U.S. News, as well as institutional websites and ISI Web of Science information, this analysis finds robust relationships between the U.S. News graduate school reputation ratings and the model-relevant indicators, especially enrollment size, admissions test scores, and faculty publications per capita.     

International graduates host country employment intentions and outcomes: Evidence from two Australian universities

ABSTRACT

A key attractor for many international students when choosing to study abroad is the prospect of gaining employment in the host country after graduating. From a university’s perspective this becomes an important attraction issue for both maintaining and increasing the number of international students as well as improving graduate employability. A survey was utilised to explore employment intentions and outcomes of international graduate alumni from two Australian universities (n = 511 and n = 648). A comparative analysis between the universities has been undertaken in relation to this and rates of unemployment amongst graduates. The study has coined the term Two-step migration intender for international students/graduates and contributes to a gap in the research in relation to international graduate mobility, career intentions and employment outcomes. The findings have strategic implications for the promotion of Australian higher education to overseas markets and can also inform higher education policy and practice in terms of strategies for promoting international graduate employability.     

Non‐Career Teachers in the Design Studio: Economics,Pedagogy and Teacher Development

As the economic pressure to teach more students with fewer (and less costly) instructors has increased in higher education, the utilisation of non‐career teachers has become more prevalent. Design education has not escaped this phenomenon; non‐career teachers, such as graduate and undergraduate students or design practitioners, have become commonplace in design education, including the design studio. The studio, however, is a unique teaching and learning environment in higher education. It poses distinct socio‐academic challenges for both students and teachers. The utilisation of non‐career teachers in studios raises a number of ethical and pedagogical questions. Teacher development is one serious concern. Here, the authors articulate the major challenges confronted by non‐career studio teachers, especially student teaching assistants, and strategies for their development.     

Amerikanische „Elitehochschulen“

The system of higher education in the USA comprises the undergraduate programs of the colleges and the graduate programs in research universities. This distinction has no equivalent in Germany. The idea of elite education is connected exclusively with the colleges. Its meaning and functions are demonstrated with an analysis of the criteria which are used for the ranking of higher education institutions. The ranking of the colleges is addressed to the students and is based on indicators, which give expression above all to the educational priorities of the students and the alumni. The ranking of the graduate programs focuses on specific academic programs and is addressed to the members of the various academic fields and to their prospective students. A few rankings cover whole educational institutions and serve to inform the higher educational management. We use these data to identity the specifics of outstanding research universities and their role in American higher education.     

新形势下大学毕业生就业之我见

随着高等教育的快速发展,特别是受金融危机的影响,高校毕业生的就业面临着新的挑战。在严峻的就业形势下,提高毕业生就业率,成为当前应该重点思考的问题。为缓解毕业生就业难问题,本文对毕业生进行就业指导、思想教育、鼓励毕业生自主创业、转换择业思路提出一些观点。     

Enhancing Career Development Through the Career Success Club

The career development of students, demonstrated by students performing appropriate career developmental tasks, is important to institutions of higher education because career developed students are more likely to have career objectives, persist in their academic goals, gain career-related work experience, find employment in their chosen fields, and graduate. The purpose of this study was to determine if the career development of students by class level had been enhanced by participation in a career management plan specifically prepared for undergraduates. The intervention of a career management plan (i.e., the Career Success Club) was successful, especially for seniors and middles, in enhancing the career development of undergraduates. Career management plans may help students that are academically undecided to become more connected to their majors by focusing more on academic and career matters.     

2001年华东师范大学毕业生就业状况的调查分析

为了解毕业生就业现状，增强职业指导的针对性，本对华东师范大学2001年毕业生的就业状况进行了调查，调查内容涉及毕业生的就业过程、就业意向、就业指导、学校教育等，并对调查结果进行了研究分析，以期对高校职业指导工作有所启发。