Credits, curriculum, and control in higher education: Cross-national perspectives

Through an examination of the higher education systems in threecountries (Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Vietnam), the authors explore howthe use of academic credits for monitoring student progress has been andcontinues to be linked to policies and institutions associated withcapitalist, market-driven economic systems. The recent histories ofthese countries and their current social and political contexts areanalyzed in relation to three interrelated themes that have emerged fromthe analysis of the three cases. These themes are: (1) Linkages topolitical and economic systems: higher education as vocationaltraining, (2) Standardization, efficiency, andtechnocracy, and (3) Who controls the curriculum? Inconclusion, the authors suggest that the academic credit system,embedded within a network of other educational practices, hastransformed the university into an institution focused on relativelynarrow, utilitarian aims rather than a more universal pursuit ofknowledge.     

Higher education learning outcomes – Ambiguity and change in higher education

The emerging interdependent world order poses new challenges for States and citizens alike. For States, interdependence has meant a new concern with integration, whilst for citizens and authorities alike, greater mobility has raised new concerns about recognition of competences, qualifications, quality and transparency. The introduction of learning outcomes is one of the principal instruments to achieve this in higher education. This article analyses how the implementation of higher education learning outcomes (HELOs) can be seen as ambiguous governance and management tools, manifested as parts of international policy development and policy trends. These ambiguous tools intertwine with different disciplinary and stakeholder networks. The desire to implement HELOs in a more or less uniform way across as diverse contexts (countries, disciplines, institutions) as possible has led to a design strategy that favours generic definitions of learning outcomes. In the implementation process, these generic HELOs are experienced as ambiguous, meaning that they are characterised by an openness to different interpretations. This opens up a space of discretionary and interpretational latitude, either because HELOs are assimilated to traditional path dependencies, or because they allow institutional agents (such as institutional leaders and others) the space to introduce change. The ambiguity of HELOs simultaneously provides the flexibility for contextually‐diverse implementation, ensures less comparability than initially envisaged, and opens up the possibility for change, although change is contingent on structures and processes that are external to the policy process itself. HELOs are thus a paradigm case of the centrality of context in policy implementation studies.     

Mediatizing higher education policies: discourses about quality education in the media

This article presents a critical–political discourse analysis of the media debate over quality assurance in higher education, which occurred in Chile after the 2011 student movement. Students criticized the privatization of higher education and the multiple flaws of this sector, which included corruption scandals during the process of quality assurance certification. After the end of the movement, the government announced a new quality assurance system, triggering public discussion over this issue in the media. The most influential newspapers and educational authorities participated actively in this debate. Through editorials and columns, these education agents constructed quality assurance discursively as a domain for experts, who have to design and administer quality standards for all educational institutions and actions. These procedures regulate and discipline educational practices, but professors and students are excluded from this debate. Thus, this quality assurance discussion reproduces the traditional neoliberal power relations in education and does not problematize the role of education in society.     

The African renaissance and the transformation of the higher education curriculum in South Africa

The curriculum is a critical element in the transformation of higher education, and as a result, I argue for the inclusion of what I refer to as an African epistemic in higher education curricula in South Africa. In so doing, attention is directed at the decolonisation of the curriculum in higher education in South Africa, which aims to give indigenous African knowledge systems their rightful place as equally valid ways of knowing among the array of knowledge systems in the world. In developing my argument, I maintain that a critical questioning of the knowledge included in higher education curricula in South Africa should be taken up in what I call transformative education discourses that examine the sources of the knowledge that inform what is imposed on or prescribed for curricula in higher education in South Africa, and how these higher educational curricula are implicated in the universalisation of Western and European experiences.     

关于高校校本课程开发的几点思考

高校校本课程开发是一种与国家课程开发相对应的课程开发策略。高校校本课程开发的主要特征表现为课程开发是民主开放的过程，能尊重学校师生的独特性和差异性，是教育制度内权利与资源的重新分配，也是课程理论与课程实践不断丰富和完善以及国家课程开发的重要补充。高校校本课程开发面临着国家政治、经济、文化改革和高校自身改革的良好机遇，同时也遇到高校内部管理体制、教育观念、师资队伍和课程开发能力等现状的严峻挑战。高校校本课程开发的基本条件为明确教育哲学、办学宗旨、改善学校组织、强化教师培训、调动学生积极性、增加投入以及加强课程开发的评价等。     

高职人文课程体系探讨

目前高职院校以行业和职业需求为主要价值取向,主要进行专业知识和专业技能教育,其人文课程体系中存在着体系分散、形式单一、内容陈旧等问题。高职院校需要通过建立与学分制相适应的人文课程体系和合理的课程文化以及开发相应的校本课程,有效地增强人文课程体系的时代性、灵活性、针对性,从而提高学生的人文素养。     

高等职业院校数控技术教育课程体系改革浅谈

本在对高等职业院校数据技术教育的现状进行分析的基础上，提出了构建新的数控技术教育课程体系的设想。最后指出了在构建新的数控技术教育课程体系中首先应解决的几个问题。     

成人高等教育课程建设探索

本认为适应知识经济时代的要求，就必须充分认识成人高等教育课程建设和重要性，解放思想，转变观念，改革陈旧的教学内容和方法，整体优化课程结构，逐步建立具有鲜明的时代特色、专业特色和成人特色的创新型的课程体系。     

The politics of mergers in higher education in South Africa

How do political forces come together to influence merger forms and outcomes? This question is posed in a context of an analysis of the forms and outcomes of three “case studies” of mergers that took place in South Africa in the past decade. The theoretical stance, borne out by the data under review, places political actors at the centre of the explanation for change and continuity in the merger of institutions. While there are clearly broad lessons that could apply in other national contexts, the paper recognises that the fact that most published studies on mergers originate in established economies like those of Norway, Australia, England, the USA. The paper poses the question, therefore: do mergers follow different processes and deliver different outcomes in the social, economic and political contexts of third world institutions?     

Tracing assessment policy discourses in neoliberalised higher education settings

This article explores assessment policy in two European universities with different political, historical and social backgrounds: the University of Glasgow and Tallinn University. The University of Glasgow is a well-established Russell Group university in the UK; Tallinn University is a relatively new university in post-Soviet Estonia, shaped by very recent neoliberalisation processes. By applying a Foucauldian theorisation and Faircloughian methodology, this article approaches assessment policy as not only relating to institutional contexts but also national and global policy environments. The article argues that the assessment policy in Glasgow relates to globally dominant neoliberal discourses of accountability and excellence. These discourses have turned assessment into a complex technology of government that manages educational processes as well as academic and student subjectivities. While Tallinn University is shaped by neoliberalism at strategic levels, the policy documents in Tallinn still indicate a strong sense of local tradition where regulations have a modest impact on academic freedom and assessors’ disciplinary power over students.     

宪法学应作为高等教育的通识课程

党的十八大刚刚召开,依法治国被提到前所未有的高度。本文从当代大学生的特点、高等教育目标与高等教育内容等方面分别论述了宪法对于高等教育的意义,提出要建设法治国家应当把宪法学作为高等教育的通识课程,让学生在大学阶段除了学习专业技能知识之外也应树立起良好的法治信念,这对于建立法治国家、实现宪政和民主必将有重要意义。     

试论高校体育课程和运动的价值取向

我国高校体育课程设置长期以来逆人本价值取向的弊端,主要原因在于传统知识观和课程观的影响,以及中国传统文化中现代体育精神的缺失。教育必须以人为本,高校体育课程和运动应体现“以人为本”的教育理念,并积极开发相应的体育课程和运动资源。     

Factors Affecting the Decision to Merge: The case of strategic mergers in Norwegian higher education

Students (N = 1,883) from 10 European countries answered a web questionnaire pertaining to three dimensions of what they expect and what they experience from their teachers. The dimensions were personality, classroom environment, and teaching style characteristics. Parametric statistics identified high communalities among variables, while gender, program type, and program level were found to have an influence on factor groupings. Overall, the gap between the expected and the experienced proved to be overwhelmingly significant.     

高职教育复合型人才培养与课程改革

本从知识经济发展、科技成果产业化、现代企业管理、中小企业发展等四个方面分析了高职教育复合型人才需求的背景，阐述了复合型人才的知识与能力基本特征和培养的主要形式，从高职教育课程改革的“重应用、活模块、人本化”的角度，探讨了复合型人才培养的两条实现途径：一是能力本位与人格本位并重，二是强调学生的“自主性”学习。     

无边界高等教育及其资格认证

在全球化背景下 ,特别是世贸组织的发展 ,高等教育已越来越被视为一种国际商品和服务贸易中的出口产业。各国积极谋求开拓高等教育的国际市场 ,吸引海外学生 ,在别国开办和接管高校 ,运用信息与传播技术实施远程高等教育 ,从而出现了无边界高等教育。无边界高等教育的发展 ,在较大程度上依赖于教育质量的保障和受教育者的资格认证 ,因而有效发展国际认可的资格认证制度 ,将是无边界高等教育发展的一个重要方面     

Private higher education in Africa: The case of Monash South Africa

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to review the contribution of private institutions to higher education in Africa and use Monash South Africa as a case study. A literature search was conducted to gain perspective on the current situation with respect to private higher education institutions in Africa and how they are perceived in relation to public higher education institutions.

In comparison with public higher education institutions, private higher education institutions in Africa were successful in four areas: ? Widening access to higher education in the continent

? Improving the quality of education

? Improving student experience

? Increasing the recognition and marketability of their degrees

However, private higher education institutions in Africa have failed in two areas: ? Reducing the costs of higher education in Africa

? Assisting with retention of skilled human capital in African countries.

In fact, private higher education institutions in Africa, have exacerbated the two situations above.

Monash South Africa was the first foreign university to be established in South Africa and one of over 100 private universities in the continent. As a campus of Monash University in Africa, it has seen a steady growth with over 3,500 students in the past 10 years of its existence. Like other private institutions, the campus was successful in the four areas above and also fails in the area of costs and assisting in retention of skilled staff in Africa. The campus has been successful in blending its private provider status with a public purpose mandate by offering degrees in social science, business and economics, information technology and health sciences.     

新世纪高等教育人才培养的目标:——基于英、德、加三国国家资格框架的分析

对英国、德国、加拿大三国在新世纪出台或更新的国家资格框架的分析表明,高等教育人才培养的目标在三个国家表现出一定的共性:除了创新能力、独立思考与工作的能力、批判思维能力、团队合作能力等关键能力之外,新世纪的人才还应该能够认识到并善于应对知识的不确定性、模糊性和局限性,能够在复杂的和信息不完备的情况下作出合理的判断,能够和专业内外的人士进行有效的沟通,善于进行跨学科的思考和合作,掌握终身学习的能力。这些能力在一定程度上反映出21世纪知识经济社会对高等教育人才培养所提出的特定要求和期待。     

21世纪: 中国成人高等教育课程体系改革的思考

认真反思20世纪我国成人高等教育存在的问题,认清新世纪给我国成人高等教育发展带来的机遇和挑战,将有助于我们建立崭新的中国成人高等教育的课程体系,有利于富有个性和创新精神的人才培养,并有利于我国综合国力和国际竞争力的提高,因此,作为我国成人高等教育发展 突破口的课程体系改革应引起我们的认真思考。     

Fostering of creativity within an imaginative curriculum in higher education

Psychology is frequently used as a foundation discipline in the training of adult educators because it addresses those questions which naturally emerge from an engagement with adult learning and teaching (Tennant, 1997). The professional context which forms the focus of this article is no different. By providing academic support for lecturers in a higher education institution in Ireland, there is a desire to develop a sustainable curriculum model whereby by working with them on designing and developing creative curricula in their various subject disciplines in the arts and sciences they, in turn, pass the benefits of this on to their students.     

The culture of education policy making: curriculum reform in Shanghai

This paper explores the culture of education policy making in Shanghai using the conceptual tool of a ‘global assemblage’. A global assemblage is essentially a collection of ideas and practices that arise from the interplay between a global form and situated sociocultural elements. Focusing on the global form of curriculum reform, this paper explains how the Shanghai municipal government justifies the introduction of the ‘Second Curriculum Reform’ using the global imperative while maintaining its socialist ideology and central control on high-stakes exams. This paper highlights the active roles played by the municipal government and other local educational stakeholders in assembling their own logics, tactics and counter-measures in the contested space of the assemblage. It is argued that the success of the curriculum reform is mediated and vitiated by the sociocultural elements of a dominant exam-oriented culture and the traditional approaches of memorisation, repeated practice and didactic teaching. The complex and unpredictable process of implementing curriculum reform in Shanghai illustrates the culture of education policy making against a backdrop of globalisation as a problem space.