Differentiation and work: inequality in degree attainment in U.S. higher education

While much stratification research has focused on understanding the patterns and consequences of differentiation, previous studies have not considered similarly important variation in students’ trajectories through higher education, and particularly their participation in the labor market. Results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1997 (NLSY97) indicate that degree completion in a differentiated system of higher education is related to students’ employment patterns. Students who begin their educational journeys in community colleges as well as students from less advantaged family backgrounds are more likely to dedicate longer hours to paid employment, which has negative consequences for degree attainment. Employment patterns contribute to gaps in degree completion among students from different family backgrounds and to a lesser extent to inequality in degree completion between students beginning postsecondary education in community colleges vs. 4-year institutions. A more complex set of patterns is revealed when examining the relationship between employment, family background, and degree attainment across different institutional types and educational credentials. These findings highlight the importance of developing a more comprehensive understanding of inequality in educational attainment by considering the relationship between differentiation and work.     

The representation and attainment of students with dyslexia in UK higher education

Using a database of allstudents in higher education in the UK in1995–1996, students with dyslexia and those withno reported disability were compared in termsof demographic properties, programmes of studyand academic attainment. Students with dyslexiaconstituted 0.42% of all students resident inthe UK. Their representation varied with age,gender, ethnicity and entrance qualificationsand with their level, mode and subject ofstudy. Students with dyslexia were more likelyto withdraw during their first year of studyand were less likely to complete theirprogrammes of study, although with appropriatesupport the completion rate of students withdyslexia can match that of students with nodisabilities. In addition, students withdyslexia who completed first-degree programmestended to gain a poorer class of honours thanstudents with no reported disability, but 40%obtained first-class or upper second-classhonours. In short, dyslexia may havedeleterious consequences for progression,completion and achievement in higher education,but it is by no means incompatible with a highlevel of success, given appropriate commitmenton the part of the students and appropriateresources on the part of their institution.     

Social inequalities in slovenian higher education

In this article the authors study social inequalities in Slovenian higher education, using a census of students at the University of Maribor. Using the common odds ratio test, it was found that young people whose fathers had completed higher education or levels beyond are approximately 14 times more likely to enter the higher education system than those whose fathers had not completed primary education. Stratification is even more acute when mothers are observed: the ratio is 1:25. Both the situation and the trend are assessed as being unmeritocratic. These findings fit into the hypothesis of the radicalization of economic inequality in society and clarify the consolidation of a class structure and a relative absence of meritocracy. An attempt is made at longitudinal analysis of the issue: it seems that disparities in this area are increasing, after a diminution during communist times.     

Social origins,school type and higher education destinations

To what extent and why do social origins matter for access to higher education, including access to elite universities? What is the role of private and selective schooling? This paper uses the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) to analyse the trajectories of a generation currently in early middle age. We find that the influence of social origins, especially parental education, remains when both a wide range of cognitive measures and school attainment are controlled. Attending a private school is powerfully predictive of gaining a university degree, and especially a degree from an elite institution, while grammar schooling does not appear to confer any advantage.     

Parental background and university dropout in Italy

Using longitudinal data drawn from the European Community Household Panel, this paper examines Italian university entry and dropout rates in the context of specific parental and family characteristics. We are interested in the effects of the household’s cultural and financial conditions on shaping investment in tertiary education and its failure, at the national level. Our estimates confirm the persistence of intergenerational correlations related to education. Cultural constraints affect outcomes—enrolment in and withdrawal from tertiary education; low income negatively affects the transition from high school to college. Our results suggest that a comprehensive policy intervention is needed to ensure optimal human capital investment.     

Social purposes in search of higher education,or higher education in search of social purposes?

The paper begins by discussing the difficulties of formulating coherent social purposes, with particular attention to the relationship between social purposes and the “inner citadel” of higher education's intrinsic values. A detailed examination is then made of social purposes which have come to the fore in the transition from elite to mass higher education: equality and expansion, in which the importance of higher education as a political phenomenon is emphasised; “hard” vocationalism, the matching of educational content to the skills needed for effective job performance; continuing education (an issue linked to these two social purposes); “soft” vocationalism, which is concerned with abilities highly valued in job performance which are also highly valued in the well-educated person; moral development; and “higher education as society's powerhouse”. The paper concludes by suggesting that however much higher education is implicated in society, it may have to continue to exist in active tension with society if academic ideals are to be self-perpetuating.     

Different,yet similar: factors motivating international degree collaboration in higher education. The case of Finnish-Russian double degree programmes

ABSTRACT

The study investigates factors motivating universities to engage in international degree collaboration. The Finnish-Russian university framework is used as the locus for studying international collaboration. The paper employs resource dependency and institutional, stakeholder and market push and pull perspectives in a conceptual model explaining the drivers of international degree collaboration. The research focuses on the interaction of the various factors that motivate partners to seek international degree cooperation, possible sources of conflict, and issues of compatibility and complementarity. In particular, the study compares the roles of different stakeholders and the institutional contexts of Finland and Russia. The motives of the Finnish and Russian universities included in the study were found to be generally compatible, yet different enough to complement each other.     

A longitudinal analysis of the reciprocal relationship between academic procrastination,study satisfaction,and dropout intentions in higher education

Student dropout is a multi-causal process. Different theoretical models on student dropout consider dysfunctional study behavior (e.g., academic procrastination) and low study satisfaction as possible determinants of students’ dropout intentions during their university studies. However, these models neglect contemporary conceptualizations that assume reverse relationships between dropout intentions and other determinants of the dropout process. Until now, empirical evidence on these assumptions is scant. The present three-wave longitudinal study explored the reciprocal relationships between academic procrastination, study satisfaction, and dropout intentions over one semester. To this end, we used data of N = 326 undergraduate students enrolled in mathematics and law. Our latent cross-lagged panel model replicated existing empirical cross-sectional findings between the variables (i.e., academic procrastination, study satisfaction, and dropout intentions). Regarding the longitudinal relations, as expected, the cross-lagged effects showed that higher dropout intentions significantly related to subsequent higher academic procrastination and lower study satisfaction. Unexpectedly, academic procrastination did not significantly relate to subsequent dropout intentions. Additionally, higher study satisfaction significantly associated with subsequent higher dropout intentions—possibly due to unfulfilled expectations. Further, higher study satisfaction significantly related to subsequent higher procrastination—possibly due to more confidence among satisfied students. Our results broaden the view on dropout intentions as part of the dynamic interplay of student dropout determinants and the need to refine dropout models’ assumptions accordingly. Practically, realistic expectations seem important to reduce dropout intentions. Further, student counselors should have a closer look at the reasons for academic procrastination to develop individual solutions for this dysfunctional behavior.

     

高等教育大众化的制度变迁与路径选择

高等教育毛入学率达到某一阈限时,高等教育系统的状态会发生重大的变化。要顺利地推进高等教育大众化,必须建立与大众化入学人数相适应的、符合本国国情的高等教育体系和制度。我们面临着规模的快速扩张与体系制度变革滞后的矛盾,必须打破制度变迁对原有路径的依赖,从"单一化路径"转向"多元化路径"。"多元化路径"的制度安排重点,是培育形成多元的经费投入渠道和多元的调控力量和手段。     

Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education

Raising the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds progressing to higher education has been a key policy objective for successive governments in the UK since the late 1990s. Often this has been conceptualised as a problem with their ‘aspirations’, with the solution being seen as the provision of ‘aspiration‐raising’ activities to promote higher education to those thought to have the potential to progress. Recent large‐scale studies cast strong doubt on this hypothesis by demonstrating that aspirations are not generally low, that different social groups have similar levels of aspiration and that school attainment accounts for nearly all the differences in participation rates between social groups. This article draws on data from a national project exploring efforts to widen participation across two generations of practitioner‐managers in England, focusing on their conceptualisations of the field and their constructions of ‘successful’ activities. It uses the lens of ‘possible selves’ (Markus & Nurius, 1986 ) to argue that too much policy emphasis has been placed on the aspirations of young people, rather than either their academic attainment or their expectations, which are shaped by the normative expectations of the adults surrounding them. In addition, the more expansive concepts of widening participation that were present a decade ago have become less common, with a shift towards activities with a clear role in institutional recruitment rather than social transformation. The article concludes with alternative suggestions for policy and practice.     

Pathway from vocational education and associate degree to higher education: Chinese international students in Australia

Understanding factors influencing international students' decision to engage in international education is essential for education providers to better cater for students' educational expectations and enhance their attractiveness to international students. Whilst there has been extensive research on the reasons why international students undertake cross-border higher education, international students' motivations for enrolling in vocational education and associate degree programmes are still under-researched. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 30 international students from China, this research found that pathway to higher education appears to be the most important factor motivating international students to undertake vocational education and associate degree programmes. In addition, prospect of immigration, English language proficiency, previous academic performance, agent's recommendations and relatives' and friends' advice are amongst the important factors that students take into account in their decision to choose vocational education and associate degree programmes. This research also examines why Chinese international students have chosen vocational education programmes in a dual-sector university over vocational education colleges. It found that the flexibility to articulate to higher education, international reputation of the programme, practical training and favourable location are key issues that these students draw on when making their decision to study in a dual-sector university.     

高职课改背景下教师专业素养及培养策略研究

在高等职业教育课程改革背景下,教师从单纯的知识传授者向道德传播者、经验传播者与技术传播者的结合体转变,这也意味着教师专业素养的内涵和结构产生了变化,从专业知识、专业能力、专业情意三个维度,对高职教师的专业素养存在问题进行研究,并寻求相应的培养策略支撑,以期能够促进高等职业教育教师的专业发展。     

Timeless and timely issues in distance education planning

Abstract

Distance education planners make complex decisions that result in substantial investments and have long‐term implications. This article provides a framework to categorize planning issues into four distinct program stages and three decision areas. The framework brings to the surface and highlights numerous areas of uncertainty and potential disagreement among decision makers and provides an organizing backdrop to improve the distance education planning process.     

The evaluation turn in the higher education system: lessons from Italy

This article explores how new public management policy ideas and technologies circulating in the globalised education space have been re-contextualised in the re-design of the Italian Higher Education System. In doing so, it uses the governmentality studies as a sensitising framework to problematise what we term here as the ‘calculative and instrumental turn’ in the evaluation of Higher Education. The work reflects on the complex assemblage of forms of knowledge, technical means and collective and individual subjects through which the evaluation of the Italian universities unfolds in its current form. The attempt is to highlight the changes produced in how Higher Education and its ethical subjects are thought and their qualities are conceived and appraised. The article presents some conclusive remarks on some of the paradoxical risks of the Evaluation turn, namely contractualisation, depoliticisation and fabrication, but also insists on its reflexivity potential, interpreting the current developments as a missed opportunity.     

Open assessment in higher education: The New York regents external degree

The Regents External Degree Program of The University of the State of New York offers college degrees to anyone who can qualify. No classroom attendance is required. Since 1972 more than 16,000 people have enrolled in the Program and 5,000 have graduated. These external students range in age from 17 to 87 and they reside in every state in the nation. Regents External Degrees are available in the arts, sciences, business, and nursing; each may be earned entirely by examination — 548 have already done so — or by a combination of tests, study at accredited colleges, and approved courses sponsored by the military, government, and business. The University of the State of New York, created in 1784, is America's oldest continuous educational agency. The University was established not to provide classroom instruction but to govern all education in New York, including elementary and secondary schools, museums, libraries, and 250 public and private colleges and universities. Faculty drawn from these institutions of higher education work with Regents' staff in Albany to administer America's first national examining university.

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Zusammenfassung Das Regents External Degree Programm der Staatsuniversität von New York bietet jedem einen akademischen Grad, der sich qualifizieren kann. Anwesenheit im Hörsaal wird nicht verlangt. Seit 1972 haben sich mehr als 16.000 Menschen im Rahmen dieses Programms immatrikuliert und 5000 haben einen akademischen Grad erworben. Das Alter dieser Studenten reicht von 17 bis 87, und sie wohnen in jedem Staat der USA. Akademische Grade des Regents External Degree Programms können in den geistes- und naturwissenschaftlichen Fächern sowie in wirtschaftswissen-schaftlichen Fächern, aber auch Kleinkinderziehung abgelegt werden; jeder Grad kann entweder in Gänze durch Prüfungen erworben werden, und das haben schon 548 Teilnehmer getan, oder durch eine Kombination von Tests, Studium an anerkannten Colleges, und anerkannten Kursen die durch das Militär, die Regierung oder die Wirtschaft gefördert werden. Die Staatsuniversität von New York, gegründet 1784, ist Amerikas älteste bestehende Bildungseinrichtung. Die Universität wurde ursprünglich nicht zum Erteilen von Unterricht gegründet, sondern diente als Aufsichtsinstitut für die Bildungseinrichtungen in New York, einschliesslich der Primar- und Sekundarschulen, Museen, Büchereien, und der 250 öffentlichen und privaten Colleges und Universitäten. Lehrpersonal dieser Institutionen im Hochschulbereich arbeiten zusammen mit dem Personal des Regent Programms in Albany in der Verwaltung von Amerikas erster nationaler Prüfungsuniversität.

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Résumé Le Programme Regents de Grade Externe de l'Université de l'Etat de New York concède des grades universitaires à toute personne qui peut se qualifier. Aucune fréquentation de la salle de classe n'est exigée. Depuis 1972, plus de 16.000 personnes se sont inscrites pour le programme et 5.000 personnes ont reçu un grade universitaire. L'âge de ces étudiants externes s'étend de 17 à 87 et ils résident dans chacun des Etats de la nation. Les Grades Externes du Programme Regents peuvent être obtenus pour les arts, les sciences, l'économie et la profession d'infirmière; chaque grade peut être entièrement acquis par examen — 548 ont déjà procédé de la sorte — ou par une combinaison d'épreuves, d'études dans des collèges accrédités, et de cours approuvés subventionnés par l'armée, le gouvernement et l'industrie. L'Université de l'Etat de New York, créée en 1784, est l'établissement américain educatif le plus ancien qui a toujours fonctionné sans interruption. Cette Université a été fondée non pour transmettre une instruction scolaire mais pour diriger toute forme d'éducation dans l'Etat de New York, englobant les écoles élémentaires et secondaires, les musées, les bibliothèques et les 250 collèges et universités publiques et privés. La faculté provenant de ces institutions d'éducation supérieure travaille avec le personnel du Programme Regents à Albany pour administrer la première université américaine nationale examinatrice.

     

Detecting bias in selection for higher education: three different methods

This study examined selection bias in Israeli university admissions with respect to test language and gender, using three approaches for the detection of such bias: Cleary’s model of differential prediction, boundary conditions for differential prediction and difference between d’s (the Constant Ratio Model). The university admissions process in Israel, like those in many countries, is based on a combination of school-related achievement and a general scholastic aptitude test. The selection process was found to be biased in favour of Arabic speakers and not biased with respect to gender. The three approaches for detecting selection bias were similar in the pattern of the results they produced, but differed, as expected, in the magnitude of the bias they detected. The discussion focuses on the results both with respect to the specific groups studied (first research question) and with respect to the three approaches for detecting selection bias (second research question).