Engineering Continuing Education: a point of view

After a general comment on the observation that continuing education is offered mainly in management and engineering areas, attention will be focused on engineering continuing education (ECE)programmes at university level: ECE specificity compared to management continuing education; hotu to structure ECE provision; which kind of pedagogical methods and content.     

智慧教育在继续教育中的应用与发展前景

智慧教育与继续教育的融合发展势在必行。智慧教育应用于继续教育时,要在理念上高站位,在整体规划上长远布局,在系统性建设上统筹管理、教学、学习和评价四个系统协同推进。随着融合的深化,智慧教育将推动继续教育教学模式变革的快速普及、驱动继续教育理念创新和内涵拓展、加快教育现代化进程。     

A View from Within the English Further Education Sector on the Provision of Higher Education: Issues of Verticality and Agency

This article considers aspects of higher education provision in general further education colleges in England, as seen from within the further education sector. It argues that there is a need to examine what are the defining features of higher education, who determines them, and the risks and advantages of structuring further and higher education vertically, so that given subject areas are taught at several levels within the same institution. Evidence is given to show that the funding, qualifications and inspection regimes applying in England to the majority of provision in general further education colleges are increasingly different from those in universities, giving less agency to both staff and students. This raises questions both about the extent to which the differences rationally reflect the different nature of the learners and their courses and about the implications for expansion, differentiation and participation in undergraduate education.     

The Future of Educational Research

Abstract

In order to determine the allocation of money for projects in continuing and vocational education, government agencies in the UK are providing more and more opportunities to bid for targeted funding. This article provides an overview of recent changes in funding policy in higher education and examines how such changes have impacted on continuing education deparatments in higher education, pointing up the increasing pressure to bid for UK government and European Union funds to develop provision which was once outside their sphere of operation. There appears to be little or no theoretical account of the effects of the growth in competitive tendering on continuing education, and so the impact of this relatively new funding strategy on staff and institutions is studied in order to assess its efficacy and significance for the sector as a whole. This study contextualises the familiar differences in culture between liberal adult education and vocational endeavours and between continuing education and ‘mainstream’ higher education. It also reinforces recent calls for a coherent policy of funding for continuing education.

     

NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR HOME‐BASED LEARNING: THE CHALLENGE TO CAMPUS‐BASED INSTITUTIONS

Although there may be little expansion for conventional higher education on campus in the next decade, there is an unmet and growing need to provide home‐based continuing education. This will require an effective means of delivering learning materials to homes on a greater scale than can be handled by broadcasting alone, as well as the production of high quality software appropriate both to the means of delivery and the needs of students. There are several developments in technology which hold out promise for home use; these need to be developed as part of a wider learning system. Campus‐based institutions are well placed both to develop the hardware and to produce suitable learning materials, but this means that higher education institutions must show a much more flexible attitude to continuing education and to co‐operation with other organisations.     

Rights and rites of passage: crossing boundaries in France

The purpose of this article is to explore the boundaries and interfaces between higher education and the other institutions and organizations involved in the provision of various forms of education and training opportunity in France. It uses a comparative lens but focuses mostly on the system in France since others in this volume will be looking at system(s) in the UK and elsewhere. A number of points of comparison are investigated: institutional boundaries, the ‘adultness’ of the system, and its qualifications. The rights of passage through it for individuals and what I have called the rites of passage?the tools, procedures and mechanisms designed to provide articulation and transfer between it various components?are examined. Finally, the future direction of the system and the attempt to build a distinctly French response to a problem experienced across the world are explored; the elements are in place but the jury is still out on whether or not this can be achieved.     

Economic Demand for Higher Education—A Sound Foundation for Further Expansion?

Submissions by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and others to the government's review of higher education suggest yet further expansion of undergraduate provision. This article examines the economic rationale for an additional increase in graduate output, and suggests that the economic case may be poor. Data on the employment of the current graduate labour force indicates some under-utilisation, and there is reason to expect that simply boosting the supply of graduates will not, of itself, transform employers'competitive strategies. It is therefore possible that the social, as opposed to private, rate of return on investment in such expansion could well prove disappointing. The use of graduates to fill the'technician gap'is also reviewed. The authors suggest alternative areas of educational provision, such as basic literacy and numeracy support, which might show a more positive cost/benefit than further publicly-funded expansion of undergraduate education.     

Less inequality through universal access? Socioeconomic background of tertiary entrants in Australia after the expansion of university participation

This article investigates the consequences of an expansion of domestic university places in Australia after 2009 for inequalities in access to tertiary education. I focused on how different individual-level socioeconomic factors were influencing not only the likelihood of continuing education at the tertiary level but also a type of institution one studies at. Thus, I simultaneously analyse vertical and horizontal dimensions of inequalities in access. The expansion has not dramatically changed the differentiated access within different socioeconomic groups. However, the influence of parental education and secondary school context on continuing education has weakened. But those who have benefited the most are young people from upper service class. They not only approach near-universal access faster than other social classes but also improve their relative chances to study at the most prestigious institutions. Controlling for academic ability at the age of 15 showed that socioeconomic background continuous to matter after that age. This means that student-oriented equity policies undertaken closer to the point of transition to tertiary education have a capacity to decrease educational inequalities. Results are discussed against the background of the current higher education policy trends regarding equity in access.     

Multisectoral partnerships in e-learning: A potential force for improved human capital development in the Asia Pacific

Since their inception, a dominant characteristic of higher education institutions has been their reliance on the advantages conferred by geographic and political boundaries. However, emerging technologies and growing consumer power are challenging the status quo. The application of Internet-based information and communication technologies in education—e-learning—is now making it possible for education to transcend space, time, and political boundaries. In e-learning, content and mode of delivery are increasingly defined by external groups: students as well as employers. The emergence of e-learning is weakening the dominance of traditional providers of higher and continuing education—nonprofit colleges and universities—and they are being challenged by a proliferation of alternative institutions and providers with the skills and attitudes required to succeed in the new educational marketplace. Partnerships will allow traditional suppliers and intermediaries to contribute from their respective comparative advantages. In a common emerging model, traditional universities provide the intellectual capital, content, and content support; evaluate student performance; and award appropriate degree credit or certification. Intermediaries contribute in such areas as hardware and software provision, instructional design for the Web, website and communication for maintenance, record keeping, teacher training, and technical support for courseware development and marketing. Although this trend is not yet well advanced in the Asia Pacific Region, there are already a few pioneers, and interest is strong and growing among the major stakeholder groups—traditional academic institutions, traditional students, emerging intermediaries, professionals with a need for continuing education, and private sector corporations with the need to provide educational opportunities for their workforce. The Asia Pacific Regional Technology Centre (APRTC) is an example of an emerging intermediary organization. Its primary focus is on providing continuing educational opportunities for agricultural professionals throughout the Asia Pacific. It relies almost exclusively on e-learning for educational delivery and carries out its work through multisectoral partnerships. Initial experience indicates that the approach works in the region and is cost effective and that all partners and the clients can and do benefit from the collaboration.     

Reviews

Post‐compulsory education in the UK is growing in complexity. A little explored feature of this complexity is the development of collaborative arrangements between higher education institutions and providers of sixth form education under which students can study university modules whilst pursuing their sixth form studies. This article reports the findings of a recent project designed to explore the feasibility of such arrangements. A range of existing provision is identified focusing on both academic high achievers and students from socio‐economic groups that are currently under‐represented in higher education. The article reviews such arrangements in the context of government policy, the changing nature of sixth form and higher education, and the boundaries that have been drawn between what have traditionally been viewed as separate elements of the English and Welsh education systems. It considers the impact of such provision on the two main groups of students studied and highlights some of the issues arising out of these partnerships between higher education and sixth form institutions.     

Intervention in a Higher Education Market: a Case Study

In many countries today, public higher education operates within some form of market framework, typically a government‐regulated quasi‐market. However, having created a market environment, how should the government agencies involved act when they wish to use higher education to achieve a particular policy goal? This paper considers the impact on the English higher education market of an initiative by the national funding agency to expand Chinese studies. It is argued that, in an already competitive market, this intervention led to the misallocation of resources because it encouraged universities to expand provision in ways that they would not otherwise have done. As a result, although some effective new provision resulted, excess capacity was created overall. It can be argued that the collective understanding of the universities about this specific market was more accurate than that of an expert committee advising on national provision. The paper suggests how intervention might have been more effectively arranged.     

Managing education ‐ the local authority dimension

Abstract

Recent legislation embodies different concepts of education that are commonly driven by the market and financial considerations. The Local Management of Schools (LMS) part of the Education Reform Act (ERA) is very similar in concept to recent innovations in the structure of other local government services. The continuing financial incorporation of education within the local government framework has resulted in the education welfare tradition being eroded especially through compulsory competitive tendering. Policy alternatives might be considered that look at structures for education outside the specific education remit and that see schools as a site for broad local authority provision.     

Financial circumstances,financial difficulties and academic achievement among first-year undergraduates

Widening participation initiatives led by the government encourage non‐traditional students to enrol in higher education courses usually offered through a franchising arrangement between a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and a local Further Education Institution (FEI). The focus has been on the development of foundation degrees with most collaborative agreements concentrating predominantly on offering these qualifications on the proviso that students must attend the host HEI to complete the final full degree year. This review focuses on an FEI in South Wales which has successfully obtained a franchise to offer BSc provision at honours level in care studies and childhood studies. Delivery of honours provision is a new concept for the FEI in question; issues considered revolved initially around the establishment of an HE ethos and environment within the college together with the additional requirement for implementing guidelines for dissertation supervision and scholarly activity which are not normally a remit of FEIs. A model for the delivery of HE in an FEI had already been established previously but it soon became apparent that provision of honours level required some modification and expansion of this model looking at flexibility of delivery within the traditional inflexibility of an FE teaching contract. The issues surrounding this and their subsequent resolution are discussed in terms of both practice and policy development. The first year of honours provision was outstandingly successful and it is hoped to develop an established model of HE provision in an FEI that encompasses the total progression pathway from sub‐degree to full degree for students who are described as non‐traditional students within the widening participation culture. The outcomes of this review will become the baseline for the development of a comprehensive policy for delivering HE provision in a FEI.     

Foreign Universities in China: a case study

The international dimension of higher education has expanded rapidly in recent decades and private provision is becoming increasingly widespread in response to the diverse pressures of globalisation, rapid expansion in demand and increased pressures on public finances. As higher education has become marketised, opportunities for international providers have increased dramatically. Foreign providers may opt for delivery locally or remotely and via a variety of different legal and organisational arrangements. The focus of this article is on foreign provision of HE with specific reference to China and the UK. In the period post-Mao, the policy environment for higher education in China has changed dramatically, culminating in 2003 in the decision to allow foreign universities to formally establish partnerships with Chinese universities for the delivery of higher education. The development and operation of the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, is discussed in order to provide more detailed insights into the nature and challenges of delivering foreign HE provision in a Chinese context.     

Ettore Gelpi: an appreciation

Abstracts

English

The aim of the paper is to argue for a curriculum model approach to problems of development in adult and lifelong (or continuing) education contexts.

The advantages of such an approach are outlined : relating theory to practice and social policies to educational processes; exploring professional role‐structures and their effect upon received curriculum assumptions in the adult sector, particularly the traditional needs‐meeting, remedial and compensatory elements of such assumptions.

The significance of recent theoretical and policy developments in adult and continuing education is reviewed in these terms and some distinctions made between alternative implicit models of the lifelong curriculum. It is suggested that adult education, as presently constituted, might, itself, be an obstacle to the development of an integrated lifelong education curriculum.

In order to elucidate this a number of curriculum concepts, familiar enough in the general theory of education, are considered in the less familiar context of adult and lifelong education: typologies of curriculum models are used to explore some issues of development in this context (e.g. objectives, provision, process, action, research models etc.)

Ideas of a ‘core’ curriculum, and of the ‘hidden’ or ‘latent’ curriculum, together with curriculum development and evaluation are also considered.

The existing state of the adult and continuing education curriculum is then analyzed within such a conceptual framework. The disposition of professional roles is described, together with the curricular implications of the structure of provision (the University Extra‐Mural Departments, the WEA and the LEA sector).

The ideas of ‘flexibility’ and ‘access’ are critically reviewed as a function of professional (rather than political) ideologies, and the adult‐lifelong curriculum is analyzed in terms of administrative criteria on the one hand and educational process and social action on the other.

A prevailing orthodoxy of continuing education is elucidated in curriculum terms, and contrasted with the curriculum implications of lifelong models. For example, such models stress the functional interdependence of learning stages in an ‘intrinsic’ rather than a ‘remedial’ way, whereas much thinking about adult and continuing education in Britain is concerned with compensatory responses to failures of early educational experience.

In conclusion, it is argued that, in curriculum terms, the development of a continuing or a lifelong education system is by no means as straightforward as is sometimes supposed, and that the obstacles lie primarily within the nature of present curriculum assumptions as much as the more obvious material obstacles to development. Adult education, as it is presently organized, articulates the same kind of curriculum assumptions as initial education. The curriculum assumptions of lifelong education, however, are much more concerned with education in terms of social control and knowledge‐content than with access to professional provision which reproduces curriculum models of initial education sectors.     

Who Needs Whom in Continuing Education? A Search for Patterns of Co–operation[1]

Continuing education is a very diversified and complex social phenomenon. Since it is a necessary factor to the survival of advanced technological societies, the already strong demand will rapidly increase. The emphasis in the paper is on continuing engineering education by universities, but the approach is much broader, covering all forms of continuing education in a historical perspective. Objectives of continuing education as well as the course components are identifid as are the parties having an interest in it. Co-operation turnsout to be a crucial factor in the success of continuing enginehng education. The conclusion of the paper is that a v q eficient way to discover the necessary co-operation patterns is to look at the course components and at the pam'es involved.     

Higher Education in a Global Market: The Case of British Overseas Provision in Israel

In recent years there has been a major expansion by higher education institutions in setting up ‘for-profit’, offshore programmes and campuses. It has been claimed that for-profit provision in a free, or unregulated market, responds to student demand and acts as a catalyst for innovation, thus fuelling arguments for a global ‘free market’ in higher education. There are few opportunities to test these claims since higher education is overwhelmingly provided within national systems of education and is generally subject to strong local regulation. Israel, in the 1990s, offered a rare case of an unregulated market in higher education for foreign providers, albeit one which contained significant distortions: British institutions took the leading part in developments. This article examines that experience in the light of documentation in the public domain and of practitioner research and argues, contrary to unsubstantiated claims, that provision fell below acceptable standards. The article concludes that, in this field, consumer demand did not operate on the basis of quality and that the market-place cannot assure standards of higher education in overseas provision. Furthermore, until international standards are agreed, governments have a responsibility to regulate provision which directly affects the lives of their citizens.     

Institutional policies for part‐time undergraduate higher education in Scotland

Financial pressures, restrictions on full‐time participation and the public commitment to access and lifelong learning, suggest that part‐time provision may be increasingly important in undergraduate‐level higher education. However the scale and organisation of part‐time provision varies across institutions, and its future development may depend on decisions taken at institutional level. This paper describes Scottish institutions’ policies for part‐time provision of first degrees and Higher National Certificates and Diplomas (HNCs and HNDs). It is based on interviews with senior managers in all 23 Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs), and in 11 further education (FE) colleges. Most institutions planned to expand part‐time provision. New (post‐1992) universities were the most committed to expansion; non‐university HEIs and some old universities were the least committed. Policies for expanding part‐time provision were often part of a broader strategy for flexibility. The research revealed two contrasting models of flexibility: many universities pursued flexible integration, bringing full‐ and part‐time study into a common web of provision, whereas FE colleges typically pursued flexible differentiation, maintaining the distinctions between (and within) the modes. Institutional polices were influenced by four sets of factors: institutional mission, other institution‐specific factors, government policy and funding, and demand; funding arrangements and demand were seen as the main drivers. Finally, we question whether the greater formal autonomy of institutions led in practice to more independent decision‐making, and whether the trends anticipated by our interviewees are in fact well entrenched.     

简论公司大学

公司大学是企业继续教育和员工培训在新形势下产生的新模式，对企业的发展和人才开发具有重要意义。公司大学区别于传统学术性大学、但同时又与其有一定联系与合作。在激烈的竞争环境下，公司大学的创建，既需要有优秀的管理者，又需要在教育、企业管理的边界中寻求最佳结合点。     

Towards Continuously Continuing Education in the Nordic Countries

The training at school and university undergraduate level to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning is important for their future need of lifelong education. The concept of continuously continuing education is introduced, to be used for both initial university campus education and continuing education. If the computer, with computer and video networking, is considered and used as a multimedia tool, students will be familiar with working within a virtual classroom. This will foster them to continue their learning after graduation and promoting lifelong education. Information is given about the objectives and operations of the Nordic Forum for Computer-aided Higher Education and some other initiatives within the Nordic countries to move towards a European ( or Global) Electronic University to promote continuously continuing education.