The faculty Flutie factor: Does football performance affect a university's US News and World Report peer assessment score?

Analyzing the peer assessment category of the US News and World Report's America's Best Colleges rankings, we find that universities fielding a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team are more highly rated by administrators and faculty at peer institutions. Universities are also more highly rated if their football team receives a greater number of votes in either the final Associated Press or Coaches’ Poll. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, our estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in votes from one season to the next is associated with a peer score increase that is about equal (in absolute value terms) to the mean year-over-year peer score decline witnessed by the institutions in our sample. Performance matters even if we only focus on FBS schools.     

Institutional branding: a content analysis of public service announcements from American universities

American universities receive millions of dollars worth of media exposure every year via Public Service Announcements (PSAs) broadcast during their respective school's athletic competitions. This research explores the message strategies and executional devices used by NCAA FBS (National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision) classification schools during the 2010 football season. This study is the most comprehensive content analysis of this subject matter to date. 115 PSAs were examined, representing 111 of the 120 schools which comprise this tier of American higher education institutions. 51 variables were operationalised and are detailed in this article. These variables include messaging specific to institutional communications, as well as common creative approaches used within television advertising. Findings suggest that there is indeed a ‘sea of sameness’ across these communications and that few schools are creating unique messages. This article continues the theoretical work in this field by refining extant models for communication messages employed by higher education institutions.     

Challenges to successful quality management implementation in higher education institutions

This article discusses the key challenges to successful quality management implementation in higher education institutions identified by 160 colleges and universities at various stages of quality management practices. Survey findings suggest that there are five key challenges that affect the successful implementation of quality management practices in colleges and universities: organizational culture, senior leadership commitment, faculty support, implementation time, and training.Julie E. Horine, Ph.D. (The Florida State University) is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of Mississippi. Her areas of professional expertise include quality management and the use of the Baldrige criteria as a diagnostic tool for organizational improvement. Julie is a two-year Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner and an evaluator of the Baldrige Education Pilot Criteria. William A. Hailey, DBA (University of Kentucky), is Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems and holder of the H.E McCarty Chair in the Else School of Management at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He is recognized as a Fellow, Certified Quality Engineer, and Certified Quality Auditor by the American Society for Quality Control. His areas of professional expertise include strategic quality planning, quality management training, and designing information systems for implementing continuous improvement principles.     

高校新生服务网的构建与应用研究——以浙江传媒学院新生服务网为例

构建新生服务网不仅有利于高校及时获取新生数据,也有利于新生获取自身需求的信息。文章介绍了浙江传媒学院新生服务网的基本框架和栏目设计,分析了网站的受访栏目、回头率以及新生咨询等问题,讨论了该类网站构建时应注意的若干问题,期望能为其他高校同类网站的建设提供有益的参考与借鉴。     

一般本科院校新生适应状况调查及对策——以福建师大福清分校为例

目的:探讨一般本科院校新生入学后的适应情况,以便为新生入学教育奠定坚实的理论基础。方法:采用大学新生适应量表(FARS)修订版,对福建师大福清分校2012级的520名新生进行问卷调查。结果:(1)一般本科院校大学新生适应困扰主要表现在资源利用和独立生活两个方面。(2)从专业上来看,不同专业的新生在总体适应性水平上差异不显著,但在专业与职业目标困扰和学习困扰这两个因子上差异却非常显著。(3)从性别上来看,男生在入学适应过程中遇到的困扰明显多于女生,尤其在资源利用困扰维度上,男生得分显著高于女生。     

漳州师院大一学生适应现状调查

目的对漳州师范学院2008级大一学生进行了适应现状调查,为有效地进行心理健康教育提供科学依据．方法对漳州师范学院5168名大一学生施测中国大学生适应量表,并与北京化工大学、全国大学生常模比较．结果（1）漳州师范学院学生适应量表各因子及总分的均分比北京化工大学的低,但适应总分的均分高于全国大学生常模;（2）性别比较得出：女生在校园生活适应和自我适应上的均分显著低于男生,男生在择业适应因子上的均分显著低于女生;（3）文理科比较得出：理科在校园生活适应、情绪适应、自我适应、满意度及总分上的均分显著高于文科．结论高等院校在开展心理健康教育的基础上,应着重加强新生的心理健康教育,并针对性别及文理科的不同,分别进行辅导．     

Engaging Undergraduate Students in Research Activities: Are Research Universities Doing a Better Job?

Engaging undergraduate students in research activities has been advocated as an innovative strategy to improve American higher education (Boyer Commission, Reinventing undergraduate education: A blueprint for America’s research universities. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stony Brook, NY, 1998). This study compared the frequency of undergraduate student research experiences at different types of colleges and universities from the early 1990s through 2004. The results indicate that the frequency of student research experiences increased since 1998 at all types of institutions and that students at research universities were not more likely than their counterparts elsewhere to have such experiences. The findings were consistent across major fields. To live up to their claims, research universities must find additional ways to involve undergraduates in research with faculty members. Shouping Hu is Associate Professor of Higher Education at Florida State University. He received his M.S. degree in Economics and Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University. His research and scholarship focuses on postsecondary access and persistence, college student experience, and higher education finance. George D. Kuh is Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University Bloomington. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa. His research focuses on the quality of undergraduate education. Joy Gaston Gayles is Associate Professor in Adult and Higher Education at North Carolina State University. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Shaw University, Master’s degree from Auburn University, and Ph.D. in Higher Education from The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on college student learning and development.     

College-level testing in Florida

The faculties of the post-secondary institutions in Florida, utilizing the authority of the State Board of Education, have implemented a testing program which greatly increases the assurance that all students who complete their sophomore year in college have achieved the communication and computation skills expected of them.When it became clear that the traditional safeguards no longer provided assurance that faculty members individually and collectively could define and maintain standards of student performance in communication and mathematics, care was taken in Florida to keep from throwing the baby out with the bath water. Hence, care was taken to strengthen and reinforce the central role of the faculty in both the definition of standards and in the assessment of student achievement that is required for the implementation of those standards.Faculty members from community colleges, state universities, and private colleges and universities, along with faculty members from secondary schools, have demonstrated their willingness and ability to work constructively in the implementation of a testing program which includes the use of the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) with sophomores in sixty colleges and universities in Florida.     

LEARNING DISABILITIES PROGRAMS AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND FOUR-YEAR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Students with learning disabilities (LD) from selected Midwest colleges and universities participated in a study to determine the differences between LD programs at community colleges and four-year institutions; the level of satisfaction with college LD programming; and the services most important to students. Focus groups were held at five institutions including two community colleges, two independent institutions, and one public university. Focus group participants included male and female students aged 16 to 56 years and enrolled in freshmen through graduate levels. The literature suggests that the focus of LD programs and the types of services vary between two-year and four-year institutions due to differences in missions and the characteristics of the students served. However, results from the data in the present study reveal that the types of LD services offered among the institutions participating in the research were quite similar, but the quality of services varied. Students at the large public university had difficulty getting note takers, books on tape and tutors, and obtaining adequate assistance from LD staff. Participants from the smaller community colleges and private colleges and universities considered the smallness of their institutions to be a benefit. The LD program was easily accessible and LD staff were always available. Although the participants in the study who had received LD services in high school believed the services at their college or university were comparable or better, existing programs need to be evaluated to identify services in need of improvement.     

A Promise Deferred: Black Veterans' Access to Higher Education Through the GI Bill at the University of Florida, 1944–1962

Examining both the GI Bill and the origins of desegregation of traditionally segregated institutions of higher learning in the South, this historical essay argues that these 2 separate historic markers should not be considered independently. Indeed, to understand the full scope of the GI Bill, we must consider the limited options that Black veterans had when it came to college admissions. Conversely, when considering the desegregation of historically segregated southern colleges and universities, we must also evaluate the strong will many Black veterans expressed in their desire to redeem the federal government's promise for a college education. Building off the body of critical scholarship published on the GI Bill, this article closely examines the enrollment and experience of the first 2 Black veterans to attend the University of Florida (UF), contextualizing the experiences of these veterans with that of other African Americans seeking to gain acceptance to historically segregated public universities in the United States. It also contrasts the African American veteran experience at UF with that of the first White veterans to attend UF following World War II.     

Validation of a theoretical model of college withdrawal: Interaction effects in a multi-institutional sample

This study investigated the validity of Tinto's (1975) model of college withdrawal in four different types of institutions: residential universities, liberal arts colleges, two-year commuter institutions, and four-year commuter institutions. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 2,326 freshmen from 11 postsecondary institutions. The results generally supported the predictive validity of the model but suggested: (1) that the main-effects influence on persistence of measures of social and academic integration is modest, and (2) that the magnitude of the influence of particular aspects of social and academic integration depended to a significant degree on the characteristics of those students being considered. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

大学新生UPI调查分析及对策探讨——以安康学院2009级新生为例

通过对安康学院3087名2009级新生的UPI调查发现,从总体上看,大学新生的心理是健康和积极向上的,但调查也同时检测出了266名一类学生。一类学生的心理问题主要集中在抑郁、情绪波动和偏执三个方面。因此,高校应从构建心理健康教育预警机制,切实做好心理咨询工作,加强校园文化建设,高度重视特殊群体学生心理健康和开设心理健康教育课程等方面,不断加强大学新生的心理健康教育工作。     

Why Do Colleges Become Universities? Mission Drift and the Enrollment Economy

This paper analyzes mission drift in baccalaureate colleges. “Becoming a university,” defined as a change in organizational name (e.g., Aurora College becomes Aurora University), symbolizes the transition from a liberal arts mission to a comprehensive university mission. Mission drift is conceptualized as a form of “divergent change,” which can be studied using institutional theory. This paper develops testable hypotheses about becoming a university by integrating institutional theory literatures on market factors, institutional factors, and network factors. Hypotheses are tested by applying panel methods to a 1972–2010 panel dataset of all private organizations defined as “liberal arts colleges” by the 1973 Carnegie Classification. Results show that colleges became universities in response to declining freshmen enrollments, prior adoption of curricula associated with the comprehensive university model, and when network contacts previously became universities. Organizational age and strong market position lowered the probability of becoming a university. The findings contribute to literatures on organizational change and mission drift. Given that most postsecondary institutions—both public and private—are increasingly tuition reliant, future research should analyze the adoption and the effects of behavioral changes designed to increase enrollment-related revenue.     

An examination of freshmen to senior general education gains across a national sample of institutions with different general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model

This study investigated differences in freshmen to senior student general education gains across institutions with varying patterns of general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model. The subjects were 6,409 students at 34 nation-wide colleges and universities. Students attending institutions where less than 40 percent of undergraduate curricular requirements were devoted to general education and where there was not equal distribution of general education courses within the requirement were found to have significantly higher general education gains than did students who attended institutions where 40 percent or more of the undergraduate curriculum was devoted to general education and there was equal distribution of courses within the general education requirement.Presented at the Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, Atlanta, Georgia, May 10–13, 1992.     

大学新生适应障碍与适应教育

大学新生入学后面临心理适应、环境适应和学习适应等适应问题,部分大学新生产生了适应障碍。造成大学新生适应障碍的因素既有高校和中学教育教学管理方面存在的问题,也有大学新生认识和个性发展方面存在的问题,高校必须开展大学新生适应教育,以促进大学新生列好地适应高校学习生活并尽快成才。     

A RE‐EXAMINATION OF THE PAST: SOME ORIGINS OF THE “SECOND BEST” NOTION

A premise of the current criticism that community colleges are institutions that promote social tracking and inhibit social mobility was reviewed and analyzed. The relationship between the roles of the two‐year college and the research university as proposed by Harper and Lange was examined. The thesis that junior colleges emerged when universities supported their growth as feeder institutions was tested by the case history of the development of community colleges in Wyoming. Findings of this study were that: (a) the University's opposition did not halt the development of community colleges, (b) community colleges were comprehensive and community‐based from the outset in Wyoming, and (c) establishment of the transfer function was not predominant in the rationale for the community college movement. It was concluded that the stereotypic explanation of two‐year college development from transfer‐oriented “junior” colleges to comprehensive institutions may be incorrect, and that many two‐year colleges may have been comprehensive from inception.     

2020中国民办本科院校及独立学院科研竞争力评价研究报告

为持续收集和深入地分析中国民办本科院校及独立学院的科研发展状况,评价研究团队在2020年继续组织开展了中国民办本科院校及独立学院科研竞争力评价的研究工作。2020年的评价仍然坚持系统性、可比性、可操作性、可持续性、可重复验证和结合民办本科院校及独立学院当前实际等六大原则,评价对象包括170所民办本科院校和238所独立学院,数据时间为2018-2019年,其中2019年的数据权重占60%,2018年的数据权重占40%。研究结果显示:(1)民办本科院校及独立学院目前的整体科研实力仍然十分薄弱;(2)西京学院、宁波财经学院及浙江树人学院等高校处于民办本科院校排行榜前列;电子科技大学中山学院、厦门大学嘉庚学院及北京师范大学珠海分校等高校处于独立学院排行榜前列(3)近两年来民办本科院校中科研业绩有明显进步的高校主要有无锡太湖学院、西安培华学院和阳光学院;独立学院中主要有西安交通大学城市学院、新乡医学院三全学院和四川外国语大学重庆南方翻译学院等。     

Do Colleges Perform the Same Following Developmental Education Reform? The Case of Florida’s Senate Bill 1720

Research in Higher Education - Developmental education (DE) reform took place among the 28 Florida College System (FCS) institutions in 2014. In this study, we examine how cohort-based passing...     

1997: Track Merging Across the Board

The year 1997 is one that holds extraordinary significance for China's higher education. The national conference on educational work that has just concluded has proposed the following: In 1997, the vast majority of colleges and universities in China must implement a merged-track system in student admissions, and students will have to pay certain fees to go to college or to a university. Because 661 colleges and universities have already merged tracks in admissions in 1996, and these already cover nearly two-thirds of all institutions that admitted students, the person in charge of the Division of College and University Students in the State Education Commission (SEC) says, with great confidence, that it is highly possible that we will complete the work of merging tracks in student admission in colleges and universities across the board throughout the nation in 1997.     

现代高校研究机构建制模式分析

高校研究机构是高校自主设立的科研机构,是高校教师从事科研的主要阵地,也是高校学科发展、教学体系完善、行政机构健全的重要组成部分。通过调查,以浙江师范大学为例,系统地论述了现代社会中,高校研究机构的四种基本类型及其优劣,以期为高校完善研究机构,促进科研工作持续发展提供借鉴。