The Japanese academic profession

The historical background to the emergence of the Japanese system of higher education is described, attention being drawn to the link established between national aims and those of the university and to the system of gakubatsu (a form of patronage for graduates of a particular university). Post World War II expansion brought junior colleges (tanki-daigaku) into the sphere of higher education as well as universities (daigaku). Though formally and legally these classes of institution are equal they are in fact ranked according to the old system. Within universities there is also a ranking which is reinforced by gakubatsu. This ranking limits mobility in the academic profession; academic staff are likely to spend all their careers, undergraduate, postgraduate and as faculty members, at the same university. This system prevents Japanese scholars from taking posts abroad though it must also be pointed out that many Japanese academics go to great lengths to remain fully acquainted with western scholarship.     

Facilitating student learning in distance education: a case study on the development and implementation of a multifaceted feedback system

This paper reports on a case study conducted in an American university investigating the role of feedback within a distance education environment. Based on data gathered from online and hybrid undergraduate students in a teacher education program and supported by existing research, we describe how we support online learners by implementing a feedback system that incorporates multi-draft formative assessments and various feedback strategies. We describe these strategies (i.e. explicit feedback directions and feedback surveys) as well as data from formative assessments to demonstrate the impact of clear expectations and feedback on student performance in distance education. We present recommendations for online feedback and propose a feedback model for further study.     

大学排名：功能及其局限

大学排名在一定程度上反映了高等教育的质量,满足了公众对大学透明度和信息的需求。但同时,大学排名也可能诱使高校趋同发展,产生片面的导向。改进大学排名应明确排名的目的、作用;使用多渠道数据全面评价;将评价指标重心落在产出上;对排名进行分类,使用有差别的指标体系;建立适当的监督或顾问机构。     

评估整改阶段与本科教学质量的提升——基于PDCA管理循环的视角

全面提高大学的教学质量和办学效益是开展本科教学评估的首要目的。在本科教学评估中,学校自查、专家组评估与学校整改形成了三个紧密联系、不可或缺的重要环节,共同确保了本科教学评估主要目的的达成。从PDCA管理循环的思想出发,对整改阶段在整个本科教学评估体系中的地位和作用进行了分析,提出建立以质量持续改进为核心的教学评估体系,构建大学教学质量生成的封闭环路。     

清华大学本科教育学情调查报告2010

本研究以“中国大学生学习性投入调查问卷”(NSSE- China)为工具,在清华大学全日制本科生数据库中通过分年级完全随机抽样方式抽取被试,采用最后回收并有效的889份问卷,总体揭示2010年度清华大学与美国同类院校本科生在学习性投入五大可比指标上的水平差异;对正在进行本科教育教学改革的院系进行案例分析,以揭示清华大学本科教育的走向;围绕拔尖创新人才培养问题,对清华自主招生学生、学业排名前5％学生、获国际大奖学生等学生亚群体的学习行为特征进行专题分析.报告对进一步改进清华本科教育教学工作,提高人才培养质量,提出具体政策建议.     

Student mentoring in higher education: Hong Kong Baptist University

There is a developing interest in mentoring in the educational system in Hong Kong, especially in higher education. Mentoring is looked at as a retention and enhancement strategy for undergraduate education. With the setting up of a mentoring system during the freshmen year, it is hoped that student retention can be increased and academic achievement can be promoted. The study aims to find out the current mentoring practices carried out at the Hong Kong Baptist University. Results are based upon quantitative data collected from 456 students and 79 faculty members engaging in the mentoring programme of the University Life Programme at the university in 1998. The author also conducted insight interviews into the student–mentor relationship and the problems encountered by mentors. The study focuses upon students' perspectives of an ‘effective’ mentor. The implications for resources are discussed as part of a review of the mentoring programme at the university.     

美国大学排行榜透视——兼论对中国大学评价的启示

文章分析了《美国新闻与世界报道》(U.S.NEWS&WorldReport)每年推出的大学评价的理论和方法,从分类标准、指标体系、数据来源三个方面对美国大学排行榜进行了剖析,从而总结出三点启示,供我国大学评价活动借鉴。     

高等教育满意度调查研究

从大学教学与大学教育满意度、大学科学研究素养培养与大学教育满意度、大学管理与大学教育满意度、大学氛围与大学教育满意度、硬件设施与大学教育满意度5个维度进行了探索。通过对全国各地高等院校的本科生进行问卷调查,将样本数据进行计量分析,从而得出相关结论及政策建议。     

美国学术性本科质量保障探析

研究型大学在美国高等教育系统中具有显赫的地位。但是当研究型大学在国家支持下其研究与服务功能得到空前强化时,其本科生教育却受到不应有的忽视。为改变重研轻本现状,美国在世纪之交掀起了一场研究型大学本科教育改革运动,重申精英培养目标,将研究性教学定为质量标准,强化学术性本科质量管理,大力开展学习成果评估,形成了鲜明的学术性本科质量保障特征。     

论本科生导师制对高校发展的促进作用

本科生导师制与研究生导师制有所不同。本科生导师制侧重于学生的品行培养,指导学生全面成才;研究生导师制侧重于指导学生的科学研究,以指导学生的学业为主。本科生导师制能够影响高校的办学思想,促进高校办学能力和人才培养质量的提高。我国正处于高等教育向大众化发展阶段,“年级主任—导师制”应为目前高校实行本科生导师制的较佳选择。     

斯坦福大学学业指导模式及启示——以工程学院为例

高等教育正面临着"学习危机",大量的教育投入并没有带来相应的教育质量提升,学业指导作为大学教育质量的保证理应受到重视。斯坦福大学作为世界一流大学的典型,在大学生学业指导体系和制度上积累了丰富的经验。对斯坦福大学工程学院的学业指导模式进行研究,发现其学业指导体系立足大学新生,以学生手册为平台,以课程指导为核心,以个性化、多元化为特征,贯穿本科教育。研究斯坦福大学学业指导模式为其本科教育质量提供了有力的保障,可从不同角度为我国高校学业指导的改革与发展提供理念启迪和经验借鉴。     

Modelling success networks to improve the quality of undergraduate education

Discussions of support and intervention in undergraduate university education are dominated by discussion of attrition. This study quests more broadly in arguing that support and intervention for undergraduate students may also benefit from models of engagement and success as well as conventional risk and failure. Supporting this proposition is a study that involved multifactorial approaches based in a combination of aspects of social network theory and social ecology theory. Analysis was enacted through social network analysis of archival data sets derived from a single cohort of 4065 undergraduate students at a regional Australian university. The findings suggest that models of academic success are suited to examination of the broader issues of student agency and undergraduate university education. The success networks developed are uniquely student-centred and place-based and may serve as more nuanced models for university intervention and support structures and mechanisms.     

重构我国高校教师本科教学评价体系

通过深入调研,在对国内典型高校教师本科教学评价体系比较研究的基础上,将发展性评价的理念应用于教师本科教学评价体系,运用人本管理和动态管理理论构建符合我国高校特点的现代教师本科教学评价体系,从而更好地促进教师教学水平提高和高等教育质量发展。     

Student perceptions of quality feedback in teacher education

Many reports have identified a perceived lack of quality in regard to assessment feedback in higher education contexts. One research study in 2007 on undergraduate university students found that less than half of the students (46%) collected their formative feedback, suggesting that from their perspective feedback clearly was not fulfilling the role it should. This is a study of 465 graduate students and 101 undergraduate students studying teacher education at a major Australian university. The study investigated what students perceived to be effective, quality feedback based upon their extensive higher education experiences. Students identified preferences in regard to form, detail and timing of assessment feedback. The data were collected by means of pen and paper survey and identified which strategies the students perceived to be the most effective, particularly within the context of large cohort teaching and written assessment formats. Findings agreed with research elsewhere regarding problems with assessment feedback quality and quantity, but students also provided clear indications of how realistic improvements could be made in terms of assessment feedback processes and strategies.     

University rankings as a zoning technology: a Taiwanese perspective on an imaginary Greater China higher education region

This paper argues that global university rankings can be understood as a mechanism upholding Taiwan's interests in light of cross-national analysis of university ranking and recent discussion on regionalisation of higher education in Asia. To draw an analytical framework, it begins by delineating a conceptualisation of university ranking, in which ranking exercises are seen as a form of institutions in the globalised field of education politics and policy. In anticipation of the emergence of the Greater China higher education region, the paper suggests that global university ranking can be used as a zoning technology to form an imaginary line of cultural and academic sovereignty, and to affect university strategies and government policies. This analysis not only explains how global university rankings can be used to uphold interests of Taiwan's higher education, but also sheds light on the way to constitute subjectivity in the process of regionalisation of worldwide higher education.     

中本贯通教育内部质量保障机制的构建

中本贯通指职业教育中中专教育、大学专科教育到本科教育之间的贯通。它是高等职业教育的一项重要的改革措施。在这项工作中,教育内部质量保障机制具有主体多元化、培养周期长、关键环节多等特点,构建此机制对提升中本贯通人才培养质量具有重要意义,而目前此类研究较为缺乏。通过分析上海某高校近年来的探索经验,提出以整体设计、反向设计和多维设计的原则构建统一主体的民主决策机制、全过程质量监控机制和教学质量预警机制等内部质量保障机制,为提升中本贯通教育培养质量和中高职贯通、高本贯通等各类贯通教育试点改革提供参考。     

从一流的科学家到卓越的领导者——对美国麻省理工学院校长康普顿的思考

美国麻省理工学院是一所全球知名的研究型大学。作为一名科学家的卡尔·泰勒·康普顿出任了该校第九任校长,在担任校长期间,他对学校进行了大力改革和有效管理:重视基础学科,强化学科联系;倡导学术科研,加强工业研究;限制本科规模,扩大硕博教育;改革管理制度,发挥个人才智;加大教育投入,重视社会需求。这些措施为麻省理工学院的发展和腾飞做出了突出的贡献,也实现了他从一位一流的科学家到卓越的领导者的华丽转身。     

中国教学型大学的特征

教学型大学是指以本科教育为主体的全日制大学。它以招收本科层次的学生为主体，主要履行人才培养和教育教学研究的职能，培养高水平技能型人才（即高级专门人才）和高级研究型后备人才。拥有学士学位授予权和少量的硕士学位授予权，可招收一定数量的专科生。与研究型大学相比，我国的教学型大学具有自己鲜明的个性特征，突出表现在：以本科教育为主体；主要承担高等教育大众化的任务；社会适应性强；重视复合型人才的培养；区域化优势明显；办学效益显著。     

教师教育质量保障体系的建构——以凯里学院为例

凯里学院是一所新升本的地方院校,其前身为黔东南民族师范高等专科学校,专业以师范类为主。升本后,面临着办学模式由专科向本科的转型及高等教育大众化背景下生源质量有所下降的挑战。本文介绍了凯里学院近几年形成的教育质量保障体系,分析其特点及不足,提出以参加教育部普通高等学校本科教学工作合格评估为契机,改进和完善本校教育质量保障体系,推动本校教育质量的跨越式发展。     

中国近代大学校长的通识教育理念和实践

大学校长乃大学的枢纽与灵魂,一批具有现代大学理念和传统学术修养的中国近代大学校长,秉持通识教育理念,并且付诸大学办学实践,对近代以来中国高等教育的发展产生了深远而重要的影响。因此,总结和提炼近代大学校长的通识教育理念和实践,从教育传统中汲取营养,是现阶段把通识教育改革推向深入,提高大学本科教育质量的有益之举。