The impact of information technology on the efficacy of tuition fee collection: a case in Jamaica

Most governments in both developed and developing countries are reducing their financial support to universities. This condition is further compounded in Jamaica because the Jamaican government has shifted its focus and support from tertiary to early childhood education. As a result, both students and universities in Jamaica are experiencing financial difficulties. In an effort to overcome the challenges, one major university in the country has embarked upon a series of initiatives. These initiatives include, as a central element, the use of information technology (IT). Hence, this research seeks to answer the pivotal question, ‘How does the use of information technology enable a Jamaican university to manage tuition fee collection in a manner that is effective yet sensitive to students’ financial situation?’ The survey found a significant relationship between the IT system and students being financially cleared at the release of examination results. In addition, the majority of students paid their tuition fees each semester via multiple payment options, and 64% of the Billing and Receivables staff believed that the IT system was effective in collecting tuition fees. These insights should assist universities’ decision makers in identifying the best suite of financial strategies to enhance tuition fee collection.     

Neighborhoods Matter: The Role of Universities in the School Reform Neighborhood Development Movement

Where you find distressed neighborhoods, you will also find poorly performing public schools. Yet many contemporary school reform efforts ignore neighborhood-level factors that undeniably impact school performance. The purpose of this study is to use a case study approach with social institutional and urban school reform regime frameworks to demonstrate why school reform and the re-creation and redevelopment of distressed neighborhoods should occur simultaneously. At the same time, researchers will examine the role of higher education in catalyzing partnerships with so-called anchor institutions for the explicit purposes of simultaneously improving neighborhoods and reforming schools. By focusing on a federal Choice neighborhood initiative, the study will not only make the case for connecting school reform and neighborhood development but also present a model that demonstrates how this can happen. The study will also make a strong case for the university's unique role in fostering neo-collaborative structures fit to take on wicked problems of neighborhood distress and urban decline.     

National pride and students’ attitudes towards history: an exploratory study

Recent debates about “Britishness” have drawn increasing attention to the inculcation of national values within the school history curriculum. To date, however, few studies have explored young people’s attitudes towards history or how these are related to their sources of national pride and shame. This paper draws on a survey of over 400 undergraduates’ experiences of secondary education, investigating their attitudes towards the history curriculum and how these relate to their feelings of national pride. Using principal components analysis we found that students’ attitudes towards history loaded on to two distinct factors: traditional/conservative and multicultural/liberal. Bivariate correlations then revealed that pride in national sporting and economic achievements and a sense of shame about immigration were positively associated with a traditional attitude towards history. Pride in British civil liberties and social diversity and a sense of shame about racism and UK foreign policy were associated with a multicultural attitude. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Book reviews

Background: In England, the promotion of ‘national values’ within the history curriculum has become an increasingly topical issue in the wake of recent debates about ‘Britishness’ and community cohesion. However, despite the swathe of policy statements and pronouncements, there is little empirical evidence linking young people's identities and their attitudes towards history.

Purpose: Drawing on a survey of undergraduates, we explore young people's attitudes towards the history curriculum and how these relate to their ethnic, national and political identity. We anticipated that students ascribing to a strong sense of national identity may be particularly receptive to a traditional approach to teaching national values within history classes, while those with a strong sense of political identity would be receptive to a multicultural approach; and vice versa.

Sample: The sample consisted of 353 undergraduates attending five universities in the North of England. The sample was composed of British citizens, the majority of whom would have recently experienced secondary education including discrete or cross-curricular teaching designed to promote ‘British’ national values.

Design and methods: Students' attitudes towards history and their self-identity were estimated using a questionnaire survey asking respondents a series of questions about history teaching and identity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to reveal underlying patterns in students' responses to items assessing their attitudes towards history. Items gauging relevant dimensions of self-identification, such as the relative importance of their national identity, along with other individual background characteristics, were then regressed on to attitudes towards history.

Results: We found that students' attitudes towards history were connected with two distinct factors: traditional/conservative and multicultural/liberal. The regression results revealed a positive relationship between a strong sense of national identity and a traditional attitude towards history, and, a negative relationship between a strong sense of national identity and a multicultural attitude towards history, even when controlling for students' background characteristics.

Conclusions: Our exploratory research suggests that students' self-identity is likely to influence their attitudes towards approaches to history teaching. Educational policy-makers and practitioners must therefore pay careful attention to students' self-identity and the context in which this is formed when seeking to inculcate an inclusive national identity in history classes.     

Visually handicapped students in higher education: the position in eastern Europe

ABSTRACT

This article is based on findings made by members of the Student Support Service of the Royal National Institute for the Blind during study visits to Hungary, Poland and Czecho‐Slovakia in June and September 1991 and during attendance at a conference in Prague in November 1991. All these visits were funded by the EC under the Tempus scheme ‐ Trans European Mobility Programme for University Students. The present position of students who have a significant visual disability was assessed against a background of the services available to such students in Britain and Ireland. Information was sought on students’ studies, the support services available from universities, local societies for the blind and other sources. Interviews showed that a significant number of visually handicapped students were studying in higher education, aided generally by supportive friends and staff. However, a considerable lack of specialist material and equipment was revealed and, in certain cases also, a lack of awareness of special needs. There appeared to be little knowledge of the numbers of students with high partial sight, or of their particular requirements. Recommendations for change are made and discussed in relation to personal, financial, vocational and technical requirements, in the short‐, medium‐ and long‐term, bearing in mind economic constraints within the countries concerned.     

Negotiating Difference in Post-conflict Northern Ireland: An Analysis of Approaches to Integrated Education

In this article, the author critically examines a variety of approaches to multicultural education noted in integrated (mixed Catholic and Protestant) schools in Northern Ireland and considers their implications in the context of the wider debate around multiculturalism. She argues that educators should challenge sectarianism, but should also resist the essentialization of group identities.     

Broadcast Programming and Management

George Dessart's Television in the Real World: A Case Study Course in Broadcast Management (New York: Hastings House, 1978—$16.50/8.95)

Howard W. Coleman's Case Studies in Broadcast Management (New York: Hastings House, 1978—$10.75/4.95)

Joseph S. Johnson and Kenneth K. Jones' Modern Radio Station Practices (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1978—$12.95)

Charles Clift and Archie Greer, eds. Broadcast Programming: The Current Perspective (University Press of America, 4710 Auth Place, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20023— price not given, paper)

Rose K. Goldsen's The Show and Tell Machine: How Television Works and Works You Over (New York: Dial Press, 1978—$10.00)

Ben Logan, ed. Television Awareness Training for New Awareness, New Decisions, New Action (Media Action Research Center, Inc., 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10027—$8.50, paper, including mailing)

Lee Polk and Lda LeShan's The Incredible Television Machine (New York: Macmillan, 1977—$6.95)

Mary Livingstone Benny, Hilliard Marks and Marcia Borie's Jack Benny (New York: Doubleday, 1978—$10.00)