Understanding academic performance of international students: the role of ethnicity,academic and social integration

More than 3 million students study outside their home country, primarily at a Western university. A common belief among educators is that international students are insufficiently adjusted to higher education in their host country, both academically and socially. Furthermore, several groups of international students experience considerable amounts of stress while adapting to the culture of the host-institute. Several researchers argue that studies on adaptation of international students should widen its focus to the underlying mechanisms that leads towards this “misalignment”. In a cross-institutional comparison among 958 students at five business schools in the Netherlands, differences in academic performance between local and international students were identified by focussing on their levels of academic and social integration. Students’ academic integration was measured with the Students’ Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ), while students’ social integration was measured with a newly developed and validated questionnaire. The results indicate that the degree of academic success of international students is multi-faceted. International students with a (mixed) western ethnic background perform well on both academic and social integration, and also attained higher study-performance in comparison to domestic students. In contrast, international students with a non-Western background are less integrated compared to other international students. Nevertheless, they have a similar study-performance. Finally, academic adjustment is the main predictor of study-performance for Dutch, Western and Mixed-Western students. Social adjustment was negatively related to study-performance. The lack of fit for predicting long-term study success of non-Western students indicates that their academic and social integration processes are more complex and non-linear.     

Examining the potential of critical and Kaupapa Māori approaches to leading education reform in New Zealand’s English-medium secondary schools

This paper discusses expectations, policies and practices that currently underpin education within the New Zealand context. It acknowledges the ongoing failure of this policy framework to positively influence reform for Indigenous Māori students in regular, state-funded schools and highlights the need for extensive change in the positioning and expectations of educators if Māori learners are to realize their true potential. The paper then considers leadership models to reimagine and lead a transformative educational reform that aims to include the aspirations and contributions of all members of the school’s communities, especially those who have historically been marginalized. Finally it considers the implications of this model for international application.     

Educational Media

Dean Jamison, et al. The Effectiveness of Alternative Instructional Media: A Survey (March 1973, 72 pp.)

Dean Jamison with Steven Klecs, The Cost of Instructional Radio and Television for Developing Countries (March 1973, 57 pp.)

Emile G. McAnany, Radio's Role in Development: Five Strategies of Use (September 1973 with a 1976 afterword, Info. Bulletin No. 4, 29 pp.)

Henry T. Ingle, Communication Media and Technology: A Look at Their Role in Non-Formal Education Programs (August 1974, Info. Bulletin No. 5, 62 pp.)

Lois Joy Lester, A Directory of Sources of Assistance on Educational Technology for Development (November 1975, Info. Bulletin No. 6, 90 pp.)

A Sourcebook on Radio's Role in Development: (October 1976, Info. Bulletin No. 7, 85 pp.)

Therese Silverman, Tele-Niger: Adapting an Electronic Medium to a Rural African Context (undated, but late 1976, Info. Bulletin No. 8, 45 pp.)

Development Communication Report (an apparently irregular newsletter)

Keith W. Mielke and James W. Swinehart's Evaluation of the Feeling Good Television Series (Children's Television Workshop, One Lincoln Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10023—$10.00, paper)     

School leadership and educational change: Tools and practices in shared school leadership development

This study examines the features of school leadership as it evolved in an upper secondary school attempting to enhance school improvement through a dedicated team of developmental leaders. We study the team leadership’s tools and design over one school year and report on the evolution of a collective approach to leadership for school improvement. Researchers in a formative intervention research project supported the change process. Cultural-historical activity theory and a set of new technologies inspired the intervention design. The study describes how conceptions and practices of leadership gradually emerged as a collective and distributed approach to leading educational change and school improvement. In particular, new tools and designs for school team leadership were explored and implemented. The study addresses the need to develop shared and collaborative conceptions of leadership in schools. The study concludes that careful planning and skilful orchestration of human, cultural and technological resources are needed in order to make sustainable improvements in schools.     

A Qualitative Method for Assessing Faculty Satisfaction

Universities attempt to hire the highest quality faculty they can, but they are not always successful at retaining them. Furthermore, some faculty members who do remain may not function as engaging colleagues who make others want to stay. This study investigates why some faculty members leave and why others stay by illuminating the complexities of individual experiences. Using semi-structured interviews rather than surveys, a matched cohort of 123 faculty members (half current and half former) from one institution was interviewed. Although some of their primary reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction (e.g., collegiality, mentoring) were predicted by general survey research, there were also unforeseeable issues that strongly influenced satisfaction and decisions to stay or leave, demonstrating the importance of institution-specific research. This paper provides a method for collecting institution-specific information as well as several arguments for conducting interviews instead of pre-defined surveys.