Higher education privatisation,internationalisation and marketisation: Singaporean versus Malaysian models of Asian education hub policy

The metaphor of an ‘education hub’ was initially promoted as also a policy concept for reversing cross-border student flows to the West in both Malaysia and Singapore. The Singapore version of ‘Asian education hub policy’ represents a distinct economic policy model of higher education which has since also influenced the very Western contexts it was derived from. However, it appears the Singaporeans might have actually borrowed the policy concept from the Malaysians whose aspirations to reverse international student flows to the West was rather aligned to related national capacity development plans as still something of a public good. This paper will use a Malaysia-Singapore contrast to compare distinct developing country (national/regional) vs. developed country (globalised) conceptions of the Asian education hub model. On this exemplary basis, it will also outline an integrated framework to better make sense of the related yet also often conflicting imperatives of privatization, internationalization and marketization.     

Student Success in University Education: A Multi-measurement Study of the Impact of Student and Faculty Factors on Study Progress

This study focuses on the factors that determine study progress and numerical success rate in higher education. Study progress is influenced at three levels, namely the student level, course/institute level and government level. It is expected that various groups of economic, social, psychological and organisational factors will together influence the study progress. This study uses a multi-level and multi-disciplinary framework, in so far as it considers all of these factors at the different levels. The database contains about 9,000 students and 60 courses at the institutional level. The results show the relative importance of student level and institutional factors on study progress.     

Student Preference Rates for Predominately Online,Compressed, or Traditionally Taught University Courses

Universities and colleges in the United States are actively searching for new ways to increase student enrollment as one means to offset recent government budget cuts in educational funding. One proposal at a particular institution involves transitioning a commuter university from a traditional semester length calendar to one that offers predominately online and compressed courses. University students responded to a survey, based on a number of variables, regarding their impressions of taking considerably more online and compressed courses in lieu of traditionally taught courses. While the students wanted to keep the traditional semester calendar, findings showed that some of the benefits of online and compressed teaching schedules were appealing.     

White on White: Researcher Reflexivity and the Logics of Privilege in White Schools Undertaking Reform

I use this paper to reexamine my role as a White researcher on a multi-racial research team. I reanalyze data I collected during an evaluation project to reveal how I avoided seeing race in the schools I visited and how I dodged discussions of race with members of those school communities. By analyzing my own discursive practice, I introduce a series of logics enacted through a variety of strategies that I used to manage race talk. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: (1) an analysis of the strategies I used to sustain White privilege and (2) an examination of the logics of those strategies in order to understand the power they have in reproducing inequity. Only by understanding the self-perpetuating nature of White privilege will we be able to begin to dismantle it. Jenny Gordon is an assistant professor in the Division of Education, School of Education and Human Development at Binghamton University. She teaches foundations courses for elementary education and courses on qualitative research methods. Her scholarly work includes articles on methodological issues pertaining to qualitative research methods and narratives on the impact of race on research and teaching.     

王国维、蔡元培美育思想之比较——兼论王国维、蔡元培的人文教育精神

在中国近代美育史上,王国维和蔡元培是两位最具影响力的人物。王国维在近代中国首倡美育,是近代中国美育理论的创始人。蔡元培率先实行美育,毕生提倡、亲身实践美育,普及美育理论,最终确立起美育的重要地位。王国维和蔡元培的美学观都以康德哲学为基础,同时他们的美育思想都闪耀着人文主义的光芒。但二者对美育的阐释又有很大的区别,对美育建立的具体作用也不尽相同。本文从比较研究的角度出发,从几个方面,尤其从文化人格和人文教育精神方面揭示二者在美育的建构中表现出的共同性和差异性。     

Optical computing

Researchers are using new conducting polymers to make transistor-like switches that are smaller and thousand times faster than the silicon transistors. Electricity-conducting organic molecules that are much thinner than semiconductor wires, are being teased into self-assembling. These advances promise super-tiny all-optical chips. In fact, progress in optical storage devices can now shrink an entire Library’s book collection down to sugar-cube size. Optical computers could be leaving silicon number crunchers choking in the dust by decade’s end.     

Why Universities Need Institutional Researchers and Institutional Researchers Need Faculty Members More Than Both Realize

This paper provides an overview of research that I have conducted during my career using data sets collected by offices of institutional research. Many of the examples discussed in the paper deal with graduate education. The paper illustrates how valuable the data collection efforts by these offices are to academic researchers interested in helping to formulate institutional, state and national higher education policies. It concludes with suggestions for how the usefulness of institutional researchers to colleges and universities can be improved and stresses that institutional researchers and administrators would be wise to involve more faculty members in research that aids in institutional decision making and the formulation of public policy towards higher education.     

关于反腐败斗争的几点思考

腐败的表现是多方面的。主要表现在经济活动、组织人事、执纪执法、生活作风、结交朋友、亲属管理等方面。产生腐败的原因是复杂的 ,主要有攀比心理、侥幸心理、从众心理、拜金心理。我们应采取加强教育、依靠法制、搞好监督等措施 ,将反腐败斗争进行到底。