UK business school rankings over the last 30 years (1980–2010): trends and explanations

Business schools globally operate in a market-driven environment and rankings are very much part of that environment. Rankings have a significant impact on a school’s ability to attract the top scholars, the most able students and research funding. Schools use rankings to support claims of excellence and ‘world class’ status. The purpose of this study is to explore whether an analysis of the historical development of business schools and business/management education in the UK, supported by reference to institutional theory, can help explain trends in rankings and the positions of different types of school. The analysis is based on a selection of undergraduate, MBA and research rankings published between 1984 and 2010. The findings of the study fit with the expectations of institutional theory: particularly regulations and normative path dependencies determined the rankings of different categories of university, e.g., ancient, plateglass, technology and post-1992.     

Making 'Good Citizens': The social and political attitudes of PGCE students

This article arises from a research project examining the understanding of 'citizenship' amongst trainee teachers in UK primary and secondary schools. The study covers attitudes to a broad range of social, political and moral issues and examines how these affect the students' perception of the socio-political dimension of their future professional role. Tracking a group of students through their postgraduate training year highlights the relationship between the individual's political world-view and their response to the school experience. One of the key findings is the high degree of political disengagement and cynicism about the operation of democracy in the UK; this is particularly strong amongst the youngest students, those coming to adulthood during the 1990s. Although the majority of students are positively inclined to fostering 'good citizenship values' in schools, there was much confusion over what it means to be 'a good citizen'. The concept of 'citizenship' was felt to be tainted with negative imagery, although a sense of 'being part of a community' was thought to be vital for social cohesion. In addition to this, a small minority of students displayed social attitudes and values incompatible with a pluralist, tolerant society. The teacher education experience did not appear to have given students a clear picture of what to teach or how to teach it, and both the pressures of the National Curriculum and the changing climate of schooling, favouring a more 'traditionalist' approach, may result in a greater unwillingness to tackle challenging issues.     

Country of origin and country of service delivery effects in transnational higher education: a comparison of international branch campuses from developed and developing nations

Over the last decade, international branch campuses have been established by universities from developing countries as well as developed countries. Little research has been conducted into students’ perceptions of branch campuses from different countries, or how universities from different countries compete in the increasingly competitive market. A framework incorporating the concepts of country of origin and country of service delivery is adopted to assess how potential undergraduate students in Malaysia perceive the home and international branch campuses of universities from the United Kingdom (UK) and India, which are used to represent universities from developed and developing nations. It was found that for a university from a developing nation, students perceived the image, reputation, quality and brand equity of its home campus more positively than its international branch campus. The results suggest that although all universities must devise and implement strategies that enhance the image and reputation of their international branch campuses, institutions from developing countries should seek niche markets where they do not have to compete directly with prestigious universities from developed countries.     

Testing the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation through confirmatory factor analysis

The purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence to confirm the theoretical factor structure of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation that was developed to help instructors understand how current motivation research can be applied to instruction. We hypothesised the MUSIC model as a hierarchical five-factor correlated model and compared its fit to alternative models. Our research question was: Is a hierarchical five-factor correlated model a valid representation of the MUSIC model? The study included 1228 undergraduate students from three different types of university courses. We measured the constructs associated with the main components of the MUSIC model: empowerment, usefulness, success, interest and caring. Results of the confirmatory factor analyses provided strong evidence that the hierarchical five-factor correlated model was a valid representation of the MUSIC model. Thus, the MUSIC model consists of components that are theoretically and empirically correlated, yet distinct.     

Dispositional Statements on Student Teacher Evaluation Instruments: Commonalities Across Institutions

The purpose of this study was to investigate summative student teacher evaluation instruments to determine the most common dispositions evaluated by teacher preparatory programs. Thirty-two (32) final student teaching instruments were purposely selected from across the United States and examined. Thirteen disposition categories emerged from the data: (a) Acceptance of Criticism, (b) Critical Thinking, (c) Enthusiasm, (d) Ethics, (e) Leadership, (f) Personality, (g) Professional Growth, (h) Reflectivity, (i) Relationships, (j) Respect for Learner, (k) Self-confidence, (l) Service to Student, School and Community, and (m) Work Habits. Although there was no consensus as to specific behaviors or characteristics that were evaluated, three themed areas were found that were common across evaluation instruments: Professional Behaviors, Professional Ways of Thinking, and Personality Characteristics.     

Representations of childcare in the Australian print media: An exploratory corpus-assisted discourse analysis

While an increasing body of Australian and international research has explored the relationship between media and education, few studies have examined this relationship in the context of early childhood education. This paper contributes to this research gap by reporting on a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of how childcare is represented in 801 newspaper texts from six Australian newspapers. As a foundational paper of a broader study investigating public and political influences on parents’ childcare choices, the paper details the use and utility of corpus linguistic tools for exploring the discourse construction of childcare in a large corpus of media texts. It also highlights the value of analysing media corpora via media ownership, focusing on the two dominant Australian media organisations, Fairfax and News Corp. Analyses reveal similarities but also key differences in the representation of childcare in Fairfax and News Corp newspapers. In Australia, print media still sets the daily media agenda and reflects the dominant discourse constructions surrounding major public issues. Accordingly, the beliefs, practices and decision-making of current and potential parent users of formal childcare may be differentially influenced depending not just on their (direct or indirect) access to print media, but by the format (tabloid or broadsheet) and thus ownership (Fairfax or News Corp).     

Talent management in transnational higher education: strategies for managing academic staff at international branch campuses

The study investigates the practices of academic staff talent management at international branch campuses, with the aim of identifying a range of practical strategies that may address the unique challenges of managing talent in campuses located far away from the home country. These strategies are intended to improve service quality and add value to institution profiles. Based on an online questionnaire, ad hoc email correspondence and publicly available information, five case studies are presented. Talent management emerges as a key strategic area, directly managed at dean/president level. Referrals and online portals are commonly utilised as channels to attract talent, and the need to sometimes uplift local packages to recruit and retain talent is recognised. It is concluded that the development of academic staff should be viewed as an investment, and the availability of research funding and teaching awards on campus may be used to attract, develop and retain talent.     

Using Self-Efficacy as a Construct for Evaluating Science and Mathematics Methods Courses

The focus of this study was elementary preservice teachers’ development as effective teachers of science and mathematics as influenced by their participation in elementary science and mathematics methods courses. Preservice teachers’ reports of factors that influenced their perception of their teaching abilities were analyzed according to Bandura’s (1994) 4 sources of efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and stress reduction. This investigation allowed the researchers to evaluate the courses based on these sources. The analysis indicated all 4 sources influenced preservice teachers’ teaching self-efficacy beliefs, with mastery experiences considered the most influential. Embedded within discussions of mastery experiences were references to the other sources of efficacy, which suggest an interrelationship between mastery experiences and the other sources.