The Monsoon Wedding phenomenon: understanding Indian students studying in Australian universities

How does the University sector identify and support the diverse needs of Indian students? This paper reports on a research project carried out on undergraduate students from India enrolled at a Melbourne‐based University. The focus is the need to understand why Indian students choose an overseas destination for tertiary study. The intent is to explore how the curriculum that they have experienced in their country prepares them for study in another. We examine the expectations of students in relation to studying overseas. The suggestion underlying this paper is that if academic and support staff in tertiary education understand international students in cultural cohorts, then it is more likely that their transition to tertiary education will be easier. We envisage that this may also lead to a greater retention rate for universities.     

Telling is compelling: the impact of student reports of bullying on teacher intervention

Research increasingly recognises the importance of student bystander and adult educator shared responsibility for successful bully prevention. The role of teacher observations versus student reports of bullying, as well as staff preparedness, as predictors of teacher involvement was investigated in 115 middle school teachers. Being told by students about bullying incidents was the strongest predictor of teacher involvement. However, the relation between being told about bullying, or observing it, and coaching students on how to manage bullying was most evident when teachers felt highly prepared to handle bullying situations. Results from this study point to the pivotal role that both teacher preparedness and student reporting play in teacher responsiveness to bullying. Implications for training school professionals and bully prevention programmes are discussed.     

What’s inside the suitcases? An investigation into the powerful resources students and lecturers bring to teaching and learning

The study presents a framework for investigating the powerful resources within learners’ educational biographies, which, from their own accounts, appear to influence their engagement with teaching and learning practices. The research framework stresses the material, social and cultural influences on a learner’s biography and the need for recognition as well as the redistribution of resources. It assumes that both socio‐cultural influences as well as individual, affective and agentic phenomena play a role in shaping a student’s career. This framework is discussed in relation to a study undertaken at a South African university, at which 164 students, lecturers and academic support staff participated in semi‐structured interviews. The main focus of the interview was the individual’s educational biography as narrated by the individual. The findings support the socio‐cultural perspective and show that the relationship between identity, identification and feeling ‘at home’ with engagement in deep teaching and learning, is both complex and uneven.     

区域电网危机管理研究

近年来前所未有的电力危机给经济、社会和人民生活造成了严重影响。针对安濮鹤电网的特点,将危机管理引入区域电网,提出了电网危机预警的指标及其计算方法。通过对安濮鹤区域电网的分析,提出了针对该区域应对重要电网危机的应对预案,为危机恢复和调控提供合理化建议,以保障安濮鹤区域电网在复杂多变的运行条件下安全稳定运行。     

Libraries and Natural Disasters

The backdrop for this column was a spate of natural disasters around the world. The column examines the impact of disasters on libraries through multiple lenses: preparedness, recovery, and lessons learned. While the immediate and obvious emphasis may be on facilities and collections, libraries often face additional demands and take on additional roles in aiding their communities, employees, and partner institutions.