The ‘brand name’ research university goes global

This paper traces attempts by two ‘brand-name’ research universities to transnationalise: the US-based Johns Hopkins University, and the University of New South Wales from Australia. Both endeavours were located in, and supported by, Singapore, a city–state with knowledge economy aspirations. The paper explores the globalisation of the research university, and offers insights into the regimes of value that are being assembled in, and through knowledge economies. Both institutions examined in this study failed in their attempts ostensibly because of a lack of fit in goals and commitment. The paper also highlights the ethical issues that frame the globalizing rationalities of research-intensive universities and developmental states seeking competitive advantage in a neoliberalising environment.     

语言经济学视角下的英语环境“软设施”建设研究

英语环境是当代社会一种重要和必需的＂软设施＂;利用已经和正在投资巨大但几乎闲置的英语人才资源是发展生产力;政府应把教育规划和人才规划纳入基础设施的英语环境＂软设施＂建设中,制定和执行语言政策,制定创建英语环境的中长期规划,使英语的使用成为一种制度。     

Gender and digital divide 2000-2008 in two low-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya and Somalia in official statistics

The Beijing World Conference on Women held in 1995 by the United Nations member states, approved strategies for improving women's access to and use of new communication technologies. The aim of this paper is to retrieve official statistics for the years 2000-2008 with regard to sex differences, gender and digital divide (specifically concerning telecommunication technologies) in two low-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya and Somalia. This paper reveals that official statistics on sex discrepancies and, the gender divide regarding access, use and benefits of telecommunications are still almost totally lacking for the countries in view. However, the digital divide is successively closing, and the telecommunication process in Kenya was quite rapid at the end of the period. Official statistics from Somalia are difficult to comprehend due to the absence of official data and a lack of evidence-based knowledge. Fifteen years after the Beijing Conference in 1995 there is still a lack of comprehensive statistics regarding new communication technologies for low-income economies such as Kenya and Somalia.     

Embracing Social Sustainability in Design Education: A Reflection on a Case Study in Haiti

Sustainable design issues are complex and multi-faceted and need integration in the education of young designers. Current research recommends a holistic view based on problem-solving and inter-disciplinary work, yet few design educators have brought these ideas to their full consequence. Sustainability education for designers is still often rooted in environmental issues, providing incomplete understanding of the broader relationships at hand. The article reflects on a case study of a student-initiated multi-disciplinary design project in Haiti. This reflection allows for discussing a number of issues related to establishing an educational agenda for incorporating social sustainability in design education, including recommendations for how to address motivation, expected learning outcomes, and feedback and guidance.     

Buzzwords at play: gender,education, and political participation in Kenya

The discourse around development is full of buzzwords, including gender and a myriad of variants that underscore the importance of development policies addressing gender imbalances. Despite their prevalence in development policy and research, terminology related to gender is often used broadly, inappropriately, and without nuance. For international education policy in particular, discussions related to gender equality and equity in education are engaged in such a way that assumes shared meanings between policy designers and policy recipients. Using Kenya as a site of analysis, and in the spirit of a vertical case study for data collection, this study explores how the abstractness of a buzzword functions in the microcosm of the school classroom. In comparing gendered representations in textbooks with students' perceptions of those representations to explore how development discourse plays out in Kenyan schools, findings here demonstrate that there is minimal impact due to textbooks' mixed messages, reinforcing women's marginal position in community and political engagement and demonstrating that broad-based understandings of gender empowerment are not always translated in application.     

财经院校图书馆网上参考咨询服务现状调查与分析

通过网络对我国部分财经院校图书馆网上参考咨询服务进行调查,分析财经院校图书馆网上参考咨询服务的现状及不足,提出财经院校图书馆网上参考咨询的发展方向。     

Evolving Reference,Changing Culture

Abstract

Analyzes the new Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose, California in terms of the experience in developing new ideas and confronting new problems in reference service. Argues that developing a merged public-university reference service encounters important problems that are similar to the challenges that face reference services everywhere in the 21st century. Introduces the problem of how a merged public-academic reference service must develop a new reference culture in order to succeed. Links the development of the reference culture to the ideas of Life Long Learning and Information Literacy.     

Running to stay still in the knowledge economy

To maintain their global positioning, some of the world's most prominent institutions are pursuing strategic transnational alliances. In this paper I examine one such transnational alliance – that between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the government of Singapore. Using governmentality as a framework of analysis, the paper locates the Singapore‐MIT Alliance within the broader policy architecture that underpins Singapore's knowledge economy aspirations. The Alliance demonstrates some of the practical complexities involved in ‘leap‐frogging’ into the ‘value‐added’ realms of knowledge and service‐related production. It highlights the resistances, tensions and contradictions arising from leveraging off foreign expertise to build an education hub. The paper concludes with a discussion of the changing regimes of value arising from aspiring knowledge economies.     

Non-formal vocational education in Uganda: Practical empowerment through a workable alternative

This article reflects on the potential of non-formal vocational education in Uganda to improve the quality of life of those excluded from formal education. Based on an exploration of humanizing development theorists Sen, Freire and Nyerere, together with two case studies, practical empowerment is described as a desirable outcome of education for development. Practical empowerment includes acquiring marketable skills as well as capabilities to critically give direction to one's life. Although education leading to this outcome is desirable for all, non-formal vocational education can reach those currently excluded from formal education, thus enhancing their empowerment by equipping them with useful skills and knowledge.     

Improving teaching and learning of basic maths and reading in Africa: Does teacher preparation count?

Teacher education has an important role in ensuring quality of learning especially for the poorest children. The article draws on a study of teacher preparation for the early primary grades in six African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda – in reading and mathematics. Initial teacher education had the strongest impact on newly qualified teachers but also induced misplaced confidence leading to standardised teacher-led approaches that failed to engage learners. Learning to read was divorced from meaning while mathematical activities were not linked to learning concepts. We suggest that teacher education is reconstructed as a study of classroom practice that places children's learning at its centre.