Degrees of value: comparing the contextual complexities of UK transnational education in Malaysia and Hong Kong

This paper reveals the complex diversity that underpins ostensibly similar transnational education programmes (TNE), through a comparison of UK TNE in Malaysia and Hong Kong. It draws on data from two different yet cognate studies on the role of UK universities in delivering higher education in Asia. Some fine-grained and informative differences between the ways in which ‘value’ in TNE is constructed in different host contexts is revealed. The paper brings to light the ‘voices’ of TNE students and graduates, which are very seldom heard. The arguments adapt and extend the concepts of education as a positional good, and as cultural capital. For various instrumental, intrinsic and personal reasons the authors discuss in detail, UK TNE is more highly valued in Malaysia than in Hong Kong. The paper makes a wider contribution to knowledge on the changing landscape of international higher education and the impact on social and personal (dis)advantage.     

A symplectic eigensolution method in transversely isotropic piezoelectric cylindrical media

INTRODUCTION Since the phenomenon of piezoelectricity in natural crystals was discovered in 1880, it has been applied in many fields, such as smart structure, sensing devices and active control, because of its special properties. Combining electrical behavior with mechanical deformation is the special property which attracted great interest of researchers. Many models have been developed for studying piezoelec- tric effects. Dunn and Wienecke (1996) used Green’s functions for transverse…     

Art and Design Education in the Ecology of Care

In the light of challenges arising from contemporary issues such as inclusivity, sustainability and justice, the connections between art, design and caring appears to be pertinent. What role can artists and designers play in the ecology of care? How can we lead art and design students to connect and lend their creative skills to care needs? Drawing on the ethics of care and a relational view on health this article highlights the various teaching approaches and initiatives introduced at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, to support and guide students to realise various art and design for health and wellbeing projects that provide opportunities for students to part take in ecology of care using their creative skills. Although creative explorations at the intersection of art, design and caring is still at an early stage, outcomes from this ongoing effort have been encouraging in response to the shifting social needs to create a more inclusive and flourishing society in Singapore.     

PPBS in higher education planning and management: Part I,an overview

Higher education in the United States and elsewhere is beset by crises: crises of public confidence, questions of continuing relevance, doubts about continuing the emphasis on doctoral instruction, and a very real financial crisis. In response, governing boards and governmental agencies are devoting increasing attention to the management of higher education. Part of this response has been a heightened interest in formal planning-programming-budgeting-systems (PPBS); in fact, several states have legislated the adoption of PPBS for higher educational planning and decision making. Similar interest has been evidenced in other countries. Therefore, it is an appropriate time to reconsider the nature and role of PPBS and its potential impact on higher education. This paper describes the salient characteristics of PPBS and traces the development of PPBS and related analytical techniques in governmental agencies and institutions of higher education. A second paper will illustrate both the concepts and the implementation of PPBS by a detailed exposition of the University of California's experience with PPBS. Finally, in a third paper we suggest an alternative view of policy analysis for educational planning which is a departure from traditional PPBS. We conclude with general observations and specific recommendations to educational managers seeking to improve their resource allocation procedures.