Retention Matters: Academic Libraries Leading the Way

Academic libraries have always strived to be purposively involved in the university's mission attainment efforts. Today, the increase of retention levels is paramount, and, in many cases, it is at the center of higher education institution's strategic plans. For Andrews University, for example, the goal is to reach 80% in the next five years. In the United States, student retention efforts become even more critical due, in part, to declining enrollment numbers set off by soaring higher education costs. Academic librarians are aware of the library's role in the university's overall efforts to increase persistence rates and curtail attrition. Through a literature review, this article highlights how academic libraries are participating in this process. This study focuses on how academic libraries can be leaders in their Institutions by adopting a user-centered philosophy and services that will promote life-long learning, enhance students’ academic experience, and promote engagement, leading to retention.     

肖克奎拉奥朝圣之旅——秘鲁神秘的印加遗迹

在秘鲁安第斯山脉的崇山峻岭中有一座神秘的古城。西班牙人在长达300年的殖民统治期间对它一无所知,秘鲁独立后的100年间也无人涉足。400多年的时光,只有翱翔的山鹰得以一睹古城的雄姿,它就是马丘比丘印加遗址。作为马丘比丘的"姐妹城",肖克奎拉奥可谓是寂寂无名,但却有着马丘比丘无可比拟的孤独与安静。本文作者向我们介绍了在肖克奎拉奥的徒步探险经历,巨石垒筑的残垣断壁正向我们讲述着当年的故事.我们还会感受到怀古的幽思、逝去的光华,以及领略这座古城记载着的印加人无与伦比的智慧。     

Duties of critic teachers in the secondary schools of Indiana

Agriculture has had a significant number of minorities performing manual labor from the time of slavery. This has left a legacy of minority youth perceiving agriculture as occupations involving manual labor with low pay and low prestige. However, the opposite is true. There are employment opportunities for college graduates in food and agricultural sciences in marketing, merchandising, and sales of agricultural products; scientific and technical careers; and managing water, land, and other natural resources that are used in the U.S. food system. Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) is a national society committed to fostering partnerships between minority agriculture and natural resource college students and professionals from academia, government, and business. The objectives of MANRRS include increasing the number of college students in agriculture and related sciences, providing an avenue for fellowship, promoting career and academic counseling, and developing a network to serve its members. Mentoring in MANRRS most closely follows the networking model. Hierarchy and power positions are replaced with collegiality and dedication to achievement of academic and career success. The networking of agricultural professionals, collegiate undergraduate and graduate students, university faculty and advisors, and high school students enhances recruitment and retention efforts on all levels.     

The state,markets and higher education reform in Botswana

Market forces are being introduced in public spheres such as higher education and public health, which hitherto were closed to such forces. Ironically, it is the state that is responsible for this process of marketisation. Some see this state action as leading to a growing influence of the state in public policy while others see an attenuation of its role. Critiquing this market–state incompatibility thesis from a geo-spatial perspective on globalisation, this paper calls for an articulation of state–market relations that emphasises their interpenetration. Using Botswana as a case study, the paper argues that although on-going tertiary education reforms in the country are characterised by the state's promotion of market forces this does not mean that the state is retreating, leaving the sub-sector to the vagaries of the market. Contrarily, the state is employing marketisation to reform the sub-sector so that it is responsive to labour and skills demands of an economy aspiring to be knowledge-based.