Student voices in transition reports the experiences of 70 students who entered university through two national award-winning pathways at Monash University in Australia and South Africa. It provides insight into why these students sought university qualifications, how they adjusted to university study, the challenges they faced and the rewards they experienced. Their voices confirm that effectively adapting to university entails more than the acquisition of new study skills. The challenges faced by commencing university students, particularly those who have past experiences of modest academic achievement, extend beyond classrooms into their social life and sense of identity. The students confirm that it is in the first year at university that they learn the appropriate skills, behaviours, attitudes and values necessary to become successful students and graduates. Curriculum and teaching practices that cultivate student identities enable them to become future-focused and optimistic learners, equipped with adaptive learning strategies and able to build and sustain academic momentum. Student Voices in Transition contextualises the experiences of students studying in Australia and South Africa within recent international research and confirms that many of the challenges and rewards of adapting to university teaching and learning practices are generic and similarly experienced internationally. The student participants provide insights into what is entailed in coping with competing academic, social and workplace demands. Their observations and perceptions will be of interest to commencing students and their families, as well as university educators and administrators engaged in supporting new students. Producing graduates who are ethical and engaged citizens, critically enquiring and work-ready, requires universities to understand their commencing students and to explain the acquisition of these attributes. In Australia and South Africa, as in many other states, higher education policies seek to broaden participation among underrepresented student groups. Universities have responded with pathway programmes that attract, prepare and retain students from increasingly diverse backgrounds. To effectively equip these students for success in their studies, it is important to understand how they experience university. Student voices in transition explores how previously underrepresented students perceive, experience and learn to successfully adopt university learning practices.

The next decade will be transformative for the higher education sector. Government funding is decreasing. Through their marketing activities universities have created the 'student consumer.' The student consumer is prepared to shop around, compare prices and value, and once purchased expects a return on their investment. Disruptive innovations are challenging traditional forms of learning and in many cases are viewed as better alternatives to traditional learning in the classroom. Competition from private educational providers is increasing. Their cost base is lower, and their customer focus is superior. In short, universities around the world are facing a perfect storm. While experts don't expect the higher education sector to collapse under these challenges, they do believe that for some institutions the future looks bleak. If universities are to avoid closures or mergers, they will need to adopt a market-oriented approach. This timely book urges readers to view students as customers and focuses on how universities need to reinvent themselves in order to stay relevant. Striking a difference between market-oriented and marketing, the authors provide various examples of institutions around the world that are making efforts to reposition themselves. Additionally, this book delves into the issue of undervalued faculty, arguing that education practices are in desperate need of being reimagined due to the abundance of MOOCs and adaptive and experiential learning practices within universities these days. Both university and academic leaders alike, including presidents, provosts, deans, and faculty will find value in the instructional aspects of this book as they relate to their involvement with institutional advancement agendas as well as providing insight into the changing nature of higher education and the evolving definition of what an academic career now entails.

Collaborative engagement between activist academics from Israel and Northern Ireland highlighted the challenges and potential of working through education to promote shared learning and shared life in divided societies. Following these initial explorations, the volume brought together educationalists from Europe, the United States and South Africa to widen the range of experience and insights, and broaden the base of the conversation. The result is this book on the role of shared education, not only in deeply divided societies, but also in places where minorities face discrimination, where migrants face prejudice and barriers, or where society fails to deal positively with cultural diversity. Together, the contributors challenged themselves to develop theoretical and practical paradigms, based on practical knowledge and experience, to promote activist pedagogies. Their shared purpose was to work for more humane, just and democratic societies, in which education offers genuine hope for sustained transformational change. The four main themes around which the book is organized are: educating for democratic-multicultural citizenship, models of shared learning, nurturing intercultural competencies, and reconciling dialogue in the face of conflicting narratives. The book draws on a wide range of international perspectives and insights to identify practical strategies for change in local contexts.

This book presents a remarkably broad yet detailed description and analysis of the various roles played by universities in the workings of modern economies, with a particular focus on Europe. It provides both a wide survey of research by others on the topics addressed, and an account of the authors' own important work. The complex policy issues are clearly drawn, and the authors informed pragmatic position on them clearly articulated. This is the best book on the subject that I have seen.' - Richard Nelson, Columbia University, US'This book, with its wealth of information and its broad perspective, goes a long way toward educating us in the United States about how research at European universities is conducted and funded and details differences between Europe and the US. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to have a broader perspective on the relationship between universities and the economy.' - Paula Stephan, Georgia State University and NBER, US The University and the Economy provides an in-depth exploration of the many ways in which universities contribute to economic development and growth. By providing readers with theoretical tools and evidence to explain the means by which university activities impact the economic system, the book offers a robust analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of specific university systems. In offering a solid foundation of conceptual and statistical knowledge, this book supports the current debate on the role of the university in the contemporary economy. It also offers insights to enhance understanding of why some university systems are not contributing to their economies as well as others. The book adopts an economic perspective, which allows the actions of universities, as well as the individuals who study and work within them, to be analyzed in the context of economic models of behavior. From this perspective, it explains the organization, governance and funding of universities' activities and explores how these could be structured to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Academics, policymakers, managers and professionals working in universities will find a wealth of valuable information in this book. It will also be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of science and technology policy, higher education economics and the economics and management of innovation.

InYou Can't Make This Up! the author invites both emerging educational leaders and practicing school administrators to read a series of short stories recounted by principals and vice principals employed in schools across the United States, in Germany and Cyprus. This collection of present-day stories highlights the types of challenges school leaders encounter on a daily basis, all of which demand informed decisions, but none of which are easily resolved. Each story is presented in a case study format, and aligned with selected elements within one of the ten Professional Standards for Educational Leadership (PSEL). At a critical juncture in each case, a series of "questions to ponder" is presented, followed by a segment describing "what actually occurred?"

The Handbook of Education in China provides both a comprehensive overview and an original interpretation of key aspects of education in the People's Republic of China. With a sharp focus on specific policy areas and using both original Chinese sources and other commentaries, it expertly places the topic within its historical and political context. The Handbook has four distinct and thematic parts: The Historical Background; The Contemporary Chinese System; Problems and Policies; The Special Administrative Regions: Macau and Hong Kong. The chapters address fundamental issues facing Chinese society, including the rapid educational expansion in support of economic development in the post-Mao period, the evolution of education as public policy, concern for access to education as social justice and the parallel educational systems of the Special Administrative Regions. The editors and contributors are Chinese and foreign academics expert in this important field. The Handbook of Education in China is an essential reference for those interested in Chinese education, as well as a comprehensive resource that provides valuable supplementary material for those studying Chinese politics, economy, culture and society more generally.