The book draws on the 2007 Changing Academic Profession international survey in order to document the personal characteristics, career trajectories, sense of identity/commitment and job satisfaction of academics in 14 countries with different levels of economic and social development and different higher education systems. With nearly 26,000 academics surveyed in 19 countries (of which 14 are reporting their results in this volume), the empirical basis of the book is the most up-to-date and far-reaching in the area. With major changes taking place both in the local and global contexts of higher education and in the working conditions within individual universities, as exemplified by increasing managerialism and performance-based funding, it is important to consider the impact of these changes on the profiles and working lives of the academic profession across different countries. But it is also important to look at the ways in which the faculty's changing profile impacts on the organisation and management of universities and on the delivery of their central functions. Although not always obvious in the short-term, academic work and its conditions attract, incorporate and promote different types of individuals who, in turn, exert considerable influence on the nature of academic work, higher education institutions and, potentially, society. As faculty members are central to the teaching, research and service enterprise activities of higher education, it is important to understand their personal characteristics, career trajectories, sense of identity and commitment, and job satisfaction. These are central for understanding the academic profession in general and, in particular, the factors affecting their involvement and productivity in the work of their institutions. These are a complex result of a mixture of contextual factors (e.g. the status and regulatory framework of the higher education system, the features and atmosphere of the particular institution) and personal factors (e.g. gender, educational attainment, family background, attitudes to work and broader social values).This book examines the different situations facing the academic profession in individual countries and provides comparative studies of country differences.

The second decade of the 21st century has seen governments and industry globally intensify their focus on the role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a vehicle for future economic prosperity. Economic opportunities for new industries that are emerging from technological advances, such as those emerging from the field of artificial intelligence also require greater capabilities in science, mathematics, engineering and technologies. In response to such opportunities and challenges, government policies that position STEM as a critical driver of economic prosperity have burgeoned in recent years. Common to all these policies are consistent messages that STEM related industries are the key to future international competitiveness, productivity and economic prosperity. This book presents a contemporary focus on significant issues in STEM teaching, learning and research that are valuable in preparing students for a digital 21st century. The book chapters cover a wide spectrum of issues and topics using a wealth of research methodologies and methods ranging from STEM definitions to virtual reality in the classroom; multiplicative thinking; STEM in pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education, opportunities and obstacles in STEM; inquiry-based learning in statistics; values in STEM education and building academic leadership in STEM. The book is an important representation of some of the work currently being done by research-active academics. It will appeal to academics, researchers, teacher educators, educational administrators, teachers and anyone interested in contemporary STEM Education related research in a rapidly changing globally interconnected world. Contributors are: Natalie Banks, Anastasios (Tasos) Barkatsas, Amanda Berry, Lisa Borgerding, Nicky Carr, Io Keong Cheong, Grant Cooper, Jan van Driel, Jennifer Earle, Susan Fraser, Noleine Fitzallen, Tricia Forrester, Helen Georgiou, Andrew Gilbert, Ineke Henze, Linda Hobbs, Sarah Howard, Sylvia Sao Leng Ieong, Chunlian Jiang, Kathy Jordan, Belinda Kennedy, Zsolt Lavicza, Tricia Mclaughlin, Wendy Nielsen, Shalveena Prasad, Theodosia Prodromou, Wee Tiong Seah, Dianne Siemon, Li Ping Thong, Tessa E. Vossen and Marc J. de Vries.

Online education continues to permeate mainstream teaching techniques in higher education settings. Teaching upper-level classes in an online setting is having a major impact on education as a whole and is fundamentally altering global learning. Cases on Critical and Qualitative Perspectives in Online Higher Education offers a collection of informal, personalised articles that identify, describe and examine actual experiential domains of online programme and course production. Administrators, developers, instructors, staff, technical support and students in the field of online higher education will benefit from these case studies to reinforce and enhance their work.

This book illustrates the higher education quality assurance system and its impact on institutional transformation in China. It starts by describing the higher education system in China and its quality assessment schemes. It discusses in detail the Quality Assessment of Undergraduate Education (QAUE) and the Subject Evaluation, two of the most influential external quality assessment schemes, which are conducted on the institutional and subject levels respectively. In the second part of this book, QAUE is taken as an example for the impact analysis. Using case studies, it explores the impact of the QAUE on various dimensions of quality provisions in universities with different statuses and presents the views of various stakeholders. Based on the empirical findings from the Chinese schemes and the theories on organizational change and the mechanism of external quality assessment, it proposes a model to describe how quality assessment interacts with the evaluated universities and causes them to change.

After years of widely acknowledging race discrimination in higher education, American government leaders, college and university officials, and at-large citizens today question the need for civil rights laws and policies. Within an important sector of the public higher education community -- roughly nineteen states that used to operate laws separating students by race -- dispute focuses upon systemwide Title VI enforcement. Two interpretations of Title VI enforcement coexist. Among conservatives, absence of continuing discrimination and continuing good faith effort signal an end to the need for government enforcement. Among more liberal stakeholders, past enforcement has been weakly undertaken despite past and currently increasing evidence of continued discrimination.

Closely reviewing evidence of past and current enforcement, Williams presents a reinterpretation: Considerable evidence of continued discrimination exists, but weak design and limited implementation provides an incomplete picture of past and current enforcement. Weak federal enforcement establishes a context for previously unrecognized unofficial state responses, and unofficial responses display important elements of a generic race relations ritual first chronicled in largely forgotten humanities and sociological literature from the 1960s. An important study for scholars, students, researchers, and policymakers of contemporary American education and race relations.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is introducing automation technology into all major disciplines, including business, engineering, and education. Higher education institutions need to incorporate this digital transformation in order to remain competitive. Redesigning Higher Education Initiatives for Industry 4.0 is an essential reference source that discusses education strategies for human-computer interactions in an automated world and the role of education in conjunction with artificial intelligence and virtual technologies. Featuring research on topics such as e-learning, mobile devices, and artificial intelligence, this book is ideally designed for professionals, IT specialists, researchers, librarians, administrators, and educators.

Globalization, massification of tertiary education, and ICT revolution have radically altered the tertiary education environment posing new challenges to governments, higher education providers and other key stakeholders in terms of relevance and credibility of provisions. With the radical alterations it became clear that the traditional means for internal and external evaluations are no longer adequate to ensure the acceptable level of tertiary education performance to meet the society development needs. Considering one of the primary roles of quality assurance in tertiary education is ensuring relevance and credibility of tertiary education provisions to the ever-changing needs of the macro world of industry, politics and society at large, more and more governments are currently prioritizing quality assurance to drive the required changes in governance of higher educatuon systems, mutual recognition across national borders, and accountability to the public in different parts of the world. As part of its mission, the INQAAHE has undertaken a Global Study of both external and internal quality assurance developments worldwide in cooperation with the regional QA networks (e.g. ENQA, CANQATE, APQN, ANQAHE, CEENQA) in 2017-2018. The regions covered in this scoping study are as follows: Africa, the Arab Region, Asia-Pacific, Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Northern America. Global Trends in Higher Education Quality Assurance: Challenges and Opportunities in Internal and External Quality Assurance provides a comprehensive coverage of the trends and developments in higher education quality assurance as they refer to legitimacy/trust, efficiency and relevance.

Internationalization of higher education can be defined as the process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into the teaching, research, and service functions of the institution. This comprehensive analysis describes and compares the historical development of the internationalization of higher education in the United States and Europe, as well as providing a comparative and conceptual analysis of the current situation in the field. The increasingly international focus of higher education is dialectically related to the present globalization and regionalization of our societies and markets. As a result, the importance of quality assessment of internationalization strategies has grown, international academic consortia and networks have emerged, and English has been firmly established as the language of communication in higher education.

The combination of historical, comparative, and conceptual analysis of internationalization of higher education provides a framework for further research and practice of this important trend in higher education. First, de Wit describes and compares the historical development of internationalization in higher education in both the United States and Europe. In part two, the political, economic, social/cultural and academic rationales for the internationalization of higher education are described and a critical analysis of the different meanings and definitions, as well as organization models and strategies are provided. In the last section, internationalization of higher education is placed in the context of recent globalization.

Rethinking School-University Partnerships: A New Way Forward provides educational leaders in K-12 schools and colleges of education with insight, advice, and direction into the task of creating partnerships. In current times, colleges of education and local school districts need each other like never before. School districts struggle with pipeline, recruitment, and retention issues. Colleges of education face declining enrollment and a shifting educational landscape that fundamentally changes the way that teachers are trained and what local school districts expect their teachers to be able to do. It is with these overlapping constraints and converging interests that partnerships emerge as a foundational strategy for strengthening the education of our teachers. With nearly 80 contributors from 16 states (and Jamaica) representing 39 educational institutions, the partnerships described in this book are different from the ways in which colleges of education and school districts have traditionally worked with one another. In the past, these loose relationships centered primarily on student teaching and/or field experience placements. In this arrangement, the relationship was directed towards ensuring that the local schools were amenable to hosting students from the college of education so that the student/ candidate could complete the requirements to earn a teaching license. In our view, this paradigm needs to be enlarged and shifted.

The demanding workload and fast pace of college often overwhelm students. Without access to the right resources, many of the three million U.S. college students with disabilities fail or drop out--at a much higher rate than their peers. This guide helps students, parents, counselors and psychologists find the appropriate resources and accommodations to help students with disabilities successfully transition to college. The author explains Americans with Diabilities Act laws for higher education and outlines the steps for requesting and implementing college staff, classroom and testing accommodations. Student testimonies are included, advising on which assistive technologies and resources have worked to achieve academic success.

As Higher Education has come to be valued for its direct contribution to the global economy, university policy discourse has reinforced this rationale. In The Labour of Words in Higher Education: Is it Time to Reoccupy Policy? two globes are depicted. One is a beautiful, but complete artefact, that markets a UK university. The second sits on a European city street and is continually inscribed with the markings of passers-by. A distinction is drawn between the rhetoric of university McPolicy, as a discourse that appears to no longer require input from humans, and a more authentic approach to writing policy, that acknowledges the academic labour of staff and students, in effecting change. Inspired by the work of George Ritzer on the McDonaldisation of Society, the term McPolicy is adopted by the author, to describe a rational method of writing policy, now widespread across UK universities. Recent strategies on 'the student experience', 'technology enhanced learning', 'student engagement' and 'employability' are explored through a corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Findings are humourously compared to the marketing of consumer goods, where commodities like cars are invested with human qualities, such as 'ambition'. Similarly, McPolicy credits non-human strategies, technologies and a range of socially constructed buzz phrases, with the human qualities and labour activities that would normally be enacted by staff and students. This book is written for anyone with an interest in the future of universities. It concludes with suggestions of ways we might all reoccupy McPolicy.

Is it still worth it for low-income students to attend college, given the debt incurred? This book provides a new framework for evaluating the financial aid system in America, positing that aid must not only allow access to higher education, but also help students succeed in college and facilitate their financial health post-college. Higher education plays a critical role in the economy and society of the United States, creating a ladder of economic opportunity for American children, especially for those in poverty. Unfortunately, higher education today increasingly reinforces patterns of relative privilege, particularly as students without the benefit of affluent parents rely more and more on student loans to finance college access. This book presents penetrating new information about the fiscal realities of the current debt-based college loan system and raises tough questions about the extent to which student loans can be a viable way to facilitate equitable access to higher education. The book opens with relevant parts of the life stories of two students-one who grew up poor and had to take on high amounts of student debt, and another whose family could offer financial help at critical times. These real-life examples provide invaluable insight into the student debt problem and help make the complex data more understandable. A wide range of readers-from scholars of poverty, social policy, and educational equality to policymakers to practitioners in the fields of student financial aid and financial planning-will find the information in this text invaluable. Reveals the inadequacy of the scope of the current educational and economic policy debates, including moves to funnel low-income children toward two-year degrees, structure alternative debt repayment schedules, and constrain increases in college tuition Answers the question: "Does the student who goes to college and graduates but has outstanding student debt achieve similar financial outcomes to the student who graduates from college without student debt?" Examines an important subject of interest to educators, students, and general readers that is related to the larger topics of education, economics, social problems, social policy, public policy, debt, and asset building Provides empirical evidence and theoretical support for a fundamental shift in U.S. financial aid policy, from debt dependence to asset empowerment, including an explanation of how institutional facilitation makes Children's Savings Accounts potentially potent levers for children's educational attainment and economic well-being, before, during, and after college

E-assessments of students profoundly influence their motivation and play a key role in the educational process. Adapting assessment techniques to current technological advancements allows for effective pedagogical practices, learning processes, and student engagement. The Handbook of Research on E-Assessment in Higher Education provides emerging perspectives on the theoretical and practical aspects of digital assessment techniques and applications within educational settings. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as competency assessment, adaptive courseware, and learning performance, this publication is ideally designed for educational administrators, educational professionals, teachers and professors, researchers, and graduate-level students seeking current research on comparative studies and the pedagogical issues of online assessment in academic institutions.

Higher education institutions in Anglophone countries often rely on standardized English language proficiency exams to assess the linguistic capabilities of their multilingual international students. However, there is often a mismatch between these scores and the initial experiences of international students in both academic and social contexts. Drawing on a digital ethnography of Chinese international students' first semester languaging practices, this book examines their challenges, needs and successes on their initial languaging journeys in higher education. It analyzes how they use their rich multilingual and multi-modal communicative repertories to facilitate languaging across contexts, in order to suggest how university support systems might better serve the needs of multilingual international students.

Engage and Activate: Navigating College and Beyond introduces readers to the cultural and social tools they will need to be successful in higher education while identifying opportunities within academic life to connect with others, effect change, and create communities that are more just, humane, and sustainable. The authors address important issues for beginning students such as cross-cultural appreciation and understanding, self-care, navigating institutional rules, study habits, relationships and consent, mental and physical health, finances, and the environment, all with a focus that situates the contexts in social justice. Throughout, engaging exercises, class activities, and personal accounts encourage the development of transformative thought. Designed to help readers navigate higher education to become successful students and responsible, democratically-minded citizens, Engage and Activate is an ideal book for first-year and college success courses or programs, as well as people who will participate in U.S.-based higher education spaces.

The author explores the multifaceted lives of many Chinese students and scholars in North American universities. Beginning with a discussion of their prior education in China from 1949 to the present, the author describes how some studied English in China, others studied in the United States, and how hard they worked to aquire English proficiency. Chinese students' and scholars' academic performance, achievements, and activities are provided, as well as research on their cognitive styles of field independence, scanning, category width, auditory and visual learning styles, and idealist and analyst thinking styles. This book also depicts their personal experiences as well as those of their families. Many of those participating in these studies made tremendous effort and sacrifice to succeed. The author's research has made a significant contribution to the study of international and multicultural education.

This volume explores the interrelationship between ideology, the state and higher education reforms, setting it in a global context. It examines some of the major higher education reforms and policy issues in a global culture, particularly in the light of recent shifts in quality and standards-driven education and policy research. In doing so, the book provides a comprehensive picture of the intersecting and diverse discourses of globalisation and policy-driven reforms in higher education. Representing scholarly research on major discourses in the field of higher education reforms, the book draws upon recent studies in the areas of globalisation, equality, and the role of the state in higher education reforms. It critiques the neo-liberal ideological imperatives of current higher education and policy reforms, and illustrates the way that shifts in the relationship between the state and higher education policy affect current trends in higher education reforms. Individual chapters critically assess the dominant discourses and debates on higher education and policy reforms. Using diverse comparative education paradigms from critical theory to historical-comparative research, the chapters focus on globalisation, ideology and higher education reforms and examine both the reasons and outcomes of higher education reforms and policy change. "Anyone who has been involved in higher education over the past few decades cannot fail to be affected by the impact of globalisation and neo-liberal policies on universities and society at large. In 'Globalisation and Higher Education Reforms', the 15th volume of the series 'Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research', Joseph Zajda and Val Rust present chapters on education reform in the USA and in international contexts that highlight the inroads that neo-liberalism has made into policy making at higher education institutions. The chapters also illustrate the way universities have been reinventing themselves to meet the demands of a knowledge society in which corporate values of efficiency, performance and managerialism drive the agenda. What are the effects of internationalisation on higher education in the universities of today? With chapters from internationally respected scholars from around the globe, this book seeks to address the many issues of the new reality in higher education. This is a welcome, accessible volume for all those concerned with research, policy-making and curriculum development."Professor Suzanne Majhanovich, Western University

Believing that the primary purpose of professional education is to prepare practitioners, the authors consider variables that affect professional practice. Emphasis is the key role and techniques of experiential education for effective transfer of learnig to practice in medicine, law, social work, and management. Other variables that impact cost and quality of services include cost and length of professional education; specialization, selection, and promotion of faculty; role of research; use of paraprofessionals; and assessment of professional education. Conclusions go beyond education, for the four professions discussed in detail, to challenge current objectives and practices in all professional education. The major conclusion is that professional learning for practice needs to be improved and points to the importance of utilizing and developing experiential education as the key learning approach. Other counterproductive effects of current professional education practices identified are: a tendency to consider isolated problems and ignore clients' needs, inadequate continuing graduate professional education, oversupply of professionals in many areas, failure of many professionals to keep up with changing theory and practice, and overly expensive and poor research as the result of using the same institutions for both. Corrective action is suggested in each case.

This book investigates the changing opportunities in higher education for different social groups during China's transition from the socialist regime to a market economy. The first part of the book provides a historical and comparative analysis of the development of the idea of meritocracy, since its early origins in China, and in more recent western thought. The second part then explores higher education reforms in China, the part played by supposedly meritocratic forms of selection, and the implications of these for social mobility. Based on original empirical data, Ye Liu sheds light on the socio-economic, gender and geographical inequalities behind the meritocratic facade of the Gaokao ( ). Liu argues that the Chinese philosophical belief in education-based meritocracy had a modern makeover in the Gaokao, and that this ideology induces working-class and rural students to believe in upward social mobility through higher education. When the Gaokao broke the promise of status improvement for rural students, they turned to the Chinese Communist Party and sought political connections by actively applying for its membership. This book reveals a bleak picture of visible and invisible inequality in terms of access to and participation in higher education in contemporary China. Written in an accessible style, it offers a valuable resource for researchers and non-specialist readers alike.