Higher Education Policy最新文献

With globalization and the knowledge society, the expansion of higher education has become an 'object of desire' among governments to bolster both economic growth and social development. In recent decades, just as in other countries, Brazil has expanded the system and become the fourth largest in the world in enrollment numbers, significantly increasing distance education at for-profit private institutions. However, massification without the necessary attention to quality and equity may present undesired consequences. Thus, considering Brazil has created one of the largest information databases that allow for studies with huge samples, we statistically analyzed performance in a wide scale national examination (Enade) with approximately 222,000 students, disaggregated by background and education modalities. The results back the argument that learning possibilities and performance in distance education are inferior in relation to in-person modalities and that the expansion based on distance education at for-profit private institutions may be reproducing inequalities within the higher education system in one of the most unequal nations in the world.

Connectivity in both its tangible and intangible forms is a fundamental feature of all aspects of university life though often overlooked in much of the relevant literature. Using the metaphor of the couloir, this paper will examine features of university design and organisation which contribute to this connectivity, in its various senses, across the institution. A typology of connectivity features is proposed, setting efficiency of movement against possibilities for social interaction, with another axis contrasting open/public against closed/private spaces. Universities, which everywhere have both public and private dimensions, seem to have features that occupy a central place in this typology, highlighting the multifaceted nature of connectivity in university life. The significance of connectivity should inform a range of institutional policies affecting space design and use as well as methods in teaching and learning.

We investigate operating costs at 682 public community colleges in the United States over a 15-year period (2004–2018). The results reveal that costs are spatially correlated across neighboring institutions, indicating the need for a spatial analysis. An institution’s actions are associated with changes in costs for that particular institution (direct-effects), but neighboring institutions’ actions also impact that institution (indirect/neighbor-effect) via labor market channels and local market conditions. The current research found that the neighbor-effects are economically significant at 9%. The spatial analysis further reveals a quadratic relationship between costs and the “production” of associate degrees and certificates granted, as well as a positive relationship between costs and human resources, some specific student demographics and institution characteristics. Overall, the community college sector exhibits economies of scale with respect to associate degrees, but with great variation in how many more degrees these institutions can award before becoming cost inefficient or before impacting access to enrollees with other educational goals. This sector faces diseconomies of scale in relation to certificates granted and Ray diseconomies of scale overall. This suggests room for restructuring and resizing. Community colleges are achieving economies of scope by offering both types of degrees. Moving forward, policymakers and campus leaders should account for unexpected shocks in operating costs due to neighbor-effects when developing policies, planning and budgeting. Funding should be done with the understanding that community colleges do not have full ex-ante knowledge of their costs or their neighbor’s future actions, nor perfect forecasting abilities, no matter how well managed they.

University faculty are called upon to address complex, contemporary problems using interdisciplinary approaches. But do appointment, reappointment, promotion, and tenure (ARPT) criteria reflect and reward this fundamental change in the nature of scholarly inquiry? We conducted a content analysis of ARPT criteria at one university to determine how interdisciplinary work is valued across disciplines and over time. We found noteworthy differences between colleges and disciplines: generally, creative disciplines placed higher value on individual contributions while the sciences supported interdisciplinary work. The emphasis on interdisciplinary work over time increased in only a few disciplines, as criteria became more current.