Whither human capital? The woeful tale of transition to tertiary education in India

In this article, we examine the issue of high dropout rates in India which has adverse implications for human capital formation and hence for the country's long-term growth potential. Using the 2004–2005 National Sample Survey (NSS) employment–unemployment data, we estimate transition probabilities of moving from a number of different educational levels to higher educational levels using a sequential logit model. Our results suggest that the overall probability of reaching tertiary education is very low. Further, even by the woeful overall standards, women are significantly worse off, particularly in rural areas.

Adapting an apprenticeship model to the needs of English-medium education at the tertiary level in Turkey

Despite the difficulties that we have regarding the use of English in tertiary education in Turkey, we argue that it is necessary for those involved to study in the medium of English. Furthermore, significant advances have been made on this front. These efforts have been for the most part language-oriented, but also include research into needs analysis and the pedagogy of team-teaching. Considering the current situation at this level of education, however, there still seems to be more to do. And the question is, what more can we do? What further contribution can we make? Or, how can we take this process further? The purpose of the study reported here is to respond to this last question. We test the proposition that it is possible to take this process further by investigating the efficient management of transition from Turkish-medium to English-medium at the tertiary level of education in Turkey. Beyond what is achieved by only the language orientation of the EAP approach, and moving conceptually deeper than what has been achieved by the team-teaching approach, the research undertaken for the purpose of this study focuses on the idea of the discourse community that people want to belong to. It then pursues an adaptation of the essentially psycho-social approach of apprenticeship, as people become aspirants and apprentices to that discourse community. In this thesis, the researcher recognises that she cannot follow all the way through to the full implementation of her ideas in a fully-taught course. She is not in a position to change the education system. What she does here is to introduce a concept and sample its effects in terms of motivation, and thereby of integration and of success, for individuals and groups of learners. Evaluation is provided by acquiring both qualitative and quantitative data concerning mature members' perceptions of apprenticed-neophytes functioning as members in the new community, apprenticed-neophytes' perceptions of their own membership and of the preparation process undertaken, and the comparison of these neophytes' performance with that of other neophytes in the community. The data obtained provide strong evidence in support of the potential usefulness of this apprenticeship model towards the declared purpose of improving the English-medium tertiary education of Turkish students in their chosen fields of study.

Is education the panacea for economic deprivation of Muslims? Evidence from wage earners in India, 1987-2005

Few researchers have examined the nature and determinants of earnings differentials among religious groups, and none has been undertaken in the context of conflict-prone multi-religious societies like the one in India. We address this lacuna in the literature by examining the differences in the average log earnings of Hindu and Muslim wage earners in India, during the 1987–2005 period. Our results indicate that education differences between Hindu and Muslim wage earners, especially differences in the proportion of wage earners with tertiary education, are largely responsible for the differences in the average log earnings of the two religious groups across the years. By contrast, differences in the returns to education do not explain the aforementioned difference in average log earnings. In conclusion, we discuss some policy implications.

Creating a culture for critical and situated technology use through effective learning design

The purpose of this concise paper is to propose, with evidence gathered through a systematic evaluation of an academic development programme in the UK, that training in the use of new and emerging learning technologies should be holistically embedded in every learning and training opportunity in learning, teaching and assessment in higher education, and not only as stand-alone modules or one-off opportunities. The future of learning in higher education cannot afford to allow Universities to disregard that digital literacy is an expected professional skill for their entire staff.

The importance of power dynamics in the development of asynchronous online learning communities

This research explored how a more student-directed learning design can support the creation of togetherness and belonging in a community of distance learners in formal higher education. Postgraduate students in a New Zealand School of Education experienced two different learning tasks as part of their online distance learning studies. The tasks centered around two online asynchronous discussions each for the same period of time and with the same group of students, but following two different learning design principles. All messages were analyzed using a twostep analysis process, content analysis and social network analysis. Although the findings showed a balance of power between the tutor and the students in the first high e-moderated activity, a better pattern of group interaction and community feeling was found in the low e-moderated activity. The paper will discuss the findings in terms of the implications for learning design and the role of the tutor.

Applications of data envelopment analysis in education

Non-parametric methods for efficiency evaluation were designed to analyse industries comprising multi-input multi-output producers and lacking data on market prices. Education is a typical example. In this chapter, we review applications of DEA in secondary and tertiary education, focusing on the opportunities that this offers for benchmarking at institutional level. At secondary level, we investigate also the disaggregation of efficiency measures into pupil-level and school-level effects. For higher education, while many analyses concern overall institutional efficiency, we examine also studies that take a more disaggregated approach, centred either around the performance of specific functional areas or that of individual employees.

Empirical analysis of human capital development and economic growth in Europe

Recent discussion of the knowledge-based economy draws increasingly attention to the role that the creation and management of knowledge plays in economic development. Development of human capital, the principal mechanism for knowledge creation and management, becomes a central issue for policy-makers and practitioners at the regional, as well as national, level. Facing competition both within and across nations, regional policy-makers view human capital development as a key to strengthening the positions of their economies in the global market. Against this background, the aim of this study is to go some way towards answering the question of whether, and how, investment in education and vocational training at regional level provides these territorial units with comparative advantages. The study reviews literature in economics and economic geography on economic growth (Chapter 2). In growth model literature, human capital has gained increased recognition as a key production factor along with physical capital and labour. Although leaving technical progress as an exogenous factor, neoclassical Solow-Swan models have improved their estimates through the inclusion of human capital. In contrast, endogenous growth models place investment in research at centre stage in accounting for technical progress. As a result, they often focus upon research workers, who embody high-order human capital, as a key variable in their framework. An issue of discussion is how human capital facilitates economic growth: is it the level of its stock or its accumulation that influences the rate of growth? In addition, these economic models are criticised in economic geography literature for their failure to consider spatial aspects of economic development, and particularly for their lack of attention to tacit knowledge and urban environments that facilitate the exchange of such knowledge. Our empirical analysis of European regions (Chapter 3) shows that investment by individuals in human capital formation has distinct patterns. Those regions with a higher level of investment in tertiary education tend to have a larger concentration of information and communication technology (ICT) sectors (including provision of ICT services and manufacture of ICT devices and equipment) and research functions. Not surprisingly, regions with major metropolitan areas where higher education institutions are located show a high enrolment rate for tertiary education, suggesting a possible link to the demand from high-order corporate functions located there. Furthermore, the rate of human capital development (at the level of vocational type of upper secondary education) appears to have significant association with the level of entrepreneurship in emerging industries such as ICT-related services and ICT manufacturing, whereas such association is not found with traditional manufacturing industries. In general, a high level of investment by individuals in tertiary education is found in those regions that accommodate high-tech industries and high-order corporate functions such as research and development (R&D). These functions are supported through the urban infrastructure and public science base, facilitating exchange of tacit knowledge. They also enjoy a low unemployment rate. However, the existing stock of human and physical capital in those regions with a high level of urban infrastructure does not lead to a high rate of economic growth. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that the rate of economic growth is determined by the accumulation of human and physical capital, not by level of their existing stocks. We found no significant effects of scale that would favour those regions with a larger stock of human capital. The primary policy implication of our study is that, in order to facilitate economic growth, education and training need to supply human capital at a faster pace than simply replenishing it as it disappears from the labour market. Given the significant impact of high-order human capital (such as business R&D staff in our case study) as well as the increasingly fast pace of technological change that makes human capital obsolete, a concerted effort needs to be made to facilitate its continuous development.

Comparing different approach and avoidance models of learning and personality in the prediction of work, university, and leadership outcomes

Jackson (2005) developed a hybrid model of personality and learning, known as the learning styles profiler (LSP) which was designed to span biological, socio-cognitive, and experiential research foci of personality and learning research. The hybrid model argues that functional and dysfunctional learning outcomes can be best understood in terms of how cognitions and experiences control, discipline, and re-express the biologically based scale of sensation-seeking. In two studies with part-time workers undertaking tertiary education (N=137 and 58), established models of approach and avoidance from each of the three different research foci were compared with Jackson's hybrid model in their predictiveness of leadership, work, and university outcomes using self-report and supervisor ratings. Results showed that the hybrid model was generally optimal and, as hypothesized, that goal orientation was a mediator of sensation-seeking on outcomes (work performance, university performance, leader behaviours, and counterproductive work behaviour). Our studies suggest that the hybrid model has considerable promise as a predictor of work and educational outcomes as well as dysfunctional outcomes.