Benchmarking potential factors leading to education quality : a study of Cambodian higher education

Purpose To study the quality in higher education in Cambodia and explore the potential factors leading to quality in Cambodian higher education. Design/methodology/approach Five main factors that were deemed relevant in providing quality in Cambodian higher education were proposed: academic curriculum and extra-curricular activities, teachers' qualification and methods, funding and tuition, school facilities, and interactive network. These five propositions were used to compare Shu-Te University, Taiwan with the top five universities in Cambodia. The data came in the forms of questionnaire and desk research. Descriptive analytical approach is then carried out to describe these five factors. Findings Only 6 per cent of lecturers hold PhD degree and about 85 per cent never published any papers; some private universities charge as low as USD200 per academic year, there is almost no donation from international organizations, and annual government funding on higher education sector nationwide in 2005 was only about USD3.67 million; even though there is a library at each university, books, study materials etc. are not up-to-date and inadequate; 90 per cent of the lecturers never have technical discussion or meeting and about 60 per cent of students felt that their teachers did not have time for them to consult with. Originality/value A useful insight was gained into the perceived importance of quality in higher education that can stimulate debate and discussion on the role of government in building the standard quality in higher education. Also, the findings from this research can assist in the development of a framework of developing human resource.

Cartels – What are they and how to avoid being part of one : the implications of University fee deregulation

Universities supply a range of services to students. These include most obviously, tuition services in relation to undergraduate and postgraduate courses; research supervision services in relation to research degrees; as well as consultancy services in relation to Government and industry work. For the purposes of the CCA, universities are trading corporations. They engage in trade or commerce through the provision of a range of services for reward. As such Universities are subject to the same rules and regulations that govern the conduct of other trading corporations, such Coles and Woolworths. As senior officers and managers of a trading corporation you need to acquire some basic understanding of the rules that govern competition in the education sector. In other sectors, companies generally undertake a risk assessment of those areas where they are most at risk of contravening the CCA; to ascertain in advance how problems might arise so that they can put in place strategies to mitigate the risk of inadvertent contraventions.

Monikulttuurisuuskasvatus päiväkodin monikulttuurisessa esiopetusryhmässä

This study reports on the realisation of multicultural education in a multicultural pre-school group of one kindergarten. The research questions were: 1) what multicultural goals and contents did the kindergarten´s own pre-school curriculum contain? and 2) how did the pre-school educators´ views on multicultural education appear in their actions in a multicultural pre-school group? The research was conducted by analysing the curricula, interviewing the educators, and observing of the preschool groups. Pre-school education is seen as part of institutionalised education which is defined through culture. Education is considered from the point of view of critical multicultural education, paying special attention to the role of society in the definition of education. The research is a case study, and it concentrates on the interpretation of the working philosophy of one preschool group with respect to its implementation. The target group consisted of 20 6-year-old pre-school pupils in a kindergarten and their four pre-school educators. The research results showed that the kindergarten´s own pre-school curriculum (1997) was in structure and form consistent with the structure and form of the National Core Curriculum for Pre-School Education from 1996. The only difference was in the classification of the various subject fields and objectives. The contents of the two curricula showed hardly any variation, and both of them contained only few goals and contents for multicultural education. According to the interviews, the educational views and learning philosophy of the pre-school educators represented a child-centred point of view that takes into consideration the individual pupil´s needs and skills. This is also one of the basic principles of multicultural education. The principle was not, however, realised in the directed activities of the pre-school group. The heterogeneity of the pre-school group was dealt with by dividing the children into smaller groups, but the contents of the tuition were not differentiated. All children were provided with the same goals and contents. Multicultural education was seen as remote and separate from the overall educational philosophy. The contents of multicultural education were interpreted by the educators as teaching Finnish as a second language and teaching the children their own mother tongue and religion. After the evaluation of the state of the kindergarten´s multicultural education using four different models, I determined that the kindergarten emerged as a representative of the model where multicultural education is seen as something meant for immigrants only. The aim of the model is a rapid integration of the immigrant children with the majority population. Keywords: education, pre-school education, multicultural education, critical multicultural education, language, culture

Assessing clinical reasoning: A method to monitor its development in a PBL curriculum

The aim of this study was to develop and trial a method to monitor the evolution of clinical reasoning in a PBL curriculum that is suitable for use in a large medical school. Termed Clinical Reasoning Problems (CRPs), it is based on the notion that clinical reasoning is dependent on the identification and correct interpretation of certain critical clinical features. Each problem consists of a clinical scenario comprising presentation, history and physical examination. Based on this information, subjects are asked to nominate the two most likely diagnoses and to list the clinical features that they considered in formulating their diagnoses, indicating whether these features supported or opposed the nominated diagnoses. Students at different levels of medical training completed a set of 10 CRPs as well as the Diagnostic Thinking Inventory, a self-reporting questionnaire designed to assess reasoning style. Responses were scored against those of a reference group of general practitioners. Results indicate that the CRPs are an easily administered, reliable and valid assessment of clinical reasoning, able to successfully monitor its development throughout medical training. Consequently, they can be employed to assess clinical reasoning skill in individual students and to evaluate the success of undergraduate medical schools in providing effective tuition in clinical reasoning.

Is The Burden of Medical Education Affecting Ethics of Medical Treatment?

A substantial number of medical students in India have to bear an enormous financial burden for earning a bachelor's degree in medicine referred to as MBBS (bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery). This degree program lasts for four and one-half years followed by one year of internship. A postgraduate degree, such as MD, has to be pursued separately on completion of a MBBS. Every medical college in India is part of a hospital where the medical students get clinical exposure during the course of their study. All or at least a number of medical colleges in a given state are affiliated to a university that mainly plays a role of an overseeing authority. The medical colleges usually have no official interaction with other disciplines of education such as science and engineering, perhaps because of their independent location and absence of emphasis on medical research. However, many of the medical colleges are adept in imparting high-quality and sound training in medical practices including diagnostics and treatment. The medical colleges in India are generally of two types, i.e., government owned and private. Since only a limited number of seats are available across India in the former category of colleges, only a small fraction of aspiring candidates can find admission in these colleges after performing competitively in the relevant entrance tests. A major advantage of studying in these colleges is the nominal tuition fees that have to be paid. On the other hand, a large majority of would-be medical graduates have to seek admission in the privately run medical institutes in which the tuition and other related fees can be mind boggling when compared to their public counterparts. Except for candidates of exceptionally affluent background, the only alternative for fulfilling the dream of becoming a doctor is by financing one's study through hefty bank loans that may take years to pay back. It is often heard from patients that they are asked by doctors to undergo a plethora of diagnostic tests for apparently minor illnesses, which may financially benefit those prescribing the tests. The present paper attempts to throw light on the extent of disparity in cost of a medical education between state-funded and privately managed medical colleges in India; the average salary of a new medical graduate, which is often ridiculously low when compared to what is offered in entry-level engineering and business jobs; and the possible repercussions of this apparently unjust economic situation regarding the exploitation of patients.

The evolution of the medical professions in eighteenth-century Ireland: An institutional perspective

Ireland, in the eighteenth century, followed the classic tripartite division of regular medical practitioners into physicians, surgeons and apothecaries. At the beginning of the century surgeons and apothecaries were regarded as mere tradesmen, but by the end of the century both were regarded as professionals and had the right to regulate their respective professions. Practitioners in different regions of Europe developed in a different manner, and eighteenth-century practitioners in Ireland developed independently from their English counterparts. In common with Britain and Europe in the eighteenth century, the total number of practitioners increased in Ireland, and by the end of the century, apothecaries were the largest group in Dublin, closely followed by the surgeons. Surgeons and apothecaries at the start of the eighteenth century belonged to the same guild. However in mid-century, St Luke's guild of apothecaries was established and this provided the apothecaries with a new identity that allowed them to pursue auto regulation, rather than hitherto, when they had been regulated by the physicians. This was vital to the apothecaries as they were in direct commercial competition with both the physicians and the surgeons and faced increasing pressure from both druggists and the disparate group of practitioners known as the irregulars. The 1765 County Infirmaries Act established a hospital in virtually every county in Ireland, and cast the surgeon as the primary medical officer in the countrywide network of hospitals. This legislation, which was unique in Europe, had the unintended consequence of elevating the status of the surgeons, as prior to this physicians were always in the ascendancy in the voluntary hospitals in Ireland and Britain, in contrast to France. The status of the surgeons was further enhanced by the establishment of the College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1784, which provided them with a new corporate identity, the authority to regulate the profession countrywide, and, also, the ability to educate surgeons in Ireland. The establishment of the College of Surgeons placed further pressure on the apothecaries to demonstrate that they also had a recognisable identity, and the authority to regulate their own profession. This was achieved with the 1791 Apothecaries Act which established the Apothecaries Hall and give the apothecaries the right to regulate themselves. This innovative legislation deemed the apothecaries a profession, and was enacted twenty-four years prior to similar legislation in Britain. Commercial pressure from druggists and, probably, irregulars expedited the requirement of the apothecaries to establish a new corporate identity, in order to distance themselves from these groups. The changing status of both apothecaries and surgeons had little effect on the physicians as a group, and, despite being the beneficiaries of a generous bequest from Sir Patrick Dun in 1711 to provide medical chairs in Dublin, the physicians displayed an inertia during the eighteenth century that was not in keeping with the developments that occurred in the contemporary Dublin medical world. The fact that it took ninety-five years, and that five acts of parliament, two House of Commons enquiries and a House of Lords enquiry were required to ensure that Dun's wishes were brought to fruition demonstrates that the physicians did not develop at the same pace as the other medical groups in the city. Had Dun’s bequest been implemented as he desired, Dublin, with a number of voluntary hospitals, would have been well placed to provide comprehensive tuition for medical students in the eighteenth century. It was not until the nineteenth century that the city, and the populace, benefited from this legacy. This thesis will trace these developments in the context of changes that occurred in contemporary medical education and diagnosis in Ireland, Britain and France. It will demonstrate that Irish practitioners developed independently, influenced mainly by local issues, but also by those who had travelled abroad and returned to Ireland with new concepts and ideas, ensuring that Irish medical practitioners had the institutional structure that could encompass the diagnostic and regulatory changes that would become accepted in the nineteenth century.

Categorizations of physical gesture in piano teaching: A preliminary enquiry

The significance of the “physicality” involved in learning to play a musical instrument and the essential role of teachers are areas in need of research. This article explores the role of gesture within teacher–student communicative interaction in one-to-one piano lessons. Three teachers were required to teach a pre-selected repertoire of two contrasting pieces to three students studying piano grade 1. The data was collected by video recordings of piano lessons and analysis based on the type and frequency of gestures employed by teachers in association to teaching behaviours specifying where gestures fit under (or evade) predefined classifications. Spontaneous co-musical gestures were observed in the process of piano tuition emerging with similar general communicative purposes as spontaneous co-verbal gestures and were essential for the process of musical communication between teachers and students. Observed frequencies of categorized gestures varied significantly between different teaching behaviours and between the three teachers. Parallels established between co-verbal and co-musical spontaneous gestures lead to an argument for extension of McNeill’s (2005) ideas of imagery–language–dialectic to imagery–music–dialectic with relevant implications for piano pedagogy and fields of study invested in musical communication.

Cross-age tutoring in kindergarten and elementary school settings: a systmeatic review and meta-analysis

Background: Qualified teaching staffs are neither available nor affordable to provide large numbers of children with individual attention. One solution to providing individual tuition has been the development of tutoring programs that are delivered by nonprofessional tutors, such as classmates, older children and community volunteers. Objectives: We have conducted a systematic review of cross-age tutoring interventions delivered by non-professional tutors to children between 5 and 11 years old. Only randomized controlled trials with reliable measures of academic outcomes, and continuing for at least 12 weeks, compared to instruction as usual, were included. Results: Searches of electronic databases and previous reviews, and contacts with researchers yielded 11,564 titles; after screening, 15 studies were included in the analysis. Cross-age tutoring showed small significant effects for tutees on the composite measure of reading (g=0.18, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.27, N=8251), decoding skills (g=0.29, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.44, N=7081), and reading comprehension (g=0.11, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.21, N=6945). No significant effects were detected for other reading sub-skills or for mathematics. The quality of evidence is decreased by study limitations and high heterogeneity of effects. Conclusions: The benefits for tutees of non-professional peer and cross-age tutoring can be given a positive but weak recommendation, considering the low quality of evidence and lack of cost information. Subgroup analyses suggested that highly-structured reading programs may be more useful than loosely-structured programs. Large-scale replication trials using factorial design, process evaluations, reliable outcome measures and logic models are needed to better understand under what conditions, and for whom, cross-age non-professional tutoring may be effective.

The development of a knowledge-based society - Challenges for e-learning and adult students in higher education

This chapter appears in Encyclopaedia of Distance Learning 2nd Edition edit by Rogers, P.; Berg, Gary; Boettecher, Judith V.; Howard, Caroline; Justice, Lorraine; Schenk, Karen D.. Copyright 2009, IGI Global, www.igi-global.com. Posted by permission of the publisher. URL: http://www.igi-global.com/reference/ details.asp?ID=9703&v=tableOfContents

Arthur A. Schmon Memorial Trophy

This trophy was awarded to the winners of the 'Great Debate' on whether or not university tuition should be free that took place on October 27, 1965 at Brock's Glenridge Campus Auditorium. The affirmative team comprising of Lawrence Winters, Sean Finley, and Gordon Williams were presented with the Arthur A. Schmon Memorial Trophy after successfully arguing that tuition should be free. The trophy was presented by Board of Governor's secretary-treasurer Edward Mitchelson.

Financing higher education : the case for a graduate tax

Article

Les trajectoires de l'intégration professionnelle des immigrants iraniens travaillant comme chauffeurs de taxi à Montréal

Cette étude cherche à clarifier les trajectoires de l’intégration des immigrants iraniens travaillant comme chauffeurs de taxi à Montréal. En effet, les conclusions de certaines études portant sur l’amélioration de l’insertion professionnelle des immigrants à moyen et à long terme étaient en opposition avec l’état actuel d’immigrants qualifiés travaillant toujours dans l’industrie du taxi après cinq, dix, quinze ans ou même plus après leur arrivée, bien que plusieurs avaient déjà une formation universitaire avant leur arrivé au Canada. Effectuée dans le cadre des études sur l’intégration des immigrants en général et en particulier au Canada et au Québec, cette recherche fait ressortir des résultats plus larges que les expériences de ce groupe après son arrivée dans le pays d’accueil en incluant les attentes et les motifs avant le départ. L’utilisation d’une démarche plutôt qualitative à partir des expériences et des trajectoires d’environ une quarantaine de chauffeurs de taxi travaillant dans une société de taxi montréalaise dont la majorité des travailleurs sont iraniens a permis de dépasser les difficultés liées à l’étude de ce groupe ainsi que d’en approfondir la connaissance. Cette étude se divise en deux parties. La première familiarise le lecteur avec l’histoire de l’immigration et celle des Iraniens au Canada ainsi qu’avec le cadre conceptuel et l’approche méthodologique de cette recherche. La deuxième partie, présentant les résultats, révèle le fait que plusieurs dans ce groupe d’immigrants n’ont pas eu accès aux droits de scolarité réduits offerts aux résidents québécois avant la régularisation de leur demande d’asile, ce qui a eu pour résultat de freiner leur grand désir de poursuivre des études au Canada. Ce blocage les a confinés dans des emplois de bas niveaux. Les cours peu avancés de français offerts aux immigrants n’ont pas pu les préparer à accéder aux bons emplois. Également, ce groupe a rejeté l’aide des agents d’emploi à cause des bas niveaux d’emplois que ceux-ci offraient. Alors que les périodes de chômage ont pu encourager certains à poursuivre leurs études, la discrimination après le 11 septembre 2001 a barré leur accès aux emplois qualifiés. La communauté iranienne n’a pas contribué à l’accès de ses membres aux emplois qualifiés à cause de son émergence récente au Canada. Ainsi, pour certains, le partenariat avec des compatriotes qu’ils connaissaient à peine et non experts dans la création d’entreprises, qui de plus ne se préoccupaient pas des exigences du métier, a abouti à leur fermeture. La comparaison entre les emplois déjà occupés et les avantages matériels et non matériels du taxi a mené ce groupe à recourir à ce métier. Pourtant, ses désavantages ont causé le départ non réfléchi de certains du Québec, mais ils sont revenus par la suite. Les traits culturels de ce groupe dans une société ethnique de taxi bien réglementée ont permis d’améliorer le fonctionnement de cette société. Enfin, malgré le désir de bon nombre de ces immigrants de changer d’emploi, l’analyse suggère que la probabilité reste, pour la majorité, peu élevée.

Explaining the evolution of educational attainment in the U.S.

We study the evolution of educational attainment of the 1932–1972 cohorts using a calibrated model of investment in human capital with heterogeneous learning ability. The inter-cohort variation in schooling is driven by changes in skill prices, tuition, and education quality over time, and average learning ability across cohorts. A version of the model with static expectations is successful in accounting for the main patterns in the data. Rising skill prices for college explain the rapid increase in college graduation till the 1948 cohort. The measured decline in average learning ability contributes to explain the stagnation in college graduation between the 1948 and 1972 cohorts.

Prices versus exams as strategic instruments for competing universities

In this paper we investigate the optimal choice of prices and/or exams by universities in the presence of credit constraints. We first compare the optimal behavior of a public, welfare maximizing, monopoly and a private, profit maximizing, monopoly. Then we model competition between a public and a private institution and investigate the new role of exams/prices in this environment. We find that, under certain circumstances, the public university may have an interest to raise tuition fees from minimum levels if it cares for global welfare. This will be the case provided that (i) the private institution has higher quality and uses only prices to select applicants, or (ii) the private institution has lower quality and uses also exams to select students. When this is the case, there are efficiency grounds for raising public prices

The Role of the online learner: onsite students becoming online learners

As universities are offering tuition through online learning environments, “onsite students” in higher education are increasingly becoming “online learners”. Since the medium for learning (and teaching) online is a digital environment, and at a distance, the role taken by students and teaching staff is different to the one these are used to in onsite, traditional settings. Therefore the Role of the Online Learner, presented in this paper, is key to onsite students who are to become online learners. This role consists of five competences: Operational, Cognitive, Collaborative, Self-directing, Course-specific. These five competences integrate the various skills, strategies, attitudes and awareness that make up the role of online learner, which learners use to perform efficiently online. They also make up the basis of a tutorial for would-be online learners, going over the Role of the Online Learner by means of concepts, examples and reflective activities. This tutorial, available to students in the author’s website, is also helpful to teaching and counselling staff in guiding their students to become online learners