scholarly journals Undergraduate Research-Methods Training in Political Science: A Comparative Perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (01) ◽  
pp. 121-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Parker

AbstractUnlike other disciplines in the social sciences, there has been relatively little attention paid to the structure of the undergraduate political science curriculum. This article reports the results of a representative survey of 200 political science programs in the United States, examining requirements for quantitative methods, research methods, and research projects. The article then compares the results for the United States with a survey of all political science programs in Australia, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The results suggest (1) that the state of undergraduate methods instruction is much weaker in the United States than indicated in previous research, (2) this pattern is repeated in other countries that emphasize broad and flexible liberal arts degrees, and finally (3) this pattern of weak methods requirements is not found in more centralized, European higher education system that emphasize depth over breadth. These countries demonstrate a consistent commitment to undergraduate training in research methods that is followed up with requirements for students to practice hands-on research. The model of weak methods requirements in the discipline is not the norm internationally, but differs depending upon the type of higher education system.

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siluvai Raja

Education has been considered as an indispensable asset of every individual, community and nation today. Indias higher education system is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States (World Bank). Tamil Nadu occupies the first place in terms of possession of higher educational institutions in the private sector in the country with over 46 percent(27) universities, 94 percent(464) professional colleges and 65 percent(383) arts and science colleges(2011). Studies to understand the profile of the entrepreneurs providing higher education either in India or Tamil Nadu were hardly available. This paper attempts to map the demographic profile of the entrepreneurs providing higher education in Arts and Science colleges in Tamil Nadu through an empirical analysis, carried out among 25 entrepreneurs spread across the state. This paper presents a summary of major inferences of the analysis.


Education ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Loss ◽  
Serena Hinz ◽  
Christopher J. Ryan ◽  
Christine Dickason

In this article, the historical evolution of higher education refers to higher learning in the United States from the colonial era to the present day. A radically pluralistic system of public, private, and for-profit two- and four-year training institutes and colleges and professional and graduate schools, the American system is generally regarded as the best in the world. A by-product of the American commitment to liberty and to the belief that academic life should exist outside the grasp of direct government control, US higher education’s independence has gradually decreased since World War II and with the dramatic growth of federal funding for research and student aid. Consisting of 4,700 institutions that enroll upward of twenty million students from the United States and abroad, the sector has become a critical governmental intermediary that relies on heavy state-level and federal subsidies and tax expenditures in order to fulfill its core mission of teaching, research, and service. The higher education system also faces a number of pressing challenges: rising costs, declining public support, high student attrition, and long time-to-degree that often results in no degree at all, especially at two-year colleges where the majority of poor and underrepresented minority students enroll. The US higher education system, existing as it does at the intersection of state/society relations, is a fascinating site to study American history. The citations included in this article are intended to provide a point of embarkation for further inquiry. They have been selected because they offer a thematic overview of the history of American higher education intended to provoke additional reading and investigation.


Author(s):  
Alina Evgenievna Vinnik

The article presents the study results of the effectiveness of managing the higher education system using the experience of leading countries of the world. The higher education systems of the United States, the UK and Sweden were chosen as the objects of study representing the North American, European and Scandinavian models of education. The educational organizations of the above countries traditionally hold the leading positions in the world ratings, including the rating of the national education systems Universitas 21, rating of the world's academic universities and ranking of the best universities in the world according to the Times Higher Education version. The official data of the leading world ratings in the field of education were analyzed, as well as the distinctive features of the educational policy of the United States of America, the UK and Sweden were identified, on the basis of which factors ensuring the high efficiency and competitiveness of the higher education system in the global educational service market were stated. Among the main factors are the following: high government spending on the education system, increasing the accessibility of higher education for the population, ensuring high quality educational services, export orientation, etc. The system of indicators has been formed to assess the effectiveness of managing national educational systems. The dynamics of coefficient of higher education propagation in the period within 1970-2014 has been illustrated; the forecast of involving the population of the leading countries into the higher education up to 2050 has been presented. It has been stated that in the developing countries the problem of higher education can be solved due to its accessibility and in the economically developed countries it is solved due to increasing the quality of educational programs, rising the number of educational trajectories and costs.


2015 ◽  
pp. 23-24
Author(s):  
Veena Bhalla ◽  
Krishnapratap B. Powar

In the new millennium the Indian higher education system has grown two and half times in terms of both the number of universities and the number of students. In comparison the growth in international students has been anaemic. The international students are largely from Asia and Africa. In 2012-13 40% of the students were female; 80% were studying at the under-graduate level, 18% at post-graduate level and 2% were in research. The liberal arts accounted for 30% and 70% were in professional streams, the maximum number being in medicine & health care (35%) followed by engineering & technology (23%) and management (9%).


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 442-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine J. Cramer

Higher education in the United States has proud roots in the mission to enable people to engage in self-governance. The current political context is pushing us in another direction. I discuss the context in Wisconsin in particular, and use the challenges there as a reason to consider the civic purposes of political science. Rather than allow the political winds to blow us further into elitism, I argue that we should renew our commitment to educating people for citizenship.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara A. Godwin ◽  
Philip G. Altbach

Debates about higher education’s purpose have long been polarized between specialized preparation for specific vocations and a broad, general knowledge foundation known as liberal education. Excluding the United States, specialized curricula have been the dominant global norm. Yet, quite surprisingly given this enduring trend, liberal education has new salience in higher education worldwide. This discussion presents liberal education’s non-Western, Western, and u.s. historical roots as a backdrop for discussing its contemporary global resurgence. Analysis from the Global Liberal Education Inventory provides an overview of liberal education’s renewed presence in each of the regions and speculation about its future development.


Author(s):  
Brendan Cantwell

This chapter provides a detailed and extensive assessment of the United States of America’s (USA) high participation systems (HPS) of higher education. It considers the history of higher education, system development, and the present condition of higher education in the country. The USA was the first HPS and the American system remains globally influential. Higher education in the USA is a massive enterprise, defined by both excellent and dubious providers, broad inclusion, and steep inequality. The chapter further examines higher education in the USA in light of the seventeen HPS propositions. Perhaps more so than any other system, the American HPS conforms to the propositions. Notably, higher education in the USA is both more diverse horizontally, and stratified vertically, than most other HPS.


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