On the tensions of universities as a social institution – developing a comparative sociology of higher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (13) ◽  
pp. 2285-2292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Neal
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 56-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Lyalyuk ◽  
O. R. Tuchina

Educational system is the most important social institution, which provides the development of a personality and frames his/her worldview and the conception of subjective well-being. Despite the large number of studies on the issue of psychological and pedagogical security of educational environment, the sphere of higher education still remains underexplored. The available empiric material has not received sufficient methodological justification and conceptualization. This article aims to provide the conceptualization of the risk category as applied to the educational environment of a higher education institution, as well as empiric investigation of the risks within the educational environment as viewed by applicants and students.Materials and methods. 213 applicants and 547 students of the Kuban State Technological University took part in the survey. The following investigation methods were used: expert assessment, interview, questioning, content analysis, analysis of means method, cluster analysis and factor analysis.Investigation results. Comparative examination of the manifestation degree of risks within the educational environment as viewed by applicants and students of higher education institution showed significant differences in the assessment of risk by these groups of respondents. From the point of view of applicants, the main risks are connected with social and psychological aspects of the educational environment of a higher education institution, relations within student groups and interaction with teachers, as well as with the issues related to the educational management and leisure arrangement. As viewed by the students, the risks within the educational environment include external and social and psychological risk factors, motivating risks and risks arising from the learning process organization and management and the related issues. Applicants’ notion of the risks within the educational environment of a higher education institution was mainly influenced by information they received from media and by the opinion of their relatives and age mates.Consideration and conclusions. It was proved that the applicants’ idea of the risks within the educational environment of a higher education institution is determined by the opinion of people they know personally, however it changes during the process of studying in higher education institution and acquiring their own experience of being within the environment. The investigation results allow creating a model of psychological and pedagogical security within the educational environment of a higher education institution. This model makes it possible to forecast main risks of the educational environment, their development, and evolvement and find solution to them. 


2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Labaree

I want to tell a story about American higher education. Like many historical accounts, this story has a contrapuntal quality. As we know, historians frequently find themselves trying to weave discordant themes into complex patterns in the hope of making harmony. The reason for this is that simple themes are hard to find in the account of any complex social institution, especially one like education, which is composed of a motley accumulation of historical residues and social functions. We often come across one point about education that makes sense and then find a counterpoint that also makes sense. If we cannot eliminate one in favor of the other, then we try to put them together in a way that does not violate the rules of harmony and historical logic. In the effort to do so we, therefore, find ourselves in the business of writing fugues.


Discourse ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 112-125
Author(s):  
K. Yu. Kazantsev ◽  
S. I. Chernykh

Introduction. The period of active global cybernetization and business automation was marked by a problem for Russian employers in the form of a shortage of qualified personnel capable of ensuring the development and competitiveness of business in the world markets.Methodology and sources. Sociology of education as a social institution has been developing since 1970 s. Its current theoretical foundation is based on two principles: 1) The principle of mutual convergence of social institutions (education – business, education – state, education – family); 2) Variety of educational practices as a factual manifestation of the phenomenon of continuous education. Today corporative learning is one of such practices that radically change the ecosystem of traditional education.Results and discussion. There was a problem of forming a system of training new human resources that meet the changing economic realities. Until the 1990s, before the collapse of the country and the beginning of political and economic reforms, the Russian Federation had a system of higher education as one of the most stable and well-established mechanisms for training personnel for all sectors of the economy. An indicator of the effectiveness of this system was that graduates of Russian universities were invited to work by well-known corporations from many countries of the world.Over the years of reforms, Russia has lost its previous model of education, which today significantly affects the quality of training. Many Russian enterprises are forced to follow the path of independent training and retraining of specialists. Development of corporative is necessary to compensate for the limitations of traditional higher education. At first, the training was organized locally and had a haphazard character, but over time, Russian entrepreneurs began to adopt foreign experience in forming a knowledge system in the company and even create corporate universities.Conclusion. The study examines the prerequisites for the formation of the system and the development of the corporate education market, provides current models of knowledge accumulation and suggests the author's cognitive model of professional development of personnel.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174619792110486
Author(s):  
Siseko H Kumalo

In South Africa, the scholarship of epistemic justice has taken on an historical gaze with higher education framed as a social institution that might ameliorate the historical traumas of colonialism. Undoing the legacies of colonialism has been framed as the democratisation of the knowledge project. Using the White Paper 3 of 1997 that posits academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability as fundamental to institutional governance, in part I of this analysis I broadened public accountability to include the social, political and economic factors that inhibit or act as catalyst to the attainment of educational desire. In this second part publication, I am interested in developing and proposing epistemic impartiality. This concept is developed from Mitova’s proposition of ‘decolonising knowledge without too much relativism’, which ultimately fosters epistemic justice through rigorously scrutinising each epistemic tradition. My suggestion is that epistemic impartiality enables dialogue between divergent traditions.


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