Making sense of higher education: students as consumers and the value of the university experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges and obstacles encountered in the implementation of a mentoring program for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students at the University of South Australia (UniSA) Business School. The paper starts with an exploration into the need for a mentoring program, the trial and subsequent four years of implementation. The paper also explores the network model of mentoring and the reasons why this, rather than a more traditional model, was chosen for the program’s implementation. Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory case study uses data from over 600 students and their alumni mentors over a five-year period to evaluate and improve the program as well as cultivating a critical community of adult learners. Findings – Feedback from students indicates that the mentoring program is regarded by most as a value-added feature of their early learning as it offers support, if and when it is required, from those who have been there before. Research limitations/implications – Results are limited to one institution. However, as research into mentoring for higher education students is thin on the ground, this study contributes to our understanding of the positive impacts of mentoring on student success. Practical implications – This paper emphasizes the importance of business leaders giving back to their alma mater through mentoring current MBA students. It shows how mentoring can support learning and management development. Originality/value – This is an original study which explores ways to increase the learning of higher education students for positive social outcomes.

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The Role of Co-Creating Value and Its Outcomes in Higher Education Marketing

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126724 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6724

Author(s):

Lien Thi Kim Nguyen ◽

Tom Meng-Yen Lin ◽

Hoang Phuong Lam

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Student Satisfaction ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

University Image ◽

Education Marketing ◽

University Experience ◽

The University ◽

Positive Word Of Mouth

This study examines the role of student co-creation behavior in contributing to student satisfaction, perceived university image, and student positive word of mouth (WOM). Using a sample of 513 students from a Taiwanese university and conducting partial least squares structural equation modeling, the findings indicate that co-creating value is critical to student satisfaction, university image, and positive WOM. The results also show the effect of student satisfaction and university image on student positive WOM. This study confirms the pivotal role of student participation in co-creating value in enhancing satisfaction with the university experience, creating and sustaining a positive image, and building the credibility of the university. This research is particularly important to higher education institutions because it has practical implications for decision-makers, brand managers, and HE marketers who wish to improve understanding of the relationship between the university and students in the process of co-creating value and its outcomes.

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Does university attendance impact students' political tolerance and open-mindedness: the atypical case of Israel?

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education ◽

10.1108/jarhe-02-2020-0040 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Zehorit Dadon-Golan ◽

Adrian Ziderman ◽

Iris BenDavid-Hadar

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Political Attitudes ◽

University Education ◽

Lecture Hall ◽

Political Tolerance ◽

Full Time ◽

Content Type ◽

Study Programs ◽

University Experience ◽

The University

PurposeA major justification for the state subsidy of university education at public institutions (and, in some countries, of private universities too) is the economic and social benefits accruing to society as whole from a significantly university-educated workforce and citizenship. Based upon a broad range of research findings, a particular societal benefit emanating from higher education relates to good citizenship: that it leads to more open mindedness and tolerant political attitudes. We examined these issues using a representative sample of students from Israeli universities to clarify the extent to which these outcomes would be paralleled in the Israeli setting, where the university experience differs markedly from that found typically in the West.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a comparison of political tolerance levels between first- and final-year students enrolled in regular undergraduate study programs (of four days a week or more). However since a change in tolerance is likely to be contingent also on the amount of time that the student spends on campus during the study year, we introduce, as a control group, students enrolled in compressed study programs (of three days a week or less) and compare changes in their tolerance levels with tolerance changes of students enrolled in regular programs. Research questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students at three universities from the three major districts in Israel–north, south and center. The achieved sample size was 329 students.FindingsUsing Difference-in-Differences techniques, we looked for any changes in students' general political tolerance, over the course of their studies. Surprisingly, we found no such effect on political tolerance attitudes. Israeli students are older and often married and though nominally full-time students, they often hold down a full-time job. Thus they come and go to attend lectures but do not otherwise spend much time on campus. Given the somewhat perfunctory nature of the university experience for most Israeli students, it does not to lead to more open-minded and tolerant political attitudes.Practical implicationsSome broader, practical applications of the research, beyond the Israeli case, are presented, particularly related to distance learning and to the impact of COVID-19. Attention is given to more recent “Cancel culture” developments on university campuses.Originality/valueThe results have wider implications, to other university setting in other countries. Changes in political attitudes may occur in university settings where campus life is well developed, with opportunities for student interaction, formally in extra-curricular events or through social mixing outside the lecture hall. Where the university experience is more minimally confined to attendance at lectures these desirable outcomes may not be forth coming. These findings are relevant to other university frameworks where campus attendance is marginal, such as in open university education and, even more explicitly, in purely internet-based higher education study.

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At Berkeley

Remaking Reality ◽

10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638690.003.0010 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 192-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Mark Cohen ◽

Leigh Raiford

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Political Mobilization ◽

Fund Raising ◽

University Of California ◽

Documentary Photography ◽

Public Higher Education ◽

Education Students ◽

Student Activists ◽

The University

In “At Berkeley: Documenting the University in an Age of Austerity,” Michael Mark Cohen and Leigh Raiford address documentary’s evolving capacity for political mobilization by focusing on the role of documentary photography and film in the struggle around austerity at the University of California, Berkeley. While the university administration used documentary’s graphic appeal to enlist alumni in a fund-raising campaign that effectively naturalized the privatization of public higher education, students took up documentary forms to challenge the logic of neoliberalism. Working with Cohen and Raiford, who teach at UC Berkeley, student activists produced their own counterdocuments, repurposing documentary images that the university uses to sell education in an era of skyrocketing tuition fees, and rendering themselves as active participants in the struggle to reshape the university and the broader society.

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Robbins and After

A University Education ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198767268.003.0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

David Willetts

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Further Education ◽

Cultural Preservation ◽

Full Time ◽

Education Students ◽

Government Bonds ◽

The First World War ◽

The Many ◽

The University ◽

Further Education Colleges

The early 1960s saw the biggest transformation of English higher education of the past hundred years. It is only matched by the break-up of the Oxbridge monopoly and the early Victorian reforms. It will be forever associated with the name of Lionel Robbins, whose great report came out in November 1963: he is for universities what Beveridge is for social security. His report exuded such authority and was associated with such a surge in the number of universities and of students that Robbins has given his name to key decisions which had already been taken even before he put pen to paper. In the 1950s Britain’s twenty-five universities received their funding from fees, endowments (invested in Government bonds which had largely lost their value because of inflation since the First World War), and ‘deficit funding’ from the University Grants Committee, which was a polite name for subsidies covering their losses. The UGC had been established in 1919 and was the responsibility not of the Education Department but the Treasury, which was proud to fund these great national institutions directly. Like museums and art galleries, higher education was rarefied cultural preservation for a small elite. Public spending on higher education was less than the subsidy for the price of eggs. By 1962 there were 118,000 full-time university students together with 55,000 in teacher training and 43,000 in further education colleges. This total of 216,000 full-time higher education students broadly matches the number of academics now. Young men did not go off to university—they were conscripted into the army. The annual university intake of around 50,000 young people a year was substantially less than the 150,000 a year doing National Service. The last conscript left the army in the year Robbins was published. Reversing the balance between those two very different routes to adulthood was to change Britain. It is one of the many profound differences between the baby boomers and the generation that came before them. Just over half of students were ‘county scholars’ receiving scholarships for fees and living costs from their own local authority on terms decided by each council.

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Advances in Civil and Industrial Engineering - Handbook of Research on Applied E-Learning in Engineering and Architecture Education ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8803-2.ch019 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 426-445

Author(s):

Mary Leigh Morbey ◽

Farhad Mordechai Sabeti ◽

Michelle Sengara

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

New Media ◽

Social Networking ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

Comprehensive University ◽

E Learning ◽

Effective Inclusion ◽

University Experience ◽

The University

Social networking environments have become a ubiquitous part of the university experience. Accordingly, postsecondary institutions have started to consider the role that social networking can play in teaching and learning across academic disciplines. This case study documents findings from a 2012-2013 mixed-methods data collection in six graduate and undergraduate Digital Literacies and New Media Literacies courses at a major Canadian comprehensive university. It examines the pedagogical implications of adapting the Facebook platform for online collaboration and multimedia learning in blended courses, and offers a model of Facebook implementation for engineering and architecture education. Questions guiding the research ask: What is gained pedagogically through the use of Facebook in higher education courses? What are the pedagogical challenges encountered, and how might these be addressed? Suggestions based on observed trends are offered for the effective inclusion of Facebook as a beneficial pedagogical component in the design of e-learning platforms for higher education.

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Internationalization at home: internationalizing the university experience of staff and students

Educação ◽

10.15448/1981-2582.2017.3.29012 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 368 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sue Robson

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Staff Development ◽

Knowledge Exchange ◽

Professional Service ◽

Strategic Partnerships ◽

Quality Of Higher Education ◽

Internationalization At Home ◽

University Experience ◽

The University ◽

At Home

Internationalization has become a key strategic priority of many universities around the world. It is frequently regarded as a means to enhance the quality of higher education through strategic partnerships, collaborative research and teaching initiatives, for knowledge exchange and creation. Higher education internationalization often focuses primarily on the mobility of both staff and students as a means to improve their international outlook and intercultural capabilities. However, this paper argues that if universities are to become truly ‘international’, they should start ‘at home’. It considers how a review of current internationalization practices, involving educators, students, staff development and professional service units, and those in leadership positions, can help higher education institutions to move towards a more values-based and ethical approach to internationaliza ***Internacionalização em casa: internacionalização da experiência universitária de funcionários e estudantes***A internacionalização tornou-se prioridade estratégica para muitas universidades ao redor do mundo. É comumente considerada uma forma de ampliar a qualidade da Educação Superior, através de parcerias estratégicas, pesquisas colaborativas e iniciativas de ensino, bem como na troca e produção de conhecimento. Em geral, a Internacionalização da Educação Superior se concentra na mobilidade de pessoal e estudantes, de modo a melhorar suas perspectivas internacionais e capacidades interculturais. No entanto, este artigo argumenta que, se as universidades querem ser verdadeiramente “internacionais”, elas devem começar “em casa”. Para tanto, faz-se necessário realizar uma revisão das atuais práticas de Internacionalização, envolvendo educadores, estudantes, desenvolvimento de pessoal, unidades de serviço profissional, e aqueles em posições de liderança, ajudando as instituições de Educação Superior a se orientarem em direção a valores básicos e abordagem ética para Internacionalização.

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Existential advertising in late modernity: Meaningful work in higher education advertisements

Journal of Sociology ◽

10.1177/1440783320950821 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 314-332

Author(s):

Fabian Cannizzo ◽

Sara James

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Social Order ◽

Economic Value ◽

Meaningful Work ◽

Market Model ◽

Student Experiences ◽

Late Modernity ◽

Political Implications ◽

University Experience ◽

The University

The ongoing massification of higher education has entailed a changing relationship between higher education providers and students. While scholars have been quick to identify the political implications of the quasi-market model for the student-customer, there has been significantly less focus on the role that advertising plays in facilitating a student-consumer culture. This article uses an analysis of advertisements directed towards potential domestic university students in Australia to explore how the idea of a university ‘experience’ and meaningful work are discursively constructed within late modernity. Many advertisements draw on existential themes of living a meaningful, authentic or exceptional life and finding a fulfilling career, mythologising the role of the university within an idealised social order. This study highlights the need to understand the economic value of higher education as embedded in cultural economy, as well as the value of this framework for researching student experiences and marketing.

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Higher Education Students’ Assessments towards Gamification and Sustainability: A Case Study

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12208513 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (20) ◽

pp. 8513

Author(s):

María Jesús Santos-Villalba ◽

Juan José Leiva Olivencia ◽

Magdalena Ramos Navas-Parejo ◽

María Dolores Benítez-Márquez

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Student Motivation ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Teaching Staff ◽

Education Students ◽

The University ◽

Teaching Criteria

Some academics are pushing for teaching staff to implement didactical practices to obtain sustainable behavior. Moreover, a fundamental element of gamification in all educational stages is the noteworthy effect it has on student motivation. In our study, we examined higher education students’ assessments in the University of Malaga on the design of educational gamification and the teaching criteria that relate to gamification, and its effect on student’s motivation, the applications of gamification, and the attitude towards sustainability. A questionnaire was administered to students studying for degrees in education from the University of Malaga. A total of 187 valid surveys were obtained. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was computed for these data based on an exploratory–confirmatory model and using SmartPLS version 3.3.2. A positive relationship between assessment of students’ motivation and sustainability attitude was found. We found that the opinions of the students about the role of their training and teaching design material in education would affect students’ motivation and the sustainability behavior, although the power of this last construct is moderate.

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Measuring Discrimination Against Transgender People at the University of the Basque Country and in a Non-University Sample in Spain

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17072374 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (7) ◽

pp. 2374 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Naiara Ozamiz-Etxebarria ◽

Maitane Picaza ◽

Eneritz Jiménez-Etxebarria ◽

Jeffrey H. D. Cornelius-White

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Basque Country ◽

Education Students ◽

Negative Attitudes ◽

Transgender People ◽

University Environment ◽

Transgender Identity ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

The University

Transgender people suffer from others’ negative attitudes in many situations. The university context is one environment where further progress has to be made to ensure the inclusion of transgender people. In this study, a sample of 376 undergraduate students was collected and their attitudes towards transgender people were analyzed. A comparison was made between number of years in university, and a sample from the general public. In addition, comparisons were made by gender, since the literature shows more negative attitudes toward transgender people in men than in women. The results show relatively positive attitudes toward transgender people among higher education students, but they have little knowledge of transgender identity. In turn, researchers found significant differences between different years in the university and between genders. These results support the need to expand knowledge about transgender people in the university environment.

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