Autonomy and Higher Education in Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Jinja Divala
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Academic Institution ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Personal Level ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
The University ◽  
Education In Africa

In an age of increasing automation, what separates a human process from automation is the flexibility and autonomy human beings have and operate with in real time. Despite the fact that humans are driven by autonomy to operate and process things, such autonomy is often taken for granted and at times is only alluded to as an afterthought. But what is autonomy? How does autonomy make a person’s actions differ from those of an automated, inanimate being? Autonomy is often talked about as synonymous with freedom. This basic characterization partially responds to the fuller meaning of autonomy. This is the case when freedom is confined to freedom from, which is most often how this concept is used. Autonomy as an internal drive to determine one’s actions necessarily combines both freedom from as well as freedom to. It is no simpler to discuss or pin down “autonomy” within the context of university traditions and practices. The variability of practices and traditions has resulted in different formulations of what autonomy would mean in a university context. Similar to what determines autonomy as concept at an individual personal level, the autonomy of the academic or the academic institution, in this case the university, also brings forth specific understandings of life and its processes. Just as autonomy cannot exist without any forms of life to exercise it, the conditions in African universities today mean that neither traditional communitarian positions nor liberal conceptions are necessarily amenable to the progress of autonomy within these institutions. A neo-communitarian position serves as a more tenable concept that can represent forms of autonomy that are neither alienating nor too deterministic.

Assembling the Global University

2013 ◽  
pp. 366-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gray Kochhar-Lindgren
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Entrepreneurial University ◽  
First Year ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Global University ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The University

This chapter examines the emergence of the global artistic-entrepreneurial university, the increasing importance of interdisciplinary and innovative pedagogies, and how these new emphases are shaping institutional change. The first section analyzes the global university as an “assemblage,” a process that gathers ideas, materialities, digitized platforms, and human beings into a new form of higher education. Because of the impacts on higher education of the flows of capital, technology, people, and cultural practices in both the “East” and the “West,” this form of the university transcends regional and national boundaries as it builds networks of learning around the world. The second section of the chapter focuses on the increasing importance of interdisciplinarity and developing active and integrative pedagogies organized around fundamental skills and questions. In order to ground the discussion in particular sites, the authors use examples from the University of Hong Kong’s new Core Curriculum and from the University of Washington Bothell’s Discovery Core for first-year students. In the final section, the chapter addresses what the next steps might look like as institutions change themselves to fit a globalized context. This section returns to the idea of the global university as a “hub of an ecology of studio-labs” (Parks, 2005, p. 57) and suggest that the “managerial” university is transitioning into a more flexible model of the “artistic-entrepreneurial” university in order to prosper in an extremely competitive and generative global environment.

scholarly journals AN ONLINE EVENT AS A PRODUCT OF THE ACTIVE LEARNING METHODOLOGY: AN EXPERIENCE VIA PBL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRASILIA-BRAZIL

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-257
Author(s):  
Ari Melo Mariano ◽  
Joao Mello da Silva ◽  
Simone Borges Simão Monteiro ◽  
Adriana Regina Martin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Real World ◽  
Production Engineering ◽  
External Agents ◽  
Digital Portfolio ◽  
The Many ◽  
The University ◽  
Real World Problems

The objective of this study was to suggest an alternative for managing the knowledge gained and resulting legacy from the application of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) method in a higher education context. The legacies of the PBL method are found to be more profound and diverse than those related to either the students' experience or the projects developed to solve real-world problems presented by external agents (the partners of the UnB Production Engineering course). The Production Engineering course has, since 2011, adopted the PBL method as an active learning methodology. Although each semester presents new opportunities in the process of consolidating this method, it’s been perceived that the many phases and results of this process are often utilized in real time only, contributing to the participating individuals exclusively as they occur. This is seen as a type of temporal result, seen only at a given "T" moment in the discipline’s lifecycle. Correspondingly, part of this knowledge is currently seen as perishable, since it is not possible to store it for future moments. In an attempt to extend this experience, starting in 2016 the University of Brasilia’s Production Engineering course has begun to develop an extension of PBL products by means of distinct events. The results haven been satisfactory, thus far involving 458 students and 7910 participants. As a legacy, it was possible to create a platform for the presentation of active learning methodologies and the exchange of experiences. Thus, the project presentations, once seen as distinct landmarks, became part of a legacy through a specific event, assisted and accessed as a course memory and a student’s digital portfolio.

scholarly journals Uczelnia organizacją w odcieniu turkusu - szansa czy iluzja?

e-mentor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Leja ◽  
◽  
Aleksandra Pawlak
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Academic Institution ◽  
University Employees ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
The Law ◽  
The University ◽  
Management Changes ◽  
Individual Conversations

After several years of discussions on the future shape of higher education in Poland, both at the systemic and institutional level, on July 20, 2018, "The Law on Higher Education and Science," from now on referred to as the Law, was enacted. Together with a package of ordinances, this regulation broadened the autonomy of universities in terms of organization and management while substantiating the importance of their accountability. Strengthening the rector's authority resulted in a change in the perception of universities as dispersed organizations (Weick, 1976) towards compact organizations (Brunsson and Sahlin-Andersson, 2000). The authors noticed that the concept of the university, in line with the letter and spirit of the Law, does not pay due attention to the relations between university employees. Therefore, the article aims to present a proposal to implement the elements of the turquoise organization concept (Laloux, 2015), which is more and more often described in the scientific literature - and at the same time evokes extreme emotions - into an academic institution. The article indicates the unused, in the authors' opinion, possibilities of organizational and management changes created by the Law and describes selected features of the turquoise organization, relating them to an academic institution. It also compares the characteristics of a traditional university, entrepreneurial, and a university with a shade of turquoise. The research part analyzes interviews with deliberately selected employees of the Gdańsk University of Technology. During individual conversations, they expressed their opinions on new organizational and management solutions proposed by the article's co-author. In summary, an attempt was made to answer the question formulated in the title.

scholarly journals Web Triad: the Impact of Web Portals on Quality of Institutions of Higher Education - Case Study of Faculty of Economics, University of Liubliana, Slovenia

10.28945/2872 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ales Popovic ◽  
Jaka Lindic ◽  
Mojca Indihar Stemberger ◽  
Jurij Jaklic
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Culturally Based ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

Institutions of higher education are just like other organizations forced to adapt to the rapidly changing environment that brings many new challenges. There are several obstacles in the way of introducing e-learning in these institutions. We can divide them into technology-based and culturally-based. Many benefits of e-learning such as cost-effectiveness, enhanced responsiveness to change, timely content, flexible accessibility, and providing value to the customer are not based only on use of high technology. We cannot expect that the use of advanced technology is enough to change the way we work as human beings. Technologic solutions in the form of portals have been known for several years. A recurring problem has become the efficiency and usefulness of these solutions. Integration of dispersed sources is not sufficient. Individual users should obtain information in a variety of ways, including in a personalized way. The paper will address the topic of using the Internet as a medium to achieve one of the primary goals of institutions in higher education; that is quality improvement. We will show the influence of the e-learning environment on achieving this goal. The model has also been tested in practice, at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. This case has also proved that cultural changes never take place over night.

scholarly journals Uczelnia organizacją w odcieniu turkusu - szansa czy iluzja?

e-mentor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Leja ◽  
◽  
Aleksandra Pawlak
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Academic Institution ◽  
University Employees ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
The Law ◽  
The University ◽  
Management Changes ◽  
Individual Conversations

After several years of discussions on the future shape of higher education in Poland, both at the systemic and institutional level, on July 20, 2018, “The Law on Higher Education and Science,” from now on referred to as the Law, was enacted. Together with a package of ordinances, this regulation broadened the autonomy of universities in terms of organization and management while substantiating the importance of their accountability. Strengthening the rector’s authority resulted in a change in the perception of universities as dispersed organizations (Weick, 1976) towards compact organizations (Brunsson and Sahlin-Andersson, 2000). The authors noticed that the concept of the university, in line with the letter and spirit of the Law, does not pay due attention to the relations between university employees. Therefore, the article aims to present a proposal to implement the elements of the turquoise organization concept (Laloux, 2015), which is more and more often described in the scientific literature – and at the same time evokes extreme emotions – into an academic institution. The article indicates the unused, in the authors’ opinion, possibilities of organizational and management changes created by the Law and describes selected features of the turquoise organization, relating them to an academic institution. It also compares the characteristics of a traditional university, entrepreneurial, and a university with a shade of turquoise. The research part analyzes interviews with deliberately selected employees of the Gdańsk University of Technology. During individual conversations, they expressed their opinions on new organizational and management solutions proposed by the article’s co-author. In summary, an attempt was made to answer the question formulated in the title.

“A beautiful woman sitting in the dark”

Interpreting ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Delgado Luchner
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
Beautiful Woman ◽  
Interpreter Training ◽  
The University ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches ◽  
Comprehensive Study ◽  
Education In Africa

Abstract This ethnographic study of the Master’s in Conference Interpreting at the University of Nairobi aims to link interpreter training to the linguistic make-up of Kenyan society and the constraints of public higher education in Africa. It is the first comprehensive study of interpreter training in Kenya, and shows the limits of replicating pedagogical approaches that have been tried and tested in Europe in a different environment. Based on the findings, I recommend a widening of the scope of training to include conference, court and community interpreting. It is argued that this would improve the sustainability and relevance of interpreter training in Africa.

Contemplating Site-Based Education and Place-Making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gatta
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Holistic Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The University

This chapter considers some practical applications of place-based inquiry, beginning with an assessment of site-grounded ventures in learning at collegiate institutions across the United States. Site-based learning amounts to an extension of the long-standing but beleaguered residential model of higher education. Such programs may also expose students to the spirituality of “contemplative ecology,” thereby contributing to one version of holistic education. The chief rationale for contemplative learning in place rests on enlarging students’ awareness and understanding of place, as well as their capacity for place-making. Chapter 5 finally explores these issues in relation to a localized case study, involving a course conducted at the University of the South. Through a combination of field visits, contemplative exercises, readings, and group discussion, this course aims to develop students’ sense of how sacral and other notions of place matter—to them personally, as well as to other human beings and the earth we all inhabit.

Evaluation of the Academic Setting in Spain 1This study was financed by the University of Oviedo.

1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Fernández ◽  
Miguel A. Mateo ◽  
José Muñiz
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Climate ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Academic Setting ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Evaluation Questionnaire ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
The University

The conditions are investigated in which Spanish university teachers carry out their teaching and research functions. 655 teachers from the University of Oviedo took part in this study by completing the Academic Setting Evaluation Questionnaire (ASEQ). Of the three dimensions assessed in the ASEQ, Satisfaction received the lowest ratings, Social Climate was rated higher, and Relations with students was rated the highest. These results are similar to those found in two studies carried out in the academic years 1986/87 and 1989/90. Their relevance for higher education is twofold because these data can be used as a complement of those obtained by means of students' opinions, and the crossing of both types of data can facilitate decision making in order to improve the quality of the work (teaching and research) of the university institutions.

The Early Years of the Jewish Presence at the University of Illinois

1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-245
Author(s):  
Winton U. Solberg
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Characteristic Form ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
Jewish Students ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

For over two centuries, the College was the characteristic form of higher education in the United States, and the College was closely allied to the church in a predominantly Protestant land. The university became the characteristic form of American higher education starting in the late nineteenth Century, and universities long continued to reflect the nation's Protestant culture. By about 1900, however, Catholics and Jews began to enter universities in increasing numbers. What was the experience of Jewish students in these institutions, and how did authorities respond to their appearance? These questions will be addressed in this article by focusing on the Jewish presence at the University of Illinois in the early twentieth Century. Religion, like a red thread, is interwoven throughout the entire fabric of this story.

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