scholarly journals Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257663
Author(s):  
Ashraful Kabir ◽  
Shuvo Roy ◽  
Korima Begum ◽  
Ariful Haq Kabir ◽  
Md Shahgahan Miah
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Public University ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
University Education ◽  
Close Monitoring ◽  
Hygiene Practices ◽  
Hygiene Behavior ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
The University ◽  
University Settings

Introduction Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for the prevention of infections, controlling the transmission of pathogens, and promoting good health. Bangladesh has made remarkable advances in improving higher education in recent decades. Over a hundred universities were established to expand higher education facilities across the country. Hundreds of thousands of graduate students spend time in university settings during their studies. However, little is known about the sanitation and hygiene practice of the university-going population. This study aims to understand and uncover which factors influence students’ sanitation and hygiene behavior in university settings. Methods This study was conducted in a public university named Shahjalal University of Science and Technology located in a divisional city of Bangladesh. Based on the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH), we adopted an exploratory qualitative study design. We developed semi-structured interview guides entailing sanitation and hygiene behavior, access, and practice-related questions and tested their efficacy and clarity before use. We conducted seventeen in-depth interviews (IDIs), and four focus group discussions (FGDs, [6–8 participants per FGD]) with students, and seven key informant interviews (KIIs) with university staff. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Triangulation of methods and participants was performed to achieve data validity. Results Despite having reasonable awareness and knowledge, the sanitation and hygiene practices of the students were remarkably low. A broad array of interconnected factors influenced sanitation and hygiene behavior, as well as each other. Individual factors (gender, awareness, perception, and sense of health benefits), contextual factors (lack of cleanliness and maintenance, and the supply of sanitary products), socio-behavioural factors (norms, peer influence), and factors related to university infrastructure (shortage of female toilets, lack of monitoring and supervision of cleaning activities) emerged as the underpinning factors that determined the sanitation and hygiene behavior of the university going-population. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that despite the rapid expansion of on-campus university education, hygiene practices in public universities are remarkably poor due to a variety of dynamic and interconnected factors situated in different (individual, contextual, socio-phycological) levels. Therefore, multi-level interventions including regular supply of WASH-related materials and agents, promoting low-cost WASH interventions, improving quality cleaning services, close monitoring of cleaning activities, promoting good hygiene behavior at the individual level, and introducing gender-sensitive WASH infrastructure and construction may be beneficial to advance improved sanitation and hygiene practices among university students.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of public university expansion in Brazil: comparison between the situation of graduated and dropout students

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (107) ◽  
pp. 457-479
Author(s):  
Alexandre Nascimento de Almeida ◽  
Ivonaldo Vieira Neres ◽  
André Nunes ◽  
Celso Vila Nova de Souza Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Public University ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Support Program ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
The University ◽  
University Expansion ◽  
Admissions Process ◽  
Expansion Policy

Abstract Starting in 2007 with the implementation of the Support Program to Restructure and Expansion Plans of Federal Universities (Reuni, acronym in Portuguese), Brazil doubled the number of admissions in public higher education within a decade, while also making the admissions process more inclusive. However, this rapid expansion has led to criticism regarding the loss of quality in public higher education. The objective of this study is to compare the labor market performances of successful graduated and dropout students who majored in four disciplines that encompass this expansion policy. The nonparametric Binomial and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare the performances of the groups of students who had successfully graduated and those who had dropped out of their courses at the Planaltina campus of the University of Brasilia (UnB-FUP). The performance of the graduated students in our sample was worrisome, as our results show that there is a high number of unemployed students and, that among those employed, few work in the area they majored in, raising doubts about the effectiveness of the policy to expand the number of admissions in higher education held in Brazil.

WORK-BASED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPERIENCE AND CHALLENGES OF LEARNERS, WORKPLACES AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Roosipõld ◽  
Krista Loogma ◽  
Mare Kurvits ◽  
Kristina Murtazin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
University Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Constructivist Learning Theory ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
Restaurant Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University ◽  
Social Constructivist Learning

In recent years, providing higher education in the form of work-based learning has become more important in the higher education (HE) policy and practice almost in all EU countries. Work-based learning (WBL) in HE should support the development of competences of self-guided learners and adjust the university education better to the needs of the workplace. The study is based on two pilot projects of WBL in HE in Estonia: Tourism and Restaurant Management professional HE programme and the master’s programme in Business Information Technology. The model of integrative pedagogy, based on the social-constructivist learning theory, is taken as a theoretical foundation for the study. A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with the target groups. The data analysis used a horizontal analysis to find cross-cutting themes and identify patterns of actions and connections. It appears, that the challenge for HE is to create better cooperation among stakeholders; the challenge for workplaces is connected with better involvement of students; the challenge for students is to take more initiative and responsibility in communication with workplaces.

A University Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Willetts
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
University Education ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship

Universities have a crucial role in the modern world. In England, entrance to universities is by nation-wide competition which means English universities have an exceptional influence on schools--a striking theme of the book. This important book first investigates the university as an institution and then tracks the individual on their journey to and through university. In A University Education, David Willetts presents a compelling case for the ongoing importance of the university, both as one of the great institutions of modern society and as a transformational experience for the individual. The book also makes illuminating comparisons with higher education in other countries, especially the US and Germany. Drawing on his experience as UK Minister for Universities and Science from 2010 to 2014, the author offers a powerful account of the value of higher education and the case for more expansion. He covers controversial issues in which he was involved from access for disadvantaged students to the introduction of L9,000 fees. The final section addresses some of the big questions for the future, such as the the relationship between universities and business, especially in promoting innovation.. He argues that the two great contemporary trends of globalisation and technological innovation will both change the university significantly. This is an authoritative account of English universities setting them for the first time in their new legal and regulatory framework.

scholarly journals Statistical analysis of the structure and dynamics of material and human resources in public education over the past two academic years in Bacau

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia Harja
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Public University ◽  
University Education ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
The Past ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Material Basis

The public university education in Bacau, represented by “Vasile Alecsandri” University from Bacau has developed over the past two years not only in terms of student numbers, but as human and material resources available to them. After the number of students per teacher, public higher education from Bacau is situated on the second place after Iasi, the number of teachers representing 1% of the country. The structure by scientific degrees of teachers has improved in the last year, reaching over 36% professors and lecturers and 144 PhDs. Over 55% of the teachers are younger than 40 years. The material basis has improved both quantitatively and qualitatively by putting into use a new building, bringing an additional 27 classrooms and 11 seminar rooms and providing the conditions of modern higher education.

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

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.

The exceptional and the ordinary

2018 ◽  
pp. 73-106
Author(s):  
Thomas Docherty
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Normative Belief ◽  
University Education ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Mass Higher Education ◽  
The People ◽  
The University

The contemporary institution fails to understand the real meaning of ‘mass higher education’. A mass higher education should address the concerns of those masses of ‘ordinary people’ who, for whatever reasons, do not attend a university. Instead, the contemporary sector simply admits more individuals from lower social and economic classes. Behind this is a deep suspicion of the intellectual whose knowledge marks them out as intrinsically elitist and not ‘of the people’. An intellectual concerned about everyday life is now seen as suspicious, given the normative belief that a university education is about individual competitive self-advancement. This intellectual is now an enemy of ‘the people’, and incipiently one who might even be regarded as criminal in dissenting from conformity with social norms of neoliberalism. There is a history to this, dating from 1945; and it sets up a contest between two version of the university: one sees it as a centre of humane and liberal values, the other as the site for the production of individuals who conform to and individually benefit from neoliberal greed. The genuine exception is the intellectual who dissents; but dissent itself is now seen as potentially criminal.

The Changing Mission and Nature of Partnerships in Public Universities

2013 ◽  
pp. 726-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Robin Russo ◽  
Kristin Brittain
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Public Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public University ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Academic Mission ◽  
New Business ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The University

Reasons for public education are many; however, to crystalize and synthesize this, quite simply, public education is for the public good. The goal, or mission, of public education is to offer truth and enlightenment for students, including adult learners. Public education in the United States has undergone many changes over the course of the last 200 years, and now public education is under scrutiny and is facing a continual lack of funding from the states. It is due to these issues that public higher education is encouraging participatory corporate partnerships, or neo-partnerships, that will fund the university, but may expect a return on investment for private shareholders, or an expectation that curriculum will be contrived and controlled by the neo-partnerships. A theoretical framework of an academic mission and a business mission is explained, the impact of privatization within the K-12 model on public higher education, the comparison of traditional and neo-partnerships, the shift in public higher education towards privatization, a discussion of university boards, and the business model as the new frame for a public university. A public university will inevitably have to choose between a traditional academic mission that has served the nation for quite some time and the new business mission, which may have negative implications for students, academic freedom, tenure, and faculty-developed curriculum.

scholarly journals An Unintended Effect of Financing the University Education of the Most Brilliant and Poorest Colombian Students: The Case of the Intervention of the Ser Pilo Paga Program

Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Pablo Medina ◽  
Natalia Ariza ◽  
Pablo Navas ◽  
Fernando Rojas ◽  
Gina Parody ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
University Education ◽  
Entrance Exam ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Unintended Effect ◽  
Colombian Government ◽  
New Students ◽  
The University

In this paper, we show an unintended effect of the program Ser Pilo Paga (SPP) that was a flagship program of the Colombian government between 2014 and 2018. It was designed as an intervention in the Colombian Higher Education System (CHES) by awarding, in the steady state, individual funding to about 40,000 students. Every year, 10,000 new students were chosen from the best applicants in the top decile of the population in the entrance exam to higher education in Colombia that also came from families that live under the level of poverty according to a national survey. Our approach, based on an intensive study of the changes in the statistical distributions of the exam scores during these four years, provides evidence of student performance improvements not only of the beneficiaries of the program, but also of the whole student population. This shows that the program opened similar opportunities for all the students, especially for the poorest ones. The program drove a reduction in the gap between students of the upper strata of the population and those of the lowest strata that usually did not access a high quality institution of higher education due to the lack of funding. This result has opened a debate about the optimal way of funding higher education.

scholarly journals Recomendaciones derivadas de la acreditación de programas educativos: Análisis en una universidad pública estatal de México

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
José Alfonso Jiménez Moreno ◽  
Salvador Ponce Ceballos
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Public University ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Academic Productivity ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
The University

The article addresses the problem of accreditation of educational programs in Mexico. The importance of this type of evaluation is generated based on the policies in which higher education in Latin America is circumscribed. The objective of the research was to carry out a documentary analysis of 21 accreditation documents of seven programs of a public university over three periods, in order to classify the recommendations made by the accrediting instances; The resulting units or categories were as follows: Academic Staff, Students, Curriculum, Collaboration, Research and Program Management. The results show a lack of conceptual delimitation and compliance with international standards in the 21 documents, as well as information that suggests the university should increase the competitiveness of its programs, consolidate collegial work, strength trajectories, and meet the needs of the environment. The authors conclude that there is a need to make explicit the evaluation model that supports the accreditations. In addition, they  describe how the accreditation promotes academic productivity and the establishment of basic conditions for the organization and operation of educational programs.

scholarly journals Análisis documental relacionado con la educación continua como eje integrador de las competencias del currículo universitario

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 443-468
Author(s):  
Luis Danilo Flores Rivera ◽  
Carlos Fernando Meléndez Tamayo ◽  
Manuel Morocho Amaguaya
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
University Education ◽  
Educación Superior ◽  
Continuous Training ◽  
Educacion Superior ◽  
University Curriculum ◽  
Service Staff ◽  
The University

El artículo presenta a la educación continua como un recurso fundamental y eficiente del currículo universitario y su mecanismo innovador es el empleo de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación en todas las modalidades de estudio, metodologías y/o procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. El estudio tiene como objetivos analizar a la educación continua como eje integrador de las competencias del currículo universitario y difundir resultados oficiales del proceso. Para lo cual, se realizó un análisis conceptual y un análisis descriptivo cuantitativo con un diseño no experimental longitudinal. La investigación registró datos de una Institución de Educación Superior desde el año 2014 hasta el 2019 con un total de 190 cursos con 9276 personas capacitadas y puntualmente el último año con 46 cursos y 1559 participantes. Los resultados del estudio evidencian un crecimiento en el número de cursos, horas y participantes al proceso formativo continuo. Se identifican tendencias actuales de la educación continua vinculada a las TIC; así como requerimientos a otros tipos de programas curriculares. Finalmente el análisis establece el beneficio de la educación continua en la actualización, capacitación, formación y perfeccionamiento de competencias; además la oferta de alternativas que se ajusten a la demanda y requerimientos de los participantes para renovar nuevas competencias sea en el campo académico o laboral. La Institución de Educación Superior (IES), considerada en la investigación, fue la Universidad Técnica de Ambato (UTA), que por medio de la Dirección de Educación Continua a Distancia y Virtual (DEaDV), lidera el proceso de formación continua universitaria. La entidad ha ejecutado un total de 190 cursos con 9276 personas capacitadas; y el registro año 2019 con 46 cursos y 1778 participantes (estudiantes, docentes, personal administrativo y de servicio) de la universidad, organizaciones públicas, privadas y público en general (DEaDV, 2020). Estos datos revelan el crecimiento e importancia del proceso formativo continuo que se ha venido ejecutando. This article presents continuing education as a fundamental and efficient resource of the university curriculum, being its most innovative mechanism the use of Information and Communication Technologies in all study modalities, methodologies and / or teaching-learning processes. This study aims to analyze continuing education as an integrating axis of the competences in the university curriculum and to disseminate official results of the process. To this end, a conceptual analysis and a quantitative descriptive analysis with a longitudinal non-experimental design were conducted. We collected data from a Higher Education Institution from 2014 to 2019 with a total of 190 courses with 9276 people (specifically for last year 46 courses and 1559 participants were included). The results show an increase in the number of courses, hours and participants in the continuous training processes. Current trends in continuing education linked to ICT are identified; as well as requirements for other types of curricular programs. Finally, the analysis establishes the benefits of continuous education when it comes to updating, training and improving skills. Besides, this study also reports an increase in the offer of alternatives required by the participants to update their competencies, whether in academic or labor fields. The Institution of Higher Education (IES), considered in the research, was the Technical University of Ambato (UTA), which through the Directorate of Continuing Distance and Virtual Education (DEaDV), leads the process of continuous university education. The entity has executed a total of 190 courses with 9276 people trained; and the year 2019 registration with 46 courses and 1778 participants (students, teachers, administrative and service staff) of the university, public, private and general public organizations (DEaDV, 2020). These data reveal the growth and importance of the continuous training process that has been running.

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