Indigenous Studies: Tool of Empowerment Within the Academe

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (S1) ◽  
pp. 23-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannie Herbert

AbstractIn this paper, I consider the importance of Indigenous studies programs, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as critical elements in enabling Indigenous Australian students to engage in the academe in ways that not only allow them to empower themselves, but, ultimately, to become effective change agents within both their own and the wider Australian community. While this paper will highlight the challenges that Indigenous Australians face in their engagement within the university learning environment, it will also reveal the increasingly successful outcomes that are being achieved. A particular focus of the paper will be to acknowledge higher education as a tool of empowerment – a process that enables people to identify and address their own issues, and to use such knowledge and understanding as the platform for personal, positive growth. Finally this paper will contextualise higher education from within an Indigenous perspective to demonstrate how Indigenous studies not only contributes to the empowerment of the individual but also has a critical role in ultimately re-positioning Indigenous Australians in the wider Australian society.

Author(s):  
David Willetts

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e24028-e24028
Author(s):  
Carolyn Der Vartanian ◽  
Vivienne Milch ◽  
Gail Garvey ◽  
Cleola Anderiesz ◽  
Jane Salisbury ◽  
...  

e24028 Background: Given the impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous and ethnic minority populations observed globally, keeping COVID-19 out of vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous Australian) communities remains a priority. Compared to non-Indigenous Australians, Indigenous Australians experience disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes due to social disadvantage, increased cancer-related modifiable risk factors, poorer access to health services and lower participation in screening. During the pandemic, cancer-related investigations and treatment reduced significantly in Australia, leading to potential decreases in cancer diagnoses and consequences for future survival outcomes. Concerned about the risk of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 for Indigenous Australians, as well as worsening cancer outcomes, Cancer Australia undertook strategic health promotion initiatives, to inform and support optimal cancer care. Methods: In consultation with respected Indigenous colleagues to ensure cultural appropriateness of language and information, we published a dedicated webpage titled ‘ Cancer and COVID-19 – what it means for our Mob*’ with tailored information, advice, and links to key resources and support services for Indigenous Australians. We also released a video titled ‘ Act early for our Mob’s Health’, providing targeted, culturally appropriate, consumer-friendly information to encourage Indigenous Australians to see their doctor or Aboriginal Health Worker with symptoms that may be due to cancer. Results: The information hub has been well-received among the Indigenous Australian community, receiving over 3,200 visits, and the social media campaigns have received over 1.4 million impressions and 46,000 video views between mid-March 2020 to mid-February 2021. This campaign has supported proactivity among the Indigenous population in keeping their communities safe during the pandemic, maintaining a population rate of COVID-19 of less than one percent of all confirmed cases in Australia. Conclusions: Culturally appropriate information and resources developed through the process of co-design can help to influence positive health behaviour change in Indigenous populations. We predict that our strategic, multi-channel health promotion campaign is contributing to keeping the Indigenous Australian community safe and informed during the pandemic, with additional work needed to monitor cancer rates and outcomes and address the ongoing information needs of the community. *Mob is a colloquial term to identify a group of Indigenous Australians associated with a family or community from a certain place.


Author(s):  
Brianne H. Roos ◽  
Carey C. Borkoski

Purpose The purpose of this review article is to examine the well-being of faculty in higher education. Success in academia depends on productivity in research, teaching, and service to the university, and the workload model that excludes attention to the welfare of faculty members themselves contributes to stress and burnout. Importantly, student success and well-being is influenced largely by their faculty members, whose ability to inspire and lead depends on their own well-being. This review article underscores the importance of attending to the well-being of the people behind the productivity in higher education. Method This study is a narrative review of the literature about faculty well-being in higher education. The history of well-being in the workplace and academia, concepts of stress and well-being in higher education faculty, and evidence-based strategies to promote and cultivate faculty well-being were explored in the literature using electronic sources. Conclusions Faculty feel overburdened and pressured to work constantly to meet the demands of academia, and they strive for work–life balance. Faculty report stress and burnout related to excessively high expectations, financial pressures to obtain research funding, limited time to manage their workload, and a belief that individual progress is never sufficient. Faculty well-being is important for the individual and in support of scholarship and student outcomes. This article concludes with strategies to improve faculty well-being that incorporate an intentional focus on faculty members themselves, prioritize a community of well-being, and implement continuous high-quality professional learning.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
Zoha Adel Mahmoud

institution is one of the highest institutions that have the task of providing the development needs of the community of specialists in various fields, in addition to being the centers of scientific research and applied to ensure economic and social progress It enriches decision makers with expertise and skills and thus controls political performance. In any society, the university can not play its full role in social change without interaction between the individual on the one hand and the social environment on the other, Social and interdependent Ah syndrome change, they strengthen the skills, and enrich the spirit of innovation of the individual, and raise the level of social progress. It helps to improve the conditions of the poor segments of the population and facilitates the employment opportunities of the individuals imposed by the society as they meet the needs of the individual and society of different professions, thus providing an opportunity for production and thus have a positive impact on the standard of living to achieve the well-being of the individual and the citizen. The interest reflected on the progress, such as Germany, which was interested in it became one of the main reasons that led to the rise of Germany from the ruins of the Second World War as well as the State of Malaysia, which moved from developing countries to the second world countries by changing the plan Colleges and institutes of universities. In 2020, Malaysia will be among the developed countries. In these countries, higher education, vocational training and training are viewed as a basis for life supplementation and are seen as a major means of improving and upgrading society. If we are to explore the dimensions of education in the 21st century, one of the pillars of education is learning for action, Usually involves the acquisition of skills and the linking of knowledge to practice as an essential part of the training and rehabilitation of the individual for practical life. Hence, such new trends in linking educational preparation to work have been imposed by the labor market and the working life in its new forms. Production and service facilities, The advanced, assumed graduates who can be employed and absorbed can contribute to the development of competitiveness, to provide innovations and creations to achieve the competitive advantage of the enterprise, and to improve production and productivity based primarily on the acquisition and application of knowledge. Gamerdinger reveals that the new technology does not accelerate the possibilities for sound economic policies and increasing global trade, and this requires strategies to develop work related to the development of human performance, and in order to face the state of chronic unemployment globally, education policies are headed towards the so-called reverse conversion as many graduates of specializations Literaries choose vocational and technical education in technical and community colleges. Unemployment in the Arab world carries certain characteristics that must be taken into account when developing the solutions available to them. The most important of these characteristics are: Unemployment is a youth phenomenon. Weak professional experience available to the unemployed. Lack of targeted planning for the labor market. The large gap between the outputs of higher education for youth and the requirements of the labor market. The most important recommendations aimed at enhancing the role of universities in Iraq are: 1 - the operation of labor graduates of technical and technical institutes in the industrial field in order to promote them and eliminate unemployment and increase the hard currency as an important category of Iraqi society, which contributes actively to the renaissance of the country. Linking the Ministry of Industry and Commerce with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to be managed by the Minister of Education alone. The Ministry is keen on the funds of the Iraqi people and contributes to the development of the industrial and commercial sectors with the help of professors and university students. 3 - the need to match the needs of the market and education outputs to reduce unemployment, in addition to the vocational education has become an urgent need at this stage to keep pace with the needs of life in society away from the negative view of this education. 4 - Increasing the number of technical workshops and providing them with the means of material in order to provide the university student maximum desired learning. Enhancing the role of higher education in building a broader partnership and cooperation with various other community institutions (public, private and private sector). 6 - Re-admission plan in universities by making the number of admissions in scientific colleges more than the number of admissions in the humanitarian colleges. 7 - Attracting foreign investment companies to invest natural resources in Iraq such as phosphate, natural gas, oil, oil shale, uranium, silica and geothermal energy for the recovery of the economy and the trend towards domestic consumption.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-137
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Grzywacz ◽  
Grażyna Miłkowska ◽  
Magdalena Piorunek ◽  
Lech Sałaciński

This report is a part of the results of the international project entitled “Studium in Osteuropa: Ausgewählte Aspekte (Analysen, Befunde)” conducted in the years 2013-2015 under supervision of Prof. Wilfried Schubarth and Dr Andreas Seidl from the Potsdam University, Department of Education Science, and Prof. Karsten Speck from the University of Oldenburg, Germany. The project was conducted jointly by representatives of academic centres from Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and Russia. Its general aim was a comparative analysis of the effects of implementation of Bologna Process directives into the higher education systems of the individual countries. The changes introduced into the higher education systems in the countries involved in the project were described and evaluated, discussed was in particular the problems of education of teachers at the university level. The following text is the result of the contribution of the Polish group participating in the project. The report will be presented in two parts. The first part is focused on the macro-societal context of transformations in the higher education system in Poland. The implementation of selected aspects of Bologna Process directives is described and supplemented by empirical comments. The second part deals with selected aspects of university level education of teachers, followed by a polemic against the assumptions and execution of the target transformations of higher education system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim Lambrechts ◽  
Elli Verhulst ◽  
Sara Rymenams

Purpose This paper aims to provide insights into the relation between professional development (PD) and organisational change processes towards sustainability, with a specific focus on empowerment. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds upon a constructivist approach, combining a literature review, a desk research on key publications and reports and a socio-political analysis to reveal the specific context in Flanders, Belgium. Findings are then connected to earlier insights from research on organisational change for sustainability. Findings The paper provides a number of PD initiatives that focus on sustainability in general and in a single higher education (HE) institution. Framing such initiatives as an organisational change process offers insights on how elements of empowerment are currently incorporated in PD initiatives and how it can strengthen them to lead to the further integration of sustainability competences in HE. Research limitations/implications Limitations are linked with the kind of sources used in the constructivist approach. The analysis only looks at written reports on the topic, albeit it also builds upon the first-hand experiences of educators in the HE institution focused upon in the case. Practical implications There is a need to frame PD initiatives as an organisational change process towards sustainability with specific attention towards empowerment. Without this framing, PD approaches comprise the risk of being left in the margins or being understood as single initiatives without any connection to the bigger picture, i.e. the transition towards sustainability in HE. Social implications Interlinking PD and organisational change provides opportunities to frame the sustainability transition within the university in a wider societal context. Originality/value The paper provides an original contribution to the debate on sustainability competences, as it frames the PD within an organisational context, rather than focusing on the individual role of educators.


Author(s):  
Junghwan Kim ◽  
Heh Youn Shin ◽  
Kim L. Smith ◽  
Jihee Hwang

This chapter examines two U.S. four-year public universities, the Pennsylvania State University World Campus and the University of Oklahoma Outreach, that have successfully developed online adult education system/programs for adults. Using the principles of effectiveness for serving adult learners, the integrated review reveals not only how they advance online higher education environment for adults, but the types of challenges they have. Key findings highlight that, under a strong tradition of distance education, “self-assessment system,” “financial independence,” and “diverse active supports for life and career planning” play a critical role in increasing the academic engagement and retention of adult students. However, they also have several challenges: “high tuition rates and limited scholarship options,” “monitoring students' experience,” “learning outcome assessment,” and “commitment of faculty members.” The authors close with practical/academic implications and future research agendas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annina Lattu ◽  
Yuzhuo Cai

Universities are increasingly engaged in marketization and are also expected to transform into more sustainable institutions and be change-agents pushing forward the movement of sustainable development. This article introduces an analytical framework originated by Hahn et al. (2015) for understanding tensions concerning corporate sustainability to the context of the Finnish university system in order to answer the following questions: What are the tensions relating to Finnish universities’ social and economic sustainability, and what strategies might universities use to cope with these tensions? Through analyzing interviews with university managers and officials from the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland, we find that Hahn et al.’s framework is generally applicable in analyzing tensions of sustainability in universities, and we identify six tensions relating to the sustainability of Finnish universities. The tensions are related to (1) academic leadership and management legitimacy, (2) regional political tensions and university profiling, (3) political power over the university system, (4) changing academic work and profession, (5) academic autonomy and the role of the state, and (6) the future role of the university institution. Moreover, the article discusses issues regarding how to adapt the framework of corporate sustainability to the context of higher education.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Семен Резник ◽  
Semen Reznik ◽  
Игорь Чемезов ◽  
Igor Chyemyezov

One of the most important functions of management is control. Without its implementation the manager won't achieve the objectives. On methods of implementation of function of control in management many works are published. However in system personal, that is personal, management of this function in scientific literature much less attention is paid. In a special measure such situation is characteristic of a problem of the personal organization of high school managers. University managers play a special, significant role in development of the higher education. Carry to them managers of departments, deans, the rectorial case, and also heads of functional services of management of university (educational and methodical, scientific, financial, cultural and educational and other divisions). Relying on understanding of an essence of personal management, in article scientific and methodical approaches to implementation of function of self-checking personal activities of university managers are considered. Usually activities of managers are estimated quality of work of subordinate divisions of university, and problems of an efficiency evaluation of the personal activities which aren't connected with a management of higher education institution often remain in the shadow. However, as a rule, managers of departments, deans, rectors (and their deputies) are not only managers, but also professors and associate professors interested in results of the personal activities in science, pedagogics, public life. In our opinion, productivity, effectiveness and efficiency of a personal labor can be the indicators allowing university managers to control the personal activities. Faithful at first sight, these concepts, actually have semantic distinctions, but in a complex allow the high school manager to perform real self-checking of the individual activities as scientists and teachers. Within the research content and forms of self-checking in the sphere of personal management is determined, the sense of key concepts, content and features of personal work of university managers is revealed, experience of implementation of the offered approaches is generalized, recommendations about use of the offered indicators in case of a quality evaluation of activities of high school managers are made.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Jingyi Dong

This research focuses its inquiry on the economic aspect of rural university students' life in China, but the discussion goes beyond the economic field. Massification in the Chinese higher education system has increased the chance for rural youths to receive tertiary education. However, there is rarely sufficient data to record their status quo on the campus. This research intends to fill up the gap by making a comparison between the rural students who are located at different levels in the higher education system. This comparative analysis eventually leads to such findings: Those at the higher extreme of the hierarchy, who have more subsidies, tend to experience more frustration under financial pressure than those at the lower extreme, who are insufficiently funded. Presumably, the former are more directly exposed to rural-urban disparity. While the latter experience less frustration, they are less prepared to impacts from the unfamiliar urban society. The research, eventually going beyond the economic problems, has exposed a process in which the rural youths are victimized by the system that discriminates against the Chinese peasants, in which the higher education system plays a critical role. Key words: higher education, inequality, poverty, rural students.


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