Conceptual and Pedagogical Approaches to the Global Dimension of Youth Work in British Higher Education Institutions

Author(s):  
Momodou Sallah

Global youth work (GYW) may be considered as encompassing forms of education with young people which are variously referred to as development education, global citizenship, education for sustainable development, and humanitarian education amongst others. This article reports on primary research in relation to how GYW is conceptualised and addressed in those Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that deliver youth and community work qualifications across the UK. The research reports specifically on perceived issues of pedagogy, and asks what skills, knowledge and resources are required to deliver an effective curriculum. The article further explores to what extent HEIs are meeting the needs of the field in regards to addressing a global dimension. The research was based on semi-structured interviews with 43 programme/module leaders in HEIs across Britain, 28 recent youth and community development (YCD) graduates and a focus group comprised of 11 representatives of leading international nongovernmental organisations, HEIs and statutory organisations involved in the delivery of GYW. The research concludes that the conceptualisation of and importance attached to global youth work varies greatly both between and within HEIs. The extent to which current YCD students are enabled to 'think globally and act locally' may be subject to the vagaries of particular tutors' interests. In addition, there is no definitive agreement as to whether lecturers need additional skills to deliver effective GYW training. There is agreement, however, that there is a need for the development of suitable GYW curricula and appropriate learning resources within HEIs delivering youth and community work courses.

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-76
Author(s):  
Trevor Omoruyi ◽  
Grażyna Rembielak

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the RM approach in the experience of international students in business schools within the UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Relationship Marketing (RM) strategy has gained recognition over the years, especially within the last decade, which can be seen in the Higher Education (HE) sector. The HE sector has in recent times been highly competitive, especially in the global market. Despite this growth in competition, there has been little or no effort in the application of RM strategy by HE Institutions competing in the global marketplace for international students. The growing competition has been driven by the goal HEI’s have to internationalise and attract, recruit and retain the best international students. Higher Education Institutions have become aware of the contributions that international students bring to these institutions. Hence, efforts are geared towards retaining international students. This study considers the role of using RM with international students. The relevant data was collected from face-to-face semi-structured interviews and focus groups, which were conducted with university managers and international students across four universities in the UK. The study identifies several impacts of using RM on international students’ overall experience. It further highlights aspects of the RM approach that are more significant to international students’ experience. The study concluded that the RM approach positively affects international student experience if effectively developed and implemented.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.M. Wong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the teaching innovations that have been implemented in higher education institutions in Asia and the perspectives of educators on them. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 educators who were affiliated with 23 higher education institutions in ten Asian countries/regions. The interviews covered information about the teaching innovations of the participants’ institutions, the characteristics of the innovative practices and the participants’ views on them. The relationships between the characteristics of institutions and their teaching innovations were also examined. Findings The results showed that the teaching innovations included two main categories, namely, those which involved the use of advanced technologies and those which did not. The innovations that involved the use of advanced technologies were mainly from larger institutions, while the other category was mainly from smaller ones and had been practised for less than 1.5 years. Differences were also identified between the two categories in terms of the aims and importance of innovations, innovative features, the evaluation of innovations and improvements needed for them. Originality/value The results highlighted that technology is only one of the many aspects of teaching innovations, which is different from the view prevailing in the literature. They also suggested that differences in the scale of institutions (in terms of number of students) possibly influences the kind of teaching innovations adopted.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1279-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remmer Sassen ◽  
Dominik Dienes ◽  
Johanna Wedemeier

Purpose This study aims to focus on the following research question: Which institutional characteristics are associated with sustainability reporting by UK higher education institutions? Design/methodology/approach To answer the aforementioned research question, this study uses logistic regression. Findings The results show that 17 per cent of the UK higher education institutions report on their sustainability (July 2014). In line with legitimacy and stakeholder theory, logistic regressions provide evidence that the larger the size of the institution, the higher the probability of reporting. By contrast, high public funding decreases this probability. Research limitations/implications The findings show characteristics of higher education institutions that support or hamper sustainability reporting. Overall, the findings imply a lack of institutionalisation of sustainability reporting among higher education institutions. Originality/value Although a lot of research has been done on corporate sustainability reporting, only a small number of studies have addressed the issues of sustainability reporting of higher education institutions. This study covers all sustainability reports disclosed among the 160 UK higher education institutions. It is the first study that investigates characteristics of higher education institutions that disclose a sustainability report.


Author(s):  
Adefarati Oloruntoba ◽  
Japhet Tomiwa Oladipo

Aims: To correlate the energy and carbon emission efficiency relative to research income, gross internal area, and population for all the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK and to assess the comparative carbon emission efficiency of HEIs relative to economic metrics. Study Design:  Analytical panel data study. Place and Duration of Study: This paper evaluates the energy efficiency of 131 HEIs in the UK subdivided into Russell and non-Russell groups from 2008 to 2015. Methodology: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist productivity indexes (MPI) are used for the efficiency calculations. Results: The empirical results indicate that UK HEIs have relatively high energy efficiency scores of 96.9% and 77.6% (CRS) and 98.5%, 86.3% (VRS) for Russell and non-Russell groups respectively. Conclusion: The evidence from this study reveals that HEIs are not significantly suffering from scale effects, hence, an increase in energy efficiency of these institutions is feasible with the present operating scale but would need to work on their technical improvements in energy use. Malmquist index analysis confirms the lack of substantial technological innovation, which impedes their energy efficiency and productivity gain. Findings show that pure technical efficiency accounts for the annual efficiency obtained in the DEA model, the technological progress in contrast is the source of their energy inefficiency.


Author(s):  
Kathrine Angela Jackson ◽  
Fay Harris ◽  
Russell Crawford

This paper investigates the perceptions of members of our international student community by giving them a voice and a platform to explore their feelings as part of a Higher Education institute in the UK and whether they consider that the university is a global environment. Our data is based on a series of structured interviews with twelve students from twelve different countries, inclusive of four postgraduate research students. Our findings reveal that our international students commonly feel part of multiple smaller communities but interestingly, they were less sure of their part within an institute-wide community. The postgraduate students’ perceptions of community were quite divergent when compared to the undergraduate perceptions, which we will continue to explore in our future work. Our data supports the perception from international students that their university is a global community, but there were distinct differences in how individuals defined it and some limitations to consider. Some defined it as students and staff of different nationalities being present at a university whilst other definitions relied on cultural characteristics within the institution as a whole. We reflect upon the implications of our research as these perceptions shape international student opinion of Higher Education institutes and what is understood by the term ‘global community’.


Comunicar ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (37) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty Collis ◽  
Jef Moonen

We have studied the construct of flexibility in higher education for many years, as researchers and practitioners. In this context we define flexibility as offering the student choices in how, what, where, when and with whom he or she participates in learning-related activities while enrolled in a higher education institution. In a textbook we wrote on the topic in 2001 we identified options that could be available to students in higher education to increase the flexibility of their participation. We studied these from the perspective not only of the student but also in terms of their implications for instructors and for higher-education institutions and examined the key roles that pedagogical change and technology play in increasing flexibility. Now is it nearly a decade later. We will revisit key issues relating to flexibility in higher education, identify in broad terms the extent to which increased flexibility has become established, is still developing, or has developed in ways we did not anticipate directly a decade earlier. We will also review our scenarios for change in higher education related to flexibility and contrast these with a more-recent set from the UK. Our major conclusion is that flexibility is still as pertinent a theme for higher education in 2011 as it was in 2001. Llevamos bastantes años estudiando la construcción de la flexibilidad en la educación superior, tanto desde la óptica de la investigación como de la práctica. Entendemos por flexibilidad la opción de ofrecer a los estudiantes la posibilidad de elegir cómo, qué, dónde, cuándo y con quién participan en las actividades de aprendizaje mientras están en una institución de educación superior. En el libro que escribimos sobre esta temática en 2001 identificamos opciones posibles para los estudiantes de educación superior con la finalidad de incrementar la flexibilidad de su participación. Lo estudiamos no solo desde la perspectiva del estudiante sino también desde las implicaciones para los profesores y para las instituciones de educación superior, y examinamos el papel fundamental que desempeñan el cambio pedagógico y la tecnología en el aumento de la flexibilidad. Ahora, diez años después, revisamos los temas clave relacionados con la flexibilidad en la educación superior e identificamos, en términos generales, hasta qué punto se ha ido estableciendo el incremento de la flexibilidad, si todavía está evolucionando o si ha evolucionado de una forma que no pudimos prever hace diez años. Revisamos también nuestros escenarios para el cambio en la educación superior relacionados con la flexibilidad y los contrastamos con un estudio más reciente llevado a cabo en el Reino Unido. Nuestra conclusión principal es que la cuestión de la flexibilidad en la educación superior sigue siendo tan pertinente en 2010 como lo era en 2001.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 636
Author(s):  
Andreia Filipa Teixeira ◽  
Maria José Angélico Gonçalves ◽  
Maria de Lourdes Machado Taylor

In recent years, the rapid development of technological innovation has transformed the business world. Digital transformation improves the economic positioning of companies, contributing to society and the environment, but beyond technological evolution, it also brings social and cultural changes. With the new trends, companies saw the need to train people with digital skills and higher education institutions (HEIs) were forced to change their teaching methods to keep up with the new demands of the labour market. In this context, it is intended to identify the influence that HEIs play in the digital development of regions, in this case, the influence of Public Polytechnic Institutes of Porto in the development of the Metropolitan Area of Porto. The methodology adopted to answer the objectives of this study and research questions formulated, was an exploratory study, using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The results obtained allowed us to verify the positive influence of HEIs in the digital development of the Metropolitan Area of Porto. As well as identify the motivations that lead companies to participate in digital transformation initiatives, identify the skills needed to meet the demands of the labour market and identify the efforts made by HEIs to keep up with the digital evolution of society.


Author(s):  
Mihaela V. Cărăuşan

Abstract This paper presents how Romanian educational strategies are aligned with the policy statements of international organisations for future generations. The research hypothesis is that Romanian higher education institutions (HEI) are not ready to fulfil the needs of future generations. The paper reviews the educational competences of fourteen faculties of public administration and management from nine universities (state and private). The analysis is based on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle elements, and we identified whether educational competences referred directly to them or not. Our findings concentrate on the lack of recognition of experiential learning methods and the gap between the labour market requirements and the educational competences acquired in Romanian HEI. The methodology used to respond to the research questions mixes qualitative (strategies and literature review, structured interviews) and quantitative approaches (assessment of the curricula and information presented in the admission process by Faculties of Public Administration and Management).


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. e18153
Author(s):  
Patricia Mara Simões Andrade ◽  
Marcello Romani-Dias ◽  
Caio Sousa

Objective: Propose an unprecedented initial categorization structure on the internationalization process of Brazilian HEIs, according to the Uppsala model Methodology: With the qualitative method, semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of the HEIs, reviewing and articulating the literature with content analysis on all data obtained.Originality: The study links a classic approach to internationalization with the current reality of higher education institutions. Thus, it is expected that there will be a new conception on how HEIs can optimize their strategies for international insertion.Main results: The internationalization of HEI can be analyzed by three main categorized elements, they are: i) the drivers; ii) enablers and, iii) obstacles to the internationalization of HEIs, each with their own specific characteristics. Theoretical Contributions: The research presents a conceptual categorization for the essential factors of the internationalization of HEI's, this articulation allows advancing in the literature on internationalization and also on the management models of higher education institutions.


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