scholarly journals Western Faculty Members' Cross-Border Lived Experiences

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Bu ◽  
Bill McCaw ◽  
Patty Kero

Universities in China and the United States have been engaged in cross-border education through partnerships establishing international branch campuses (IBCs). This qualitative study used Moustakas’s (1994) strategy of inquiry as a framework and explored Western faculty members’ cross-border lived experiences at IBCs in China. IBCs in this study were coestablished by American universities and their Chinese partners. The central research question that guided this study asked about the lived experiences of Western faculty members at IBCs in China. This study purposefully selected 14 participants and data were collected through semistructured, one-on-one, face-to-face interviews. Moustakas’s (1994) seven-level method of analysis involving a process of meaning reduction was followed. The essence of the participants’ lived experiences described two components: value and adjustment. Findings from this study are valuable for leaders to rethink how to better support Western faculty in this joint higher education venture

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 240
Author(s):  
Xin Bu ◽  
Patty Kero

Cross-border higher education co-delivered by Chinese and American universities has grown in recent decades. The study focuses on six International Branch Campuses (IBCs) in China, a joint venture between American universities and their Chinese partners. Fourteen Western faculty members who have worked at IBCs were interviewed face-to-face on a one-on-one basis. Three themes were identified in the results: (1) concerns about decision-making, (2) faculty-administrator relationships, and (3) a lack of shared understanding. Implications were provided to leaders from the Chinese partner universities and the home campuses. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (93) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Richard Garrett

The article provides an overview of the second part of a report on international branch campuses (IBCs). The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (OBHE) and the Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-BERT) are the authors of the report. IBCs continue to grow in number and variety around the world, and the report includes updated estimates and patterns by country, but previously there has been limited attention paid to the success factors of mature IBCs. Defined as campuses in place for a decade or more, the report draws on in-depth interviews with campus and institutional leaders.


2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Amanda M. Kulp ◽  
Lisa E. Wolf-Wendel ◽  
Daryl G. Smith

Background/Context The research on promotion to full professor is sparse. Research that does exist has largely emerged from single campuses and studies conducted through disciplinary associations. Extant studies strongly suggest the presence of equity issues in advancement throughout the academic pipeline. Our study uses cross-institutional results to offer analysis of and potential solutions for the problem. Purpose/Objective/Research Question We explore the extent to which tenured faculty members at four-year postsecondary institutions are clear about their prospects of being promoted to full professor and how their background characteristics, institutional characteristics, and satisfaction with various aspects of academic work predict their perceptions of promotion clarity. We are focused on whether cultural taxation in the form of heavy service and advis-ing—often associated with underrepresented minority faculty and women faculty—is a factor. We examine the influence of ideal-worker norms and work/family demands on perceptions of promotion clarity. Lastly, we focus on the structural elements of the academy to frame the topic, rather than focusing on individual agency. Population/Participants/Subjects This study uses data from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey, a large, national study of postsecondary faculty. Our sample consists of 3,246 individuals who held full-time, tenured positions as associate professor at four-year institutions when they responded to the surveys between 2010 and 2012. The sample was roughly divided between males (54%) and females (46%), and most faculty were employed at research institutions (59%). The sample was predominantly White (82%). The characteristics of the associate professors in the sample are representative of the larger U.S. faculty population at the time of the survey. Research Design This quantitative study uses descriptive statistics to examine patterns in promotion clarity across various demographic and institutional characteristics. We examine how satisfaction variables intersect with perceptions of promotion clarity for associate professors. Then we conduct a series of linear regression analyses to explore the influence of predictors on associate professors’ sense of clarity about promotion. Conclusions/Recommendations Being unclear about expectations of promotion to full professor is clearly of concern to faculty members at four-year universities in the United States, but it is especially of concern to women. Satisfaction with service is a very important variable in predicting perceptions of promotion clarity. For all associate professors, working at certain types of institutions or in particular academic disciplines had an inverse relationship with promotion clarity. The factors associated with lack of clarity about promotion are more structural than individual.


2018 ◽  
pp. 12-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Wilkins ◽  
Laura Rumbley

Although international branch campuses have become an established part of the cross-border higher education landscape, there is still debate about what an international branch campus actually is. The purpose of this article is to propose a revised definition of “international branch campus” that is clearer and more implementable than existing definitions. To achieve this goal, we considered how the terms “branch” and “campus” are used in business and higher education, and then identified the core features of these campuses.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (21-22) ◽  
pp. 4640-4665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Wood ◽  
Laurie Cook Heffron ◽  
Molly Voyles ◽  
Shanti Kulkarni

More than 1,800 programs exist in the United States, providing not only shelter but also transitional housing, advocacy and support, transportation, legal aid, and group and individual counseling for women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Shelter and transitional housing provide critical support for survivors, but have also been critiqued for having too many restrictive rules and code of conduct. More information is needed about the impact of rules and agency policy on women seeking services in IPV residential settings. This qualitative study explored the central research question, “How do rules shape IPV residential environment and survivor experiences in services?” Twenty-five women in four programs in two states who were currently residing in IPV residential services were interviewed about their experiences. Data were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Findings indicated rules affect individual survivors’ and families’ experiences and responses in services and of healing from IPV (micro), the relationships among residents and between residents and staff (mezzo), and participants’ relationships with the agency as an institution and the help-seeking community (macro). An intriguing paradox is noted in that at their best, rules provide stability and motivation for some survivors. At their worst, rules create isolation and force exit from shelter into unsafe circumstances, causing a ripple effect of impact. Implications include the need to restructure rules and policies collaboratively with residents, and reduce the amount of rules used in services. Addressing rules will better enable IPV services to be survivor-centered and trauma-informed, ultimately increasing safety and healing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 160-175
Author(s):  
Neha Anand ◽  
Abbey Bachmann

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire system of education around the world is living each day under rapid experimentation to grapple with unforeseen challenges. The event of the COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted a student’s track of learning but also disrupted the everyday functioning of schools. In the case of the United States, since the beginning of March 2020, when schools were pushed into remote learning options, most teachers had minimal training and resources to teach online. Teachers faced technological challenges and suffered a severe lack of pedagogical knowledge to engage students in an online platform. The overnight switch of face-to-face to remote teaching has added to existing teacher workloads, including accommodating student learning and engagement on the virtual platform. The narrative study considers the experiences of Ally, a veteran teacher, who experienced doubts about her sense of confidence as a teacher with the overnight change of instructional formats. Qualitative analysis was conducted from two interviews, 12 written reflections, and observation notes. Following a review of relevant literature, we report the narrative account of this teacher’s lived experiences. Next, we present suggestions and implications for research and practice while addressing the following research question: What were the lived experiences of a veteran teacher while pursuing a hybrid teaching instruction format, in both the traditional and online delivery format?


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn Anthony Robinson

The purpose of this study was to describe my academic journey as a gifted Black male with dyslexia. The central research question was the following: What were some of the stories along my academic pathway that seem significant? The research design positioned me inside the culture in which I am the topic of examination. The research methodology used for my analysis was autoethnography, which allows personal experiences to be explored through the intersection between narrative inquiry and ethnography. The approach allowed me to fully articulate my lived experiences, which provided a deeper understanding on how the intersectionality of race, dyslexia, and giftedness influenced my identity formation. An analysis of my journey led to the finding that the intersection of identity categories must be attended to, in order to support the learning of students with “triple-identity.” The article presents a theoretical model for exploring the intersectionality of those elements.


2015 ◽  
pp. 18-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Kinser ◽  
Jason Lane

Quality assurance for cross-border higher education often focuses on concerns about academic standards. But the challenge of evaluating international branch campuses and other foreign education outposts goes beyond enforcing basic standards of quality. We identify five issues that that make quality assurance in the cross-border context problematic.


2014 ◽  
pp. 8-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Zhang ◽  
Kevin Kinser ◽  
Yunyu Shi

The international branch campus (IBC) has become a noticeable mode of internationalization in higher education, and has garnered great attention from the public and the media. Perhaps because the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have been the dominant exporting countries, this phenomenon has sometimes been critiqued as a strategy that promotes the interests of developed countries over those of developing countries. However, our analysis of IBC distribution using an economic framework provided by the World Economic Forum suggests that economic competitiveness is more important to the development of IBCs than a dated developed-to-developing.


Author(s):  
Evalina van Wijk

The main focus of the researcher’s study was to examine the lived experiences of intimate partners of female rape victims within the first six months post rape. Yet, many publications describing longitudinal qualitative studies of sexual assault fail to provide a detailed report on the processes followed, the difficulties experienced, as well as the reasons for such difficulties. To fill theses gaps, in this paper, the researcher describes the strategies applied to recruit and retain the participants for the entire six-month period post rape. The lessons learned during recruitment and data collection are also described. The research question that guided the study was: what are the lived experiences of intimate partners of female rape victims during the six months following the rape? The selection of study participants involved purposeful sampling. After providing their informed consent, nine intimate partners of female rape victims living in Cape Town, South Africa, participated in four separate face-to-face, semi-structured interviews as follows: (a) within 14 days of, (b) a month after, (c) three months after and (d) six months after the rape. Recommendations were made for future researchers to make them aware of the difficulties encountered in accessing, recruiting, and retaining vulnerable populations in longitudinal studies, especially in the field of research into sexual violence.


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