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

Author(s):  
Anne Roosipõld ◽  
Krista Loogma ◽  
Mare Kurvits ◽  
Kristina Murtazin

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.

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (65) ◽  
pp. 18-30
Author(s):  
Cristian Bedoya Dorado ◽  
Mónica García-Solarte ◽  
Juan Sebastián Peña-Zúñiga ◽  
Steven Alejandro Piñeros Buriticá

Management in the context of higher education has been characterized by the predominance of male participation, mainly in senior management positions. As a result, women’s low participation is mainly concentrated in lower management positions, and their chances of escalating hierarchical positions are mediated by various factors ranging from subjective to socially naturalized. The objective of this research is to analyze the barriers women face to enter and escalate positions in university management in Colombia. Under a qualitative design, 26 semi-structured interviews were applied to university managers from different institutions of higher education in Colombia. The transcripts were analyzed using discourse analysis through three categories: individual, internal, and external barriers of the university. It was found that women face entry and promotion barriers marked by experiences, and conditions of inequality and discrimination in a male-dominated context. These barriers are conditioned by personal elements, organizational culture, and the social role of women. In addition, women’s trajectories involve mediation between professional development and family life. The study reveals experiences that contribute to understanding the research phenomenon from the webbing of senses and meanings. It is posited that the “glass ceiling” is mediated by variables in the internal order, and by the relationship between universities and their context.


Author(s):  
Suzana Marković Krstić ◽  
Lela Milošević Radulović

Starting from the fact that higher education is an activity of special social interest and the initiator of the development and improvement of society, in theory and teaching practice questions are often asked regarding the quality of higher education and the possibility of its improvement. The quality of higher education in terms of the increase in its effectiveness is one of the shared aims of the Bologna convention, that is, the current reform process in European countries. It is determined by the quality of the study programs and the quality of the teaching process, which requires a competent teacher, prepared for the process of innovating teaching plans and programs, and the realization and improvement of the teaching practice. Considering the social importance of education and teaching, research into the social group which performs work-related tasks in the educational process, as well as into the quality of the teaching itself, is of special importance. The paper presents the results of research regarding student perceptions of the characteristics of teachers manifested during the course of educational practice in higher education institutions, which were based on the following: the human, professional and pedagogical qualities of teachers, the quality of the university education/teaching process and learning outcomes/learning achievements (the prevalence of theoretical knowledge, practical application of knowledge, etc.). The aim of the paper is to, on the basis of three empirical studies, from a sociological standpoint evaluate the perception of the social role and competencies of teachers and the quality of university education from the viewpoint of the student youth(in 2009, 985 students from 30 colleges in Serbia were surveyed, in 2012, 2208 students of the University of Niš (818), University of Bitolj (804) and the University of Veliko Trnovo (586), and in 2019, 374 students from 13 faculties of the University of Niš). The empirical findings indicate that teachers are qualified professionals who lecture clearly, comprehensively and are able to emphasize the most important points, but that their lectures are still insufficiently interesting, and that they are often unjust and biased. Considering the noted differences between the competencies of teachers working in higher education settings, and the quality and outcomes of the teaching/learning, “models” of teaching/learning have been proposed in this paper for each of the countries included in the study (Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria). Based on noted disparity between theory and teaching practice, the paper points to the need for new scientific research in the context of reform processes in higher education, with the continued redefinition of its goals and tasks with the aim of improving the quality of the teaching process and teaching practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Türker Kurt ◽  
Tuncer Fidan

The aim of this study is to reveal how higher education affects university students' career building processes based on the opinions of students at a state university. In line with this aim, students' opinions regarding how they chose their departments/programs, to what extent their expectations from their departments were satisfied and how they thought university education would affect their future careers were asked. 79 students studying in four faculties of a state university in Ankara participated in the study. The study was designed as a phenomenological qualitative study in which the data were obtained through a written interview form. The data were then analyzed through directed content analysis technique. The findings indicated that most of the participants made their department choices after a short decision-making period (within a few months) before taking the university entrance exam. Therefore, department choice was found to be predominantly a haphazard and even accidental process. The participants reported that their expectations were not met due to the fact that their university courses were largely theory-based, their practice and internship opportunities were too limited, and the social activities and career opportunities offered by their university were insufficient. Some participants expected positive outcomes while some had negative ones. Based on these findings, higher education institutions are suggested to develop policies to ensure graduate employability by decreasing the mismatches between student expectations, labor market demands, and what they can offer their students.


2011 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 383-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Campbell

Higher Education in Britain expanded dramatically during the 1950s and 1960s. The trigger for growth was the Barlow Report of 1946, which recommended an immediate doubling of the number of science students and an increase in the total number of student places, of which there had been c. 50,000 in 1939, to 70,000 by 1950 and 90,000 by 1955. The 1963 Robbins Report continued and accelerated this expansionist policy, proposing that half a million student places be created by 1980. In the event, although funding was less generous than Barlow had recommended, the numbers achieved were far greater, and 85,000 students were in Higher Education by 1950. The impetus for this growth, which included the foundation of seven new universities (the so-called ‘Shakespearean Seven’) and the enlargement of existing institutions, stemmed from an ambitious vision of the role of universities after the Second World War. Higher Education, and particularly scientific training, was seen as one way to maintain Britain’s position on the world stage. Equally important was the principle of widening access, and a concern to broaden the social base of university education found expression in a range of new approaches to design. Within this context, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge also witnessed significant expansion, but in a very particular way and with distinctive results on account of these universities’ collegiate structure. As elsewhere, buildings at Oxbridge for teaching and research were dependent on finance from the University Grants Committee, but the semi-autonomous colleges could draw on their own (sometimes considerable) resources when it came to building. Furthermore, college dons could exercise significantly more influence over the choice of architect than was possible elsewhere. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge therefore provided an important environment in which new architectural ideas could be explored. An early contribution to the debate was made by the Erasmus Building, a residential block at Queens’ College, Cambridge, designed by Basil Spence in 1958 (Fig. 1). Although the history of Spence’s design is inextricably bound up with its Cambridge context, as an attempt to reformulate the collegiate ideal it also offers a foretaste of the debates that shaped the new universities in the decade that followed.


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.


2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 46-69
Author(s):  
Fauzia Ahmad

I explore British South Asian Muslim women’s experiences of higher education and how it impacts identity construction and negotiation. Through semi-structured interviews with thirty-five undergraduate and post-graduate Muslim female university students, I reflect on their perceived and actual experiences. By stressing how representations of them influence their participation and experiences, I analyze how individual subjectivities are mediated and negotiated while reflecting common experiences. I also consider their accounts of the social and personal benefits they felt that they gained during their studies, as well as to the more disturbing and racialized aspects of their experiences. They differentiated between three overlapping forms of beneficial experience: academic, social, and personal. While instances of anti-Muslim racism were rare or subtle, certain university structures and expectations of what being a mainstream student means often contributed to a noted sense of “othering.” I conclude by highlighting how their accounts of their university experiences directly challenge those stereotypes that misrepresent educated Muslim women as “religious and cultural rebels.”


Author(s):  
Juan García-Gutiérrez ◽  
Carlos Corrales Gaitero

The constant transformation that the institutions of higher education experiment and, particularly, the university assumes a re-consideration of their shapes, methodology, and missions, as well as the relationships established with society. Therefore, we shall consider that a “social mission” of the university or their “third mission” constitutes an umbrella that shelters a wide diversity of reflex conceptions, and at the same time, the relationship university – society. Additionally, take into consideration that this civic and social commitment in higher education should incorporate an integrator approach, involved with an idea of European or Latin-American citizenship, in any case, incorporated in the development of their supranational policies. Therefore, the objective of our work is double. On one side, to meet and analyze the notion of a “social mission” or “third mission” of the university and their conceptual network, to clarify the language and in which sense the different denominations are used, according to the different economical, sustainability or civic approaches to be adopted. Secondly, the treatment of these ideas will be addressed at the supranational policies of higher education both in Europe and Ibero America, according to what had been structured at the Higher Education European State and whether it has been promoted by the OEI. Also, it will be attended the way that this supranational policy aboard the civic and identity components, that linked to the social mission cooperate for the promotion of common citizenship. As a result of the analysis made we can affirm that the approach of the learning-service constitutes an emergent tendency on a global scale, appropriate to develop effectively the third mission or social mission of the university.


1970 ◽  
pp. 387-397
Author(s):  
Konrad Kulikowski

The first part of this article introduces the work engagement concept in a framework of the Job Demands-Resources Theory and discusses a relation between work engagement and job crafting. Next, the author presents the hypothesis that university education can form engaged employees by enhancing students’ self-efficacy beliefs about their ability to effectively crafting their future job environments. On the basis of the Social Learning Theory the author proposed three possible methods on how the university community could promote job crafting behaviors among students. These methods are: trainings and persuasions, modeling, or observation of how university top researchers work, and allowing students to experience success in changing different aspects of the university environment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
SANDRA NARANJO ◽  
◽  
JUAN GONZALEZ

This article presents the results of the interdisciplinary collaboration of the authors, from their fields of research, to reflect on the guidelines of the three substantive functions of the university: training, research and extension, linked these last two with the social projection, to support the design of an architectural observatory at the Antonio Nari- ño University, Villavicencio headquarters, under the premise that a research scenario of this type, in addition to linking these functions offers a series of conditions and benefits in terms of the demands of university education and the role of the university in society.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zehorit Dadon-Golan ◽  
Adrian Ziderman ◽  
Iris BenDavid-Hadar

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.


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