scholarly journals Bridging the Gap Between Secondary and Tertiary Education for Students with Refugee Backgrounds with Bourdieu

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (Winter) ◽  
pp. 112-139
Author(s):  
Jonathan Birtwell ◽  
Robin Duncan ◽  
Jennifer Carson ◽  
Jessica Chapman

Although progress has been made in increasing access at the primary and secondary level, only 1% of youth with refugee backgrounds are enrolled in tertiary education compared to 36% globally. Recent research suggests that tertiary education is fundamental in restoring dignity, security and hope for students with refugee backgrounds as well as preventing engagement with harmful fundamentalist ideologies. Given these potential benefits it is essential to better understand the barriers and develop initiatives to improve participation of students with refugee backgrounds in tertiary education. The main challenges faced by such students in Malaysia are a lack of information about existing opportunities, poor knowledge of the application process and insufficient soft skills required to gain access. This paper presents a case study of the CERTE Bridge Course in Malaysia, which was designed to address the above challenges and ‘bridge’ the gap between secondary and tertiary education for students with refugee backgrounds. Bourdieu’s theory of capital, habitus and field is used to explore the impact of the CERTE Bridge Course on participant’s success in achieving access to higher education. The research used pre- and post-surveys with each cohort to understand educational attainment, goals and interests and allow participants to self-assess development in soft skills. It is argued that the CERTE Bridge Course helped students navigate access to higher education by providing ways for them to develop social capital through improved communication skills and access to a network of sympathetic higher education admissions officers. Students also developed cultural capital and developed their habitus in a way that allowed them to negotiate access by presenting their skills in more recognisable ways in the field of higher education in Malaysia. Finally, the research highlights several immovable barriers in the field and identifies lesser discussed forms of capital, such as aspirational and resilience, as playing an important role in facilitating access.

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110548
Author(s):  
Tolani A. Britton ◽  
Arlyn Y. Moreno Luna

Although college enrollment and completion rates have increased over the past 30 years, access to higher education has not been uniform across racial groups. In addition to racial gaps, differences in tertiary education outcomes exist by gender. Gender gaps in college enrollment are larger in the Latinx community than in other racial or ethnic groups. In this paper, we use the October Current Population Survey (CPS) supplements for the years 1984–1992 and state and federal drug laws to measure the impact of the passage of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act on the likelihood of college enrollment for young Latino men. Following the passage of the federal law, some states changed their drug laws around marijuana and cocaine possession and distribution. We use this variation in state law in order to explore whether states that have more lenient marijuana and cocaine laws also have a higher likelihood of college enrollment. We find that there was a four percentage point decline in both the likelihood of high school completion and that of college enrollment for Latinx men after the passage of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Findings have implications for modifications to state drug laws and addressing the ways in which these laws impact educational attainment for students underrepresented in higher education.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Clayton

Education has long been regarded as the foundation stone of national growth and international competitiveness. In the last three decades national educational reforms to improve access to higher education qualifications, individual higher education institutions’ aggressive national and international marketing initiatives and improved information and communication technology (ICT) systems and infrastructure have resulted in greatly increased participation in tertiary education. As a consequence of this wider participation, tertiary educators are now engaging with increased numbers of culturally and economically diverse learners in distributed ICT environments that they, the educators and learners, are often unfamiliar with. There is an expectation that these educators will be able to design learning modules to meet students’ multi-cultural needs, in a range of contexts, with no additional resources. In essence, it is expected that learners will participate in individually customised learning events at a cost similar to traditional delivery. This requires a fundamental shift in educators and learners conceptions on the provision of education. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the development and deployment of reflective frameworks, based on recognised international standards, can fully engage learners in mass-customised environments. First this article outlines the key building blocks required for reflective mass-customisation to occur. Second, it illustrates how this concept is being tentatively explored at a New Zealand institution. Finally, it recommends the areas of action for further research on the impact and effect of masscustomisation on learners, educators and institutions to be undertaken.Keywords: customisation; frameworks; self-reflection; New Zealand; assessment(Published: 30 August 2012)http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.19187


1997 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Eisenmann

In this article, Linda Eisenmann examines the role and impact of Barbara Solomon's now classic text in women's educational history, In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America. Eisenmann analyzes how Solomon's book influenced, defined, and in some ways limited the field of women's educational history. She shows how current historical research — such as the study of normal schools and academies — grew out of Solomon's work. She points out where the book is innovative and indispensable and where it disappoints us as teachers and scholars in the 1990s. Eisenmann criticizes Solomon for placing too much emphasis on women's access to higher education, thereby ignoring the importance of wider historical and educational influences such as economics, women's occupational choices, and the treatment of women in society at large. Finally, Eisenmann examines the state of subsequent research in women's higher educational history. She urges researchers to investigate beyond the areas defined by Solomon's work and to assess the impact of these neglected subjects on women's experiences in education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
LEONARDO CIVINELLI TORNEL DA SILVEIRA

ABSTRACT This article analyses the widening access policies implemented by Brazil during the 1990s and in 2016. It cites and evaluates the different strategies used by the government, such as student loans, needs-based and race-based quotas. In the context of a highly privatized sector, in which for-profit higher education institutions account for over half of the existing higher education institutions in Brazil, the results display a relative growth in higher education access based on minorities and needs-based communities. However, it also showcases some trends not achieved as originally planned by the government (specially increasing higher education participation in regions other than the south and the southeast) and serves as a point requiring further research to evaluate the influence on the lives of students and graduates. This study uses government and publicly available sources to analyse the impact of this strategy over time.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Major

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of different models of work-based learning (WBL) in operation at the University of Chester and provides two examples of university-employer partnership where WBL is used as the principal means for bringing about change in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on the experience of one UK University with significant WBL provision and outlines the evolutionary development of a number of different models of WBL designed to meet the specific needs of employers and individual students. Findings The paper reflects on the distinctive contribution of WBL in higher education to bring about change to the culture and working practices of two public organisations, thereby improving performance and developing new ways of working. Practical implications It will also consider the impact of WBL on learners often giving them a greater sense of their own identity and professionalism and point to the way in which WBL challenges the university as much as it challenges employer partners. Social implications Widening access to higher education and increasing participation in HE. Originality/value The identification and description of a number of different models of WBL in operation in the HE sector.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-43
Author(s):  
V. Yu. Ledeneva

The article deals with the long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for higher educational institutions in different countries. The lack of information and verified data relative to the impact of the pandemic on changes in the education systems in different countries, the topic is still poorly learned, and therefore, it is difficult to predict what transformation processes will occur in the near future. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for higher education in terms of teaching, learning, research collaboration and institutional governance. At the same time, the pandemic has provided an excellent opportunity for various stakeholders to rethink and even reschedule higher education process with an effective risk management plan for future resilience. The crisis made it possible to reconsider the role of informational and communicational technologies (ICT) and analyze the effectiveness of online learning in higher education. The article attempts to systematize the information available in open sources and assess the impact of the pandemic on such aspects of higher education as problems connected with technical facilities provision, accessibility for different social groups, digitalization and international academic mobility. Methods of systemic and comparative analysis based on international research and online surveys were used. Recommendations are proposed for studying the impact of global politics and geopolitical factors on the future of international higher education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Pinto

Drawing on educational census data and a review of news articles and higher education policies in Brazil, this article examines the impact of COVID-19 on the access and retention of the low-income Brazilian population in higher education. Guided by the question, “What is the impact of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable population in Brazil in terms of access to, and retention in higher education?”, the paper is structured in two sections: the first offers a short historical overview of Brazilian higher education; the second examines the impact of the pandemic on student retention in higher education, looking at factors such as social isolation, job and income precarity, use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), internet access, and technological resources. I argue that distance education offered by private higher education institutions benefits the privileged students and that the effects of the pandemic are detrimental to the socially disadvantaged students since those who are in public universities do not always have access to technology, and those who study in private universities feel the impact of not being able to pay tuition fees, besides the loss of several jobs in different sectors. In conclusion, I recommend policy initiatives to improve access to higher education.


Uniciencia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Alejandro González-Campos ◽  
Cristian Manuel Carvajal-Muquillaza ◽  
Juan Elías Aspeé-Chacón

Access to higher education is only a first step in achieving equity in education; the following step is improving student retention, or lowering dropout rates, which is the same thing. The present study focused on the definition of an index as an estimator of the risk of individuals dropping out of a university using a Markov chain model, based on the randomness of the occurrence of dropping out. The suggested index was applied to a sample of 5,700 university students from the 2012-2015 annual cohorts of 8 university departments of a public regional university in Chile. The results indicate that the highest average probability of dropping out (slightly more than 39%) occurs in the first 2 semesters of university studies, and then decreases through time. This indicates the need for institutional retention policies that pay particular attention to the first year of university studies. Having this index also allows a formal estimation of changes or temporary variations in the risk, as well as quantifying the impact of interventions, not only for the case under study but for the entire higher education system.


Author(s):  
José Manuel Morales Valdés

During the second term of the President Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018), a transversal educational reform was carried out. To tertiary education its main purpose was to provide free tuition for higher education institutions (HEIs): Universities, Technical Training Centers (CFT) and Professional Institutes (IP). In that context, this paper analyzes the impact of this educational reform as it pertains to the Chilean system of higher education, with special focus on the implementation of free tuition as a new way to transfer resources from the State to HEIs. The methods used is the documental analysis of different legal texts, as Acts and Budget Acts. They are analyzing to identify manifestations of governmental rationality, identifying  the language-in-use or its performative dimension. The analysis considers political variables and how they influenced the process. Its focus is to see legal and institutional changes along with public budget and the impact of HEIs enrolment. The results indicate that despite the significant transformations carried out in the sphere of higher education, the reform could not achieve a significant change in the relationship between the State and HEIs due to the political dispute that arose in the process, thus achieving mixed results. Chilean higher education provides an interesting case study which can serve as reference for educational debates in other countries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė ◽  
Jelena Stankevičienė ◽  
Nomeda Bratčikovienė

Despite the strong public interest in the accountability and efficiency in education spending on higher education institutions (HEIs) in Lithuania, there are currently no existing studies which have examined the impact of HEIs on the country’s economy. In the present study, we have used a disaggregated input-output table for Lithuania’s tertiary education institutions in order to determine the output value added to the local economy by the presence of HEIs. The results of the study have revealed that HEIs contribute to the Lithuanian economy in the period of (2010–2016), with the average of gross domestic output (GDP) of 298.48 mln. euros. The present study is the first of its kind to use input-output table evaluate the impact of HEIs on Lithuania’s economy, and its results could be of significant value to the current policy debates regarding the status of higher education in Lithuania.


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