scholarly journals Democracy and the Discourse on Relevance Within the Academic Profession at Makerere University

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Kronstad Felde ◽  
Tor Halvorsen ◽  
Anja Myrtveit ◽  
Reidar Øygard
Keyword(s):  
Public Funding ◽  
Academic Culture ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Academic Profession ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Makerere University ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
The University

Democracy and the Discourse of Relevanceis set against the backdrop of the spread of neoliberal ideas and reforms since the 1980s, accepting also that these ideas are rooted in a longer history. It focuses on how neoliberalism has worked to transform the university sector and the academic profession. In particular, it examines how understandings of, and control over, what constitutes relevant knowledge have changed. Taken as a whole, these changes have sought to reorient universities and academics towards economic development in various ways. This includes the installation of strategies for how institutions and academics achieve recognition and status within the academy, the privatisation of educational services and the downgrading of the value of public higher education, as well as a steady shift away from the public funding for universities. Research universities are increasingly adopting a user- and market-oriented model, with an emphasis on meeting corporate demands, the privileging of short-term research, and a strong tendency to view utility, and the potential to sell intellectual property for profit, as primary criteria for determining the relevance of academic knowledge. The privatisation of education services and the reorienting of universities towards the needs of the ‘knowledge economy’ have largely succeeded in transforming the discourse around the role of the academic profession in society, including in many African countries. Makerere University in Uganda has often been lauded as an example of successful transformation along neoliberal lines. However, our research into the working lives of academics at Makerere revealed a very different picture. Far from epitomising the allegedly positive outcomes of neoliberal reform, academics and postgraduate students interviewed at Makerere provide worrying insights into the undermining of a vibrant and independent academic culture. The stories of the ordinary academics on the ground, the empirical focus of the book, are in contrast to the claimed successes of the university; and the official stories of the university leadership and administration paint a picture of an academic profession in crisis. With diminishing influence on deciding what is relevant knowledge and thus on processes of democratization of their own institution and society, academic freedom is also losing its value. This perspective from the ground-level exposes the many problems that neoliberal reforms have created for academics at Makerere, leaving them feeling disempowered, often reducing them to the status of consultants. We also show how a range of local initiatives ­are steadily increasing resistance to the neoliberal model. We consider how academics and others can further mobilise to regain control over what knowledge is considered relevant, and thereby deepen democracy. In so doing, we aim to highlight some responses and actions that have proven effective so far. Democracy and the Discourse of Relevancewill hopefully help to change the systems that value knowledge in ways that are driving research institutions towards competitive and market-like behaviour. We also aim to contribute to contemporary debates about what knowledge is relevant.

scholarly journals From Sustainable Publishing To Resilient Communications

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 604-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ottina
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Academic Culture ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Fundamental Tension ◽  
The University

In their opening reflection on Open Access (OA) in this special section, Fuchs and Sandoval (2013) argue the current policy debate on Open Access publishing is limited by a for-profit bias which blinds it to much of the most innovative activity in Open Access. They further argue for a refocusing of the policy debate within a public service, commons based perspective of academic knowledge production. I pick up these themes by looking at another key term, sustainable publishing, in an effort to contextualize the policy debate on OA within the broader context of the privatization of the university. From this perspective, the policy debate reveals an essential tension between top-down and bottom-up cultures in legitimizing knowledge. This is a tension that has profound implications for scholarly practices mediated through digital networked communications.  Explicitly acknowledging this fundamental tension gives additional insight into formulating strategies for maintaining an academic culture of free and open inquiry. I suggest that the frame of resilient communications expresses the dynamic nature of scholarly communications better than that of sustainable publishing, and that empowering scholars through practice-based OA initiatives is essential in broadening grass roots support for equitable Open Access amongst scholars.

scholarly journals From Sustainable Publishing To Resilient Communications

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 604-613
Author(s):  
David Ottina
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Academic Culture ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Fundamental Tension ◽  
The University

In their opening reflection on Open Access (OA) in this special section, Fuchs and Sandoval (2013) argue the current policy debate on Open Access publishing is limited by a for-profit bias which blinds it to much of the most innovative activity in Open Access. They further argue for a refocusing of the policy debate within a public service, commons based perspective of academic knowledge production. I pick up these themes by looking at another key term, sustainable publishing, in an effort to contextualize the policy debate on OA within the broader context of the privatization of the university. From this perspective, the policy debate reveals an essential tension between top-down and bottom-up cultures in legitimizing knowledge. This is a tension that has profound implications for scholarly practices mediated through digital networked communications.  Explicitly acknowledging this fundamental tension gives additional insight into formulating strategies for maintaining an academic culture of free and open inquiry. I suggest that the frame of resilient communications expresses the dynamic nature of scholarly communications better than that of sustainable publishing, and that empowering scholars through practice-based OA initiatives is essential in broadening grass roots support for equitable Open Access amongst scholars.

Strategic Curiosity: A Way to Awaken Awareness of a Common Future

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-113
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Misztal
Keyword(s):  
Academic Culture ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Public Intellectuals ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Core ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Common Future

Abstract Intellectual strategies change in response to broader socio-political transformations of the world and the development of new means of communication. In today’s complex and fragmented intellectual landscape, public intellectuals perform various functions and conceive different strategies. As traditional public intellectuals are finding it much harder to argue with authority, thought leaders, or new for-profit thinkers linked to ideologically driven think tanks, are getting new visibility. Yet another group, the ‘new intellectuals’, who in contrast to traditional public intellectuals housed at the university are detached from its institutional structures, contributes to the non-academic culture of criticism of neo-liberalism. As these three groups are not engaged in meaningful conversations, a work on the restoration of the severed links between wonder at the world and the imagination to think beyond the present is neglected. In the hope that all three groups of today’s intellectuals, despite their different values and styles, can still place curiosity at the core of their strategies, this paper argues that primarily it should be a task of the traditional public intellectual to awaken people’s awareness of a common future. It concludes that to re-empower the traditional public intellectual, there is a need to prevent modern universities from becoming places with little room for curiosity.

The Student Room Survey: Changes in the Post Graduate Study for Cardiothoracic Surgery

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-74
Author(s):  
Md Faizus Sazzad ◽  
Mohammed Moniruzzaman ◽  
Dewan Iftakher Raza Choudhury ◽  
Arif Ahmed Mohiuddin ◽  
Raafi Rahman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thoracic Surgery ◽  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Graduate Study ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Secondary Objective ◽  
Cardio Vascular ◽  
The University ◽  
Day By Day

Background: The number of postgraduate students in Cardiac surgical discipline is increasing day by day with incremental proportion are measurably suffering from the unnecessary lingering of the present course curriculum. The primary objective of this study was to find out the last 5 years’ of results of Masters in Surgery course under the University of Dhaka from a student room survey. A secondary objective was to find out positive changes that could show us the way of a step toward up-gradation. Methods: It is a retrospective analysis of all examination results of Cardio-vascular & Thoracic Surgery published since January 2008 to January 2013 from the University of Dhaka with in depth interview of 11 participants. Results: 85.24% students failed to pass part-I of Masters in Surgery for Cardio-vascular & Thoracic Surgery course while, 82.18% in part-II and 71.28% failed to pass the final part. Average 2.51 attempts needed to complete each part of the designed course resulted into lingering of course duration for 42.18 months/student. In the thoracic surgery discipline the number of students alarmingly reduced up to 0% in the recent academic sessions. Conclusions: Masters in Surgery is resulting in unnecessary prolongation of the course. We should step forward to meet the next generation challenge. Journal of Surgical Sciences (2019) Vol. 23(2): 71-74

Use of reference management software among postgraduate students in Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062199641
Author(s):  
Ilias Nitsos ◽  
Afrodite Malliari ◽  
Rodopi Chamouroudi
Keyword(s):  
Student Discipline ◽  
Bibliographic Databases ◽  
Background Characteristics ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Management Software ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
The University ◽  
Degree Level

The use of reference management software in the context of academic work and research is the main subject of this study. The study focuses on the extent to which postgraduate students at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, one of the largest Greek universities, make use of – or avoid using – reference management software tools to organize their bibliographic databases and to automate the process of creating references and citations. The study also tries to find out which are the key factors for their choices and whether certain background characteristics affect their behavior. It should be mentioned that no previous studies have been conducted in Greece regarding the use of reference management software in the academic environment. An online questionnaire was sent to the postgraduate students at the University and a result set of 545 responses was collected and analyzed. The majority (almost two-thirds) of the respondents identified themselves as non-users and one-third identified themselves as reference management software users. Among the latter, Mendeley was found to be the software used by more than two-thirds of the users and was followed by EndNote and Zotero. It is worth mentioning that Mendeley is the software officially recommended by the University’s central library to its users but most of the students (more than 60%) were not aware of this fact. In terms of background characteristics, the analysis revealed, among other things, statistically significant relationships between degree level, student discipline and preferences, reference management software features, and potential future use of reference management software.

Postgraduates’ Perceptions in Completion of Their Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Teoh Sian Hoon ◽  
Geethanjali Narayanan ◽  
Raja Normi Raja Mohamad ◽  
Gurnam Kaur Sidhu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Learning ◽  
Research Writing ◽  
Institutional Factor ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Learning Challenges ◽  
Academic Competencies ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
The University ◽  
Learning Institutions

This study was conducted to investigate the postgraduate students’ perceptions towards their experiences of completion of their studies. The population of this study consisted of postgraduate students in a public university in Selangor. The sample comprised 104 randomly selected postgraduate students from the university. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to the samples. The questionnaire consisted of four domains, namely student factor, supervisor factor, institutional factor and challenges faced by the students. This study discovered that (1) the postgraduate students perceived supervisors as a determinant factor that contributes toward conducting research. (2) they perceived their academic competencies in research writing as moderate and (3) the supervisor factor has a significant and inverse relationship on challenges faced by the postgraduate students, i.e. the efforts and competencies of supervisors reduced challenges of the postgraduate students to complete their research. Based on the findings, it was suggested that higher learning institutions should highlight on the construction of knowledge through active interaction between lecturers and students. This type of assistance has become a platform for the students to cope up with the learning challenges they were facing in higher education.

scholarly journals Forging a research community of practice to find out how South African children make their world mathematical

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Henning
Keyword(s):  
Community Of Practice ◽  
South African ◽  
Story Line ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
Mathematics Competence ◽  
Shared Goal ◽  
Competence Test ◽  
The University ◽  
Different Sources

In a search for ways to capture foundation phase children’s competence in mathematics, a small research team was put together at a South African university four years ago. At first, working only in a single school where the objective was to model 80 learners’ growth in competence over four years, the team transformed into a very different entity. This article narrates the founding and development of a community of research practice, which eventually included undergraduate- and postgraduate students, researchers from institutions in Germany, Switzerland and South Africa, teachers at local schools close to the university, and an educational research and survey company. Supported by funding from four different sources, the project is fairly close to reaching the goal of delivering a standardised mathematics competence test for 4-8 year-olds, which is a first of its kind for the country where educational measurement seems to be at a crossroads. In the story line of this community of practice, it is evident that progress can be assessed best by the learning that has been taking place in a community with a notable diversity of people and interests, but with the shared goal of investigating children’s mathematical behaviour on a measure that can be trusted.

scholarly journals Threats and vulnerabilities of the academic profession vs university personnel potential development

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 440-450
Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Lobova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Profession ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
University Personnel ◽  
Scientific Periodical ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
The University

The formation and development of the university's personnel potential is one of the conditions for joining the project to support higher education organizations announced by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in June 2020. The project is called the Strategic Academic Leadership Program. The fulfillment of this condition cannot be carried out without overcoming the limitations and effective responses to the challenges that are associated with the academic profession. The article is a review. Its purpose is to study threats and barriers to the development of the university’s personnel potential. It is shown that as internal threats one should consider the high stressfulness of faculty activities, violation of their personal safety and low loyalty; the barrier is the vulnerability of the academic profession. The research focuses on the current staff of Russian universities. The main research methods are analysis and synthesis of relevant scientific periodical literature. The main result of the study is the position that the presence of threats and vulnerabilities in the academic profession entails consequences that have a devastating effect not only on the personality of the teacher, the university, the academic community, but also on the higher education system as a whole, catalyze the departure of teachers from the academic profession, and prevent the preservation of and the development of the university personnel potential, ensuring the competitiveness and attractiveness of the university.

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