University Teachers’ Motivation and Challenges: A Gender Perspective on Professional Development

This article has attempted to explore motivation for female teachers in the classroom and to find out the affecting factors in the process of becoming a successful teacher in the university. This study is theoretically based on motivation theory and critical theory. The female teachers' professional challenges have persisted for many years. In this study, motivation for the female teachers and their challenges that focus on the participation of all strata of gender, race, ethnicity and other aspects are two sides of teachers’ professional identity. Therefore, motivation for female teachers in higher education is an urgent need for improving teaching and learning environment and for job security. This article includes a narrative inquiry based on an in-depth interview that includes three female teachers of the university. The thematic content analysis of this study is based on primary sources of data and theoretical observations. This study concludes that the female participation in higher education in Nepal is satisfactory, but they have not been able to improve their situation though they are capable of encouraging motivation for students to learn and face challenges in higher education.

Women’s participation and challenges to the liberal script: A global perspective

Existing scholarship documents large worldwide increases in women’s participation in the public sphere over recent decades, for example, in education, politics, and the labor force. Some scholars have argued that these changes follow broader trends in world society, especially its growing liberalism, which increasingly has reconfigured social life around the choices of empowered and rights-bearing individuals, regardless of gender. Very recently, however, a variety of populisms and nationalisms have emerged to present alternatives to liberalism, including in the international arena. We explore here their implications for women’s participation in public life. We use cross-national data to analyze changes in women’s participation in higher education, the polity, and the economy 1970–2017. We find that women’s participation on average continues to expand over this period, but there is evidence of a growing cross-national divergence. In most domains, women’s participation tends to be lower in countries linked to illiberal international organizations, especially in the recent-most period.

Participation in Higher Education Curricula Development in Armenia and Possible Effects for the Labour Market—The Case of an “Organic Agriculture” Master’s Program

Weak or unstructured stakeholder participation in higher education curricula development still remains a problem in Armenia. Change in outdated curricula development processes is needed, as they often do not meet students’ needs; do not adopt innovative teaching methods or tools; and do not fit the labour market’s demand. This paper traces the evolution of the participatory curriculum development process of the Organic Agriculture Master’s program at the Armenian National Agrarian University (ANAU). Prioritizing mainly qualitative methods of research, five relevant stakeholder groups with approximately 10–12 members each at varying levels were involved in this action research. Additionally, paper-based and online surveys were conducted with 290 ANAU students. The results focus on the conceptual mapping of the process of participatory action research, bridging its relevance to the Armenian labour market’s needs. Moreover, the results highlight lessons learned from the process—shaping them around significant theories for participatory action research—and underline the possibilities of the Organic Agriculture Master’s development process as a model program at ANAU and perhaps elsewhere.

Stripping back the novelty: A critical reflection on the dual use of a comic-based approach to engage participants and publics

There has been increasing use of comic-based approaches within qualitative research as part of an increase in creative and visual methods more generally within social science research. However, whilst increasingly prevalent in dissemination, their use within data collection is less common. This paper examines the dual use of a comic-based approach embedded within a study that explored widening participation in higher education. Initially developed for the triangulation of emergent research findings with a wider group of participants, a comic panel was developed to be used as a focus of discussions within a workshop with 11 practitioners. This was then further developed for wider dissemination and to create a space for dialogue and to engage wider publics with the study’s recommendations. Both uses are critically examined, highlighting the affordances of comic-based approaches such as their capacity for supporting dissemination to a wider audience by distilling the findings and presenting them in an engaging way. Furthermore, it argues that the form can allow for creating points of ambiguity that create spaces for the audience to challenge and question taken for granted assumptions on a topic. The paper also sets out possible challenges such the need for specialist skills, the potential for oversimplification and misrepresentation of complex issues. This paper argues that with careful planning, comic-based approaches can add significant value and increase engagement with research. Finally, it offers suggestions for how this approach could be developed by future researchers.

Creating a Composite Index to Target Recruitment of UK Students from Areas of Low Participation in Higher Education

This research presents a framework through which a new Higher Education Access and Deprivation (HEAD) composite index was created to assist UK universities in efficiently recruiting and supporting students from areas with traditionally low engagement rates in higher education. The index was designed to be easily adaptable by university staff to suit their own work priorities and/or an institution’s strategic requirements by utilising open socio-demographic data and construction techniques that require minimal technical statistical skills. Although Cornwall was used as the study area in this research, this index has been designed such that it can be readily applied elsewhere. Two differently weighted models were created using the framework – one with equal weights and the other based on the frequency the constituent indicators appeared in the reviewed academic literature. Both models were mapped across Cornwall, identifying areas of deprivation at a finer resolution than under the current widely used Participation of Local Areas (POLAR) methodology. The weighted model performed marginally better than both the equal weighted model and the current POLAR methodology when validated against external data, and additionally it worked well in both rural and urban environments leading to it being selected as the new HEAD index. The HEAD index maps smaller scale areas of deprivation than previously available, and by enabling users to investigate the underlying socio-demographic characteristics of an area, it also allows universities to create interventions, support, and policies that best targets the students they aim to recruit and teach.

Spouses of Student Mothers in the United Arab Emirates: Enablers or Constraints to Their Pursuit of Higher Education?

The educational status of Emirati women in the United Arab Emirates has developed rapidly over the last five decades, with females now outnumbering males in higher education institutions. Marriage and motherhood often take place during the years of undergraduate study for women, particularly for those from families who retain Emirati cultural traditions of relatively early marriage and childbearing. This study analyses the role which spouses play in their wives’ pursuit of education, using the theoretical gender and development lens to explore whether a transformation of power relations within the marriage takes place for the growth in female participation in higher education to occur. Spousal behaviours are identified and categorized through the gender and development lens as either enablers or constraints to women’s empowerment and participation in higher education, and potential reasons for these behaviours surrounding gender relations are discussed.

Aspiring to higher education in regional and remote Australia: the diverse emotional and material realities shaping young people’s futures

Students from regional and remote areas remain significantly under-represented in higher education despite decades of equity policy designed to encourage participation. One explanation is that policy initiatives often overlook the realities in local rural contexts that can make higher education less desirable. Applying the theoretical lens of ‘doxic’ and ‘habituated’ aspirations, this paper analyzes interviews with 13 students, 10 parents/carers, and 4 teachers from one regional and one remote community in NSW, Australia. We document the emotional and material realities shaping young people’s imagined futures in these communities, highlighting the commitment to a rural lifestyle in one, and the desire to escape the other community in decline. We argue that developing successful initiatives to address equitable participation in higher education requires a departure from hegemonic discourses of ‘rurality’ and greater recognition of and respect for the diverse needs and desires of regional and remote students.

Women’s Participation in Higher Education in India: An Analysis Across Major States

Women’s participation in higher education is an important pathway towards gender equality in economy and society. This article examines their participation levels in higher education across major Indian states and explores the underlying factors in the disparity between states. It employs two indicators, namely, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of Females and Gender Parity Index (GPI) to measure the absolute and relative participation of women in the higher education, from 2011 to 2019. The comparative statistical analysis of these parameters for the 16 major states shows that they perform poorly in postgraduation and technical education courses. However, they are better placed in GPI at undergraduation level. Further, they appear to be moving towards gender parity with recent increases in enrolment of girls in higher education. On the basis of fixed-effect panel data regression, it is found that significant share of female teachers, higher per capita state domestic product (a proxy for per-capita income) and availability of colleges and girls’ hostels are playing important roles to contributing to the GER of females and GPI in higher education in India.