Buying into the Meritocracy: Taiwanese Students and the Market for College Admissions Services

The meritocratic ideal prescribes that universities should admit students based on academic ability and individual effort. Yet as competition for scarce slots has increased, markets for services to improve the odds of admission have expanded. We use the case of a popular online forum for elite Taiwanese students seeking graduate study in the United States to argue that the moral values assigned to such markets provide useful information about the status of the meritocratic ideal. Using digital ethnography and interviews with forum participants, we find that individuals moralize markets for admissions services in ways that align with their social position. They valorize participation in markets that compensate for their “unfair” disadvantage around English while rejecting the legitimacy of adjacent markets that compensate for lack of cultural capital (which they possess). More generally, we argue that although individuals who benefit from meritocracy will tend to stigmatize associated markets, the positive moralization of such markets can reflect local contests over how meritocracy should be defined—yet not necessarily undermine the meritocratic ideal.

The strategies used by post-graduate students to avoid plagiarism in thesis writing

This study aims to find out the perception of post-graduate students on plagiarism, the influenced factors, and the strategies used by the students to avoid plagiarism in thesis writing. To collect the data, 10 post-graduate students of Graduate Study of English Education at University of Syiah Kuala (USK) were chosen randomly based on the predetermined criteria: the students in the academic year 2016 and 2017 who have written their thesis. The data were collected through interviews. The result of data analysis shows that the post-graduate students of English Education at USK have the same perception about the issue of plagiarism in thesis writing. The factors contributing to plagiarism are limited time, the deadline, technological development and ease of accessing online sources, students' laziness, lack of understanding to paraphrase, and poor understanding of plagiarism. Furthermore, two main strategies can be used to avoid plagiarism in thesis writing. The first is paraphrasing and quoting other peoples' ideas. The second is reading a lot of sources from many articles and journals to learn how the authors develop their idea in their writing and how to put citations and references appropriately.

Colonial Roots of the Aryan Invasion/Migration Theory and the Contemporary Archaeological Evidence in Western Sources

William Jones, famously, by identifying close linkages between Sanskrit and European languages, gave birth to research into the common ancestry between Indians and Europeans. In the earlier years of contention on the matter, India was considered the cradle of civilisation and Sanskrit as the mother of all Indo-European languages. With the rise in the imperial power of Europe over India, the cradle of civilisation began to shift outside India and ultimately landed in Europe. Simultaneously, the idea of invasion of India by the ‘Aryan race’, or the Aryan invasion theory (AIT), was promoted. Since then, however, one archaeological find over another have consistently refuted the AIT, proving it as false. As flawed as it remains, this theory has, nonetheless, persisted and morphed in its current form as the Aryan migration theory (AMT) and continues to find mention and favour in contemporary academic discourse. In mainstream academia, today, whether in grade-school texts or in texts meant for undergraduate and graduate study, whenever India and Hinduism are mentioned, the coming of Aryans from outside of India and establishing Hinduism and civilisation in India are discussed as veritable facts. By examining the theory in anticolonial and postcolonial contexts, we show that despite considerable archaeological evidence refuting the theories of the invasion or migration of Aryans into India, its colonial embeddedness in the notion of the racial superiority of the Europeans or people with European ancestry that the theory does not fade into oblivion.

Developing research knowledge and capability in undergraduate nurses: evaluation of targeted placements

Background There are few opportunities for undergraduate nurses to undertake experiential learning about research design and conduct. The project aim was to implement and evaluate a placement to support the development of research knowledge and skills. Methods Establishment of a four-week placement, with allocation to a registered quality improvement/service evaluation project. Evaluation was obtained through questionnaires; student experience (pre, post and one year), supervisor experience and organisational impact (presentations, conference and grant submissions). Results 24 students (five cohorts) were allocated to 17 projects (2017–2019). 100% of students enjoyed the placement, gained research knowledge and insight into clinical care. At one year ( n = 15), 88% of students would consider undertaking a service evaluation and 65% ( n = 11) would consider further post-graduate study. All supervisors ( n = 20) reported the initiative valuable for student development. All project results were shared with relevant local teams to enable service planning and results from five projects been presented at eight national and international conferences. Three projects have contributed directly to further research grant submissions. Conclusion The programme supports the development of undergraduate nurses to be research ready and facilitates organisations to address high-priority safety and quality topics. Further resources are required to be able to increase placement capacity.

A Longitudinal Study of Mental Wellbeing in Students in Aotearoa New Zealand Who Transitioned Into PhD Study

Journal editorials, career features, and the popular press commonly talk of a graduate student mental health crisis. To date, studies on graduate student mental health have employed cross-sectional designs, limiting any causal conclusions regarding the relationship between entry into graduate study and mental health. Here, we draw on data from a longitudinal study of undergraduate students in Aotearoa New Zealand, allowing us to compare participants who did, and did not, transition into PhD study following the completion of their undergraduate degree. Using multilevel Bayesian regression, we identified a difference in mental wellbeing between those who entered PhD study and those who did not. This difference, however, was largely due to those not entering PhD study displaying an increase in mental wellbeing. Participants that entered PhD study displayed a small decrease in mental wellbeing, with the posterior distribution of the simple effect heavily overlapping zero. This latter finding was orders of magnitude smaller than one might expect based on previous cross-sectional research and provides an important message; that a marked drop in mental health is not an inevitable consequence of entering graduate study.

Declaration of Independence

This chapter examines Roth’s struggles with his father, his decision to go to college at Bucknell University after a year at Rutgers Newark, and his early girlfriends; the influence of his early professors at Bucknell and his editing the campus literary magazine where some of his earliest writing appeared. Graduate study at the University of Chicago and early publications followed, as well as his meeting influential novelists like Saul Bellow and Richard Stern. New friendships also emerged, notably with Theodore Solotaroff, critic and later editor of the New American Review, and Arthur Geffen and Barry Targan. “Bibliography by day, women by night” was their motto.