School Leadership Master’s Program Enhancement through Cross-Border Collaboration between Assiut and Kuwait Schools of Education

Egypt and Kuwait are currently executing a large-scale transformation in the national education system. On such time, school leadership capacity building and development is crucial and fundamental. Therefore, the current research seeks to scrutiny leadership components presented in the Education Administration Master program offered in Assiut and Kuwait Faculties of Education to cross match the presented knowledge and competencies with international requirements of highly credited leadership master programs. A comparative analytical study was implemented to compare the leadership models presented in the Assiut and Kuwait master’s programs in educational administration. The intended outcome is to enhance the current master program offered in both faculties. Received: 31 October 2021 / Accepted: 1 December 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

Methodology of Teaching Law Disciplines in Russian and English to Law Students: A Digital Form and Traditional Content

The research problem addressed in this paper is to substantiate the most optimal forms and methods of teaching the law disciplines both in Russian and in English in a law school in the context of the introduction of digital forms of learning into traditional educational environment of a law school. The research applies the methods of the concept of professional training in advocacy. Professional training in advocacy is one of the practice-oriented areas of advocacy that includes the methodology of training students in a law school covering the statistical method, systematic method, historical and legal method, method of participatory observation, method of analysis and synthesis. The paper describes new areas of work and new opportunities that have become available to students in 2020–2021, including new master’s programs and additional in-person and online courses of students’ practice-oriented training. The paper examines how students of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) can acquire necessary knowledge and practice skills in order to pass the qualification examination for the status of an advocate and be able to practice law in the Russian Federation and abroad. The authors of the paper believe that the development of digital technologies has made it possible to move to a qualitatively new level of teaching. Along with classical teaching methods, the faculty have started implementing digital technologies in the learning process, focusing on practice-oriented types of work, including practice-oriented projects. A partial transition to distance learning has contributed to creation and development of the common educational environment that will enable international cooperation in student education and development of other digital environments, such as an integrated information system for the Russian Advocacy as well.

The Influence of Humor Styles on the Level of Academic Self-C Concept (ASC)

The use of humor by teachers can have a positive effect on improving the level of academic self concept and implicitly on motivation and academic results. The present research aimed to investigate to what extent the humor styles practiced by teachers influence the level of academic self-concept (ASC) of students. A number of 117 students who were enrolled in the master's programs in the field of public administration within the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences (FSPAC), Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca answered a questionnaire. Our research shows that there is a link between the humor styles practiced by teachers and the level of ASC of students. Also, the findings indicate that the use of humor in the educational process can play a greate role, namely it can increase or decrease the level of ASC among students. In this sense, although the influence of students' humor styles on the ASC level of students is relatively weak, the connection is still significant.

Teaching diversity in North American higher education master's programs: curricula and rationales

Purpose This study aims to examine North American master's programs in higher education administration, leadership and student affairs; the extent to which these programs incorporate diversity coursework; and their reasons for doing so. Graduate programs must prepare practitioners who are able to work effectively with multiple groups of students, ameliorate persistence and graduation gaps, and create more socially just campuses.Design/methodology/approachUsing an open-ended questionnaire and document analysis, the authors analyzed the extent to which and why these master's programs incorporate courses and course material on diversity.FindingsExactly half of higher education leadership (50%) and a small majority of student affairs (52%) programs require some type of diversity course, while only 42% of higher education administration programs do so. Reported reasons for including such coursework include students' demand for such courses, the centrality of diversity to university missions and standards in the field.Research limitations/implicationsResearch on faculty perceptions regarding the need for diversity courses with a focus on interest convergence may be productive.Practical implicationsProgram directors should ensure that coursework on diversity is required, and that faculty teaching these courses are comfortable discussing these topics to prepare students to work with diverse groups in multiple contexts.Originality/valueThis study uses multiple methods (document analysis, open-ended questionnaire of program directors) to analyze programs and program design intentions. The authors use the critical race theory framework's tenet of interest convergence to understand program rationales.

Translation skills required by Master’s graduates for employment: Which are needed, which are not?

There is ongoing debate about which skills translation students require for employment. Numerous “bridge the gap” studies draw on translation professionals in order to list the skills that graduates should have acquired. However, many of the available surveys indicate, with some regularity, that only a minority of graduates from Master’s programs in translation actually find stable employment in the translation industry. Here we report on a survey of graduates from the University of Melbourne and the skills that they say they require once in employment. The graduates who are employed in the translation industry prioritize skills that are significantly different from those prioritized by graduates employed in other sectors. This raises an underlying question of whether we are training for an industry or for society.

Preliminary Evaluation of Applicants to Master's Programs in Speech-Language Pathology Using Vignettes and Criteria From a Holistic Review Process

Purpose Little is known about how others evaluate applicants to master's programs in speech-language pathology along criteria used during holistic review despite more programs adopting holistic review. This knowledge gap limits our understanding of whether holistic admissions may offer a more equitable pathway to entering speech-language pathology. This study investigated how faculty and PhD students evaluated applicants to master's speech-language pathology programs along criteria used during holistic review. Method We administered a survey online through a Qualtrics platform. Respondents ( N = 66) were faculty and PhD candidates in U.S. speech-language-hearing departments. Survey blocks included demographics, professional background, and vignettes. Vignettes featured profiles of applicants to master's programs in speech-language pathology. Vignettes systematically varied in the indicators of applicant criteria, which were specified at low, moderate, or high levels or not specified. After reading each vignette, respondents rated the applicant and indicated their admissions decision. Analysis included descriptives. Results Relative to an applicant who was at a high level for all indicators except cultural and linguistic diversity, respondents ranked applicants who varied in their indicators of criteria levels lower. Respondents were also less likely to make an explicit “accept” decision (vs. “waitlist” or “reject”) for this latter group of applicants. Conclusions Even when implementing criteria used during holistic review, applicants who vary from a “high-achieving” stereotype may still face barriers to entry. Future work is needed to understand the precise nature of how holistic admissions review may play out in actual practice and help increase diversity in the profession.

Preliminary evaluation of applicants to master's programs in speech-language pathology using vignettes and criteria from a holistic review process

Purpose: Little is known about how others evaluate applicants to master’s programs in speech-language pathology along criteria used during holistic review, despite more programs adopting holistic review. This knowledge gap limits our understanding of whether holistic admissions may offer a more equitable pathway to entering speech-language pathology. This study investigated how faculty and Ph.D. students evaluated applicants to master’s speech-language pathology programs along criteria used during holistic review.Method: We administered a survey online through a Qualtrics platform. Respondents (N = 66) were faculty and Ph.D. candidates in U.S. speech-language-hearing departments. Survey blocks included demographics, professional background, and vignettes. Vignettes featured profiles of applicants to master’s programs in speech-language pathology. Vignettes systematically varied in the indicators of applicant criteria, which were specified at low, moderate, or high levels, or not specified. After reading each vignette, respondents rated the applicant and indicated their admissions decision. Analysis included descriptives.Results: Relative to an applicant who was at a high level for all indicators except cultural and linguistic diversity, respondents ranked applicants who varied in their indicators of criteria levels lower. Respondents were also less likely to make an explicit “accept” decision (versus “waitlist” or “reject”) for this latter group of applicants. Conclusion: Even when implementing criteria used during holistic review, applicants who vary from a “high-achieving” stereotype may still face barriers to entry. Future work is needed to understand the precise nature of how holistic admissions review may play out in actual practice and help increase diversity in the profession.

Sustainable Development Education in Public Administration Graduate Programs: The Cases of Pamukkale and Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Universities

Adaptation of environmental literacy awareness to the education system and reflection of interest and attitude towards the environment in behavior is a critical element in order to ensure sustainable development. Turkey's interest in the environment and sustainable development began to increase at the end of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the reflection of this interest in the education system has not been at the desired level. The foremost aim of the study is to measure the level of consciousness and awareness about sustainable development of the students who are in the master's programs of the department of public administration. As a sample, students studying in the relevant field between 2018-2020 at Pamukkale University and Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Social Sciences Institute were selected. In this study, where the qualitative method was preferred, the data of 20 students who provided feedback to the 11-expression interview form were analyzed using the word cloud method. It was concluded that the participants began to examine the relationship between the environmental factor and sustainable development, understood the importance of sustainable development for future generations, but could not adequately reflect the consciousness and awareness they had achieved in their behavior.