CHALLENGES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF SATELLITE UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES IN CHINA - A CASE STUDY BASED ON HARBIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SHENZHEN

Running satellite campuses in different locations is a regular feature in Chinese society nowadays due to the combined result of the complexities in enrolling students, the restricted scale of schooling, geographical limitations, and government policies. With the Reform and Opening-up, some of China's underdeveloped cities have become new economic engines. At the same time, their lack of higher education resources has limited their development. However, some colleges and universities have started satellite campuses to break through these limitations. The Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), co-founded by the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) and the Shenzhen Municipal Government, is a satellite campus of Harbin Institute of Technology. The paper summarised and sorted out the existing studies, interviewed the students of the Shenzhen campus of the Harbin Institute of Technology. Through studying the current situation, existing problems and their causes have been analysed. It was concluded that the current crisis facing the Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) revolves around the following points: brand awareness, school size, government policies, international situation, as well as faculty and campus management. Based on the research findings, it was recommended that Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) improve their brand marketing, expand the scale, train teachers further, upgrade risk management and research, and put forward concrete measures for several aspects of the negotiations. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0740/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Research Lab as Satellite Library

It is challenging to identify the needs of researchers and students at any satellite campus, a situation that is exacerbated when the satellite library is a research laboratory. The users are not taking classes, but still have library support needs. This article discusses the difficulties in properly identifying a population of students at this type of institution, as well as the associated challenges that come with developing a series of library workshops for different groups of users.

Challenges Experienced by Students Studying through Open and Distance Learning at a Higher Education Institution in Namibia: Implications for Strategic Planning

Online learning remains one of the most powerful enablers and accelerators for realising higher education studies by enhancing teaching by means of innovative technologies and pedagogies. However, the success rate of students studying through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) remains very low. Therefore, institutions of higher learning in Namibia should continuously establish and assess the challenges affecting the students who opt to study via distance mode to devise strategies required to address such challenges. The objective of this study was to understand the challenges experienced by students studying through ODL at Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Namibia and establish the challenges they face. A qualitative, phenomenological, explorative, descriptive and contextual research strategy was employed in this study to explore and describe challenges experienced by students’ studying through ODL at HEI’ satellite campus in Namibia. A purposive sampling was utilised in the selection of participants. Data were collected from participants using semi-structured interviews with nine participants. Three themes were identified, namely, the reasons why students chose to study through ODL programme, challenges experienced by students studying through ODL and mechanisms for improvement. The findings of this study call for well-articulated plans and actions to address the challenges faced by students studying in the distance e-learning mode. The study recommended that both Lecturers and ODL programme Administrators should undergo refresher training on distance education annually to ensure that they are aware and can address the challenges faced by their students.

Experiences of Student Nurses on the Use of the Two-Week Block System at the Satellite Campus of a Higher Education Institution in Namibia

Clinical Training is intended to prepare nursing students for future nursing practice in both private and public facilities. As do many nursing training institutions globally, this Higher Education Institution (HEI) uses the two-week block system as a teaching system. However, despite the two-week block system, it would appear that, due to the increased number of nursing students, the aligning of practical exposure with theoretical instruction is becoming difficult in balancing theory and practice for both student and academics. Such alignment requires institutions of higher learning to establish which teaching systems are likely to promote the correlation between theory and practice. The experiences of students may be used to identify positive learning environment for students. This study aimed to explore and understand the personal experiences of student nurses studying at Higher Education Institution HEI in Namibia in relation to the use of the two-week block system. The objectives of the study included exploring and describing the experiences of student nurses regarding the two-week block system at the HEI with a view to ascertaining the negative impact, if any, of such a teaching system on their studies. A study employed a qualitative approach which comprised an explorative and descriptive research design, using purposive sampling. The research population in the study consisted of first to fourth year, undergraduate nursing students who were studying at a satellite campus of a HEI in Namibia. The requisite data was collected from four focus group discussions which were each conducted with six to seven participants. The transcribed interviews and narratives from the research notes were then organised into main themes and sub-themes. Three main themes and nine sub-themes were identified. The findings of the study indicated that two-week block system was associated with challenges as was evidenced by the following themes that had emerged from the study, namely, different experiences of the two-week block system, various effects of the two-week block system and recommendations to School of Nursing (SoN).The study recommended that the HEI extend the two-week block system to a one-month block system in order to give the students sufficient time in which to put the theory they have learnt into practice.

Theory – Practice Gap: Challenges Experienced by Nursing Students at the Satellite Campus of a Higher Education Institution in Namibia

Background: Theory practice gap is the discrepancies found between what students learn in the formal classroom setting and what they experience in the clinical settings. Observations reveal that nursing as practised is task-centred and students rarely get involved in anything approaching the total care of individual patients, thus leading to theory-practice gap.Objectives: The study explored and described the challenges faced by Bachelor of Nursing (clinical) honours students when integrating theory into practice in the clinical settings.Method: The study, which was granted ethical clearances from two institutions, drew on an exploratory phenomenology methodology to gather data from ten nursing students registered at a satellite campus. The participants were purposively selected with data collected via focus group interviews. Thereafter, data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis. The study data collection and analysis adhered to ethical principles and quality measures in order to ensure credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Results: Nursing students experience challenges in integrating theory and practice. These challenges are grouped into four themes; theory verses practice, limited resources in clinical settings, discriminatory attitudes and communication barriers.Conclusion: Nursing students appreciated accompaniment and supervision by nurse educators. However, the accompaniment’s impact on learning may be undermined through the students’ limited exposure to clinical cases. Therefore, long-term strategies are recommended for effective integration of theory with practice.