How Harmful Is the Commercialization of Higher Education for the Academic and Social Environment?

The commercial market for higher education in Europe is expanding as governments cut spending on universities in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis, and universities must be self-sufficient to survive. This commercialization is mainly reflected in the fact that universities begin to pay more attention to fund accumulation rather than improving academic value. With the continuous increase of tuition fees in colleges and universities, students are regarded as consumers and universities are essential commodities needed by consumers. Although commercialization of higher education has some beneficial aspects, such as more funds for schools to provide students with more advanced equipment and more comfortable learning environment, overall, the threat of commercialization to academic quality and social environment cannot be compensated for by those advantages. This paper aims to find out the two main reasons for the commercialization of higher education and the three threats to the social and academic environment brought by the marketing of higher education. Also, the paper also puts forward corresponding solutions for the three major risks; the two reasons analyzed in this paper are mainly the economic crisis and the development of globalization. The three threats are mainly aimed at the teaching quality of educational value and the financial pressure of students. At the same time, the paper gives three corresponding solutions to the threats. This paper argues that the commercialization of higher education severely hinders the improvement of educational value, reduces teaching quality, and brings heavy pressure to students' economy, which directly hinders the healthy development of higher education. If higher education institutions can adopt corresponding strategies to mitigate the threat of commercialization, the commercialization market of higher education may bring many opportunities for the development of higher education industry.

2019/2020 Learning Centre Practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Report

Data on the services and staffing in tertiary learning centres are necessary for providing professional support for tertiary learning advisors (TLAs). Full scale surveys of Aotearoa New Zealand centres were conducted in 2008 and 2013. In 2019, a third survey was conducted to explore whether the identified trends were continuing and whether there were any changes. This survey was sent to managers and team leaders at 26 tertiary learning institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand. Four topics were investigated: 1) the professional status of TLAs; 2) learning centre organisation; 3) the services provided by TLAs; 4) trends and changes since 2013. In 2020, when the lockdown resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic meant all centres had to cease operating face-to-face services for an extended period, some follow-up questions about the impact of Covid-19 were sent to the respondents of the 2019 survey. This report presents the five main findings of the 2019/2020 surveys, and provides comparisons with the previous surveys. First, more TLAs had postgraduate qualifications, and more TLAs were given general/professional contracts than academic contracts. Second, fewer learning centres were part of libraries or teaching and learning development units. Third, centres provided a similar range of services, with an increase in pastoral and wellbeing support. Fourth, services were more embedded, and more were delivered in online/blended modes, particularly since Covid-19. Lastly, changes in learning centres’ structures and service delivery were due to institutional financial pressure and student needs. We make some recommendations, including changing some questions in future surveys, updating the ATLAANZ professional practice document regularly, and implementing a TLA accreditation scheme in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Systematic review on economic hardship, debt and psychological well-being in western countries

Financial hardship is a phenomenon which mediates many other factors in life regardless of age group one of many is well-being. Well-being is a multi-disciplinary term. This paper will investigate existing literature on the effect of financial hardship on well-being using systematic review to minimize the biases. The data will be systematically searched with following databases: Wiley-online library, Google scholar, JSTOR, Tandfonline and Emerald. The present study is a systematic review of English language research of 2010 to 2020 research papers on financial hardship and well-being. The databases used in the research are Wiley Online Library, Google Scholar with keywords financial hardship, financial pressure, financial challenges, stress, wellbeing, anxiety, psychological well-being. 81 studies were excluded and 12 studies were selected after reviewing the title and abstract of 93 studies based on the PRISMA. The inclusion and exclusion criteria allow studies of 2010 to 2021 to be considered. Fewer data was present in the subject of wellbeing and financial stress. However, the results show impact of both variables. Financial pressure leads to poor wellbeing and other factors such as lack of social support, unhealthy family environment and dept can robust the impact. The research makes a unique new contribution in research, lending support for policy, academic theory, new contributions to current literature not found elsewhere, especially mental health management policy.

Last trends on collective bargaining decentralization

Decentralisation of collective bargaining has been one of the key trends concerning labour market regulation of the last decades. Most of European countries have developed – with different breath and scope – procedures and reforms to strengthen the company level of bargaining. The Great Recession has stressed this orientation, particularly in those countries which were under financial pressure. This paper focuses on the cases of four Mediterranean countries – France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal – in order to assess how decentralisation has been carried out and, most importantly, what kind of practical results have been achieved. On the base of these outcomes, it highlights how the debate concerning the structure ofcollective bargaining is changing from a black or white perspective to a new one in which mixed models are possible if the whole system is coordinated, taking into consideration the type of collective bargaining model set in the country.

African Students’ Satisfaction in China: From the Perspectives of China-Africa Educational Cooperation

The number of African students in China has significantly increased in the last two decades. This trend is closely related to China's engagement with Africa in all aspects and insufficient provision of higher education in many African countries. This study examines the degree to which African students are satisfied with their study and life experiences at a Chinese university through a mixed-methods approach. The findings indicate that African students are generally satisfied with their experiences and the extent to their satisfaction in teaching dimensions is higher than that in administrative dimensions. However, teacher's English proficiency, interaction between faculty and students, internship opportunities, and administration service quality have lower levels of satisfaction that could be improved. In regard to factors affecting satisfaction, African students’ Chinese language proficiency level and the length of stay in China both influence their experiences. Additionally, the study discovers that self-funded students frequently have greater financial pressure and higher expectations for their study. The conclusion presents the research implications for enhancing the quality of Chinese higher education internationalization.

The Effect of Pressure, Opportunity, Rationalization, Gender, and Workload on The Action of Fraud

This research aims to test the effect of financial pressure, opportunity, rationalization (fraud triangle), gender, and workload on the action of fraud. The data used in this research is the primary data using questionnaires that were distributed to 60 respondents with the technique of sampling slovin. The respondent of this research is an academic community of regional work unit of Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, Yogyakarta "Veteran" National Development University. This research using quantitive methods such as multiple linear regression analysis. This research found that the action of fraud is not affected by pressure, opportunity, rationalization, gender, and workload.

The Effect of Hexagon Fraud on the Potential Fraud Financial Statements with the Audit Committee as a Moderating Variable

This study aims to obtain empirical evidence of the influence of the six elements of fraud hexagon theory on potential financial statement fraud by involving the audit committee which acts as a moderating variable in the financial statements of state- owned companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2016-2020. Potential financial statement fraud is measured using the f-score model. The research sample was obtained by the purposive sampling technique. Data analysis methods and techniques include descriptive statistics, evaluation of the SEM-PLS model, and hypothesis testing. The results show that financial pressure has a positive effect on potential financial statement fraud, effective monitoring has a negative effect on potential financial statement fraud, while related party transactions, CEO education, CEO narcissism, and political connection do not affect potential financial statement fraud. The role of the audit committee as a moderating variable is only able to weaken the relationship between financial pressure and potential financial statement fraud.

Mock News: On the discourse of mocking in U.S. televised political discussions

American televised political shows are under tremendous pressure to succeed within an economic model that requires maximizing viewership. In response to this growing financial pressure, political shows invite contentious guests to discuss current events and issues. Such discussions are often confrontational, making a mockery of the responsibility the news industry has in disseminating information in an impartial and insightful way. Although outrage is a common discourse feature of televised political shows, little is known about what this language looks like and how it is used to argue ideological positions. To this end, drawing from critical discourse analysis, this study investigates the multidimensional and multifunctional aspects of mocking, which is a type of outrage discourse. The findings show that mocking is an important argumentative tool for panel members, which occurs in the turn following an opposing viewpoint and is used to carry out a range of actions, including expressing disagreement, establishing a competing ideological position, and refuting an idea based on an opponent’s political identity, to name a few. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how mocking and mock news feed into partisan ideologies, creating both tribalism and skepticism within society.