The Impact of University Curricula on Financial Education of Millennials

The objective of this research is to analyze the financial literacy knowledge of the Millennial generation. The research method is qualitative-quantitative of correlational type since it consists of identifying the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The general hypothesis is that limited financial education in curricula affects the financial education of the Millennials. Through the information gathered and the surveys applied, it is evident that Millennials have no financial knowledge and university curricula have limited information on financial education.

With Dreams in Our Hands: An African Feminist Framing of a Knowledge-Making Project with Former ESP Students

This article introduces a research project that works with former Extended Studies Programme students to make knowledge that emerges through online, multimodal collaborations. Knowledge-making is not politically neutral, and the project and article are responding in part to the calls of the 2015/2016 South African student protesters to decolonise and transform university curricula. The project draws on African feminist ideas, emphasising the intersectional oppressions of colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy, which continue to influence theoretical choices in the knowledge hierarchies of South African and African universities. The “race”, class and gender inequalities that drive success or failure at university and in society become some of the topics addressed in the project, where former students as co-researchers collaborate to devise the topics, responses, and kinds of dissemination. Ntseane’s overlapping principles of a collective worldview, spirituality, a shared orientation to knowledge, and communal knowledge-making are motifs that influence how the project is imagined and run. My positionality as lead researcher and former lecturer of the co-researchers is navigated using African feminist guidance, which also informs the ethical principles of the project.

Exploring disruptions of the coloniality of knowledge, power and being to enable agency as disciplinary activists for curriculum change

The #RhodesMustFall (RMF) movement of 2015 and 2016 challenged universities across the nation to interrogate how the curriculum serves as an alienating and marginalising device that stymies student success. Consequently, the HE sector has been challenged to respond to student calls for decolonisation by reviewing existing university curricula which promote forms of knowledge production that do not reflect an African worldview or a global South context. Academics have refocused their attention on exploring what an alternative, decolonial curriculum would entail. This paper reports on a professional development course, designed to support academics to ‘decolonise their curricula’, and explores what it meant to facilitate and participate in a course that disrupted who they were as disciplinary experts in the university. Drawing on decolonial scholarship, the authors use auto-ethnography to engage with two disciplines, namely midwifery and journalism, to see how the metaphors of (de)coloniality surfaced in these disciplines and how they were mediated through a decolonial approach to course re-design and re-imagination.

Research Capacity for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases and Their Risk Factors in Nepal: Findings of a Needs Assessment Study

BackgroundDespite a high burden, there is limited training available in non-communicable disease research in Nepal. In order to understand research capacity gap in non-communicable diseases in the country, we conducted a needs assessment. We aimed to assess existing research training capacity in academic health institutions of Nepal for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, identify gaps in research training in these institutions, and explore the feasibility of developing research training program in Nepal targeting non-communicable diseases and their risk factors. MethodsWe did qualitative and quantitative research and reviewed academic institution curricula review and scientific literature. We conducted 14 Focus Group Discussions with bachelor and Masters level students of public health and community medicine; 25 In-depth Interviews with department heads and faculties, and government stakeholders. We surveyed medical and public health students on their research knowledge and skills development. Further, we reviewed university curricula of bachelors in medicine and public health Masters in community medicine and public health. We also reviewed non-communicable disease related scientific articles authored by Nepali researchers. ResultsWe found that the research methodology component was addressed differently across academic programs. One-third (33.7%) of students expressed lack of skills for analysis and interpretation of data. They felt that there is a wide scope and career-interest in non-communicable diseases research in Nepal. However, specific objectives in the curriculum and practical aspects regarding non-communicable diseases were lacking. Most of the non-communicable diseases research in Nepal are prevalence studies. Most of the studies did not have any financial support. Lack of funding, conflicting priorities with curative services, and inadequate training for advanced research tools were reported as major barriers. Likewise, availability of trained human resources and international funding for non-communicable diseases research were perceived facilitators.ConclusionsNepal must strengthen the whole spectrum of research capacity: epidemiological skills, research management, and fund generation. University curricula should match up with the disease burden and must emphasize on applied practical research projects. Generation of a critical mass of non-communicable disease researchers must go together with improved funding from the government, non-governmental organizations, and external funding organizations.

Students’ Perception about Sustainability in the Engineering School of Bilbao (University of the Basque Country): Insertion Level and Importance

Almost three decades have passed since the Rio declaration, and after numerous initiatives developed to include sustainability in higher education, with the support of Education for Sustainable Development, it is worth wondering at what point is the process of inserting sustainability in university degrees. To clarify this question, engineering students were inquired, at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), about their perception of the insertion-level of sustainability and the importance they give to it (in environmental, social, and economic dimensions). The novelty of this study lies in the use of a new questionnaire, based on the students’ activity. The instrument was designed ad hoc and was previously validated for this study. The results indicate a low insertion level of sustainability in its three dimensions in three engineering degrees analysed. Nevertheless, the research also shows that the students give great importance to Sustainable Development (SD), either in academic, personal, or professional spheres. The low insertion level of SD and the high interest of students should be considered by the academic institution as an opportunity to deep in its holistic approach to promote the integration of SD in university curricula, not only in engineering degrees.

Science and Pseudoscience

In the nineteenth century, political, social, and industrial revolutions shattered the class ceiling of Renaissance and early modern numismatics. Wealthy enthusiasts and dedicated academics from outside European aristocracy gained greater access to collectible coins and soon organized themselves into clubs and learned societies. They sponsored research journals, adopted new technologies such as photography, introduced new investigative methods such as the die study, and established numismatics as a scientific discipline with a foothold in university curricula. Yet, even as numismatics became more and more scientific in its aims and methods, old notions endured about coins and physiognomy. The rise of phrenology as a pseudoscience infiltrated the field and still undermines the historical value of some numismatic research. Another unfortunate development has been the estrangement of numismatics and archaeology because the latter now repudiates its antiquarian origins and generally denounces coin collecting as a form of looting.

Integration of Sustainability in Engineering and Architectural Studies in Spanish Universities

The recommendations of the UN and other international bodies on the need to transform university curricula to incorporate sustainability values, content and competencies have met with a warm reception from universities all over the world. However, the actual state of the integration of sustainability in higher education is, in general, somewhat more modest than one would expect. This article proposes a method of measuring the extent of sustainability-oriented curricular change in the Spanish University as a whole and applies it to the degrees in engineering and architecture. The method entails a documentary analysis of the teaching guides related to 1050 subjects. The results obtained do not invite optimism: curricular transformation is slow and insufficient and its results are still incomplete.

Obstáculos a la sostenibilización curricular en la universidad española

A growing concern for sustainability has extended to the higher education sector resulting in institutional statements, specific actions with the goal of reducing the environmental impact, or communication policies aimed at lecturers and students. However, the slow pace by which the institutions operating in this sector are adapting their curricula is frustrating, even more so, when considering the hope towards education and its ability for sensitizing and educating the future leaders of our society. The obstacles hindering the introduction of sustainability in the university curricula have thus become a matter of research. This article presents an investigation on: a) obstacles to curricular sustainability perceived by teachers and b) relationship between teacher training and awareness (attitudes and self-perception of competence for sustainability).