Study Preparation of Refugees in Germany: How Teachers’ Evaluative Practices Shape Educational Trajectories

Recent research shows that a remarkable share of refugees who have arrived in Germany over the past few years is highly qualified and has strong educational and academic aspirations. Preparatory colleges (Studienkollegs) and language courses of higher education institutions are the two main organisations providing obligatory study preparation for non‐EU international study applicants in Germany, including an increasing number of refugees. So far, research on conditions for refugees’ successful transitions into and through study preparation, and eventually into higher education, is scarce. The article fills a research gap on the organisational level by considering the established norms and rules of study preparation organisations and the key role of teachers in shaping successful pathways into higher education. Based on central concepts deriving from the sociology of valuation and evaluation, categorisation, and evaluative repertoires, the article aims to illustrate the organisational norms and rules in play shaping teachers’ experiences and perceptions of their students’ ability to study. The qualitative analysis of seven expert interviews shows how teachers differentiate between students with and without a refugee background in terms of performance and reveals opportunities and constraints to take refugees’ resources and needs in study preparation programmes into account.

Australian postgraduate student experiences and anticipated employability: A national study from the students’ perspective

Postgraduate students are navigating a rapidly evolving landscape for their future careers. In this context, higher education providers are responsible for supporting and monitoring postgraduate (masters and doctoral) students’ development for both education and employability contexts. This empirical research provides a rich analysis of feedback breakfasts, focus groups and interviews with 319 postgraduate student participants from 26 universities. Emergent themes highlight widespread lack of confidence in university-mediated student experiences, particularly in the context of employability, and pessimism regarding career outcomes. Students expressed a view that higher education providers need to direct further attention and relevant supports toward postgraduate education. Future career despondency was particularly prevalent among students with academic aspirations. The findings are discussed using the theoretical framework of eudemonia and flourishing as an approach to revitalising and improving both the process and outcomes of postgraduate education. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for universities to improve the postgraduate student experience in the context of employability.

“I Am Strong. Mentally Strong!”: Psychosocial Strengths of International Graduate Students of Color

Positioned at a unique intersection of managing academic pressures and embodying racial and ethnic minority identity status, international graduate students of color (IGSCs) are frequent targets of multiple stressors. Unfortunately, extant counseling literature offers counselors little information on the psychosocial strengths IGSCs employ (e.g., strong familial bond, friendships) to cope with such stressors. To address this gap, interviews with eight IGSC participants were conducted and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis and the lens of the intersectionality framework. Five psychosocial strengths were identified—familial support, social connections, academic aspirations and persistence, personal growth and resourcefulness, and resistance and critical consciousness. Recommendations for employing an asset-based approach in counseling and counselor education are offered.

Teacher: But Not Student Rating of the Pedagogic and Social Climate in School Predicts Adolescents’ Academic Aspirations

Background High academic aspirations relate to higher achievement and better mental health, but less is known about how these aspirations are formed in relation to the educational context. Objective This study aims to investigate the relationship between overall school climate, with particular concern for the dimensions of school level expectations and support as rated by both teachers and students and adolescent academic aspirations. Methods Multilevel logistic models for repeated measures were used in order to investigate the relationship between measures of school climate and adolescents’ academic aspirations. Three annual waves of questionnaire data were used to obtain aggregated teacher- and student-rating of school climate, including specific dimensions of teacher expectations and support. Results Positive teacher-rated overall school climate was associated with an increased odds of adolescents aiming at a university education rather than at a lower one (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.14–1.63 for the intermediate tertile; OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.14–1.70 for the highest tertile). A similar trend was found for the teacher-rated measures of expectations and student focus, but not for any of the student-rated school climate measures. Conclusion A positive school climate rated by teachers appears to predict adolescents’ university aspirations. Future research should clarify which aspects of the school climate may influence adolescent academic aspirations from the students’ perspective.

Gendered Narratives and Linguistic Force-Dynamics: Influencing Career Paths of Women

This paper examines the career choice narratives and their possible impact on female adolescents’ career constructs and academic aspirations in the Kasur district. The study presumes that narratives, integrated with socio-economic factors have the potential to influence career trajectories of female youth. Considering language structure as central to the system of interaction (Giddens, 1986), it takes Cognitive linguistic approach to CDA (Hart, 2014) and analyses how linguistic force-interactive patterns can influence female students’ career self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations and goals. The results reveal that social actors, with their linguistic choices, become a source of enablement or dissuasion for females’ career path. The research allowed young women to voice their feelings and remove barriers to better understanding their academic/professional competence; the findings are helpful to contextualize career guiding discourse

Caribbean Immigrant Youths’ Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement: The Role of Academic Beliefs

Ethnic identity (EI) can facilitate racially and ethnically marginalized youths’ academic achievement but the mediating process by which it exerts its influence is unclear. This study examines how EI is associated with academic achievement through academic beliefs in a sample of Caribbean first and second generation immigrant adolescents whose identities are connected to cultural groups outside of the U.S. Youth ( N = 128; 12–18 years old, M = 16.32, SD = 1.81; 69.3% second generation; 58.6% Black) reported on their EI affirmation and belonging and EI achievement, academic self-efficacy, academic aspirations, and grades. Results of our serial mediation model showed that stronger EI achievement was associated with higher academic self-efficacy and in turn higher academic aspirations, and higher grades. These findings offer potential targets (i.e., academic self-beliefs) for supporting the academic success of Black and Hispanic Caribbean immigrant students and have implications for their boosting educational outcomes.

The Patronage Dilemma: Allison Davis's Odyssey from Fellow to Faculty

This article analyzes the role of the Julius Rosenwald Fund in shaping the career of W. Allison Davis, a distinguished anthropologist who became the first African American appointed to the faculty of a mostly white university. From 1928 to 1948, the Rosenwald Fund ran an expansive fellowship program for African American intellectuals, which, despite its significance, remains largely unexamined in the scholarly literature. Davis tied his academic aspirations to Rosenwald Fund support, including for his early research and the terms of his faculty appointment. His experiences illustrate the dynamics inclusion and exclusion of African Americans in the academy; paternalistic promotion and strategic denial functioned as two sides of the same coin. Spotlighting Davis's negotiations, this article establishes how presumptions of racial inferiority guided Rosenwald patronage and demonstrates the extent to which the principles of meritocracy and expertise remained secondary concerns for those interested in cultivating African American intellectuals.

Mitigasi Bencana Dalam Peningkatan Kewaspadaan Terhadap Ancaman Gempa Bumi Di Universitas Andalas

This study aims to describe and analyze how the implementation and process of earthquake disaster mitigation at Universitas Andalas. This research was motivated by the high risk of earthquake disasters at Universitas Andalas and the still low education and understanding of students and academic aspirations of disaster mitigation. So it is necessary to optimize mitigation activities in the Universitas Andalas campus area. This is in accordance with Law Number 24 of 2007 concerning Disaster Management and the Tridarma of Higher Education which has a strategic role in disaster management, especially in relation to learning, research and community service. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative, data collection techniques using interviews and documentation. To test the authenticity of the data obtained in the field, researchers used source triangulation techniques. The selection of informants was done by purposive sampling. As for the results of this study, in general, disaster mitigation activities in increasing awareness of the threat of an earthquake in Universitas Andalas have not run optimally. This is evidenced by the implementation of several activities that failed to achieve the target in the form of increased disaster alertness and increased understanding of students and academics on disaster mitigation, the absence of regulations containing the implementation of disaster mitigation activities at Universitas Andalas. Lack of involvement of external organizations in implementing disaster mitigation activities, as well as limited human resources and budget in implementing disaster mitigation activities. The results showed that the alternative policy was chosen based on the criteria for selecting the alternative policy: 1) Technical feasibility, it was found that the purpose of establishing KEK was as a forum for ecraf’s actors. 2) Economic and financial, KEK doesn’t receive any special funds and no goals have been achieved. 3) Political viability, this policy doesn’t contradicting with the applicable regulations. 4) Administrative Operability policy is realistic, but the support from the nine offices has not been maximal. 5) The criteria chosen are based on the success of the other regions and then it is adopted. It is the main criteria in the process of selecting and determining KEK as an alternative policy for the development of creative economy potentian in Banyumas Regency