How academic reforms change the organizational design of universities

The academic landscape is changing in the course of New Public Management (NPM). More duties are assigned to universities and as a result transferred to their faculties. Management knowledge is needed for solving the problem of higher requirements for deans in terms of distribution of resources, responsibility for personal and finances. Until now, deans do not necessarily have this knowledge. One crucial approach for this problem is professionalization, which can take shape in various forms, e. g. in establishing positions for a new occupational group of academia professionals. To reach the organization’s objective in an effective and efficient way, there is no best solution corresponding to the contingency approach, it rather depends on the framework requirements. The results of an empiric inquiry of framework requirements and deanery attributes on four German universities show that the infrastructures of the faculties as decentral units depend less on the size of the faculty, but very strong on university’s organizational setting. This becomes apparent by the fact that at an elite university with strong research activities and with the profile of an entrepreneurial university, but with small framework requirements in the faculties has established many positions of academia professionals. Smaller universities, but also big multi-discipline universities with scientific excellence don’t reach as many academia professionals in spite of having big framework requirements.

The Bologna process: a study about teachers' perception of their new role and its consequences

In the last twenty-five years many changes have taken place in the Spanish University system and, as a consequence, the university lecturer’s role has evolved and a new teaching style prevails. The present paper focuses on University teachers of Economics and Business. It explores the teachers’ perception about the new methodologies that they have implemented, the extent to which the process of change has modified their way of working and, finally, the benefits and drawbacks encountered. Moreover, we examine whether differences of opinion arise depending on the distinct personal and professional characteristics of each teacher. The results reveal that most of the methodological changes undergone by the teachers stem more from the new profile of their students than by regulatory obligations. There is a unanimous opinion that the time and effort dedicated to teaching is now notably greater and that it is necessary to develop a rigorous system of teaching evaluation. In addition, two clear aspects can be observed: on the one hand, staff with a wider experience has carried out more changes and uses new technologies to a greater extent, and, on the other hand, the use and promotion of English in class is still a crucial issue.

Education for Sustainable Development: a Strategic Tool for Quality Improvement of Higher Education

It has been long known that quality assurance (QA) is a system to develop quality standards in Thailand. However, it is not easy to implement the concept throughout a whole organization, for example, to include in a university, faculty members, program specifications, management team, and so on. This paper is to explain a case of strategic management of quality assurance using education for sustainable development (ESD) in the university with social enterprise concept. An example of the university with the mission statement of “to serve society” can drawn more attention using ESD concept to faculty in stead of QA regulation concept. The conceptual framework of the implementation was shown how QA can be developed in curriculum embedding with an ESD concept.

Organization of the Ph-doctoral studies on the chemical specialties

Problem of globalization of the educational process and integration into the international educational space is one of the most urgent problems for the Kazakh universities. In this regard, generalization of experience in training of PhD students is of particular interest, since training of PhD students is different in different countries. The example of the organization of educational process and scientific research in the PhD studies of chemical specialties at Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology Al-Farabi Kazakh National University shows the peculiarities of the organization and defense of dissertations in Kazakhstan universities. It is shown that the training of specialists - doctoral students at Kazakhstan universities is carried out on the basis of theoretical and practical tests. At the same time currently the state of theoretical training and practical research is 1:1,5 however there is a tendency of decrease of the theoretical training. Conditions for preparation and defense of PhD-dissertations are described. The main requirements for the defense are marked: fulfillment of theoretical training and practical research in amount of 75 credits, the publication of results in journals with non-zero impact factor and approbation of the results in international scientific conferences.

ABET Accreditation: An Engineering Experience from Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredits college and university programs in engineering under the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC). The process follows Engineering Criteria (EC) 2000, which focuses on outcomes (what is learned) rather than what is taught. This paper presents an overview of the processes developed by the civil engineering (CE) program at Sultan Qaboos University to satisfy ABET Criteria 2, 3, and 4. The program had a successful accreditation visit in November 2013. Program educational objectives (PEOs) were developed. A review and revision process for PEOs was also developed. ABET student outcomes (SOs) were adopted by the CE program. SOs were broken to outcome elements. Key performance indicators were developed for each outcome element, according to the six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy for cognitive domain. The process used direct indicators from student work as well indirect survey instruments. The program has developed a detailed and systematic approach for assessment of SOs with feedback and follow-up on implementation of actions for continuous improvement. Planning for the next accreditation cycle of SO assessment proved valuable, as the new accreditation committee started executing an already laid out work plan.

Student support to enhance student living and learning at a South African University

Quantitative measures show that the higher education system in South Africa remains inefficient and this reality poses significant challenges to all universities. The Faculty of Humanities at the Tshwane University of Technology has added a Student Support Programme to the existing institutional student support structures. In this article, the author reflects on the experiences of student supporters who were appointe in 2014 and 2015 for the enhancement of students' living and learnining to improve success in the Faculty of Huanities. The findings indicated that this programme has indeed improved the academic performance and personal circumstances of hundreds of students. The under-preparedness of students entering South African higher education institutions was highlighted as a major obstacle in academic performances. The majority of students who are supported by this programme experience intense personal and social challenges that are by and large brought about by and as the result of severe financial needs. The student supprters were adamant in their departing statement that much more had to be done over and beyond the general and existing approach and support structures at the Tshwane University of Technology to support these students.Keywords: Student support; Student living; Student learning; Social challenges

Evaluation on ESQ 165 Training as Spiritual-Engineering-Based Motivation Training in an Attempt to Build the Character of the Members of the Subregional Police of Ciamis

The reform of the Indonesian NationalPolice (Polri) requires the change in the behaviour of its members to be more professional in their service to the public. ESQ 165 Training is chosen as one of the programs in an attempt of character building of the members of the Subregional Police (Polres) of Ciamis. ESQ 165Training is character-building training categorized as a type of motivation training which uses comprehensive and sustainable spiritual engineering.This research aims to evaluate ESQ 165 Training in an attempt to build the character of the members of the Subregional Police of Ciamis. The theory utilized in this research is Kirkpatrick’s Framework which consists of four studied levels, namely reaction level, learning level, behavioural level, and result level. This research uses a quantitative descriptive research method. Data-gathering technique uses questionnaires distributed among 179 members of the Subregional Police of Ciamis who has participated in ESQ 165 Training, observation and interviews. The result of the research shows that 87.9% of the respondents likes the training (reaction level), 92.6% of the respondents understand the material of training (learning level), respondents shows changes in motivation, attitude and behaviour (behaviour level), and the public appreciate the performance of the Subregional Police of Ciamis which has undergone significant changes (result level). Therefore, ESQ 165 Training can be recommended as one of training methods utilized in character building.

Inclusive University Classrooms the importance of faculty training

The presence of students with disabilities in the universities is increasing. Faculty need to be trained in order to attend these students and with the objective to offer and inclusice education. The aim of this communication is to identify, describe and explain the barriers and aids that students with disabilities experience in university classroom. Forty four students with disabilitis participated in the research. A biographical narrative methodology was used. The university-life histories of the students were complied by making use of in-depth interviews, lifelines and photographs. Results indicate the important of faculty training in matters concerning disabilities and new technologies, informing to the faculty of the presence of students with disabilities in their classroom, the existence of a specific service to support the faculty and the important of iimproving a positive attitude toward the disability. These results are dicussed in line with other studies. Recommendations are maded according to inclusive education and offering keys to universities to provide training plans leading to inclusive education and learning.

Video-based focus group for chemistry knowledge construction by secondary preservice teachers

The present work analyzes the relavance of using video for promoting reflection about chemical contents and their learning, in the context of the Spanish Master’s in Secondary Education. The used video clips were edited from the recordings of two cooperative groups of Master’s students who were solving an open-ended problem about chemistry. This problem was stated as follows: «What might happen when two substances are placed into contact with each other?» These clips contained some alternative conceptions in chemistry, together with some theoretical and practical difficulties arisen in the solving process. Later, the video was shown in the framework of a focus group, where a free debate between the participants was stimulated. The transcriptions of this session gave rise to a group of categories of analysis related to different stages of problem resolution, and emotional aspects as well. These results make us conclude that using video is an appropriate way of promoting learning about physical and chemical changes through cognitive conflict. Moreover, the necessity of considering emotional, individual and group aspects in conceptual change is supported.

Normative controversies in the assessment of faculty in Mexican public Universities.

This paper analyzes recent changes in teacher assessment policies in higher education institutions in Mexico. Procedures for faculty assessment in a typical Mexican state University are analyzed with the purpose of generating insights helpful to construct a fair, pertinent and expedite assessment system. We review guidelines to assess teachers, specifically those with the purpose of keeping or firing the teacher even after tenure is achieved. These new regulations are seen as a key policy to improve quality in higher education. However, implications to faculty moral, organization climate and conflict with existing labor laws have not been fully considered. It is argued that excessive federal and local regulations are, in fact, unable to ponder the complexities of academic life. We conclude that instead of more regulations and complicated normative, focus on qualitative peer assessment should be considered as means of effective faculty assessment.