Exploring the Reliability of Research Indicators Reported by Romanian Universities in 2019

"The paper focuses on the aggregate data published by the National Council for Higher Education Financing regarding the research section of the quality indicators reported by Romanian public universities in 2019 and used for the allocation of the performance-based additional funding. The research section includes 4 indicators, which amount to 46% of the additional funding, i.e. to an average of about 10% of the total institutional funding from the public budget. The data are reported by the Romanian universities each odd year since 2015, and for the first time in 2020 national rankings for most indicators and some national averages have been made public. The data is extremely valuable for a diagnosis of the Romanian higher education system and for highlighting the performance of various universities. Therefore, the accuracy of these data is crucial. The authors of this paper acknowledge the efforts of the National Council for Higher Education Financing and of its staff provided by the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation to check the data reported by the universities, but also the limits of the current verification process. The paper uses statistical methods to identify outliers and investigates the rankings for a selection of fields of science, by using three among the four research indicators. Thus, it discusses some of the more blatant reporting anomalies which contradict the pre-existing conceptions regarding the comparative performance of universities. While the statistical findings do not support the suspicions of systematic attempts of over-reporting the research outcomes at university-level, they still outline several persisting errors. These errors highlight the need to strengthen the verification process, which will require additional resources; the authors suggest that enhanced transparency and organised cross-verification among universities can significantly improve the outcome, and help providing a significant set of reliable public data on the research performance of the Romanian universities."

Bidding for Research Funds. Inter-Fields Differences and Predictors of the Evaluation Scores: Insights from a Romanian National Competition for Postdoctoral Grants

This study sought to address an important gap in the existent knowledge about the development of the Romanian research system by looking at a very specific population of young scholars who participated in the national competition for postdoctoral grants (2016) which included over 900 participants. The paper is structured by two main research objectives. Firstly, the analysis if focused on differences between scientific fields by looking at research entities which host young scholars’ grant proposals, gender balance, young scholars’ academic performance measured through a standardized indicator (Google Scholar H index), share of people trained abroad, and information about the evaluation process. Secondly, a linear regression model is built for the relationship between research proposal’s evaluation score and a series of individuals’ characteristics and structural factors associated to entities which host young scholars’ research proposals. An original database derived from individuals’ CVs allows us to test a series of hypothesis and to reveal significant predictors for grant application’s evaluation score. For instance, individuals’ evaluation score is positively influenced by scholars’ higher Google Scholar H Index, short-term and long-term experiences of formal education or training abroad. At the same time, younger participants and women researchers have statistically significant higher scores for their proposals.

Redesigning Teacher Education in the Wake of Covid-19 and Future Emergencies: A Case of Zimbabwe

Globally, the need to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 had rendered the traditional face-to-face educational delivery systems of Higher Education (HE) irrelevant. In light of that, institutions of HE had abruptly introduced online teaching platforms as an alternative, though without auditing the lecturers’ capacities and skills. Informed by the Appreciative Inquiry Model (AIM), this interpretive case study used virtual meetings and WhatsApp discussions to explore the professional limitations of Zimbabwe university lecturers on using the online platforms and their reactions to Teachers Education Programmes in the wake of Covid-19 and future emergencies. 12 lecturers drawn from three purposively selected Zimbabwean universities participated in the case study. Data were generated from questions developed in a way that encouraged the appearance of the Appreciative Inquiry Model stages. Findings suggest that some lecturers in Zimbabwe and possibly in other developing countries are inadequately trained to use online platforms. Institutions of Higher Education are therefore suggested to regularly audit their lecturers’ skills and professionally capacitate them for re-tooling and aligning in order for the skills to match the dictates of future emergencies.

The Dilemma of Unrelenting Workload Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic: An Agenda for University Female Academics

The dynamic changes in the South African higher education environment have seen academics immersed in increasing workloads to keep up with the university mandate. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has raised significant challenges for the higher education community and intensified complications related to workload and in particular for female academics. The understanding of the management of workload is pertinent, and therefore the article examines the components of workload and implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for female academics. A descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach were adopted, and data was collected from 54 female academics in an unidentified university in South Africa. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 and presented using a descriptive and inferential format. Also, the study adopted a systematic review of literature leveraging reputable sources. The findings revealed that (i) time allocation to academic activities of teaching and learning, research, postgraduate supervision, administration matters, community service, and academic citizenship remains a challenge facing universities, and (ii) Covid-19 imposed remote working arrangements resulting in increased workloads, leading to reduced research productivity and inability to achieve work-life balance for the female academics. The results of the study highlight the need for institutional review and policy development on the academic workload management system to ensure work-life balance for the female academics and output maximization for the university, especially during a pandemic.

Impact of Covid-19, Economic, Racial and Political Tensions on Chinese Student Pursuit of Education in US

Chinese international students account for a significant portion of the US higher education system. This impact is amplified by the fact that many of these students are paying higher out-of-state tuition fees, that many universities rely on to meet their pecuniary needs. This past year has seen significant changes in the area of China-US relations which could jeopardize the prior model used by US universities. This article examines four of the current key political issues affecting the China-US relationship and measures the extent Chinese students are influenced by these factors when deciding to pursue higher education in the US. The four factors analyzed are the US Covid-19 situation, the US-China trade war, the social upheaval associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, and the most recent political tensions between the US and China. Key findings indicate that only about half as many students are willing to consider studying in the US and that Covid-19 seems to be the most influential factor in most students’ reasoning.

Career Mentoring in Higher Education: Students’ Perceptions and Experiences

Nowadays, the process of building the career of emerging adults is embedded in the need for meaningful paths, connection, creativity and autonomy. Thus, the support services universities offer for students should incorporate subjective aspects of individual experiences such as targeting relevant goals, building meaningful learning experiences, promoting personal resources of adaptability. One of the most effective mechanism for positively influencing students’ career paths is mentoring, by helping them to successfully face the academic and life challenges and to build meaningful careers. The current study aims to investigate perceptions and experiences of seven undergraduate students, in order to understand the mentoring role in the development of a calling orientation in their career trajectory. Data was collected through one-to-one semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was conducted. The findings revealed a mentoring approach that includes a career construction theory and calling-infused elements has positive effects on self-reflection, self-knowledge, proactive experiences and behaviours that maintain and strengthens the perception of the presence of calling. In other words, the support of a mentor facilitates the activation of personal resources and values the self-directed career oriented towards individualized results in the context of an uncertain and dynamic work environment.

Assessing Situational Awareness of Universities Concerning Student Dropout: A Web-Based Content Analysis of Romanian Universities’ Agenda

Universities have a strong internet presence where they publish large amounts of documents available for analysis. The relevance of these documents has been rarely put to scrutiny in a policy anlysis context. In our paper we use data from Romanian universities to achieve two objectives: 1) to assess the actual presence of the issue of student dropout at the level of universities' agenda in Romania as it is apparent in their web pages; 2) to evaluate the degree to which the agenda of Romanian universities reflects the actual issue of student retention as reflected in factual data. The results show a significant correlation between the presence of the topic in documents and the actual dropout rate, but there are some limitations, though: the correlation is not linear, universities seem to be inertial in their public aknowledgement of the problem, web-scrapping and web based content-analytic procedures still have numerous reliability issues.

Andragogy: A Theory in Practice in Higher Education

Adult learning principles develop through an analysis and synthesis of adult education, andragogy, teaching, and learning in higher education. This research investigates foundational assumptions relevant to the field of adult education with a focus on andragogy in higher education. Characteristics of adult learners and principles of adult learning in higher education bear focus through the lens of andragogy. As such, andragogy as the preferred learning style of adults, andragogy vs. pedagogy, and cognitive learning develop relational significance to adult learners in higher education. As a result, the implications of linking learning styles and reflections of andragogy as a learning style are considered.

Integrating Academic Skills and Employability - Revisiting the Learning Journal

Across the world, universities are more numerous today than at any other time in history, yet at the same time there is unparalleled confusion about their purpose and skepticism about their value. Based on an extensive literature review, a survey of the academic landscape and discussions with academics as well as employers, this reflective piece highlights the importance of academic skills development with regard to students’ success at university, and illustrates the link between academic skills, employability and professional success. The article was prompted by the current discussion around universities’ struggle to provide students with the necessary skills to succeed after graduation. The article argues that the differentiation between academic skills on the one hand and employability skills on the other is no longer relevant or appropriate in the 21st century knowledge economy, and invites universities to enhance their curricula with additional, mandatory skills development modules. It provides an innovative suggestion on how to link academic skills and employability in curriculum development, based on the existing academic literature around the scholarship of teaching and learning, as well as research into employability skills. The importance of academic skills on students’ professional success can never be overstated. The article offers an innovative approach to linking academic skills, employability and professional success. It adds fuel to the discussion around employability from the perspective of industry practitioners. While this paper has been written specifically with undergraduate business degrees in mind, the principles and practices it outlines can also be applied to other academic disciplines.