HLRC - Higher Learning Research Communications (E-Journal)
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Economic competition, sustainability, and survival endurance: The extinction of the dodo, the Easter Island case, and the tragedy of the commons effect
Get PDFA fast developing industry worldwide, tourism demands a monumental extent of resources, and at times devastates and condemns the very own environments that are fundamental to the economic survival of organizations and the sustainability of travel destinations. The purpose of the study is to link three established scientific themes on survival and sustainability to empirical results in the field of economic decision and behavior. The discussion of this link may also represent the originality value of the paper. Departing from the results of a series of decision games obtained under a quasi-experimental design, behavioral patterns were analyzed and extrapolated to explore the terminal effects of competition trends on the survival and economic viability of organizations and travel destinations in restricted environments. The findings show that the identified competition tendency neutralized an important share of the economic potential offered by the decision game, with significant negative effects on the economic efficiency. If persistent, the competition tendency is expected to produce long term effects on the sustainability and economic survival of organizations and travel destinations in restricted environments.DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v2i4.8
Can students' concept of learning influence their learning outcomes?
Get PDFThis paper aims to readdress the lack of empirical data concerning university learning and in particular the dynamics students’ conceptions of learning may have on students’ learning outcomes. This paper is written at a time when the EU commission for Higher Education (HE) through the Bologna Process declaration has put into action, since 1999, a series of reforms needed to make European Higher Education compatible, efficient and competitive for students and academics alike. One of the reforms was the development of learning outcomes in the form of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). As part of the process the European universities require to identify and describe the learning outcomes a student is supposed to achieve, in a particular course. The learning outcomes are, now, expected to be clearly specified in all the university course syllabuses. The main argument stated within this paper is that the design of effective learning outcomes, such as the ECTS, especially for curriculum development, cannot be successfully achieved in the absence of the students’ own experience of how they conceive learning to be, including the methods (approaches) they use for learning. Thus, the first aim of this investigation is to analyse the students’ conceptions of learning and the second aim is to examine, through prior research evidence, the effects these conceptions may have on learning approaches and specifically on learning outcomes. Drawing on a 2007 study of Cypriot students’ conceptions of learning, this paper discusses the possibility of a relation between these issues and outlines the importance of taking them into consideration when exploring learning outcomes, curriculum and syllabus design and the professional development of faculty.DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v2i2.2
Development and assessment of key skills in undergraduate students: An action-research experience
Get PDFEmployers look for professionals able to work in a team, able to approach problems, with the capacity to analyze and resolve problems, under the constant renewal of knowledge and competencies. In this paper, a group of University teachers from different areas of knowledge presents an experience to introduce key employability skills in the higher education students’ curricula. This work has been developed under the action research scope. The first goal was to make an analysis of terms referred to key skills, generating an integrated denomination for each competency. The elaboration of general templates for key skills is proposed here as a useful tool that provides information about development, assessment and marking of each skill. Different types of rubrics and assessment templates, used during this experience, are presented.DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v2i1.3
Strategic implications of corporate social responsibility in hotel industry: A comparative research between NH Hotels and Meliá Hotels International
Get PDFThe hospitality industry serves millions of people globally and is a multibillion-dollar industry with a significant growth expectation in the upcoming years. The Spanish tourism industry is one of the most developed sectors of the nation, being one of the main contributors to the country’s GDP. On a world wide scale, and specifically in the European context, there is a rising awareness for firms’ actions to be responsible towards the environment and the community in which they operate. Based on “triple bottom line” guidelines, companies’ mission in such a context is achieving competitive advantage by means of a business model considering three key aspects: people, profit, and planet. Considering the hospitality industry’s characteristics, it becomes essential to fulfill these new requirements to achieve sustainable competitive advantages. This exploratory study will outline which are the best practices of two main Spanish hotel corporations: NH Hotels and Meliá Hotels International. By pointing out actions undertaken by the most important firms of the sector, they can serve as an example and be replicated by other firms, thus increasing sustainability practices, improving understanding of triple bottom line, minimizing negative social as well as environmental footprint, and enhancing positive firms’ impacts in their operating contexts.DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v2i4.8
Notes on the emerging accreditation regimes in Australia and New Zealand
Get PDFIn recent years, new higher education regulatory regimes have emerged in both New Zealand and Australia. In Australia, the new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) employs a risk management approach while New Zealand Quality Agency (NZQA) has adopted an evaluative approach. In practice, these varying approaches create real differences in the ways in which the regulatory regimes are applied. This paper considers one discreet but critical element of these new regulatory regimes, academic staff qualifications, as an example of the difference between the risk management and evaluative regulatory approaches. Unsurprisingly, the application of academic staff qualifications requirements is particularly an issue whenever a higher education provider seeks to deliver a new course of study. In order to do so, a higher education provider must seek regulatory approval, in both countries this is known as accreditation. DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v2i3.7
Toward a transnational framework: Aligning internal and external quality assurance processes
Get PDFThis article explores the tensions between internal and external quality assurance processes, making a case for the preeminence of internal actions to ensure the capacity of institutions to respond quickly and effectively to the rapidly evolving global conditions affecting all of higher education. As the forms and means of formal and informal learning evolve more rapidly than quality assurance and accrediting bodies can adapt, institutions themselves will have to take the steps necessary to ensure that students are actually learning at levels represented by a new array of credentials and to offer credible evidence to employers and others that the credentials are indeed accurate reflections of competence. There is a place for quality assurance bodies, but these agencies will find it in their best interest to operate in the areas where they can offer the greatest societal value by articulating the standards that define integrity and quality. Both institutions and quality assurance bodies alike must join forces to recognize that expectations for what actually constitutes quality, competence, and integrity transcend national borders, cultural differences, the ages, occupations or locations of learners, and outmoded notions of prestige. It is a new era where bold ideas and strong ideals can reshape our understanding of what it means to learn throughout life at demonstrable levels of quality and competence.DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v3i1.9
Editorial
Get PDFIn this second issue of the Higher Learning Research Communications (HLRC) journal we are pleased to continue in our commitment to innovation in teaching and learning. Thought leadership and research of scholars from Spain, Chile, and the United States on such topics as ranking systems, the web and social media to promote powerful learning communal opportunities, action research project on key skill development, and reflections on the value of liberal education contribute to such discourse.Despite the often controversial nature of higher education institutional classifications or rankings, such systems continue to emerge globally.Aguillo examines a multiplicity of ranking systems with a particular focus on Web Ranking with both its concomitant challenges and opportunities in its application.Further demonstrating the power of web and social media as forces for enhancing higher education, Coronel and Mathai describe the global participation of students and faculty in localized and virtual contexts in the World Business Forum produced by HSM Global. Over 50,000 viewers across 19 countries participated in the event which was broadcast in English and Spanish.In accord with the Bologna declaration, academic programme objectives and outcomes need to include professional skills expectations. In the third article in this issue, Fernández-Santander, García-García, Sáez-Pizarro and Terrón-López offer an action research project to determine, develop, and assess key employability skills. The approach provides not only a glossary of competency terms and assessment rubrics; it also serves as a potential model for other institutions to follow that is inclusive of key stakeholder input.Shifting focus from the importance of professional skills, Eastwood offers a cogent argument on the value that components of a liberal or general education bring to how students navigate and understand the world.Consistent with the spirit and intent of HLRC, individually and collectively the work of these authors gives us reason to reflect, to challenge commonly held paradigms, and even to act to create and sustain meaningful learning environments for students
The European Higher Education Area: An interesting opportunity to contribute to global advancement
No full textUniversidad Europea de Madrid, along with other universities and the support of the Agency for Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Prospects for the Community of Madrid (ACAP– Agencia de Calidad, Acreditación y Prospectiva de las Universidades de Madrid), developed a tool to measure progress in the construction of the European Higher Education Area. In addition to being able to determine the level of adoption of the Bologna principles, it became an essential tool for the improvement of quality throughout the University.-------El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior: Una interesante oportunidad de contribución al progreso globalResumenLa Universidad Europea de Madrid, junto con algunas otras universidades y el apoyo de la Agencia de Calidad, Acreditación y Prospectiva de la Comunidad de Madrid (ACAP), desarrolló una herramienta de medición de los avances en materia de construcción del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, que más allá de permitir determinar el nivel de adopción de los principios de Bolonia constituyó una herramienta esencial en la mejora de la calidad de la Universidad.DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v2i3.77 PDF document contains both the original in Spanish and an English translation
Conceptual framework for mentoring doctoral students
Get PDFIn the research and professional literature, there are at least four lines of inquiry around mentoring: perceptions of successful mentoring in general, mentoring of doctoral dissertations in particular, mentoring specific to the online environment, and relative importance of mentoring behaviors. In each case, particular qualities that make for successful mentoring are identified and described but not coalesced into a conceptual model of mentoring. In examining this literature, the authors identified 94 mentor behaviors and characteristics of effective mentors, which were reduced for redundancies to 55. These were clustered into a conceptual model of mentoring with two domains, academic and psychosocial with four attributes in the academic domain (competence, availability, induction, and challenge) and three in the psychosocial domain (personal qualities, communication, and emotional support). The two domains and seven attributes of this model are described and discussed, outlining some of the implications of this model for further research.DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v2i2.6
Editorial
Get PDFAcademic research represents a milestone in the practice of quality higher education. Academics that consistently conduct and publish research in specialized disciplines develop leadership in their particular areas and nurture with new knowledge disciplines and professions. Certainly they strengthen the critical atmosphere in which students study and contribute to the reputation of the institutions in which they teach, and by segue attracting highly qualified students and new promising faculty into their programs. Ground-breaking knowledge is often developed at graduate degree programs, that is, after all, how the practice of academia grows its expertise. Research is a tool for both academia and industry, providing both the framework and opportunity to explore and discover new knowledge and ideas, and strengthening higher education by encouraging the continued debate and challenge of peer-to-peer collaboration. The special issue celebrates quality of research as a basis of higher education. Since Higher Learning Research Communications focuses on policy and practice in higher education, we have dedicated this special issue to the practice of paramount research in specialized fields of study. This issue is published as a demonstration of how academicians and practitioners can work as peers to provide a global scope. As a festschrift of Glion Institute of Higher Education’s 50th anniversary, we dedicate this special issue to “Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure in a Globalized World” Overlooking the magnificent Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Glion is one of the world’s leading schools of international hospitality education. Ranked among the top hospitality management schools in the world for an international career, and celebrated by the global hospitality industry, Glion has been at the top of higher education providers in this realm by recognizing early on that neither job experience nor books alone can grant a student a high-quality education. As this fast-paced, industrialized world increasingly requires schools to train their students with not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical, measurable, and technical skills, Glion has recognized this trend and integrated key components in its curriculum to confront the challenges and seize that opportunities that the school and its students will face. Being a hospitality higher education institution, Glion has a strong business curriculum delivered by expert faculty members and is committed to continuously adapting its programs to meet the needs of the modern capitalist world. As with many other fields, market trends, governmental policies, eco-consciousness and innovative business practices have impacted the tourism industry. Guest Editors Ruth Rios-Morales and Ian Jenkins, both from Glion, were asked to put together a Journal Issue that represents the state-of-the-art research in the discipline. We hope you will enjoy this special edition – and whether you are involved in the hospitality and tourism industry or not, will recognize the quality of research that nurtures in a relevant manner higher education programmers in this field. The Editor