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Developing quality performance through reform of Bangladeshi education administration and governance
No full textAbstract
Since independence, Bangladesh has made a number of attempts to increase its literacy rate including formation of four educational commissions. Following the declaration of the World Conference on Education for All in 1990, Bangladesh undertook a programme of structural and administrative reforms in the education sector, including the National Plan of Action (NPA-1) for the period 1990-2000, and its successor NPA-II, which had as their objective the goal of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. Under these plans, considerable progress has been achieved. However, the growing gap between the rich and poor, between the haves and the have-nots, has resulted in serious social and economic problems in Bangladesh. A review of these plans revealed that the pace of progress was limited. To achieve the planned goals, this study proposes to initiate a sound educational reform and governance plan which included the notion of a National Development Service (NDS) that could provide a robust platform for achieving the goals. In light of the heterogeneous nature of the population and the extreme diversity present in the education system, it is hoped that the proposed reforms will be able to have the desired effect of building a socially, culturally and economically aware future generation of Bangladeshi people
Public versus private delivery of higher education
No full textAbstract
In recent years there has been a strong growth in the provision of higher education via the private sector around the world. This phenomenon brings into question the status of public universities, in that it raises the question of whether governments would be able to provide higher education more effectively through the funding of private sector expansion. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the issue of whether there is an economic justification for first of all government support of higher education, and secondly government ownership of universities. The economic justification for public ownership (quite separately from public funding) seems to rest on whether public universities are able to create a form of non-contractible quality that governments and consumers are unable to contract or regulate. The real issue, therefore, is one of whether governments can contract private institutions to deliver the quality that they are publicly funded to provide.
Key words: Higher Education, Public Sector, Private institutions, Contract, Regulation
Higher education within and beyond frontiers: some issues to ponder
No full textAbstract This article addresses some issues of contemporary relevance in the area of higher or tertiary education, including some of its international ramifications. An analysis of some general aspects of education at different levels is followed by an elaboration of the notion of higher education as private investment and a source of human capital formation. This sheds useful light on the observed increase in tertiary enrolment, worldwide, in recent decades. Various international dimensions of higher education are explored next, and the experience of New Zealand as a higher education destination of choice of many international students is examined in this context. Some general concluding observations complete the discourse
Cooperative learning in an economics classroom - does it have an effect on students' attitude?
No full textAbstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative learning on students' attitudes in an Economics classroom in an institution of higher learning in Malaysia. In this quasi-experimental design, two diploma-level classes of 61 students taking the Economics course from the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, were compared. One class was given the treatment approach (the cooperative learning method), while the other class was taught using the traditional approach (the lecture method). A set of questionnaires was administered to the experimental group members to assess their attitude towards the cooperative learning approach. Another set of questionnaires was given to both groups (experimental and control) in order to compare their attitudes towards the subject. Results indicated that students in the cooperative learning class had a more positive attitude towards the subject compared to those following the traditional method. Results also showed that all students in the cooperative learning class revealed favourable responses towards the cooperative learning approach.
Key words: Cooperative Learning, International Students, Economic
Shared understanding of students’ approach to learning in transnational programs
No full textIn transnational universities, curriculum designers do not always teach the students who enroll in their courses and may not have a shared cultural background with either the students or the teachers who do teach these students. Yet shared knowledge and understanding among teachers, designers and students is important for quality learning to take place. This is particularly true in preparatory programs where the students may need to learn about the new culture of the university and the wider culture in which it is immersed. One area of potential misunderstanding is with student’s approach to learning. This paper compares the learning approaches of Hong Kong students using Biggs Student Process Questionnaire, with the teachers’ and curriculum designers’ perceptions of these students’ learning approaches. Differences were found which suggests more dialogue is needed between stakeholders in order to know transnational students and how they approach learning
STUDENTS’ CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION FOR IMPROVED LEARNING IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS COURSE: An Action Research Report
No full textThe University of the South Pacific (USP) has implemented a skill-development program designed to improve the academic performance of students. This paper looks specifically at ways of improving interactive teaching and learning in the English Language Skills (ELS) class, EL001, a skills-based course requiring active involvement of students in learning and practice. This interactivity is the dominant teaching method, and students are required to undergo a number of assessments, including written tests, assignments, discussions and participation. To compare and evaluate ways of improving interaction in the ELS classes, this research focuses on the students’ behavior in paired discussions. Their responses to questions posed by the instructors during the class discussions are evaluated. Three specific methods are adopted to determine the outcomes: the ‘one book referral strategy’, the ‘instructor monitor strategy’ and the ‘own book strategy’. The participants are 33 existing students from the Arts and Science Faculties at USP who are studying the EL001 English Language Skills course. Implementation of ‘one book referral strategy’ and the ‘instructor monitor strategy’ have proven to be most effective in an interactive learning
environment
Chinese Student and the higher educaiton market in Australia and New Zealand
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to observe the nature of the relationship between the Australian and New Zealand higher education systems on the one hand and the Chinese student market on the other. There is a significant difference in the nature of the flows of Chinese and other international students to Australia and New Zealand, which is largely due to differences in visa regulations and the relative attractiveness of Australian and New Zealand universities. New Zealand’s over dependence on the Chinese market is one that leaves the industry vulnerable in the near future
The Effect of Students’ Cultural Values on their StudentDriven Learning Preference
No full textThis study examined the relationship between business students’ cultural orientation and Student-Driven learning styles of 364 higher education business students from
Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. Two previously existing inventories were used: Robertson and Hoffman’s (2000) Cultural Values Scale, derived from the work of
Hofstede (1980; 1991; 1998), and Honey and Mumford’s (1992) Learning Style Questionnaire. One of the major findings of this study was that Student-Driven learning
is characterised by students having high Masculinity, Confucian and Uncertainty Avoidance value ratings
Coming to Terms with Language Learner Strategies: What do Strategy Experts think about the Terminology and where would they Direct their Research?
No full textThis paper reports on the results of a survey questionnaire constructed and circulated among a group of second-language learner strategy experts to determine how they
conceptualize and use the terminology in strategy research and practice. This paper provides highlights from the survey, as well as offering suggestions for conducting
strategy instruction and indicating some directions for future learner strategy research which emerged from the survey questionnaire
Learning Strategies: Prototypical Core and Dimensions of Variation
No full textThis paper explores the concept of learning strategies through a prototype perspective. It is argued that “learning strategy” is not a clearly definable concept, because strategies differ from each other in terms of “family resemblance” or “graded degrees of membership”. The prototypical core of a strategy is a dynamic process with problemsolving as its central aim. It involves selective attention, analysis of task, choice of decisions, execution of plan, monitoring of progress and/or modification of plan, and evaluation of result. A strategy varies in terms of prototypicality along the following
dimensions: 1) intentionality, 2) self-initiation, 3) metacognitive regulation, 4) sequentiality of activities, 5) chunking of activities, and 6) automaticity in strategy
execution. In addition, a “learner-task-context-strategy” framework is presented to provide the “learning” dimensions of learning strategies. It is hoped that the perspectives presented in this article will open up a new agenda on language learning strategy research