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Books in Higher education

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    • Academic Voices

      A Conversation on New Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the post-COVID World
      • 1st Edition
      • Upasana Gitanjali Singh + 3 more
      • English
      Academia's Digital Voice: A Conversation on 21st Century Higher Education provides critical information on an area that needs particular attention given the rapid introduction and immersion into digital technologies that took place during the pandemic, including quality assurance and assessment. Sections discuss the rapid changes called into question as student mobility, pedagogical readiness of academics, technological readiness of institutions, student readiness to adopt online learning, the value of higher education, the value of distance learning, and the changing role of administration and faculty were thrust upon institutions. The unprecedented speed of international lockdowns caused by the pandemic necessitated HEIs to make rapid changes in both teaching and assessment approaches. The quality of these and sacrosanctity of the academic voice has long been the central tenet of higher education. While history is replete with challenges to this, the current, rapid shift to online education may represent the greatest threat and opportunity so far.

    • The Rise of Quality Assurance in Asian Higher Education

      • 1st Edition
      • Mahsood Shah + 1 more
      • English
      The Rise of Quality Assurance in Asian Higher Education provides information on the well researched quality assurance frameworks, processes, standards, and internal and external monitoring that have taken place around the globe. However, in Asia, where higher education has witnessed rapid growth, and is also contributing significantly to international education which is benefited by many developed countries, this data has not been readily available. In recent years, governments in Asia have made significant investment with an aim of creating education hubs to ensure that higher education is internationally competitive. This book examines the developments in higher education quality assurance in eleven Asian countries, providing systematic insights into national quality assurance arrangements and also examining the different approaches governments in Asia have implemented based on social and economic contexts.

    • Bridges, Pathways and Transitions

      International Innovations in Widening Participation
      • 1st Edition
      • Mahsood Shah + 1 more
      • English
      Bridges, Pathways and Transitions: International Innovations in Widening Participation shows that widening participation initiatives and policies have had a profound impact on improving access to higher education to historically marginalized groups of students from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. The research presented provides a source of inspiration to students who are navigating disadvantage to succeed in higher education against the odds. There are stories of success in difficult circumstances, revealing the resilience and determination of individuals and collectives to fight for a place in higher education to improve chances for securing social mobility for next generations. The book also reveals that more work and policy interventions are needed to further equalize the playing field between social groups. Governments need to address the entrenched structural inequalities, particularly the effects of poverty, that prevent more academically able disadvantaged students from participating in higher education on the basis of the circumstances of their birth. Across the globe, social reproduction is far more likely than social mobility because of policies and practices that continue to protect the privilege of those in the middle and top of social structures. With the gap between rich and poor widening at a rate previously unseen, we need radical policies to equalize the playing field in fundamental ways.

    • Cathedrals of Learning

      Great and Ancient Universities of Western Europe
      • 1st Edition
      • Blaise Cronin
      • English
      Cathedrals of Learning: Great and Ancient Universities of Western Europe provides a conspectus of the great Western European universities, pithily tells their life stories, showcases their architectural heritage, and describes the art, literary, and natural history collections they have accumulated over the centuries. This book profiles the ancient universities and their distinctive organizational cultures, reveals their customs, ceremonies, and traditions, their quirks and quiddities, recounts their complicated histories, describes their architectural wonders (libraries, museums, anatomy theaters, botanical gardens) and treasures (rare manuscripts, antiquities, paintings, and objects d’art of all kinds), and introduces their famous alumni, distinguished scholars, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and famously eccentric personalities. It is a book for scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in these ancient institutions that remain centers of learning in the contemporary world.

    • Online Learning and its Users

      Lessons for Higher Education
      • 1st Edition
      • Claire McAvinia
      • English
      Online Learning and Its Users: Lessons for Higher Education re-examines the impact of learning technologies in higher education. The book focuses particularly on the introduction and mainstreaming of one of the most widely used, the virtual learning environment (VLE) or learning management system (LMS). The book presents an activity theoretic analysis of the VLE’s adoption, drawing on research into this process at a range of higher education institutions. Through analysis and discussion of the activities of managers, lecturers, and learners using the VLE, lessons are identified to inform future initiatives including the implementation of massive open online courses (MOOCs). A replicable research design is included and explained to support evaluation and analysis of the use of online learning in other settings. The book questions accepted views of the place of technologies in higher education, arguing that there has been a repeated cycle of hype and disappointment accompanying the development of online learning. While much research has documented this cycle, finding new strategies to break it has proved to be a more difficult challenge. Why has technology not made more impact? Are lecturers going to be left behind by their own students in the use of digital technologies? Why have we seen costly and time-consuming failures? This book argues that we can answer these questions by heeding the lessons from previous experiences with the VLE and early iterations of the MOOC. More importantly, we can begin to ask new and different questions for the future to ensure better outcomes for our institutions and ultimately our learners.

    • A Global Perspective on Private Higher Education

      • 1st Edition
      • Mahsood Shah + 1 more
      • English
      A Global Perspective on Private Higher Education provides a timely review of the significant growth of private higher education in many parts of the world during the last decade. The book is concurrent with significant changes in the external operating environment of private higher education, including government policy and its impact on the ongoing growth of the sector. The title brings together the trends relating to the growth and the decline of private higher education providers, also including the key contributing factors of the changes from 17 countries.

    • Widening Higher Education Participation

      A Global Perspective
      • 1st Edition
      • Mahsood Shah + 2 more
      • English
      Governments have introduced policies to widen the participation of disadvantaged students in higher education. Widening participation policies are also introduced to ensure that higher education contributes to social and economic outcomes. This book includes important insights from 23 leading scholars across 11 countries on a wide range of topics that focus on government policies, institutional structures and the social and economic impacts of widening participation. While widening participation policies and outcomes in developed countries are more widely documented, the policies, achievements, and challenges in other countries such as Brazil, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Palestine are not so widely disseminated. Therefore, the ‘untold stories’ of policies and outcomes of widening participation are a key part of this book. The chapters are organised according to three overarching themes, which include national and transnational studies of the history of widening participation and current policies; inclusive learning and academic outcomes; and socioeconomic structures, concepts and theories.

    • Milestone Moments in Getting your PhD in Qualitative Research

      • 1st Edition
      • Margaret Zeegers + 1 more
      • English
      Milestone Moments in Getting your PhDin Qualitative Research is a guide for research students completing higher degrees with a focus on the importance of language and terminology of the theoretical and practical requirements of a given research program. The book responds to a lack of preparedness among many entrants into higher-degrees in contemporary higher education. The need among non-traditional entrants into higher-degrees for a strong background in core academic principles is made pressing due to the lack of preparation many students undergo prior to enrolment. This book might be consulted by research students as they proceed through the various milestones that may form part of a higher-degree.

    • Higher Education Policy: An International Comparative Perspective

      • 1st Edition
      • F. Kaiser + 5 more
      • English
      Tremendous changes are affecting the structure and funding of higher education in many countries. This volume attempts to identify and analyze the principles, structural features and modes of work of the different higher education policies operating in eleven countries, as well as their commonalities and differences in the light of both general international trends and country-specific factors. In order to gather the relevant information for the project, national correspondents were provided with an overarching framework to guide them in their work and to ensure maximum comparability of the resulting reports. Each country report is broken down into four sections: the structure and goals of higher education systems; authority in the system; higher education policy; and the impact of each on institutional governance and management.The final chapter draws together the general trends which have emerged: a move towards less state control; a strengthening of institutional autonomy and increased governance; competition between institutions; privatization of funding; greater market orientation and growing institutional accountability for quality and service.

    • Managing and Supporting Student Diversity in Higher Education

      A Casebook
      • 1st Edition
      • Robyn Benson + 4 more
      • English
      Government initiatives in many countries emphasise social inclusion in higher education, resulting in a more diverse student population. This presents opportunities and challenges for academic and professional staff in managing and supporting these students. Managing and Supporting Student Diversity in Higher Education focuses on how students succeed amidst a culture of widening participation. The book is divided into seven chapters. The first introduces current literature and policies to present an international perspective on widening participation in higher education. The following five chapters present students’ stories on topics including getting into higher education, the international experience, coping with education later in life, and identity. Stories are followed by implications for management and support, and discussion topics for practitioners. The book concludes by looking at how students succeed in higher education and the implications for managing and supporting student diversity.