Search

Internationalisation of higher education has diverging implications for climate change, on the one hand entailing greenhouse gas emissions through mobility, but also contributing to climate action through international collaboration. These apparent contradictions and resulting trade-offs present significant challenges to universities. This paper puts forward a framework for understanding the combination of impacts, the interactions between them and implications for the climate crisis. It distinguishes between three dimensions of internationalisation: actors (movements of students and staff), practices (integration of the international into curriculum and research) and influence (the global reach of the various impacts of the university). Internationalisation in these three dimensions can have positive or negative implications for climate action and sustainability, through direct impacts (greenhouse gas emissions) and indirect ones (changes in individuals, societal structures, knowledge and technologies). Implications are drawn out for the actions and strategies of universities, as well as for the global system of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planetary crisis facing humanity makes essential the incorporation of learning about climate change and sustainability in the university curriculum. Yet the ooting of climate change in values, knowledge systems and societal structures means that this incorporation must be more than just addition of knowledge content into a pre-existing curricular template. This article argues that the shifts required in a deep treatment of the climate crisis serve a broader purpose in driving positive change in university teaching and learning. Even within the confines of existing disciplinary divisions and mainstream epistemologies, possibilities exist for deepening critical reflection, pushing boundaries and opening imagination. The article explores this potential through an assessment of three spheres of enquiry: the ontological, epistemological and axiological. The teaching of these areas should be underpinned by the complimentary pedagogical foundations of critical questioning and deliberation, leading to a virtuous cycle of deepening of understanding and connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With globalization and the knowledge society, the expansion of higher education has become an 'object of desire' among governments to bolster both economic growth and social development. In recent decades, just as in other countries, Brazil has expanded the system and become the fourth largest in the world in enrollment numbers, significantly increasing distance education at for-profit private institutions. However, massification without the necessary attention to quality and equity may present undesired consequences. Thus, considering Brazil has created one of the largest information databases that allow for studies with huge samples, we statistically analyzed performance in a wide scale national examination (Enade) with approximately 222,000 students, disaggregated by background and education modalities. The results back the argument that learning possibilities and performance in distance education are inferior in relation to in-person modalities and that the expansion based on distance education at for-profit private institutions may be reproducing inequalities within the higher education system in one of the most unequal nations in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While critical thinking is widely regarded as a key outcome of higher education, research has shown that in practice it is only developed when certain conditions are in place, relating to the pedagogical approach, the nature of the curriculum and the level of challenge, amongst other factors. This article reports on findings from a four-year mixed methods study in Botswana, Ghana and Kenya, aiming to investigate the factors underpinning the successful development of critical thinking amongst undergraduate students. A two-stage critical thinking assessment was conducted with students in 15 sites, showing that only some of the institutions were ensuring significant gains in students' critical thinking, even when endorsing learner-centred methods. The study points to the central importance of teaching orientations amongst lecturers, involving a deep shift in approaches to knowledge, and a facilitation rather than a transmission approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an important process of expansion and growth, higher education institutions around the world still reproduce exclusion, discrimination and inequality with regard to underrepresented and underprivileged communities and peoples, their knowledges and their languages. In this text, we briefly frame contemporary alternatives to mainstream higher education that - some within existing universities, some beyond conventional higher education structures - are working against the grain to address these failings. By introducing the case studies of alternative, intercultural, indigenous, decolonial, co-operative and/or social movement universities that make up this special issue, we identify institutional and organisational tendencies, topic issues and emerging theoretical contributions, thus aiming to develop a deeper understanding of the orientation and role of these institutions, their impacts and challenges faced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite some superficial heterogeneity, higher education institutions around the world share core structures. According to critics such as Ivan Illich, the ossification of these institutional forms has ended up impoverishing the practices they were originally intended to support. This article assesses the grounds for these claims and associated construction of alternatives. It identifies three significant features of the institution: gates - the controls on admissions to the university; roles - the distinctions drawn between students, lecturers and other actors; and badges - the processes and artefacts of validation of student learning and scholarship. These three features are seen to have varying forms, levels of rigidity and loci of control, and have ambiguous impacts on equality and fairness, and on the core purpose of the university to promote human understanding. Implications are drawn out for the future of the university, and for current initiatives that are attempting to subvert these structures and create alternative models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include access to higher education as a valued outcome, but universities also have a crucial role in supporting societies in achieving the full set of 17 goals. This task can be achieved through universities' diverse functions of education, research, innovation and public engagement, as well as through their own campuses and communities. Nevertheless, despite their huge potential in this regard, current configurations of political economy present significant constraints. Seven of these barriers are analysed here: resources, recognition, marketisation, status competition, labour market links, difficulties of measurement and lack of imagination. These barriers are not insurmountable, and reimagined forms of higher education can play a major role not only in achieving the SDGs, but also in reinventing them for the post-2030 era. • Higher education is a goal in itself, but also a driver for achieving all 17 SDGs. • Universities have positive impact on sustainability through diverse functions and pathways. • Seven key barriers to fulfilling higher education's potential are identified. • Role of universities is to achieve the SDGs, but also to critique and reinvent them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including sustainable development goals; higher education; and environmental and technological development.

In the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, higher education has been given a key role in addressing societal challenges, reducing poverty, ensuring sustainable livelihoods and protecting the natural environment. Yet there has been a singular lack of imagination as regards the institutional forms that might help support this vision. This article reports on the findings of an exploratory qualitative case study of the Intercultural University of Veracruz, one of a number of institutions created in Mexico to ensure access for indigenous populations, to promote local development and to provide a space for intercultural dialogue. The findings show a number of ways in which this innovative institution provides opportunities for supporting the SDGs that go beyond conventional universities. The university addresses SDG4 by enabling access for marginalised populations, and through its engaged teaching, research and community engagement also contributes to environmental protection, health, livelihoods, gender equality and a range of other goals. However, it also presents challenges to the global framework, highlighting the lack of attention to culture, language, identity and knowledge traditions, and in critiquing the very basis of its conception of development. Implications are drawn out more broadly for the relationship between higher education and international development in the contemporary era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents reflections on the life course of the journal "Compare," which is celebrating its 50th birthday in academic publishing, as of November 2020. Topics covered include how the journal has benefited from trends in global higher education, the trends and challenges in relation to validation of knowledge and the outcome of the study commissioned to celebrate the journal's 50th birthday. It also discusses the 40th anniversary celebration of "Compare" in 2010.

In recent years, higher education institutions have been encouraged to engage more strongly with their local communities, and address their historically weak links with their surrounding populations. In the latter part of the twentieth century, a number of community universities were established in the South of Brazil, characterised by democratic local community involvement, expansion of access in non-metropolitan regions, and close ties with local industry. This article analyses these innovative institutions in relation to the complex demands of the so-called knowledge economy and multifaceted relationships between public and private, exploring the ways in which the public good role of universities manifests itself in relation to the local. Given their hybrid nature - independent from the state but with a public good mission - these institutions can be seen to represent a new model of non-state public higher education. Implications are drawn out for the potential role of these institutions in the current policy context of Brazil, and internationally, in light of their context-specificity and the significant challenges from the highly commercialised for-profit sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of higher education institutions on society has become the focus of significant policy attention in recent years, most prominently as part of research evaluation. This paper presents a theoretical exploration of the notion, identifying the key dimensions as source, form, trajectory, intensity, timescale and destination. While acknowledging the importance of porosity between universities and society, and the need to address critical contemporary challenges, five dangers of the impact agenda are highlighted: the normative dimension; the linear relationship; unpredictability; measurement; and instrumentalization. As a response to dominant conceptualizations, the paper proposes the notion of the generative intrinsic as a more robust basis on which to base the work of universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the consensus amongst all stakeholders of the critical need for action in the higher education sector in Kenya, national and institutional drives for quality have had limited impact. This study aims to assess the barriers to enhancing quality in Kenyan higher education, drawing on interviews, observations and documentary analysis as part of a three year study. Three types of barrier are identified in the data: resources (staffing and infrastructure), governance (organisational structures and stakeholder participation) and pedagogical culture (social hierarchies and approaches to teaching, curriculum and assessment). On the basis of these findings, it is argued that a ‘three-pronged’ response is needed: reforms in policy and practice must address simultaneously the material conditions of universities, the forms of institutional organisation, and the cultural relations of teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While concerns about graduate unemployment and the work-readiness of graduates in Sub-Saharan Africa abound, there is a severe lack of institutional data and academic research on graduate destinations on which to base policy changes. This article presents findings from an exploratory study of three major higher education institutions in Kenya. An online survey was conducted with recent graduates in a range of disciplinary areas, aiming to determine, first, what employment activities they were engaged in, and second, what associations there might be between those activities, the graduates’ background characteristics, and their experiences at university. Findings suggest that proportions of absolute unemployment are lower than expected, but that many graduates are transiting between provisional or part-time employment and internships, and have not yet obtained the graduate level jobs aspired to. Finally, implications are drawn out for potential national-level graduate destination surveys in Kenya and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores education and shifting paradigms in the context of indigenous cultures and political movements in Latin America. It argues buen vivir to be introduced into the imaginary of education, and that learning must push beyond the limits of modernity and the neoliberal ideology that commits economic development at the expense of the environment. It also looks into the global views of sustainable development with a different ontology from the European modernity.

Unbundling is the process through which products previously sold together are separated into their constituent parts. In higher education, this dynamic has been driven primarily by financial motivations, and spearheaded by the for-profit sector, but also has pedagogical motivations through its emphasis on personalisation and employability. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the trend, proposing new conceptual tools with which to map the normative implications. While appearing to offer the prospect of financial viability and increased relevance, unbundling presents some worrying signs for universities: first, the removal of possible synergies between teaching and research, and between different modes of learning; second, the undermining of the ability of institutions to promote the public good and ensure equality of opportunity; and third, the threat of hyperporosity to the conducting of basic research with long-term benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discussed various reports within the issue on topics including history studies in England and Australia, education policies in developing countries, and factors that affect school participation in Turkey.

Higher education is increasingly acknowledged by national governments and international agencies as a key driver of development, and systems are expanding rapidly in response to rising demand. Moreover, universities have been attributed a central role in the post-2015 development agenda and the achievement of the sustainable development goals. Yet questions of institutional models and their differential impact on society have not received sufficient attention. This paper presents an analysis of the 'anatomy' of the university in order to identify the salient changes in the institution across time and location in relation to knowledge and relationships with society. A framework is proposed structured around three key dimensions: first, 'value'-the extent to which knowledge is treated as intrinsically or instrumentally worthwhile; second, 'function'-the role of the university in terms of storage, transmission, production or application of knowledge; third, 'interaction'-the flow of ideas and actors between the university and society. This analytical framework is then utilised to assess two dominant tendencies in global higher education: commodification and unbundling. Finally, implications are drawn out for universities' potential impact on development in low- and middle-income countries in the context of these contemporary trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including challenges of equity and quality in low- and middle-income countries in terms of expanding higher education systems; expansion of enrolments; and importance of higher education.

Concerns over equity of access to higher education are widespread, but there is significant disagreement over what should constitute a fair system. This article assesses diverse conceptualisations of equity and explores the ways in which they embody themselves in the policies of three systems, those of England, Brazil and Kenya. While showing significant disparities of income level and enrolment ratio, all three have made concerted efforts to expand higher education access, accompanied by increasing stratification in terms of the quality and prestige of institutions. Analysis of policy options and outcomes leads to a proposal of three principles for understanding equity of access: availability, accessibility and horizontality. The third of these principles addresses the little-acknowledged safeguard that disadvantaged students should not be confined to lower-quality institutions, while at the same time allowing for diversity of ethos and disciplinary focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality of teaching and learning in higher education is increasingly recognised as a pressing issue on the African continent, and there have been various reform initiatives to transform classrooms and institutions. However, little is known about the factors that affect pedagogical change in institutions, and enable or constrain these innovations from taking root. This study explores the cases of eight diverse universities in Botswana, Ghana and Kenya, ones that had implemented a range of innovations including problem-based learning, community placements and academic development programmes. The analysis draws on qualitative data involving interviews with lecturers and senior management, institutional documentation and campus visits. Lecturers were seen to engage in diverse ways with the initiatives, being either opponents, surface adopters, transformers or champions. Four factors emerged as key to influencing the uptake of pedagogical interventions: the drivers of the initiative; the existence of a shared vision; resourcing and incentives; and opportunities for reflection and transformative learning. While some initiatives are more 'champion-led' and others more 'institution-led', sustainable change involves attention to both university structures and individual practice, and to the interactions between them. • Comparative analysis of teaching and learning in African higher education. • Sheds light on the factors that influence successful uptake of pedagogical change. • Provides evidence from eight diverse universities in Botswana, Ghana and Kenya. • Showcases innovative pedagogical approaches for enhancing critical thinking. • Assesses merits of institution-led and champion-led reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opposition to university fees is often framed as a defence of higher education as a ‘right’ rather than a ‘privilege’. However, the basis and nature of this right is unclear. This article presents a conceptual exploration of the question, drawing on an initial analysis of international law. An argument is put forward for a right to higher education seen as one of a number of possible forms of post-school education, restricted only by a requirement for a minimum level of academic preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While respect for human rights has long been endorsed as a goal of education, only recently has significant attention been paid to the need to incorporate rights within educational processes. Current support for human rights within education, however, has a variety of motivations. This paper provides a theoretical exploration of these diverse justifications, leading to a normative proposal. A distinction is made between status-based and instrumental approaches. Human rights within education can be justified from a status-based perspective on the basis of their indivisibility, meaning that the right to education must not entail an infringement of other rights. Yet while rights-respecting environments are important sites of learning, instrumental justifications can be a source of concern, if the goals in question are irrelevant or inimical to the enhancement of rights. An argument, therefore, is put forward for a simultaneous realisation of embodiment of and opportunity for learning about human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While there has been widespread international attention paid to the promotion of citizenship in schools, the civic dimension of higher education study has been less prominent. This article assesses three cases of provision for the teaching of citizenship in English universities, encompassing both discrete modules and embedded approaches. The cases are analysed using the framework of ‘curricular transposition’, focusing on the problematic movements from underlying ideals to realisation in practice. Findings from the studies suggest that lecturer involvement is a key factor, and that top-down initiatives are unlikely to succeed. In relation to location in the curriculum, both dedicated taught courses and whole institution approaches are seen to present distinct challenges and opportunities. Finally, implications are drawn out for the prospects of promoting democratic citizenship in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The universal right to education has been enshrined in a range of international rights instruments. Yet despite the considerable secondary literature on the subject, there has been little discussion of the notion of education underpinning the right. This article presents a theoretical exploration of the question, leading to a normative reassessment. The article first assesses the expression of the right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, identifying limitations in its focus on primary schooling. Other candidates for a basis for the right - namely learning outcomes and engagement in educational processes - are then assessed, and the latter is found to provide the most coherent foundation. Nevertheless, the positional benefits of formal schooling cannot be ignored. Consequently, a two-pronged expression of the right is proposed, involving access both to meaningful learning and to institutions that confer positional advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including the baccalaureate diploma programme in Mexico, the assessment of home and school factors that affect reading, and international comparative education.

An introduction is presented wherein the editor discusses various reports in the issue on topics including a comparison of Finland and Chile in the images parents form about the reputation of schools, the career experiences of 8 female primary school principals in Hong Kong and the use of participative techniques as an enabling tool.

While it is clear that all educational undertakings consist of ends and means, the relationship between the two is far from straightforward. This article proposes a framework for understanding the relationship in the context of citizenship education. Qualitative research was undertaken of three educational initiatives in Brazil: the schools of the Landless Movement, the Plural School framework in the city of Belo Horizonte, and the Voter of the Future programme, run by the Electoral Tribunals. Case studies were carried out of each, involving documentary analysis, interviews, and observations. Analysis of the relationship between ends and means in each case gave rise to two key frames: the first, 'proximity', refers to the extent to which ends and means are separate or unified; the second, 'rationale', refers to the grounds on which means are chosen. Finally, the implications of this framework for understanding curriculum are drawn out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational undertakings are subject to disjunctures at three separate stages: in the creation of curricular programmes, in the implementation of these curricula in practice and in their effects on students. These disjunctures are the result of complex ‘leaps’ between ends and means, and between ideal and real. This article proposes a response in the form of ‘seamless enactment’, applied here to citizenship education. Seamless enactment involves, first, the harmonisation of the principles underlying the different stages in the passage of the curriculum, avoiding problematic tensions between, for example, democratic aims and undemocratic teaching practices. Second, it requires the involvement of teachers and students in the design and development of the educational initiative, as well as in its implementation. Taken to its fullest extent, seamless enactment involves a unification of the separate stages, leading to the collapsing of the curricular transposition framework onto a single point. Finally, some possible justifications for and potential objections to the notion are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to higher education in Brazil is to a large extent restricted to the higher socio-economic groups. Public universities have limited places and entry is determined by highly competitive exams, thereby excluding those who have not had a high quality secondary education or attended an expensive preparatory course. There has been considerable growth in the private sector to absorb the excess demand, but the majority of Brazilians cannot afford the fees. This paper develops a concept of equity in higher education in which, firstly, there should be sufficient places in the system as a whole and, secondly, all people should have a fair opportunity of attending the university of their choice regardless of socio-economic background. Recent efforts to expand access are analysed, including incentives for the growth of private universities, student loans and the new Prouni initiative, in which private institutions provide free places to low-income students in return for tax exemptions. While these initiatives have the potential to increase the total number of places, they will not lead to an equitable expansion, as disadvantaged students will still be confined to courses of lower quality or with lower subsequent value on the employment market. Initiatives aimed at the public sector such as the introduction of quotas and changes to entry examinations are also discussed. Finally, some implications for future policy development are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A case study was undertaken of Pelotas, a large town in southern Brazil, where a recent government of the Workers’ Party (PT) implemented a range of social policy reforms. The study draws on interviews with key members of the Municipal Secretariat of Education and policy documents, analyzing them in relation to theoretical literature on citizenship and education. The Pelotas approach is seen to be distinctive for its emphasis on active political participation as a citizen''s right and as a means to social justice for all. The local government also places a higher value on critical and autonomous attitudes towards the authorities than on cultivating allegiance to the municipality or nation-state. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There has been a dramatic growth in private higher education in Brazil in recent years. The World Bank has promoted this expansion on the basis of the private providers' ability to ensure a rapid increase in enrolment, to improve quality through competition between institutions and to bring benefits for society at little public cost. However, the charging of fees means that the majority of Brazilians do not have access, and that inequalities are reproduced due to the relation between course costs and the value of the final diploma. Equitable access. is, therefore, far from being achieved and is unlikely even with an increase in student loans and government subsidies. The contribution of private universities to the long-term development of society is seen to be limited, due to lack of investment in research and academic staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses reviews and editorial board information to the journal.

The article announces the joining of Amy North in the editorial team of the journal, previews the conference of the British Association of International and Comparative Education (BAICE) to be held at the University of York on September 12-14, 2018, and BAICE's new Website https://baice.ac.uk/.

The article offers information on new members of the editorial board of the periodical "Compare: A Journal of Comparative & International Education," which include Nalini Boodhoo, Maia Chankseliani, and Daniel Muijs.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the obituary for professor Colin Brock, secondary and higher education.

Indigenous groups in Latin America face a double exclusion from higher education, with low levels of access to institutions and little acknowledgement of their distinctive cultural and epistemological traditions within the curriculum. This article assesses current policies in Mexico and Brazil towards indigenous populations in higher education, considering the various responses to the challenge, including affirmative action programmes in mainstream universities, intercultural courses and autonomous institutions. These policies and initiatives are analysed using the theoretical frames of redistribution and recognition, focusing on demands for formal equality and material wellbeing on the one hand, and a distinctive cultural and educational space on the other. While state-sponsored policies focus primarily on the redistributive element, initiatives based on recognition come largely from autonomous organisations, raising a series of dilemmas and tensions around educational justice for indigenous populations in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author discusses the importance of the participants in education amidst the continuous educational reform and top-down and bottom-up pressures on education systems. The author cites on the participants, teachers, students and policy makers who have the voice to the issue of the education reform. The author also discusses the religious education in conflict regions.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue including regionalisation in global higher education, a comparison between Asian & European international university students & civic education in the Philippines and Singapore.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue including the Confucius Institutes, the international students, and the student mobility.

The article offers information on Fellowship program of the perodical which will be held from 1 September 2019–31 August 2020 and provide full financial support early career academics.

The article announces the appointments of people as members of the journal's international advisory board, including Niaz Asadullah of the University of Malaya in Malaysia, Sondra Cuban of Western Washington University, and Miri Yemini of Tel Aviv University in Israel.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including history of British Association of International and Comparative Education (BAICE) and its activities, and BAICE 20th Anniversary Compare Forum.

The article announces 20th Anniversary of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) which include Anniversary Symposium on the theme of ‘Sustainability, Peace and Education;" and a panel discussion based upon the present Compare Forum contribution.

As momentum grows for a sustainable urbanisation goal in the post-2015 development agenda, this paper reports on an action research study that sought to tackle the urban health divide by enabling intersectoral action on social determinants at the local level. The study was located in the cities of Mombasa in Kenya and Valparaíso in Chile, and the impact of the intervention on child nutrition was evaluated using a controlled design. The findings showed that an action research process using the social educational process known as PLA could effectively build the capacity of multisectoral teams to take coordinated action which in turn built the capacity of communities to sustain them. The impact on child nutrition was inconclusive and needed to be interpreted within the context of economic collapse in the intervention area. Four factors were found to have been crucial for creating the enabling environment for effective intersectoral action (i) supportive government policy (ii) broad participation and capacity building (iii) involving policy makers as advisors and establishing the credibility of the research and (iii) strengthening community action. If lessons learned from this study can be adapted and applied in other contexts then they could have a significant economic and societal impact on health and nutrition equity in informal urban settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]