Equity in Tertiary Education in Central America: An Overview

The tertiary education system in Canada performs well in fostering a skilled workforce with generally good labour-market outcomes and is internationally recognised for its research contributions. Tertiary educational attainment is high, but participation rates will need to continue expanding to maintain the supply of highly skilled labour as the population ages and the needs of the knowledge-based economy rapidly evolve. This should be achieved by encouraging access to higher education for disadvantaged socio-economic groups, while enhancing the flexibility of the system to allow students with diverse needs to move between institutions more easily to meet their learning objectives. Immigration is another important source of skills that could be better utilised. The development of skills for innovation can be improved by increasing the integration of technical, business and communications skills training with practical industry experience within tertiary education programmes. In an environment of government spending restraint, the quality of tertiary education could be strengthened by increasing the distinction between institutions that target research and those that emphasise teaching and re-evaluating tuition policies in provinces where public finances are stretched.

The tertiary education system in Canada performs well in fostering a skilled workforce with generally good labour-market outcomes and is internationally recognised for its research contributions. Tertiary educational attainment is high, but participation rates will need to continue expanding to maintain the supply of highly skilled labour as the population ages and the needs of the knowledge-based economy rapidly evolve. This should be achieved by encouraging access to higher education for disadvantaged socio-economic groups, while enhancing the flexibility of the system to allow students with diverse needs to move between institutions more easily to meet their learning objectives. Immigration is another important source of skills that could be better utilised. The development of skills for innovation can be improved by increasing the integration of technical, business and communications skills training with practical industry experience within tertiary education programmes. In an environment of government spending restraint, the quality of tertiary education could be strengthened by increasing the distinction between institutions that target research and those that emphasise teaching and re-evaluating tuition policies in provinces where public finances are stretched. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD Economic Review of Canada (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Canada).

This study examines how institutional contexts in 25 European countries moderate the association between family structure and tertiary education attainment. Previous research has proposed the resource deprivation perspective to explain lower educational outcomes among children from disrupted families, suggesting that policies addressing resource deprivation could mitigate these negative consequences. However, limited attention has been given to the role of policy contexts in shaping the educational outcomes of youth from disrupted families. This study focuses on two types of policies: the generosity of social benefits to single parents and financial support for students in tertiary education. Using data from the EU-SILC and employing multilevel regression models, the findings indicate that generous financial support for students reduces the tertiary education attainment gap between youth from separated and two-parent families. However, this effect is observed only among low-socioeconomic status (SES) and moderate-SES families. In contrast, the generosity of social benefits does not appear to moderate the association between family structure and tertiary education attainment, even when examining low-SES families or specifically considering benefits for low-earning single parents. Furthermore, the influence of these analysed policies is limited among young people from widowed families.

Review question/objective The aim of this systematic review is to present the best available evidence on teaching and learning strategies or methods preferred by 'Generation Y' health care professional students. The specific review question to be addressed is: What are the teaching and learning strategies or methods preferred by ‘Generation Y’ health care professional students? Objectives The quantitative objective is to identify teaching and learning approaches and activities preferred by ‘Generation Y’ students in health professional tertiary education, reported by students. The qualitative objective is to describe the meaningfulness of teaching and learning approaches and activities preferred by 'Generation Y' health professional students in tertiary education as reported by students. Inclusion criteria Types of participants This review will focus on health professional students in tertiary education from 2000 onwards. Health professions to be included are as follows: medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, medical radiation science, nutrition and dietetics, oral health and podiatry. Students must be identified as 'Generation Y' or an associated generational label including the 'Millennials', the 'Next Generation', the 'Net Generation', the 'Digital Generation' or the abbreviated title 'Gen Y'. Types of intervention(s)/phenomena of interest For the purposes of this review teaching and learning strategies are defined as any curricula design, formative or summative assessment, feedback mechanisms or innovative technological approaches or course structure used in the educational curricula of health care professional students. For the purpose of this review teaching and learning methods are defined as any educational task, activity or process which aims to engage students to construct meaning, or develop the knowledge, skills or attributes to meet the learning objectives of a course or program and contribute to graduating competence. The quantitative component of the review will consider studies that investigate teaching and learning strategies utilized in the development of ‘Generation Y’ health professional students. The qualitative component of this review will consider studies that report on the experiences or views of health professional ‘Generation Y’ students, regarding teaching and learning strategies or methods. Types of outcomes This review will consider studies that include the main outcome measures of teaching and learning which is the construction of meaning and the attainment of skills, knowledge and attitudes that meet the learning objectives set contributing to the achievement of practice competence. Other educational outcome measures such as student satisfaction and student engagement in the teaching and learning process will also be included. The qualitative outcomes of interest will incorporate the students self reported experiences of learning approaches.

The human capital theory in economics argues that education is an investment in human capital and that the acquisition of knowledge and skills would enable individuals to increase their productivity and earnings, and thereby contributing to economic growth. As an investment, education incurs costs and benefits at various points in time. To measure economic benefits of education investment by individuals, economists use the rate of return to investment in education. This rate of return should be positive and higher than that of alternative options to ensure economic benefits of education investment and motivate education decisions. Given that tertiary education attainment is costly to individuals and the society at large, highly positive returns to tertiary education matter for individual and social human capital investments being economically justified. In the present age of mass access to tertiary education, the pattern of declining returns to investment in tertiary education was observed in a growing number of countries that include Vietnam. This trend may avert individual investment in human capital formation, and thereby negatively affecting national economic growth and development. To contribute to addressing this problem, the current paper aims to analyse the factors that drive the decay in returns to investment in tertiary education in Vietnam. Based on the descriptive research method using descriptive statistics, we summarize key trends in tertiary education in Vietnam. We identify that the abatement in returns to tertiary education investment in Vietnam may be attributed to three main factors: (i) the expansion of education supply, in particular tertiary education; (ii) the economic downturn after the global financial crisis; and (iii) the mismatched quality of tertiary education. These findings are foundations for our suggestions on possible solutions to inform the tertiary education development strategy.

Equity is increasingly prominent in countries’ tertiary education policies. More attention is being focused on learners with more limited opportunities to access and succeed in tertiary education due to circumstances unrelated to their ability to benefit from tertiary education. This Chapter analyses equity in tertiary education. It defines what equity at tertiary education level entails, recognising that it is affected by inequities in previous levels of education. It provides an overview of contextual developments affecting equity in tertiary education and reviews current equity trends. It also offers an overview of the range of factors which affect equity in tertiary education, reviews available empirical evidence, and illustrates policy initiatives in participating countries. The Chapter concludes with a set of policy options for countries to consider. Equity issues related to approaches to funding tertiary education are discussed in Chapter 4 and are only briefly mentioned in this Chapter. In addition, the Chapter focuses on equity in tertiary education and only briefly addresses equity through tertiary education (or the social mobility effects of tertiary education).

This article presents the development of fabricator competency for engineering students in tertiary education during the seamless era. This study explored the approach to synthesizing, designing, and developing fabricator competency. The study identified six key components of fabricator competency: 1) Knowledge of materials, 2) Problem-solving and design, 3) Using design software, 4) Using hardware and machines, 5) Safety knowledge and awareness, and 6) Communication and publication. This study emphasizes the importance of human potential development, specifically in the case of engineering students in tertiary education. A competency framework for a fabricator in the seamless era has been developed by synthesizing, designing, and developing fabricator competencies based on published research on fabricator competency.

Background: Studies of the impact of mental disorders on educational attainment are rare. Mental disorders, those beginning in childhood or adolescence may increase the risk of early droup out from education. The latter has been shown to have adverse life-course consequences on individuals such as greater demand on social welfare entitlements.Objective: To find out socio-demographic status and psychiatric comorbidity profile of patients with education droup out.Design: Descriptive cross sectional study.Setting: All cases were selected from patients attending at Comilla Medical College hospital and Tertiary Care hospitals in Comilla City from August 2014 to April 2015.Methods: A total of 50 droup out patients aged 10 to 30 years who fullfiled the enrolment criteria included in the study. A semi structural questionnaire, DSM-5 and ICD-10 have been used as research instruments. The Frequency tables, summary tables and appropriate graphs were prepared to describe the population characteristics and study finding.Result: Total 62 participants were approach for interview. Considering inclusion and exclusion criteria finally 50 patients were selected for the study. In this study, anxiety disorders was 8%, behaviour/ impulse control disorders was 8%, mood disorders was 16%, substance use disorders was 24%, schizophrenia spectrum disorders was 12% and composite psychiatric disorders was 32%. Among droup out patient’s non- completion of primary education was 14%, non- completion of secondary education was 20%, non- completion of higher secondary education was 24%, not entry to tertiary education was 12% and non- completion of tertiary education was 30%. Among behaviour/impulse control disorders non- completion of primary education was 6%, substance use disorders non- completion of higher secondary education was 10%, mood disorder both non- completion of higher secondary education and non- completion of tertiary education were 6%. Among composite psychiatric disorders non- completion of secondary education, non- completion of higher secondary education and non- completion of tertiary education were 8%, 6% and 12% respectively. Socioeconomic status represented the homogenous result in this study. Most of the psychiatric morbidity was male (62%) and age group of 18-24 years (54%).Conclusion: Onset of mental disorder and subsequent droup out from education that was found in this study. Further multi-centered prospective and population-based studies should be desined to fint out the exact situation.TAJ 2013; 26: 38-42

Using nationally representative household surveys, this paper examines the trends in attainment, enrollment, and access to tertiary (higher) education in India from 1983 to 2005. The findings suggest that there has been considerable progress in attainment and participation; however, they remain low. Important gaps exist in enrollment between rich and poor, rural and urban areas, men and women, disadvantaged groups and the general population, and states. Analysis of transition rates from secondary education to tertiary education and regression analysis indicate that inequality in tertiary education between disadvantaged groups and the general population is explained by low completion rates of secondary education. Inequality in tertiary education related to income, gender, rural residence, and between states is explained by: (i) differences in completion rates of secondary education, and (ii) differences in the probability of transitioning from secondary education to tertiary education. In particular, the importance of household income has grown markedly. Equitable expansion of secondary education is therefore critical for improving the equity of tertiary education. There is also a need to help qualified youth from low-income families and rural backgrounds to attend tertiary education, in particular the technical and engineering streams, in which participation is lower.

In this paper we analyze the impact of the quality of human capital on the\n main economic indicators of South-Eastern Europe countries [SEE] at the NUTS\n 2 level. The subjects of this research are the human capital indicators of\n regional competitiveness. The quality of human capital depends largely on the\n age structure of the population and the quality of education. Those regions,\n which have the highest percentage of the working-age population and highly\n educated people, are able to achieve higher productivity and gain a\n competitive advantage over other regions. As main indicators of the quality\n of human capital we identified: population; persons aged 25-64 with tertiary\n education attainment; students in tertiary education and participation of\n adults aged 25-64 in education and training and human resources in science\n and technology. As main economic indicators, we identified: regional gross\n domestic product; employment and income of households. The aim of this paper\n is to determine whether there is a correlation between the indicators of the\n quality of human capital and economic indicators. As a main methodology we\n have used the correlation coefficient which shows interdependence of the\n analyzed indicators. As part of our analysis, we consider only EU member\n states that belong to the SEE countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria\n and Greece. We conclude that in all countries there is a high multiple\n correlation coefficient between the indicators human resources in science and\n technology, number of students and employment. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke\n Republike Srbije, br. 47007 III]

This paper presents the initial results of an investigation into the current awareness and perceptions of equity issues amongst academic staff working on a postgraduate learning and teaching course for teachers in tertiary education in the Republic of Ireland. The study is set in the contemporary landscape of discourses around equality, egalitarianism and equity in education generally

Tertiary education institutions are established to provide quality post-secondary education. Tertiary education institutions have established quality assurance units to guarantee that clients are served appropriately according to predefined quality indicators. Despite this guarantee, the quality of tertiary education is being questioned. This paper discusses the quality of tertiary education largely from the perspective of clients. It explores the concept of quality, examines a model of the path to quality tertiary education, and states the challenges of institutional massification with respect to quality. The discussion points to the key roles of leadership and management and institutional massification play in student engagement. Leadership and management have to set the stage for the process of achieving quality tertiary education, and sustain the process by harnessing human and material resources to meaningfully engage students. Leadership provides the physical infrastructure, recruits qualified staff, operationalizes sound employability and entrepreneurship strategies, and creates a democratic environment to promote accountability and productivity. At the heart of quality tertiary education is good student engagement. While massification has improved access and equity, it has put pressure on physical infrastructure and staff and reduced the quality of student engagement.

In this article, we examine how the rising proportion of academic families across cohorts affects sons’ and daughters’ tertiary educational attainment in the process of educational expansion. Using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we focus on West Germany and examine whether the upgrading of the educational composition of families across cohorts has particularly contributed to daughters catching up with and even overtaking sons in tertiary educational attainment over time, or whether daughters and sons have benefited equally. In particular, we ask whether the rise of academic families, who are assumed to have stronger gender-egalitarian attitudes toward their children, has contributed to daughters faster increase in tertiary education compared to sons. Our empirical analysis shows that the long-term upgrading of families’ education across cohorts has in a similar manner increased tertiary educational attainment of both sons and daughters. Thus, women’s educational catch-up process cannot be explained by the greater gender-egalitarian focus of academic parents. Rather all origin families, independent of their educational level, are following the same secular trend toward more gender egalitarianism. We also examine to which extent highly qualified mothers serve as role models for their daughters. We find that academic mothers do not serve as particular role models for their daughters. Rather mother’s education is equally important for both sons’ and daughters’ success in higher education. Finally, we show that the rising proportion of academic families across cohorts is connected to a rising proportion of downward mobility for both sons and daughters. However, the share of upward mobile daughters from non-academic families is converging with that of sons.

Statistics indicate that the number of international students in Türkiye is increasing each year. These students both contribute to the country's economy and cultural richness. On the other hand, international students have some problems during their education. The researchers think that for a quality and practical education, it is important to identify the problems international students face and offer solutions to them. Accordingly, this paper aims to identify the problems faced by Palestinian students attending tertiary education in Türkiye and offer suggestions for solutions. Phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was adopted in the paper. The participants are 20 Palestinian students studying at different universities in Konya in the 2024-2025 academic year. The researchers employed the convenience sampling method. The data were obtained using a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers, who used content analysis to analyze the data. According to the findings, the most common problems faced by Palestinian students in tertiary education are language problems, economic problems, integration problems, and discrimination problems. Moreover, it emerged that the most common disappointments of Palestinian students in tertiary education were related to the education system and economic, social, and language issues. The participants also offered solutions to their problems related to education, social integration processes, economy, and language issues. Additionally, the expectations of Palestinian students at the end of tertiary education are employment, experience, returning home, quality education, and career opportunities. Considering the research findings, it is recommended that Palestinian students receive Turkish language education through universities and/or the Ministry of National Education before starting their majors.

Cohabiting has been associated with a number of problems including sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and AIDS, abortions, sexual abuse and violence, low academic performance, increased cost of medical care and unwanted pregnancies. However, there is little documented information on the extent and the factors influencing cohabitation among the youth and especially among tertiary education students. This study therefore sought to fill this gap by investigating factors that lead to the prevalence and practice of cohabitation by tertiary education students. The research adopted the interpretivist philosophy. The qualitative research methodology was employed in order to understand in greater detail the behaviors, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs of the respondents on cohabitation among tertiary education students. The study used the survey research design. Primary research was conducted using questionnaire surveys that were administered to tertiary education students who participated at the Tertiary Education Sports Association of Zimbabwe in July 2016. There were 100 questionnaires distributed and 78 questionnaires were returned making 78% response rate. The respondents were randomly sampled to participate in the study. The study reflects that cohabitation among the Tertiary education students is quite common. The study noted that it is mostly caused by lack of accommodation, problems with roommates, lack of privacy and the need to be close and intimate with one's lover. In results cohabitation exposes students to premarital sex and other consequences such as unwanted pregnancies, abortion, complications and sexually transmitted infections. The study recommends that tertiary education students should be enlightened during orientations about the dangers of cohabitation. Parents should be encouraged to visit their children and find where and whom they live with while in school.