2-year University Research Articles

Preparations of Students for Enrollment in Medical Schools.

Improving medical education is an important process that changes from time to time based on the development of medical science and practice, society's need for a certain number of quality doctors, better preparations, and better selection of candidates for admission into medical schools. In most European countries, partial preparation of students for admission is done in secondary schools, and additional preparation is achieved in the first year of medical school. Such preparations enabled more than 60% of students to complete their studies, before the German Federal Ministry of Science and Education implemented the Masterplan Medizinstudium 2020. However, after a 4-year university preparation in the United States, close to 95% of students finish their medical studies on time. We proposed a 2-year university preparation for each student before his enrollment into the medical school because this strengthens his medical study, and later on, he becomes a better doctor. Thus, the number of graduated students may increase, medical studies could be shortened to 1 year, and candidates who do not enroll in medical school may continue their previous studies.

The Determinants of the Transition in South Korea from Vocational and General High School to Higher Education, Including a Gender Comparison

This study examines the factors determining whether vocational and general high school students in South Korea subsequently graduate from university and, if so, whether from 2-year or 4-year courses, for the first time using a gender lens. High-quality official data from the Korean Education and Employment Panel (KEEP) is used in a multinomial logit model. The results show that coming from a vocational high school (compared to a general high school) is negatively correlated with going to university, especially to 4-year university. Among general high school graduates, the most important determinant of attending a 4-year rather than a 2-year university is the teacher assessment of the student’s performance; father’s education and income have no effect for either males or females. The results also show that vocational high school graduates’ university choice is determined by a combination of individual characteristics, including being male, and by having been at a vocational high school, whereas the choice between 2-year and 4-year university depends negatively on father’s education for males but not for females and on father’s income and the number of siblings for both genders. The income and sibling findings suggest that a possible policy implication might be to provide financial support to vocational high school graduates to enable them to attend higher education and to offset the negative effect of low paternal income.

Continuing professional development designed as second-order action research: work-in-progress

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this article is to describe how Lesson Study as second-order action research can be applied and how we planned to evaluate and improve course design, learners’ progress, team members’ roles and learning objectives of a 2-year university course for English as a Second Language teachers. The article describes the concept of a Lesson Study conducted in a course for teachers with a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience, rather than for students or undergraduates as in traditional concepts of the Lesson Study approach. PFL (‘Pedagogy and Subject Didactics Programme’) is a 2-year programme consisting of three seminars and five groups meetings in which the participants focus on the reflection of their professional practice in their specific school situation. All participants are required to plan, carry out and document their own action research project. The team provides input on action research and current topics in language teaching and learning, and advises participants. The methodology follows a mixed-method approach based on action research methodologies including questionnaires, interviews and observations. Analyses are conducted qualitatively and quantitatively. The article presents the concept of the project but not yet findings at this stage due to curriculum development and approval issues.

Beyond the Master Plan: The Case for Restructuring Baccalaureate Education in California

Although a stunning success in many ways, California’s 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education has been a conspicuous failure in one respect: California ranks near the bottom of the states in the proportion of its college-age population that attains a baccalaureate degree. California’s poor record of B.A. attainment is an unforeseen consequence of the Master Plan’s restrictions on access to 4-year baccalaureate institutions. In a cost-cutting move, the framers of the Master Plan restricted eligibility for admission to the University of California and the state colleges (later the California State University) to the top eighth and top third, respectively, of the state’s high school graduates. As a result, 2-year institutions have absorbed the vast majority of enrollment growth in California higher education. In addition to their important role in vocational education, the California Community Colleges now enroll between 40% and 50% of all students seeking a B.A., including those at both 2-year and 4-year institutions. Enrollment at 4-year institutions, however, has not kept pace. California now ranks last among the states in the proportion of its college students that attend a 4-year institution. The paper presents comparative data demonstrating the powerful relationship between 4-year college enrollment and B.A. attainment across the 50 states. Although California’s low rate of baccalaureate attainment is sometimes blamed on the failure of community colleges to produce more transfers, the data point to a more fundamental problem -- lack of 4-year baccalaureate enrollment capacity. The single most critical factor for California to improve B.A. attainment is to expand 4-year enrollment capacity. Yet building expensive new 4-year campuses is an unlikely option given the state’s current and foreseeable fiscal circumstances. The alternative is to restructure California’s existing postsecondary system. The paper reviews a variety of baccalaureate reform models that have been introduced in other states. The most promising of these models involve collaborations between community colleges and state universities to create new kinds of intermediary, “hybrid†institutions. Examples include university centers and 2-year university branch campuses. Under the university center model, 4-year universities offer upper-division coursework at community college campuses, enabling “place bound†students to complete their baccalaureate degree program there. Under the 2-year university branch model, some community colleges are converted, in effect, into lower-division satellites of state universities, thereby expanding capacity at the 4-year level and eliminating the need for the traditional transfer process. What these and other hybrid models have in common is that they help bridge the divide between 2-year and 4-year institutions, enabling more students to enter baccalaureate programs directly from high school and progress seamlessly to their degrees. Amending the Master Plan in the manner proposed here need not alter its essential features. While preserving the distinctive missions of UC, CSU, and the California Community Colleges, the need now is to build their capacity to work together as a system to improve baccalaureate attainment – the one mission that all three segments share.

Mild Cognitive Impairment: An Operational Definition and Its Conversion Rate to Alzheimer’s Disease

Objective: Because of discrepant findings regarding the accuracy of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in predicting Alzheimer’s disease (AD), further study of this construct and conversion rates is essential before use in clinical settings. We aimed to develop an operational definition of MCI consistent with criteria proposed by the Mayo Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and to examine its conversion rate to AD. Methods: Patients were identified from an inception cohort of patients with at least a 3-month history of memory problems, and referred to a 2-year university teaching hospital investigation by primary care physicians. We classified 161 nondemented patients at baseline using MCI criteria. Diagnostic workups were completed annually, and patients were classified as meeting criteria for AD or showing no evidence of dementia after 1 and 2 years. Results: Of 161 patients, 35% met MCI criteria at baseline. Conversion rates to AD were 41% after 1 year, and 64% after 2 years. Logistic regression analyses to examine predictive accuracy of MCI after 1 and 2 years, with age and education as covariates, were significant (p < 0.0001). After 1 year, MCI showed an optimal sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 79%, and after 2 years, these values were 88 and 83%, respectively. Conclusions: MCI is an accurate predictor of AD over 1 and 2 years in patients referred by their primary care physicians. Discrepancies in conversion rates may be due to the manner in which patients are recruited to studies as well as the use of different measures to operationalize the construct.

The first BScnursing curriculum in Slovenia: its development and characteristics

This paper presents the process ofdevelopment — extending over several years — and characteristics of the new BSc curriculum in nursing (second university level), which is an upgrading of the already existing 2-year university nursing course at the School of Health Studies of Ljubljana University, Slovenia. The new 2-year curriculum is run in cooperation between the School of Health Studies and the Faculty of Education. It was prepared at the nursing department of the School on the initiative and with the support of the European Office of Nursing at World Health Organization (WHO). Preparations started in 1985, and the first students entered the programme in 1993. The curriculum is health orientedaccording to the strategy ‘Health for All to Year 2000’. The theoretical framework as well as goals, contents and educational methods were established on the basis of the fundamental philosophy of the programme. One part of the programme is run as an integrated model to put into educational practice the goals of WHO. The reasons for the length of time which elapsed between the initiative for the programme and its implementation are discussed.

Minnesota Geological Survey may close

The future of the Minnesota Geological Survey is up in the air until January 1992, when the state legislature reconvenes. On June 4, Governor Arne H. Carlson vetoed a line‐item of the 2‐year University of Minnesota budget that contains funding for the MGS. If funds are not restored by special legislative appropriation and approved by the governor during the spring of 1992, MGS will be abolished effective July 1992.The possibility of closing the survey reflects a financial decision, according to Robert A. Schroeder, assistant to the governor. It is not based on the usefulness of the survey's work. “The governor's objective with his line‐item vetoes was to control overall spending, not to target specific programs,” he said. Since MGS is university‐affiliated, it is funded under Minnesota's Higher Education bill, rather than as a state agency. Because of overspending in 1991, the state has had to cut back funds, and the university is one area hit by budget cuts. The university may still choose to fund the program and has the flexibility to reallocate funds within the system.