Coeducational Colleges Research Articles

What Characterizes Education in Women’s Universities in Japan? An Analysis of Diploma Policies

Women’s universities were established in post-war Japan to fill the gender gap in higher education. Although they attract fewer students today than in the past, they account for nearly 10% of all universities nationwide. This study focuses on the diploma policies (DPs) that all universities in Japan are required to publish and explores the characteristics of education at women’s universities by comparing the DPs of 22 women’s and 59 co-educational universities. The DP content was analyzed using a cross-tabulation search engine employing text-mining. The results indicate that the DPs of women’s universities highlight their priority to foster economically sustained women, which reflects their founding purpose of empowering women. Although both women’s and co-educational universities emphasize their relationship with society, the latter seem to view society as something their graduates can create and develop, while the former regards it as given or changing. Moreover, women’s universities appear to emphasize that their graduates play an active but not a leading role in society. This could be an indication of gender inequality in the social, economic, and political realms of Japan. Considering Japanese society is becoming globalized and diverse, future research should focus on how global values and competencies manifest themselves in DPs.

Chilly climate perceived by female engineering undergraduates: an exploratory study using concept mapping.

Women still being a minority in engineering majors, they are reported to face discriminatory treatment in a collegiate environment. "Chilly climate," referring to such a sexist environment, may have a negative impact on women's mental health, academics, and careers. But, what exactly is it that female students in engineering perceive as chilly, and how chilly is it? This study aimed to explore the chilly campus climate perceived by female undergraduate engineering students in South Korea using the concept mapping method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 participants enrolled for more than four semesters at four-year coeducational universities. After extracting 52 representative statements, the participants were asked to classify them according to content similarity and rate the influence of each statement on their perception of the chilly climate. For concept mapping analysis, multidimensional scaling analysis (ALSCAL), hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward's method), and non-hierarchical cluster analysis (K-means method) were performed. Fifty-two statements were extracted under the following four clusters: (i) "Exclusion and alienation inherent in the culture (Cluster 1)," (ii) "Sexual objectification and lack of gender sensitivity (Cluster 2)," (iii) "Male-centered academic situations (Cluster 3)," and (iv) "Prejudice and generalization (Cluster 4)." A concept map was two-dimensional: an X-axis named "context dimension," with "task: academic" and "non-task: social" at both ends, and a Y-axis named "sexism dimension", having "explicit" and "implicit" at both ends. The order of higher scores in the influence rating is as follows: Cluster 2, Cluster 3, Cluster 1, and Cluster 4. This study is significant because it conceptualizes the subjective experience of minorities in a collegiate environment and provides influence rating results for prioritized measures. The findings will be helpful in formulating educational policies, psychological counseling, and social advocacy activities. Future research should target larger populations, and cover more diverse cultures, majors, and age groups.

Effects of gender diversity on college students’ collaborative learning: From individual gender to gender pairing

This study investigated the effects of gender and gender pairing on behaviors and social interaction during collaborative learning in a blended learning environment. Three types of pairing (all-female, all-male, and mixed) were considered in an empirical study with 44 undergraduate students. The results revealed that, first, female students were more likely to perform well in listening, talking, and integrating during class, and in the quality of posts after class, whereas male students tended to engage more in irrelevant behavior in collaboration. Second, same-gender groups were more active in collaborative discussion, but all-male groups performed worst in quality of posts after class. Third, both male and female students were more active in same-gender groups than in mixed groups. Finally, same-gender groups tended to have greater interpersonal connectedness than mixed-gender groups. The paper ends with a list of practical implications for facilitating effective collaborative learning in co-educational college classrooms.

Optimal Site Selection for Women University Using Neutrosophic Multi-Criteria Decision Making Approach

Site selection for an institute or a university is a challenging task. The selection of sites for setting up a new university depends on multiple criteria. In backward, under privileged area people’s perception towards the co-educational universities and women universities are different. Poor families with their conservative mentality possess inhibitions while sending their girl child to co-educational universities as they have concerns about safety, security and family honor. Hence many attributes which are not so important for co-educational universities are more pertinent for women university. In this research paper, we have considered a model for selecting women’s university sites in different backward locations in the state of West Bengal, India. This model incorporated different types of uncertainty related to site selection. Ten important criteria are chosen for the selection of sites. To capture the uncertainty of the problem, trapezoidal neutrosophic numbers are used along with the Multi-criteria Decision Making tool Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for obtaining criteria weights. Finally, the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS) are applied for ranking of the sites. Comparative and sensitivity analyses are conducted to check the steadiness of the techniques used.

Moving from a segregated to a coeducational context: Exploring Iranian female medical students' ownership and investment in language learning

The present study examined Iranian female medical students' transition from a segregated school system to a coeducational university context to uncover how they invested in their learning in the new context. The participants of this qualitative study were 23 female medical students, taking a general English language course in a mixed class of 54 students. This was their first experience of being in a coeducational environment. During the term the researchers/instructors observed the class, and also the students were interviewed to examine their understanding and feelings about this experience and its influence on their learning. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Taking Norton's (2015) investment model as a point of departure, the findings showed that female students invested in language learning by focusing on the capital, identity, and ideology that they were dealing with in the coeducational class. The findings showed that despite the common belief in the Iranian society that female learners are shy in coeducational settings, the participants invested in learning and owned their identity as medical students. They considered the class as a miniature setting to learn how to cooperate effectively with the male students to be ready for the mixed environment of their future profession.

Collaboration, Gender, and Leadership at the Minnesota Seaside Station, 1901–1907

Mentorship and collaboration necessarily shaped opportunities for women in science, especially in the late nineteenth century at rapidly expanding public co-educational universities. A few male faculty made space for women to establish their own research programs and professional identities. At the University of Minnesota, botanist Conway MacMillan, an ambitious young department chair, provided a qualified mentorship to Josephine Tilden. He encouraged her research on algae and relied on her to do departmental support tasks even as he persuaded the administration to move her from instructor to assistant professor in 1903. Resulting publications on Minnesota algae led her to look further west, first at Yellowstone National Park and then along the Pacific Northwest coast. After visiting a particularly productive littoral site on Vancouver Island, she suggested that they establish a Minnesota Seaside Station there. Over its seven years in operation under the Midwestern leaders, that location proved remarkably productive. At the remote site, the two operated within their typical but not inevitable gendered roles and deliberately defined their seaside station as unconventional. They expected participants to study productively and, at the same time, find imaginative ways to enjoy nature at a place far from urban amenities. Gendered expectations remained casual as participants moved both within and against them. This study investigates how, in the early twentieth century, the role and expectations of mentorship shifted as Tilden established her own independent research agenda. The Minnesota Seaside Station, in particular, proved significant in developing the leadership skills essential for her to pursue research in the Pacific region at a time when American expansionism and indigenous cooperation made sites accessible to academic researchers.

An Inquiry into the Self-Evaluation of Star Teacher Characteristics Necessary for Successful Urban Teaching


 
 
 This study examines the degree of agreement between three Haberman Foundation-trained facilitators’ interviews and pre-service teachers’ self-evaluations of behavioral attributes associated with successful urban teaching. Using a quasi-experimental design research approach, data for this investigation was collected from 17 subjects who are all pre-service teacher candidates enrolled in an urban, metropolitan, co-educational research university. The Star Teacher Selection Interview and the Urban Teacher Behavioral Self-Evaluation Assessment served as the assessment instruments. Overall, findings revealed that the trained interviewers rated the pre-service teacher participants much lower on many of the behavioral attributes associated with successful urban teaching than did the subjects themselves.
 
 

Do single-sex classes affect academic achievement? An experiment in a coeducational university

We examine the effect of single-sex classes on the educational attainment of students within a coeducational university. Before students arrived on campus, we randomly assigned them to all-female, all-male, and coed classes, and thereby avoid the selection issues present in earlier studies on single-sex education of students in primary and secondary school. We find that 1 h a week of single-sex classes benefits women: females score a quarter of standard deviation better overall and are 7.7% more likely to pass their first year course. Furthermore, women assigned to all-females classes in their first year are roughly 57% less likely to drop out of university and are 61% more likely to get a top ranked degree under the UK system. There is evidence that single-sex classes cause women to adopt behaviors associated with better academic outcomes, such as attending more classes and doing optional assignments. However, these behavioral changes cannot explain much of the all-female effect.

Approaching Legal System against Sexual Harassment -A Dilemma among Young Female Adults

Introduction: Knowledge regarding legal options decreases the chance of any unwanted sexual harassment. Early reporting helps reduce the mental harassment faced by the victim.Study design: A cross sectional survey was done among 200 young female adults studying in degree courses in the age group of 17-21 years from four selected colleges of Delhi University, two co-educational colleges and two women colleges by convenient sampling method. Tool used self-structured questionnaire for assessing the awareness of Young female adults about legal aspects against sexual harassment.Results: Most of the subjects wanted legal actions to be taken against harasser and were in favour of social punishment as well as legal penalties. Only one tenth of the subjects felt safe with the police officials or at police station and was having faith on services on police for action against sexual harassment as they feared harm to self. There is need for creating awareness about where to approach for help and reporting regarding any sexual harassment incidence faced by victim.

Framing Engineering: The Role of College Website Descriptions

This study contributes to the literature on women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by examining the framing of engineering on college websites, a major recruitment tool. We take websites to be key sources of textual data that can provide insights into the discourses surrounding the field of engineering. We ask whether women-only institutions (WOIs) frame engineering in ways that appeal more broadly to women. Our sample comprises the full range of WOIs offering engineering degrees in the US (14) and a comparison sample of 14 coeducational universities also offering engineering degrees. We employ established methods for discourse analysis, and both deductive and inductive coding processes in analyzing the textual data. Our main findings indicate that WOIs’ framing of engineering places a greater emphasis on collaboration, supports for students, interdisciplinarity, and the potential for engineering to contribute to improvements for society. In contrast, co-ed institutions tend to place a greater emphasis on the financial returns and job security that result from majoring in engineering. We conclude that co-ed engineering programs should consider a broadening of the descriptions surrounding the engineering field, since the inclusion of a wider set of values could be appealing to women students.

Beyond Acceptance: Serving the Needs of Transgender Students at Women’s Colleges

The inclusion of transgender students in women’s colleges has been widely debated on campuses and in the media. Despite some opposition, transgender students at women’s colleges are growing in number and visibility. This study examines the ways that transgender students’ experiences differ from the experiences of cisgender students in both single-sex and co-educational environments. Conclusions are based on assessments of support, reported attitudes towards transgender students, and reported knowledge about transgender history and social issues using responses to a survey completed by 184 students at a variety of colleges and universities. The study found significant differences between women’s colleges and co-educational universities such that women’s colleges were rated as more supportive for all students and students at women’s colleges reported significantly more positive attitudes towards transgender students. Additionally, transgender students at women’s colleges reported more positive overall experiences of college, as compared to transgender students at co-educational colleges. Given that the sample was majority white, cisgender, women’s college students, the measures used should be replicated in order to determine the generalizability of these results.

Adjustmental study in relation to personality of female students studying in Co-educational and Uni-educational colleges of Uttarakhand, India

Adjustmental study in relation to personality of female students studying in Co-educational and Uni-educational colleges of Uttarakhand, India

Lifestyle practice and associated risk factors of noncommunicable diseases among the students of Delhi University

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle has long been associated with the development of many chronic diseases and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs are largely preventable through effective interventions by tackling the shared modifiable risk factors, and onset and progress can also be delayed. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the practice of lifestyle and assess the burden of associated risk factors of NCDs among the students of selected colleges of Delhi University. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 450 students from two coeducational colleges of Delhi University. Data were collected in accordance with the World Health Organization STEPwise approach to Surveillance (WHO STEPS) questionnaires. Standardized questionnaires of WHO STEPS methodology for surveillance of chronic diseases for Step 1 and clinical measurement on height, weight and blood pressure (BP) for Step 2 were used. Data were collected in September 2013 to November 2013. RESULTS: Of the 450 students, 56.88% were male, all in the age group of 18–26 years. Only 28.66% of the subjects perform the moderate physical activity during a usual week. During the past 7 days, 59.33% consumed carbonated soft drinks at least 1–2 times/day and 49.11% eaten >2 servings of fast foods per day. Tobacco use (smoking only) was prevalent in around 15.77% of the subjects and alcohol in 20.88%. Majorities use tobacco and alcohol in relation to socialization, peer pressure and for enjoyment. 31.55% of the subjects were overweight and obese and 8.22% underweight, while 1.55% high normal BP. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed a poor practice of healthy lifestyle with a high burden of lifestyle-related risk factors of NCDs among students of Delhi University. Therefore, the University should emphasize on curriculum for a healthy lifestyle in all faculties as a required subject. Frequent campaigns and educational seminars are to be encouraged for the adoption of healthy lifestyle and health promotions.

THE CHIEF END OF MAN AT PRINCETON: THE RISE OF GENDERED MORAL FORMATION IN AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION

During the decades around 1900, changing intellectual currents and the creation of the research university led American colleges and universities to alter the role of religion in students' education. Simultaneously, women matriculated in large numbers for the first time, forcing individual institutions to ask whether and how to incorporate them. Using the lens of all-male Princeton University, this article explores how these two trends combined to help instill gender ideals in the Progressive Era male elite. Princeton sought to attract an elite constituency by no longer seeking to inculcate in students simply moral excellence in general, but rather traits associated with prominent men specifically. Princeton's leaders reinforced this gendered moral formation as they shifted from evangelical spirituality focused on relating rightly to God to modernist spirituality focused on relating rightly to the human community. That students embraced these changes suggests that a new approach to moral formation at prominent men's colleges—and coeducational universities that copied their approach—may help explain why, in an era when women could first access an education equal to men's, educated men nevertheless continued to see themselves as uniquely suited for certain public leadership roles by virtue of their sex.

Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American StyleDeirdreClemente. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.

Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American Style Deirdre Clemente. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.Over the course of the twentieth century, formality has diminished in many areas of American society. Dress Casual by Deirdre Clemente explores changing standards in fashion, an aspect of material culture that is both profoundly visual and utterly inescapable (144), and through which larger changes in the cultural landscape can be examined. Clemente, while acknowledging that there have been many forces instrumental in the casualization of fashion, credits its mainstream acceptance to the influence of college students during the first half of the twentieth century.The author traces the evolution of dress from Gilded Age formality to sweatshirts and shorts using numerous sources, including personal letters from students, campus newspapers, student handbooks, and other university publications. Though she did not explain the choice of specific institutions in this study, Clemente analyzes documents from a wide variety, including private all-men's and all-women's universities and colleges, public coeducational colleges, and historically black colleges. Dress Casual incorporates perspectives from students, school administrators, social critics, and representatives of the fashion industry, such as manufacturers and retailers, as well as advice columnists. She provides twenty-five images to illustrate the text, mostly photographs of college students from 1908 through 1959, each informative captions. The images offer a pictorial overview of the ever-increasing informality of college wardrobes.Casual daywear, prized for its comfort and practicality, was adapted from clothes worn for sports like rowing, tennis, and golf that have since retained the nomenclature sportswear. Clemente positions the origins of the style the upper class white students of Ivy League schools, men who could most afford to withstand condemnation for sloppiness from those who equated a unkempt appearance with loose morals (42). Although students across the country yearned for a versatile, comfortable, easy-care wardrobe (apparently, many clothing decisions were made on the basis of available laundry facilities), the rate of adoption of casual styles varied by gender, race, and class. From the Ivy League, the casual style first migrated to larger public colleges, which educated a more diverse and less wealthy population. Clemente found that, whether at elite schools or those more open enrollment, it was less problematic for men to dress casually than for women and more acceptable for whites of both genders than African Americans. …

Attaining and Sustaining Leadership for U.S. Women in Dentistry

It wasn’t until the late 1960s that women could enroll in coeducational colleges at some of the most elite universities in the United States.[1][1] Similarly, until recently, dental schools did not have significant female enrollments. Just over 150 years ago, women were unable to attend a U.S.

Gender Difference in Resilience among Undergraduate Boys and Girls with Broken-Heart

Loving and being loved adds richness to our lives. When people feel close to others, they are happier and even healthier. According to Wikipedia (2014) broken heart (or heart-break) is a common metaphor for the intense emotional pain or suffering one feels after losing a loved one, whether through death, divorce, breakup, physical separation, betrayal, or romantic In the present investigation, heart-breaks are operationally defined as an overwhelming pain and sorrow which adolescent experiences especially due to failure, disappointment, cheat or rejection in love.Heart-breaks play havoc in adolescents' day-to-day Uves, and have a significant impact on their current mental health, their ongoing development and future romantic relationships. There is an absolute worst feeling for an adolescent, when one is heart-broken. One may actually feel such an intense pain that one does not even want to live anymore. One can not think about anything except for the awful pain all the time and how much one hates the person for leaving him/her, and at the same time desperately wants him/her back. Heart-break literally feels Uke someone stabbing a knife into your chest and twisting it repeatedly (Ashlynn, 2009). At some time 40 % adolescents have felt so miserable that they have cried and have wanted to get away from everyone and everything. During their adolescence, more than 20% think so little of them that life does not seem worth Uving.In spite of these powerful feelings, depression in many adolescents may not be obvious to other people. Some adolescents are better able to handle the stresses and challenges and new opportunities than others. So why does one adolescent try suicide while another in the same tough situation does not? What makes some adolescents better able to deal with life's setbacks and difficulties than others? It is because some adolescents are more resilient as compared to others.Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors (American Psychological Association, 2012). It also states that resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviours, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone. Gilligan (2000) defined resilience as 'a set of qualities that helps a person to withstand many of the negative effects of adversity'.Objectives of the study* To have an insight about the socio-personal details of the undergraduates with broken-heart.* To determine the level of resilience among undergraduate students.* To find out gender difference in resilience of undergraduate boys and girls.MethodParticipantsA list of co-educational colleges working under the U.T. Education Department as well as private management was obtained from the internet. From this list, 4 colleges in all, with two each from Government and private college category, were selected randomly. From each selected college, 25 undergraduate adolescents (12 boys and 13 girls, alternatively) who were fulfilling the criteria, that is, belonging to the age group of 17-21 years and had a heart-break in past 6 months to 12 months, were selected. Thus, the final sample size comprised of 100 undergraduate adolescents with equal number of boys and girls (50 boys and 50 girls).InstrumentsSocio-Personal Profile: A socio-personal profile schedule for the subjects was developed by the investigator. It is in English and includes items like name, age, ordinal position, sex, height, weight, complexion, number of earning members in the family, occupation of the parents, average monthly income of the family, family type and relationship status.The Resiliency Scale: For determining the resilience of subjects, a standardized Resiliency Scale developed by Wagnild and Young (1993) was used. …

Executive functioning difficulties as predictors of academic performance: Examining the role of grade goals

Concepts related to self-regulation have emerged repeatedly in research on college academic achievement. We hypothesized that self-reported executive functioning (EF) deficits would predict academic performance and investigated whether grade goals could account for this relationship. In Study 1 we obtained data on the Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (BDEFS) and self-reported GPA from co-educational university students (N=250). In Study 2, we collected BDEFS and GPA goals from students at a women’s college (N=229) and obtained grades from the registrar. EF deficits predicted GPA concurrently and prospectively even when controlling for prior grades. Self-motivation problems were most consistently related to grades and mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect effect via lower grade goals. However, goals did not fully account for this relationship. While our results suggest potential value for goal-setting interventions, additional measures to improve self-regulation are likely needed to help struggling students with self-motivation problems.

Perception, Prevalence and Predictors of Rape among Female Students in a Tertiary Institution South East Nigeria

The essential elements of the rape crime are sexual penetration, force, and the lack of consent. The prevalence of rape worldwide has been reported to be a staggering 20%. In Nigeria, most victims of rape will elect to remain silent about the experience, because of stigmatization leading to under reporting of the crime. This study was aimed at elucidating the perception of rape and determining its prevalence and predictors among female undergraduates in a tertiary institution in South Eastern Nigeria. This was a descriptive cross sectional study in which self administered questionnaires were used to collect relevant data from 280 female undergraduates of UNIZIK Okofia Nnewi Campus, Nigeria, selected by cluster sampling technique. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine associations and identify independent predictors of rape respectively. The level of significance was set at p rape than those counterparts who attended co-educational colleges. Awareness campaigns through peer education, introduction of sexuality education in the school curriculum and establishment of school health programmes are highly recommended.

NOVEMBER 2013 PLACEMENT ADS

NOVEMBER 2013 PLACEMENT ADS