Diversity In Higher Education Research Articles

Diversity: the challenge for higher education

This paper emerged as a reaction to the results of the 1998 campus climate for diversity survey of a major research university in the southern U.S. The paper addresses the issue of diversity in higher education, and argues that the diversification of the faculty and student population can no longer be a peripheral activity, but must be reflective of the institution's commitment to diversity. The paper reviews some of the theoretical explanations for the slow progress in achieving diversity, while at the same time gives an example of good practice. In the final argument, the paper contends that with the inevitability of a more diverse population and workforce, the institutions of higher education do not only have a responsibility, but must assume leadership position on this crucial issue of preparing citizens for the world they now face.

Scottish Higher Education and the FE‐HE Nexus

AbstractOver half of Scottish higher education entrants in 2000/01 began their studies in further education. This reflects the growing diversity of higher education in Scotland as a result of institutional change and trends in policy and practice. While these changes have been constructed positively as contributing to the accessibility of Scottish higher education, clear differences between HE provision in the two sectors and sectoral differentiation in patterns of participation have given rise to two relatively disconnected systems of higher education. The emergence of parallel systems may conceal new patterns of inequality, giving rise to a new learning divide.

Whose "I/Eye" Counts?: The Reproduction of Mythical Master Narratives

The literature on diversity in higher education spans a broad range of issues. However, while broad in range, contemporary scholarship on diversity in higher education often suffers from a view of diversity that is ahistorical and acontextual. Through a critique of a study by Wolf-Wendel, Toma and Morphew (2001), this article aims to demonstrate how ahistorical and acontexual approaches to diversity perpetuate powerful mythical master narratives that uphold the status quo.

The need for diversity in higher education.

The author states that there is a need in all higher education, including the health professions, for racial, ethnic, and other kinds of diversity, and describes two court cases involving the University of Michigan's undergraduate and law school affirmative action admission policies. The outcomes of these cases will profoundly affect the quality of U.S. higher education, professional education, and graduate education. Affirmative action is one of the tools that many universities use to ensure the kind of comprehensively diverse student body that helps teach students to participate fully in this country's heterogeneous democracy and the global economy. Students are exposed to classmates with different life experiences, their prior assumptions are challenged, and they discover what they and their classmates have in common. And a variety of Fortune 500 corporations state that employees and managers who graduated from institutions with diverse student bodies demonstrate a variety of key skills that are crucial in the U.S. workplace. The author discusses why "colorblind" and "socioeconomically oriented" admission policies do not work and that they have only a tiny effect on white students' chances of acceptance. Until K-12 education is greatly improved for minorities, affirmative action is needed to give a "leg up" to students who might not otherwise be admitted but who can do the academic work. In medical education, there is a special urgency for diversity, since it is known that minority physicians are more likely to practice in areas where there are high concentrations of minorities.

Intercultural Learning and Diversity in Higher Education

International learning experiences seem to shift from an added-value side effect to an all-persuasive motive in a market-driven and globalised educational sector. However, nature and substance of this experience, target groups, and also means for unfolding this value are still vague when it comes to the time beyond the mission statements of internationalisation. This article presents the theoretical and conceptual framework of an understanding of intercultural learning. The first part will outline some assumptions about intercultural encounters and its meaning for intercultural learning. The second part describes approaches of diversity activities with an institution-wide focus. Drawn from regions with an explicit diversity policy tradition in higher education—namely, the United States, Canada, and Australia—ways and problems of its adaptation to the European context will be discussed. The article provides an orientation for setting up diversity activities and diversity plans aimed at intercultural learning.

The Historical Significance of Minority-Serving Institutions in Physical Therapy Education

Physical therapy education has constantly evolved since the 1920s. Only in the last 28 years, however, have education programs that specifically target minority students been established. Currently, only 7% of physical therapist programs and 6% of physical therapist assistant programs are housed at minority-serving institutions. The value of these institutions can only be fully appreciated if one considers the historical context of educational and societal conditions that have necessitated their existence. The purposes of this commentary are to highlight historical factors that have influenced ethnic and racial representation in the physical therapy profession, to identify the role of the minority institution in physical therapy education, to consider the current climate of diversity in higher education, and to make recommendations that foster continued growth in the number of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants of an ethnic or racial minority available to provide care and education to a diverse nation.

Diversification of higher education and the profile of the individual institution

National systems of higher education became more diversified in the process of expansion. They vary substantially, however, according to the extent of diversity. Also, the major dimensions of diversification tend to play different roles: types of institutions, types of programmes, levels of programmes and degrees, and variations in reputation and prestige within formally equal institutions and programmes. Theories provide various explanations regarding the dynamics of diversification and the role the different dimensions play. Actually, some countries reduced the role of diversification according to institutional types in the 1990s, while others established new types. The Bologna Process underscores a growing role of levels of programmes and degrees in most European countries. It remains to be seen what impact these changes have on the stratification of the higher education systems and with respect to the encouragement or discouragement of individual institutions to develop specific profiles and thus to contribute to horizontal diversity.

Public and Private Higher Education in Portugal: unintended effects of deregulation

In a recent paper (Teixeira & Amaral, 2001), we presented a preliminary analysis of the effects of privatisation on the diversity of higher education systems. The conditions for promoting diversity are complex and difficult to pinpoint. With the advent of the 'market rhetoric', it is often considered that diversity in higher education is better ensured under stronger market regulation. Since privatisation is one of the main strategies for introducing market mechanisms in higher education, we analyse the consequences of the emergence of a private sector in Portugal, with special emphasis on its effects on its diversity. In the times of financial stringency which followed the 1974 Revolution, the development of the private sector was seen as positive, allowing for additional enrolments with no costs to the public purse. At the same time, advocates of private initiative claimed that private higher education institutions would be far more responsive than their public counterparts to demands of society and the labour market, due to their greater flexibility, entrepreneurial management and the need to ensure their clients' satisfaction. The private sector was thus supposed to provide more diversity, both at regional and disciplinary levels, while creating innovative solutions in its quest for protected market niches. In this article, we analyse how far these objectives have materialised, or if, on the contrary, they have remained in the domain of political wishful thinking.

Challenges of Financial Austerity: Imperatives and Limitations of Revenue Diversification in Higher Education

This article is drawn from a paper presented as the Lee Hysan Lecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in May of 2001, and is drawn also from the Project monograph, “Response to Austerity: The Imperatives and Limitations of Revenue Diversification in Higher Education.” The special issue of the Welsh Journal of Education was edited by Maureen Woodhall, one of the foremost scholars of international comparative higher education finance and a specialist on student loan programs. The special issue is one of the best compilations of papers on the topic of cost-sharing in its international perspective, with articles from Woodhall, Johnstone, Roy Jackson from South Africa, Bruce Chapman from Australia, and Adrian Ziderman from Israel. The chapter by Johnstone presents the standard case for revenue diversification, focusing on the limitations of public revenue, particularly in developing and transitional countries, and describes the problems wrought by the pervasive and increasing austerity in higher education. Johnstone presents the various forms of revenue diversification, including the beginning of tuition fees where none has existed, the sharp rise in tuition fees where public sector tuition has already been established, and other forms of shifting a portion of the higher educational cost burden onto parents and students. The principal theme of the paper, however, is to acknowledge some of the limitations on revenue diversification, beginning with the difficulties in the determination and verification of parental income, the challenge to the very notion of student dependence on parental support, and the serious limitations on student cost sharing, including the limited opportunities, in many countries and regions, for part-time employment, and more seriously, the limitations on student loan programs. The paper points to the need for effective cost recovery on student loans, including repayment compliance, an efficient system for collections (which may or may not be attached to the governments tax withholding and pension contribution system), and the need for repayment guarantees, which might appropriately include parents and other members of the family, but which the paper concludes need an ultimate governmental guarantee for those without access to credit worthy co-signatories. The paper also presents some limitations on faculty and institutional entrepreneurship as well as limitations on philanthropy as an alternative to governmental revenue.

Racial Diversity in Higher Education

Many colleges and universities purport to desire racial diversity, yet few make considerable progress in this regard. Why are some schools much more successful than others? This author compared colleges/universities that have achieved relatively high percentages of African American and Latino American students and faculty to those with low percentages. Semistructured interviews were used to gather information about each school. At the successful schools, more people participate in diversity efforts, and administrators more often have the time, mandate, and power to be effective. The successful schools employ a wider variety of affirmative action practices, and these practices are more often proactive, involve persons of color, include curriculum and co-curriculum intervention, and address root causes of the problem. Employees and activists from the successful schools possess greater commitment to, and knowledge about, diversity. Finally, the campus climate at the successful schools offers greater support for racial diversity.

Features: Special Issue on Diversity in Higher Education

Features: Special Issue on Diversity in Higher Education

Culture and Institutional Climate: Influences on Diversity in Higher Education

Wynetta Y. Lee is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Adult and Community College Education at North Carolina State University (NCSU). She has also worked as a research analyst specializing in education policy with the Tennessee State Legislature and worked collaboratively with colleagues at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to develop a program to reward institutions with incentive funding for progress toward institutional diversity. Lee also has extensive experience in program development/ implementation in both higher education and nonprofit organizations. Her research focuses on the educational equity and academic success of minorities, women, the academically underprepared, and community college transfers. She also studies diversity initiatives and curriculum reform. Address queries to her at North Carolina State University, Box 7801NCSU, Raleigh, NC 27695-7801; telephone: (919) 515-6290; fax: (919) 515-6305; e-mail: wynetta_lee@ncsu.edu. REVIEW ESSAY

Leadership Practices and Diversity in Higher Education: Transitional and Transformational Frameworks

Executive Summary Diversity has deep roots in American society and a tenacious hold on its social fabric. Institutions of higher education have not been very responsive to the issues raised by rapidly growing diverse communities in the United States. The institutions' response to diversity is not unexpected given that higher education is relatively conservative about changing its institutional practices. In order to understand how higher education may respond to diversity issues we discuss two frameworks in this paper that focus on the association between leadership and diversity. Our purpose is to use the frameworks as heuristic tools for examining the type of leadership practices higher education can utilize in its response to diversity. By contrasting the two frameworks we show that how higher education responds to diversity depends on its decision to either transform or transition the organizational culture and institutional environment. ********** Diversity in higher education is sometimes treated like the family member or relative that is shielded from view or the presence of others in an effort to avoid embarrassment or unkind comments. Unfortunately, much like the family member or relative, diversity will not go away or disappear, especially in an emergent global environment. Ever since the Bakke decision in 1978, institutions of higher education have been reluctant to promote diversity as a necessary dimension toward building themselves into inclusive communities. The institutions' reluctance intensified following the Hopwood decision in 1998, that diversity is not a compelling reason for altering the institutional climate in higher education. The reluctance of higher education institutions to promote diversity can be attributed to the observation that diversity in higher education has an end in itself, rather than a means to a greater educational end, and because universities have failed to establish the fundamental link between diversity and their educational missions (Alger, 1997: 20). In the twenty years that lapsed between Bakke and Hopwood white Americans have become increasingly hostile toward diversity issues. In a recent national poll conducted by the Washington Post, the Henry Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, researchers found that white Americans misperceive the socio-economic realities of African Americans, tending to hold unrealistically positive views of their progress. Moreover, these distorted views are linked to an unwillingness to support social policies and programs that create opportunities and provide support to minorities (Morin, 2001). If the social climate in American society is less supportive of initiatives that address diversity issues, how then can institutions of higher education respond to diversity? More importantly, how do leadership practices in higher education respond to diversity? Our purpose in this paper is to discuss and contrast two frameworks regarding the association between diversity and leadership in higher education. We examine the association by asking two questions: What types of leadership practices transition institutions of higher education to address diversity issues? What types of leadership practices transform institutions of higher education into an inclusive community for diversity issues? While we recognize that the term diversity is used in higher education to refer to multiple types of communities based on cultural, racial, ethnic or sexual identities, we limit our use of the term in this paper to minority (non-white) persons and their communities. We use the term leadership practices in this paper to identify actions at either the organizational or individual level that seek to determine goals and strategic planning within the organizational culture of higher education (see Ackoff & Pourdehnad, 2001; Schnebel, 2000). Diversity as a Concern Why is diversity important to higher education? …

Private Higher Education and Diversity: An Exploratory Survey

In this preliminary review, the authors analyse the effects of privatisation on diversity in higher education (HE) systems by exploring the consequences of the establishment of HE Institutions by non‐public organisations. The rising importance of privatisation in Europe (Western and transitional economies), Latin America, and Southeast Asia is analysed. Then follows detailed examinations of private‐sector HE in countries representative of all these geographical areas to determine how far privatisation has stimulated diversity. The preliminary results indicate that in each case the private sub‐sector has promoted limited and partial diversification. In general, though, the more recent private establishments, created to satisfy increasing demand for HE, have nonetheless focused predominately on teaching, have undertaken little, or no, research and appear to be of lower quality than the older institutions. The private sub‐sector is characterised mostly by its low‐risk behaviour, and a concentration on low‐cost and/or safer initiatives. Public authorities must share at least a partial responsibility for some of the negative side effects of the development of private higher education.

Review of Diversification in Higher Education

Review of Diversification in Higher Education

Multiculturalism, Diversity, and African American College Students

Diversity in higher education is a systematic blending of academic programs, recruitment, retention, policies, and curriculum that provide college students with an enriched multicultural environment for learning. Among those who administer, teach, and conduct research in higher education, there is a general consensus that diversity is a necessary component of a well-rounded education. Future college graduates will face not only a diverse American society (Population Reference Bureau, 1997) but also an interdependent world that is highly divergent in terms of race, ethnicity, nationalism, language, and culture. These future politicians, business leaders, scholars, and caregivers will need to know how to think critically, how to engage effectively in intercultural communication, and how to work productively within this diverse society. In spite of all the promotion for multicultural education, there is growing concern that college students are resisting diversity and multicultural educational programs. There appears to be a widespread rejection of the objectives of diversity and the usefulness of it. White college students are rebelling against diversity because they believe that it is an anti-White, preferential system that favors the needs of students of color (Gomez, 1992; Lopez, Holliman, & Peng (1995). There is also evidence that students of color, especially those attending predominately White colleges and universities (PWCUs), have less than positive attitudes toward diversity. These

Multicultural Citizenship and Education Integrating diversity in higher education: Lessons from Romania

Multicultural Citizenship and Education Integrating diversity in higher education: Lessons from Romania

Learning Diversity in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Asian International and Australian Students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the learning style preferences and approaches to learning of international students from Asian backgrounds, and make comparisons with the learning styles of Australian students. The sample consisted of 78 newly arrived international students from Asian countries, and 110 Australian students, studying at the same university.

Breaking Out: VMI and the Coming of Women

veterans, and they sat in classes with cadets. Since 1969, the institution had also gained considerable experience in dealing with men and women civilian students in its large evening undergraduate and graduate programs. In 1992 three female navy veterans applied for admission to the daytime veterans' program. When they were turned down, they filed a class-action suit in federal court. According to the Citadel's board of visitors, the admission of female veterans would destroy the diversity in higher education a single sex classroom provides and alter substantially the nature, character and effect of the Citadel. The board uni-

The Shape of Diversity

Introduction to a Special JHE Issue W.E.B. DuBois argued that the greatest problem of the twentieth century was the problem of the color line. Today, in the beginning of the twenty-first century, we are still grappling with issues of race, but whereas DuBois and others saw the problem as a black/white dichotomy, today's panorama of diversity issues include race, culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, and disability. At the beginning of the new millennium colleges and universities are placed in the position of either advocating greater democratic participation and social equity or regressing to an older model of privilege for certain groups. Indeed, the erosion of open admissions, affirmative action, and developmental learning threaten to return colleges and universities to the kind of sharp demarcation that concerned DuBois--not a demarcation between black and white but instead between the privileged and the unprivileged. In their attempt to become microcosms of the larger society, college and universities must constantly undersc ore the importance of diversity in higher education. As part of that effort the Journal of Higher Education joins the American Association of Higher Education in recognizing the significance of diversity within American colleges and universities. AAHE's first national conference in the new millennium is entitled Form a Perfect Union--Diversity & Learning. To commemorate that event, JHE has joined AAHE by bringing to the higher education community a special issue on diversity. Since its inception, JHE has provided its readers and the nation the latest research in higher education. This research includes issues of diversity. Many of us support the philosophy that embracing diversity is the only option that guarantees the vitality and viability of our colleges and universities, but rigorous research is necessary to acquire further knowledge and to furnish support for our assertions to the public. This volume cannot include all of the issues that will be discussed at the AAHE Conference, but the articles that are presented provide the latest research by outstanding scholars in our field. Though it is true that students of color are in the majority in many of the school districts in major cities and that by the year 2050 people of color will be in the majority in most school districts, this demographic reality is not the only reason why resolving issues of diversity is important in higher education: it is important for academic, moral, civic, and economic reasons (Musil, et al., in press). Academically, diversity is important not only because of transmission of knowledge, but also because of the creation of new knowledge, which is dependent on the inclusion of multiple viewpoints, and we have seen the dramatic changes within our disciplines when different perspectives are incorporated. Morally, diversity in higher education addresses equity and social justice. Though our history points to a time when issues of equity were not embraced by the higher education community, as we move through the new millennium, true, inclusive democracy and equal opportunity for members of all groups are recogniz ed by most educators as the only right option. Tied to the moral argument is the importance of an educated citizenry. Our democracy and our cities' survival depend on the meaningful participation of all citizens and on higher education's ability to prepare the new leaders of our communities. An educated citizenry, finally, along with leaders for our communities and societies, translates into providing economic opportunities for all citizens. …