Financial Support For Higher Education Research Articles

Wellbeing in the higher education sector: A qualitative study of staff perceptions in UK universities

The Higher Education (HE) sector is beset with mental ill-health, stress and burnout, negatively impacting staff productivity and retention. These challenges are due to a reduction in financial support for HE coupled with a growing number of students and increased workloads, as evidenced by recent strike actions in the UK. While research on mental ill-health in HE is extensive, our understanding of wellbeing in higher education is limited. Yet understanding wellbeing in the workplace can foster positive experiences and resilience, counteracting more negative experiences. This paper presents findings from 21 in-depth semi-structured interviews with employees (academic and professional staff) in UK universities to understand staff perceptions of wellbeing and the impact of the HE context. Five themes were identified: (1) factors contributing to staff wellbeing, such as colleague support; (2) fragility and duality of staff wellbeing, on how wellbeing can be damaged as well as its changing nature; (3) the dichotomy of collegial peer and organizational support, on university and staff actions toward wellbeing; (4) outsider from within, on an experienced lack of belonging; and (5) creativity and growth, on opportunities for staff development. Gaps in our understanding of Black, Asian, Minority, and Ethnic staff experiences were also identified. Implications for bolstering wellbeing in practice and future research are discussed.

Comparative Analysis of Chinese and American Higher Education Policies

The development of higher education in China and the United States has garnered global attention, given their influential positions in the international arena. This paper examines the disparities in higher education policies between the two countries, considering their political, economic, and cultural differences. While China and the U.S. share common objectives and approaches in higher education, notable distinctions arise in terms of technological advancements and intellectual property protection. These variations are particularly evident in policies pertaining to talent cultivation, science and technology innovation, and financial support for higher education. These disparities can be attributed to the unique societal, economic, and socio-cultural contexts of each country. To enhance China’s higher education policy framework, this article proposes three key areas for optimization and supplementation: university competition policy, talent cultivation and attraction policy, and higher education focus development policy. By strengthening the interconnection between higher education and practical applications in society, these proposed enhancements aim to bolster the overall effectiveness and relevance of China’s higher education system.

The ability of financial support of the educational sphere in the process of financial decentralization of the region: economic and legal aspect

The article considers the possibility of optional implementation of financial and educational decentralization approaches in Ukraine. The strategic role of CMU Order No. 333-r dated April 1, 2014 on the approval of the Concept of Reforming Local Self-Government and Territorial Organization of Power in Ukraine as a conceptual measure of financial and educational transformations is outlined. The legal status and legal options of educational self-government at the level of OTG are defined in accordance with the national "normative basis of decentralization": the Law of Ukraine "On the Voluntary Association of Territorial Communities" No. 157-VIII, the Law of Ukraine "On the Principles of State Regional Policy" No. 156-VIII, etc., as well as relevant legislation (the Law of Ukraine "On Education" No. 2145- VIII of the Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education" No. 1556-VII, etc.).
 A terminological distinction between the concepts of "power decentralization" and "financial decentralization of the region" is proposed. The problem of budgetary and educational provision of scientific and educational facilities is conceptualized spheres in Ukraine through the prism of the Budget Code of Ukraine No. 2456-VI.
 Examples of foreign decentralization-educational (management and financial) support are presented and implementation methods of its application in Ukraine are proposed.
 The ideological problem is that the decentralization of power presupposes, among other things, the financial independence of the region (one of the principles of decentralization is the transfer of resources from the ODF to the OMS), and the issue of its provision is problematic for a country that is used to building financial and economic relations by the "vertical" principle, i.e. "from top to bottom".
 Taking into account the dependent connection of the educational sphere in Ukraine on the accompanying and sectoral legislation, such trends, without having a direct impact on the volume and expenditure mechanisms of scientific and educational support from the State Budget of Ukraine, create a precedent of institutional and jurisdictional inconsistency.
 The issue of financial support for higher education and directly – institutions of higher education (HEIs) has several problems, among which “financing of expenses for the maintenance of HEIs, not the actual cost of the educational process” stands out; calculation of budget transfers only in the amount of "educational needs" (without cultural and sports and social assistance initiatives of the development and education self-government); inadequate financial and logistical support of vocational education as a subcomponent and pregenerator of higher education in Ukraine.

Spending of the State Budget of Ukraine on higher education in light of the implementation of medium- term planning

Introduction. Achieving the strategic goals of the development of higher education in Ukraine requires improving financial support and improving the management and use of resources of this industry, which is important for the country. The purpose of the research is to determine the problematic aspects of the formation of the State Budget of Ukraine expenditures on higher education in terms of planning their volumes, the connection between current and medium-term budget planning and the practice of applying the program-target method and substantiating the ways to solve existing problems.Research methods. The research used general scientific and special methods of cognition, such as a systematic approach, induction, deduction, logical analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization.Research results. A number of systemic shortcomings in the formation of the State Budget of Ukraine’s expenditures on higher education were revealed, which consist in the absence of long-term budget planning, the inconsistency of current expenditure planning with medium-term budget planning, and the formal application of the program- target method. Adequate institutional support for medium-term budgetary planning has not been created; specialists responsible for planning the activities of the chief manager of budget funds very often do not have the necessary knowledge and skills. Without a deep justification, the chief manager of funds in the field of higher education defines and structures goals, tasks and performance indicators in strategic and medium-term planning documents. Determining the need for funds is non-transparent and does not involve active interaction of the executive authorities and the branch ministry with civil society institutions. Emphasis is placed on the need to improve the regulatory framework for planning state budget expenditures; coordination of the expenditure planning process with prospective plans for the development of higher education; introduction of medium-term budget planning; the development of democratic traditions of budget planning inherent in a market economy; increasing the transparency of budget expenditure planning. Implementation of the proposed measures will contribute to the formation of sufficient financial support for higher education to solve strategic and current tasks.

범정부 고등교육 재정투자 방향 및 재정 확충 방안

The purpose of this study is to estimate the appropriate financial resources to secure the competitiveness of higher education and attempt educational innovation, and to seek specific measures to expand it. Based on the review of previous studies related to higher education finance, first, the necessity of expanding public resources for higher education, the basis of higher education support, and the main contents of each government's higher education support policy were examined, and second, the scale of domestic higher education financial support and overseas higher education financial support were compared and analyzed, and the financial status of domestic higher education institutions was analyzed. Finally, the direction of fiscal investment was confirmed at the government level, and the fiscal scale and expansion plans to realize this were comprehensively reviewed. The analysis results showed that, first, investment in higher education institutions is necessary, but there is not enough legal basis to support higher education finance. Second, it was found that the level of financial support to support innovation of higher education institutions was insufficient compared to both international and domestic standards. Third, plans to cultivate human resources at the national level are being announced, but the budget for higher education to support this has been stagnant. As a result of calculating the appropriate size of higher education finances based on the OECD average, about 10 trillion won was required. As a way to finance higher education, it proposed a method of easing tuition regulations and preparing a legal basis for financial support for higher education. In addition, to improve the financial conditions of universities, it was proposed to secure the effectiveness of the financial support plan and to expand the scope of the university's current expenses support.

An Intervention Strategy Addressing Implicit Bias in Scholarships

White students receive a disproportionate amount of private scholarships compared to their Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) peers (Kantrowitz, 2011). Scholarships provide important financial support for higher education and BIPOC students are more likely to graduate with loan debt compared to their White peers (Mishory et al., 2019). This loan debt is higher on average for BIPOC students compared to White students (Mishory et al., 2019). Scholarships could provide funding to reduce loan debt. In considering administrators who are involved in selection processes such as scholarship awarding, their implicit bias can impact judgment (Capers et al., 2017). I have sought to lessen the potential impact of implicit bias on scholarship administration through a low-cost and adaptable intervention strategy which is being piloted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The intervention includes a website, holistic training modules, campus communications and an annual meeting.

ACCESSIBILITY OF REGIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

The article analyses the issue of regional higher education systems provision with public funding per students and the degree of the current system public funding distribution correspondence to demographic trends and to the forecast of the number of potential students. The forecast of the population at the age group of 17–21 years showed that starting from 2019 within the Russian higher education system, the applicants’ number will increase. The reason for this is coming out of the 1990s «demographic hole». The current guarantee of financial support for higher education at the expense of public funds (at least 800 students for every 10,000 people from the age group of 17–30 years old) can be carried out until 2024 without increasing the volume of public funding. However, the implementation of this standard is provided only by reducing the age cohort of 25–30 years. The ratio of the predicted values of the number of potential applicants and the value of demand for regional higher education systems allowed us to identify the donor regions, the deficit regions and the recipient regions. The analysis of the current distribution of public funded places between Russian regions made it possible to identify territorial imbalances that negatively affect the ability of school graduates to receive free higher education in their home region.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Investments in education: What are the productivity gains?

Policy debate surrounding education focuses on whether governments should increase financial support for higher education. This paper addresses this issue by quantifying the impacts of additional education expenditure using an endogenous growth overlapping generations model applied to the Canadian economy. Simulation results show that tax-financed increases in education expenditure lead to sustainable productivity gains when external effects of human capital are accounted for. In addition, growth effects of gradual increases in investments in education suggest the existence of a significant scope for public policy. However, welfare gains may not be evenly distributed across generations. Cohorts entering the workforce just after the policy shocks would bear a larger share of the financing costs, while future cohorts enjoy higher earnings and welfare. The results suggest that the specification of households’ preferences may also play an important role in the assessment of education policy.

Money, Power, Equity and Higher Education

In current issue of the Journal of Medical Education, Afshar in the Editorial “The Role of Private Sector in Higher Education; From Quantity and Quality to Access and Social Justice” proposed the importance of justice and quality. (1) It seems that there are some differences between two types of private sector in higher education. One type of private financial support in higher education comes purely from private sector without any contribution of public sector. The second type of private finance in the higher education especially the type which has grown recently in Iranian higher education is a type of combination between public higher education and private sector the so called international branch of the university till recent years, and nowadays called selfgoverning campus of the university. (2) In this type of private contribution to public higher education those who have no or little money must pass very hard national examination to be accepted in the university, and those who can pay the tuition fee could enter to the best schools of that university without the exam (in the first year of the project) or by loose standards or lower cut off scores. Actually, this is an instance of the double standards. One of the elements of being equitable and avoiding discrimination is to prevent undue achievement by the owners of the power such as owners of political, religious, economic, or military power, and to avoid any distinction according to race, colour, sex, language, and etc. (3) In this type of private money absorption in the higher education, while the others have no extra way to enter to the university that would lead to achievement of scientific power, the owners of the economic powers’ daughters and sons could have a special chance to achieve scientific power by the power of their parents, and there is a different criterion to enter the university based on non-scientific differences. In such situation growing student movements against commercialism of knowledge and education which is contrary to their culture and also against fair distribution of educational opportunities is probable. (4-6) In this condition the pressure of stigma on the student with lower scores in the entrance and the other examinations is not ethically acceptable either. The other problem of this type of private financial support in higher education is the matter of distinguishing the clear border between public sector incomes regarding the private one. Some similar studies in combining public and private healthcare services showed that it is the private sector that finally has income from the public one contrary to the presuppositions. (7) From another view supporters of self-governing branch (previously called international branch, while it doesn’t have real international students, faculty members or staffs) could state some benefits for private contribution to public sector higher education such as taking financial resources from private to the public, preventing capital leakage of rich people in the country to abroad. More over, It is said that “it is better to spend your money to attain knowledge and degree comparing with those who spend their talents and academic knowledge and degree to attain money in an unethical way”; namely if rich persons tend to spend their money to improve their family members knowledge and to help the scientific sector of the public, it would be appreciated as a good practice and act. on the other hand, could see some talent students or graduates who committed immoral practices such as a case in which a doctor explicitly states to the laboratory or other Para clinics colleague: “how much do I get if I send you patients?” (8) Conclusion: Entering best fields of best universities by the lower cut off scores comparing other similar applicant merely because of parents’ economic status could consider as an exemplary of unequal opportunity for equal ones. Helping public science sector of the society via paid tuitions may diminishes the ugliness of injustice, however public sector incomes clearance is essential to make public benefit claims real and documented. In the other hand stigmatization of the student with lower scores after their entrance to the university also seems to be unethical.

The Governor and the State Higher Education Executive Officer: How the Relationship Shapes State Financial Support for Higher Education

ABSTRACTResearchers have shown renewed interest during the past decade in the relationships among politics, policy, finance, and governance of higher education at the state level. Little attention, however, has been paid to state higher education executive officers (SHEEOs), the individuals responsible for leading the agencies that oversee higher education in the 50 states. Of noteworthy interest is the fact that the states vary in regard to the nature of the institutional relationship between the SHEEO and the governor, who has been shown in the literature to exert a strong influence over state higher education policy and finance. To explore the relationship, we developed measures that capture relevant dimensions of the relationship between the 2 actors and tested the impact of these measures on state spending for higher education using a unique panel of state-level data spanning more than 2 decades. We found that the institutional relationship between the SHEEO and the governor has a significant impact on state support for higher education.

British Asian women and the costs of higher education in England

This article will examine Asian women’s experiences of financial support in higher education. The article is based on 30 in-depth interviews with Asian women who were studying at a ‘new’ (post-1992) university in the South East of England. Women identified themselves as Muslim, Hindu and Sikh. The findings reveal that women’s religious and cultural background affects their attitudes towards financial support whilst at university. Through their participation in higher education, women are able to use their social and ethnic capital to enable them to receive financial and other kinds of support necessary for their success in higher education.

The Effect of Public Support on College Attainment

This study estimates the extent that state financial support for higher education raises college attainment. Despite its manifest importance for policy, this is the first study to estimate this effect directly. Many studies have estimated the effect of college price on attendance, but state support for higher education and college price do not have a one-to-one correspondence. Moreover, state support for higher education can affect enrollment through college quality, not just price. A two-stage instrumental-variables approach is employed to account for the possibility that state funding for higher education may endogenously depend on anticipated college enrollment. Using 22 years of U.S. interstate data (1985-2006) and controlling for fixed state effects, the results of this study indicate that state funding for higher education has significant causal effects on both college enrollment and degree attainment. The estimated state-support elasticity of college enrollment and college degree attainment is about 0.35.

Ability transmission, endogenous fertility and educational subsidy

In this study, we attempt to investigate how educational subsidy, childcare allowance and family allowance affect economic growth and income distribution on the basis of simulation models which incorporate intergenerational ability transmission and endogenous fertility. The simulation results show that financial support for higher education can both increase economic growth and reduce income inequality, especially if the abilities of parent and child are closely correlated. In contrast with educational subsidy, raising childcare allowance or family allowance has limited impacts on growth and income inequality.

PARADIGMA PERAN DEKAN IDEAL: THE DOVE, THE DRAGON, DAN THE DIPLOMAT DALAM MEMBANGUN FAKULTAS YANG KUAT

The management of a faculty should encourage staff participation for a change. A decreasing trend of government financial support for higher education pushes a faculty to be more efficient in financial plan. In line with this, a good faculty should develop harmonious relationship internally and externally. Such is a strong collaboration which may lead to positive process, input, output and outcome. To get a maximum outcome, there are at least five aspects to strengthen; strengthening of steering core, building network, developing resources, diversifying funding base, and developing a culture of entrepreneurship. To achieve these aspects, a dean should play roles as a dove, a dragon and as a diplomat.

The “Net Worth” of Applied Learning: How Holocaust Survivors Counter Educational Consumerism

Shrinking financial support for higher education has renewed interest in market-based approaches that define education as a consumer transaction. This model fails to acknowledge many character-based dimensions of experiential learning. Testimonies from Holocaust survivors reveal three habits of character not captured by educational models that focus primarily on efficiency: embracing personal agency, readiness to act in the face of uncertainty, and creative adaptability that builds resilience to setbacks.

Commodification of Education and Academic LABOUR—Using the Balanced Scorecard in a University Setting

The dissatisfaction with the financial performance of public enterprises in the 1980s led governments to embrace the rhetoric of free markets, and commercialize many state sector activities. This movement has included universities. In many countries, the state began reducing financial support for higher education, encouraged competition and demanded financial self-dependency. A new managerialism entered universities and ubiquitous management philosophies such as the total quality management (TQM) and the balanced scorecard (BSC) have been tested in some universities, such as the one described in this paper. Pressure upon unit cost has been accompanied and reinforced by the institution of quasi-market funding mechanisms. In the pursuit of business-like efficiency, performance targets and measures have been introduced to measure and evaluate the productivity of individual academics and their departments. The translation of public sector activities into private sector vocabulary calls for managers to re-present the organization in the appropriate economic terms. The BSC and TQM philosophies are central economic vocabularies that have been utilized by some public sector organizations. The paper utilizes Habermas’s critical theory of societal development to evaluate the incidence of TQM and BSC implementation in corporate universities. It argues that although the state presumes that market-based vocabularies like TQM and BSC promotes efficiency and effectiveness in organizations, through their application the very essence of education is jeopardized. The effect of these developments has seen a progressive commodification of students and academic labour. Treating education as a private good, and students as customers, is a constitutive re-ordering of university life, and potential degradation of its function in society.

A Model For Gathering Stakeholder Input For Setting Research Priorities At The Land-Grant University

The American public is demanding higher accountability from land-grant universities as evidenced by declining financial support for higher education where the majority of agricultural research is conducted. Reasons for declining financial support may be a perception of disenfranchisement and concern by stakeholders that public dollars spent on research only benefits a narrow segment of the economy. In light of declining public support for publicly funded research, the 1998 Farm Bill (Public Law 105-185) stated that stakeholder input must be collected when setting research priorities. This paper advances a model for collecting and implementing stakeholder input into setting research priorities at land-grant universities that is grounded in Guba and Lincoln's Fourth Generation Evaluation theoretical model (1989). The proposed model describes a process that will streamline and facilitate gathering stakeholder input in a direct and user-friendly manner. This model should be tested and further refined at other land-grant institutions to meet the current and pressing need for greater public accountability. Implications of this study include a discussion of the importance of collecting stakeholder input and consequences of operating without community participation.

From Theory to Practice: Implementing a State-Level Comparator-Based Funding Request and Allocation Model

Community colleges have become among the most popular public higher education institutions in the nation to provide transfer, technical, developmental, business and industry, and community service education. Once considered the junior partner in the higher education enterprise (and on average receiving less state aid per student than their four-year counterparts), public community colleges now provide education to more than one-half of all citizens enrolled in postsecondary education. In the last decade, they have also become the core workforce development institutions of our nation. In many ways, these institutions have seen their role and mission evolve to the point that they now have goals that in many respects resemble those defined for land grant universities, established by the Morrill Act during the nineteenth century (Cohen & Brawer, 1996). Public community college leaders often lament that their institutions are low on the food chain when it comes to their state's funding priorities. This may be due partially to the lack of attention paid to cost-and-benefit analyses in funding requests. Policymakers around the nation will likely find themselves spending increasing amounts of time validating fair and equitable funding allocation criteria (Burke & Serban, 1998). As the squeeze on available state aid becomes increasingly oppressive, comparing costs outlays to the investment returns gained by states were they to invest more in community college education will become a higher priority for community college leaders. Yet barriers exist to promoting this position (Goodchild, Lovell, Hines, & Gill, 1997), among which include the following: (a) a noticeable inability of college leaders to demonstrate that community colleges are underfunded, especially in the context of their sizable contributions to life in America, (b) the lack of consensus among policymakers regarding efficient and equitable policy options that a state's higher education systems might choose in making resource requests and allocation decisions, (c) a dearth of consistent and timely research that explores, tests, and develops functional theories of state funding, and (d) the absence of ongoing examinations of how existing funding model practices affect postsecondary education institutions and the broader society they seek to serve. Literature Review As the new millennium begins, a variety of methods exist for requesting and allocating state funds to support the operation of public community colleges (Breneman & Taylor, 1996). Practitioners and scholars with an understanding of the theories, practices, and nuances in the finance and funding strategies employed by community college systems recognize that one approach to state aid does not fit all. Indeed, a plethora of forces unique to each state environment shape how funding requests and distributions are made. The rationales and methods that state policymakers use to allocate financial support for higher education can be nearly as important as the amount of that support (Richardson, Bracco, Callan, & Finney, 1999). More pointedly, an acceptable sense of fair play must exist in any funding allocation model. Moreover, the methods selected for allocating state funds typically must be viewed as affordable as well as politically acceptable to those approving and those receiving state financial support. Funding can be complex, highly politicized, and not prone to easy solutions (Kane, 1999). Although seldom discussed in a scholarly framework, politicizing of funding practices can be potent: The history of political parties in power and the relative pecking order of the various sectors consuming public funds, including higher education, play a major role in funding allocation decisions (McKeown & Alexander, 1986). Currently, in many states, the responsibility for establishing state funding allocations to public institutions of postsecondary education lies directly with each state's legislative bodies. …

Selective Attrition in a Newly Hostile Regime: The Case of 1980 Sophomores

For every American birth cohort since 1905 social background effects have declined as the cohort moves through the educational system. Pre-1955 birth cohorts pursued schooling during rapid educational expansion and increasing financial support for higher education. In the 1980s, however, tuitions rose sharply and public financial support for higher education declined. This reversal may have increased the relative importance of social background for college entry. Analysis of High School and Beyond 1980 sophomores suggests that in the 1980s social background became more important for college entry than for high school completion. This finding both captures the experience of more recent cohorts and implies that the previous pattern of declining background effects cannot be understood as primarily the result of selective attrition of the disadvantaged