Foreign Professors Research Articles

Foreign Language Learning at a Technical University in the Modern Period

Abstract
 Introduction. The article is devoted to the problems of the foreign language learning at a technical university. The theoretical importance of the research is in the analysis of the existing language learning system at a technical university in light of a modern engineer’s professional activity model’s change. Grounding of certain corrections in the language learning system also provides the theoretical importance of the research. The practical importance of our research is in the modification of the existing language learning system based on the environmental and activity approaches.
 Materials and Methods. While carrying out the research we used a complex of methods; that is: literature analysis, empiric and praxymetric methods, and a modeling method.
 Results. 4 main types of an engineer’s professional activity are defined in the engineer’s activity model. These types correspond to the main activity types by M.S. Kagan’s concept – value-motivating, cognitive, reorganizing and communicative activities. An engineer’s activity results analysis led to discovering new features in the engineer’s personality structure lying in the communicative competence role increase. It was also found out that successfulness becomes a link between value-motivating and communicative activities. Consequently, we have made a conclusion on the increasing demands to the students’, masters’, post-graduates’ and academic researches’ language proficiency. Foreign language proficiency should provide for the ability to participate in the international conferences, to attend foreign professors’ lectures, and to take part in the students’ exchange programs. All of the above presupposes rather high foreign language proficiency and requires a foreign language learning system creation. The authors analyzed language learning courses at a technical university and carried out a post-graduates’ survey. As a result, lack of syllabuses being able to fill in the gaps in language proficiency and to support speech skills was found out. Basing on the conclusions mentioned above an extra multi-purpose and multi-level structure syllabus was worked out. This syllabus allowed to solve the existing programs, to increase foreign language learning and general learning motivation, to create conditions for self-development and self-realization in the professional activity. The article also describes in detail a foreign language learning system developed by the Department of Foreign Languages and Russian as a Second Language in the general learning environment of a technical university, which acquires for the modernization and reaching the education level corresponding to the leading universities’ level.
 Conclusion. The learning environment created by the Department of Foreign Languages and Russian as a Second Language of Samara National Research University named after academician S.P. Korolyov and including a compulsory language learning system and a system of extra language learning courses provides for the students’ individual needs in foreign language proficiency satisfaction at various levels. It also provides for their intellectual and moral self-development.

Challenges, Coping and Resources: A Thematic Analysis of Foreign Teachers' Experience of Cultural Adaptation in China.

The aim of this study was to explore foreign teachers’ experience of cultural and life adaptation in China, including the difficulties, emotional stress, and challenges they confronted, as well as the useful coping strategies and resources that facilitated their cultural adaptation. Ten foreign professors who taught in China were recruited from three Chinese universities. Semi-structured interviews on the participants’ experience of cross-cultural adaptation in China were conducted. Thematic analysis of the transcribed dialogs was performed, and five core themes emerged: multiple challenges, mixed negative emotions, active coping and insulation, rich supportive resources, and personal traits. In the cross-cultural adaptation process in China, the main challenges for foreign teachers were language barriers; a lack of supportive relationships; and conflicts in perceptions related to teaching, privacy, and boundaries. Useful coping strategies included seeking interpersonal interactions that provided emotional and instrumental support, developing localized teaching models, and maintaining connections with the culture of origin. Under circumstances with convenient living facilities and supportive interpersonal relationships, these strategies promoted the adaptation of foreign teachers with functional personality traits. The potential correlations among these different themes and the influence of their interactions on foreign teachers’ adaptation experience were also discussed. The themes that emerged in our study can help clinicians and university administrators develop therapy methods and support systems for foreign teachers who work in Chinese universities.

Racial/ethnic and national origin bias in SET

PurposeThis study aims to test the presence of an adverse impact against professors belonging to minority groups (African American, Asian American, Hispanic American and foreign national origin) in official student evaluation of teaching (SET).Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a series of regression analyses to compare SET rating sources and control for course difficulty.FindingsThe regression analysis results showed that White American professors receive higher SET ratings than non-White American and foreign professors, which implies the presence of bias in SET.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine race/ethnicity and national origin bias in SET using official SET results from multiple universities.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND ACADEMIC AUTONOMY OF KHARKIV IMPERATOR UNIVERSITY (1804-1835)

The peculiarities of the development of organizational and academic autonomy of Kharkiv Imperial University in 1804–1835 are highlighted. It is shown that during the specified period the dynamics of the university autonomy process was characterized by a decrease in independence. It is proved that during 1804–1814 the institution was characterized by a high level of personnel autonomy. There were appointment and dismissal of teachers and officials, training of professors), managerial and educational autonomy (opening schools, finding teachers, writing textbooks, attracting local funds for educational needs), teaching autonomy ( teachers' free choice of sources for preparation for classes, high level of academic freedoms), publishing autonomy (printing in their own printing house) and student autonomy. The reasons for the change in attitudes towards the university and its independence after 1815 are analyzed (news of the murder of a history teacher by a German student, as a result - fears of youth free-thinking by the Ministry of Education, interference in university life, division of society into supporters and establishments of higher education). The events that became natural for that time are covered. They are the attack of the government and the most reactionary figures (O. Sturdza, M. Magnytskyi, D. Runich, I. Laval, etc.) on higher education and on university autonomy, ignoring the provisions of the democratic statute of 1804, publication in periodicals of articles directed against the independence of universities; dismissal of qualified teachers, reduction of the quality of higher education, etc. The level of organizational and academic autonomy in 1815–1835 is characterized (subordination of the university administration to the trustee, who now controlled all issues of the university; introduction of strict censorship; restriction of freedom of teaching; departure of foreign professors abroad; lack of teaching staff; superior treatment of students; loss of other privileges, etc.). The role of academic freedoms in the development of the student's personality is shown (self-preparation of higher education seekers, fundamental professional training, respect for academic virtues, gratitude of the university). Key words: organizational autonomy, academic autonomy, university, academic freedoms, higher education, student training.

Saksa kultuuriruumist pärit teadlased Eesti Vabariigi Tartu Ülikooli teenistuses [Abstract: Scholars from the German Cultural Space in the Service of the Estonian Republic’s University of Tartu

Saksa kultuuriruumist pärit teadlased Eesti Vabariigi Tartu Ülikooli teenistuses [Abstract: Scholars from the German Cultural Space in the Service of the Estonian Republic’s University of Tartu

Arno Rafael Cederberg Eesti Vabariigi Tartu Ülikooli õppejõuna [Abstract: Arno Rafael Cederberg as a Professor at the Estonian Republic’s University of Tartu

Abstract: Arno Rafael Cederberg as a Professor at the Estonian Republic’s University of Tartu
 Soon after the Republic of Estonia declared itself independent on the 24th of February 1918, academics and politicians of the newly formed nation wished to found a new national university built on the foundation of the former Imperial University of Tartu. This university would teach in the Estonian language, with the aim of offering higher educational studies in Estonian, as well as building up Estonian national sciences.
 By the spring of 1919, the committee for reopening the university was ready to open the university for studies and research in the autumn of the same year. However, they were struggling to find suitably qualified professors, as Estonians had generally been excluded from the imperial university. Prior to 1918, only three Estonians had worked as professors at the University of Tartu, while others were forced to find positions at Russian universities.
 In order to avoid delaying the opening of the new university, the committee decided to invite foreign professors to fill the vacant positions. They were particularly keen on Finnish professors, with whom Estonians had formed strong ties during the early 20th century. Thus, in the first half of the 1920s, Estonian research and university life was supported by eight Finnish professors.
 This article focuses on one of them, namely Professor A. R. Cederberg, Professor of Estonian and Nordic History, and his activity and contributions to the formation of a new field of science and its study at the University of Tartu, as well as in the rest of Estonia.
 As Cederberg was an experienced archivist, he was asked to help build up the archives of Estonia and organise the collection of the Estonian National Museum, while working for the University in parallel. Despite his large workload, he was able to quickly set goals and priorities for the development of Estonian historical science and its study programme at the university. Prior to the opening of the national university, Estonian history had primarily been researched by Baltic Germans, whose goals and visions of history differed significantly from those of Estonians.
 Cederberg believed that historical research efforts should focus more on the period of Swedish rule from the 16th century until the beginning of the 18th century. This period of Estonian history had previously been largely ignored by the historical community in favour of other historical periods. While working in mainly Finnish and Scandinavian archives during summer and winter holidays, he found many sources that shed light on the period of Swedish rule in Estonia. By directing students towards researching the early modern era in Estonia, he ensured that dozens of seminar works and Master’s and Doctor’s theses were written on this subject.
 Cederberg was not convinced that the foundation of Estonian historical science could be based only on research conducted at the university. As such he decided to found the first Estonian Academic Historical Society right after his arrival in Tartu in the early 1920s. While the primary goal of this society was to get students interested in history, particularly Estonian history, the society quickly developed into the centre of Estonian historical science.
 During the eight-and-a-half years he worked at the University of Tartu, Cederberg contributed enormously to the development of Estonian historical science. He built up an entirely new field of science and study based on the histories of Estonia and the Nordic countries, and educated a plethora of outstanding young historians (such as H. Sepp, H. Kruus, P. Treiberg (Tarvel), J. Vasar, E. Blumfeldt, A. Soom, O. Liiv, G. Rauch, etc.), who vigorously and effectively continued the work their professor had started.

Innovation by foreign researchers: relative influences of internal versus external human capital

Innovation productivity of expatriate researchers and human capital that empowers them is an important issue; however, with a scarcity of relevant data, formal empirical evidence has been limited. This paper uses a rich dataset of foreign researchers at a leading German research institution to study the drivers of their innovation productivity (measured by patents and invention disclosures). Another contribution is that we examine the relative effectiveness of internal (institution-specific) and external human capital. These findings are compared to the behavior of native researchers. Results, based on a survey sample of nearly 1000 foreign researchers and taking account of the interdependence between invention disclosures and patenting, show that internal administrative leadership positions (especially group leaders) enhanced propensities to innovate, while purely academic positions (professor or guest researcher) did not positively impact innovation. With regard to external human capital, foreign researchers who were business owners or nascent entrepreneurs were more likely to innovate. Internal (institutional) experience mattered more than industry experience. Doctoral degrees seemed relatively more effective for patenting than for invention disclosures. No significant gender differences in innovation productivity were found. In contrast, while many of the influences were similar for domestic researchers, they experienced positive innovation spillovers from being directors, but domestic female researchers faced special innovation challenges. Finally, domestic professors, unlike foreign professors, did not experience negative tendencies towards innovation.

The problem of student migration in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The social and demographic situation is significantly influenced by migration processes, i.e. the decline and influx of population. If the number declining population will significantly prevail over the number of arrivals of the population can cause problems such as a decline in the birth rate and reduce the number of young population, i.e. will the aging population and the decline of the species and will experience a loss of future specialists with high intellectual and creative abilities (loss of economically active population). Also, most information resources highlight such negative consequences of student migration processes as the growth of illegal migration (migrants have a low standard of living and social conditions); the growth of social tension (between immigrants and society) due to national, cultural, religious and other differences in the new country; problems with employment in the new place. Young people, students and graduates are an intellectual potential and an important component in the development of society, a special group with a good level of mobility, intellectual activity and health, which give them an advantage over other categories of the population, represent the economic and demographic potential of the country, so the migration losses of students are undesirable in the country. Higher education in Kazakhstan has improved significantly in recent years. The government of Kazakhstan is making every effort to improve the higher education system, focusing on research, innovation and science. The Ministry of education has a special program at the invitation of foreign professors in Kazakhstan universities. When the quality of higher education in Kazakhstan becomes more competitive in the world, why do Kazakh students still want to study abroad? The article is written in the framework of the scientific project of the Ministry of education and science of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Educational migration from Kazakhstan: factors, trends and social and political consequences”. Key words: educational migration, higher education, universities, youth, state, UNESCO.

Formação continuada de professores do ensino superior: as influências de um grupo de estudos

RESUMOO presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar algumas reflexões sobre como um grupo de estudos, vinculado a um grupo de pesquisa, tem se constituído um espaço profícuo e contínuo de promoção da formação continuada de professores de línguas estrangeiras (LE) de diferentes instituições de ensino superior (IES), que não atuam em cursos de licenciatura, mas em outros cursos de graduação, como os superiores de tecnologia. Inicialmente faço uma introdução, pontuando aspectos das pesquisas em Linguística Aplicada que tratam da formação de professores, trazendo à tona a necessidade de também se pensar na formação continuada de “professores não formadores”, por esses também necessitarem de uma formação que deve acontecer ao longo da carreira para propiciar desenvolvimento profissional, social e pessoal. Na sequência faço um relato da minha experiência na criação do grupo de pesquisa a partir do qual surgiu o grupo de estudos, e posteriormente apresento como se deu a elaboração de uma nova proposta curricular de língua inglesa para um curso superior de tecnologia no qual atuo, juntamente com depoimentos de colegas professores de LE participantes do grupo de estudos, apontando o modo como nossas práticas de sala de aula têm sido influenciadas pelas leituras, discussões e reflexões promovidas pelo grupo de estudos.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Formação continuada de professores; Novos letramentos; Ensino de LE.

Analysis on the Research Excellence of Foreign Professors in Korea

Analysis on the Research Excellence of Foreign Professors in Korea

A Proposal to Enhance Cultural and Language Awarenessin the Training Ships

Mokpo National Maritime University have being aim of global competitiveness and recognition, employs foreign professors and lecturers. It also hosts foreign students to train onboard training ships in accord with the requirements of STCW 95 and its Protocols. This paper proposes the enhancement of inter-cultural and English language development onboard the training ships. It conducts a descriptive study and gathered feedback from the students on how best to enhance these professional skills in preparation for their professional lives. The responses to the questionnaire given to the cadets were tested for internal consistency and found to be very reliable at 0.951 using Chronbach’s alpha method. Summarily, the cadets “agreed” to these proposals weighing 40.4 in percentile means, while the means for “undecided” has 31.7 percent. There were numerous studies about this topic and the need for intercultural and language skills is vital to prepare the apprentice officers in this age of maritime diversity onboard ships. It is recommended that these proposal be practice and activated. Further studies is also recommended in preparation of new-building training ship and adjusting the ergonomics in the existing training ship.

Learning by doing. Case study: Education for sustainable development at the University of Latvia

Junction of possibilities offered by European research programmes in the tertiary education and technology enhanced learning open up new borders for students and young researchers; especially for the ones from institutions with less strong collaboration links to Western-Europe and overseas. University of Latvia has undertaken the challenge of designing master’s programme on education for sustainable development called ‘Natural Sciences, Global Change and Technologies for Sustainable Development’ combined with application of digital learning tools. Teaching staff was formed form several faculties of the University of Latvia, other universities, respective companies as well as foreign partner institutions to ensure transdisciplinarity and broad application of different learning tools. Along with the tuition, also international conferences and summer schools were organised. Open discussions among foreign professors and youngsters facilitate more rapid promotion of the latter. Now our students demonstrate recognised success, e.g., have joined research community in Max Planck Society, and have won the Energy Globe Award in the field of education for sustainable development. The paper describes a case study of transforming the master’s programme curriculum by employing various methods and tools.

A nation’s foreign and domestic professors: which have better research performance? (the Italian case)

This work investigates the research performance of foreign faculty in the Italian academic system. Incoming professors compose l'1% of total faculty across the sciences, although with variations by discipline. Their scientific performance measured over 2010-2014 is on average better than that of their Italian colleagues: the greatest difference is for associate professors. Psychology is the discipline with the greatest concentration of top foreign scientists. However there are notable shares of unproductive foreign professors or of those with mediocre performance. The findings stimulate reflection on issues of national policy concerning attractiveness of the higher education system to skilled people from abroad, given the ongoing heavy Italian brain drain.

외국인 대학교원의 노동법적 문제에 관한 연구

This paper examined the legal issues of hiring foreign faculty with expertise to develop higher education. First, it looked at the employment status of foreign professors at domestic universities and saw that there had been a legal barrier and legal disputes regarding recruiting foreign professors in the past. Based on this, it studied the legal issues raised in the process of hiring, hiring and ending foreign faculty. In particular, this study explored how the principle of priority employment of local citizens could be applied in the recruitment of faculty members, how such foreign faculty could be recognized as workers, and how the clause banning discrimination against nationality could be applied.

A Preliminary Study of Developing an English Learning Model for Art College-Needs Analysis and Motivation

본 연구는 예술대학 학생들을 위해 예술 전공과 언어를 통합하는 학습모형 개발을 위한 기초연구이다. 한 예술대학에서 글로벌 실용예술 중심 교육을 특성화하여 예술학부 학생들의 영어교육과 전공 교과목의 통합 커리큘럼을 개발하고자 한다. 예술대학 학생들의 예술전공 내용을 매개로 유의미한 영어 학습이 가능한 특수목적 영어(English for Specific Purpose) 프로그램 개발을 위해 먼저 학생들의 요구와 학습 동기를 조사하고 분석하였다. 예술학부 2~4학년 181명 학생의 요구분석을 시행하고 예술학부생들만 수강하는 영어강좌 ‘English Communication’에 대한 만족도와 학습 태도를 양적으로 분석하였다. 질적 연구로 학생면담, 교수면담 그리고 현장예술가들을 포함한 포커스 그룹 면담을 시행해 예술전공과 연계된 영어 학습모형을 논의하였다. 분석 결과 예술전공 학생들은 자유로운 영어 의사소통 이외에도 예술 작품의 아이디어를 영어로 표현할 수 있는 학습모형을 선호하였다. 반면에 현장예술가들과 교수들은 예술학부 학생들 간의 예술적 협업이 가능한 발표 중심의 소통능력을 향상하는 통합 학습모형을 요구하였다. 이러한분석으로 제시된 예술대학 학부생을 위한 예술전공과 영어 통합 학습은 1) 의사소통중심의 말하기 향상학습 2) 예술 중심 프로젝트 학습 그리고 3) 학생 중심 협동 학습으로 전환 할 수 있는 교수법(Theme-based Instruction 주제중심교수->Sheltered Instruction 내용보호교수) 모형을 제안할 수 있다.This paper was designed as a preliminary study for developing a learning model for art-college students in the EFL context. To find an effective integration model of Art and English, this study investigated the students’needs and motivation about their English learning quantitatively and qualitatively. This study conducted a survey on 181 art-major students and interviewed foreign professors and students to find out their needs and interest in the integration of language and art(subject-matter) learning. This study also conducted a focus group consisting of art-major students, performing artists, the dean of Art college, and a professor to recognize their perception of how they would benefit from an Art-English learning model. The study analyzed 65 students satisfaction with the English Communication class. The results of the needs analysis, interview, the focus group discussion and the class evaluation suggested the need to adopt ESP in a learning model incorporating communicative English for the field of art. The learning model(Sheltered Instruction Model) needs to focus on improving students English speaking skill, doing art projects with the cooperation of art professors, and making students self-dependent in the learning. Finally, educational implications have been discussed.

The Internationalisation of Economics and Business Studies: Import of Excellence, Cosmopolitan Capital, or American Dominance?

»Internationalisierung der Volks- und Betriebswirtschaftslehre: Exzellenzimport, kosmopolitisches Kapital oder amerikanische Dominanz?«. In recent times internationality has become an indicator for scientific excellence arguing that it will create talent, diversity, and inspiration. But what does “internationality” really stand for in science? In order to answer this question we study two of the most hierarchized and internationalised disciplines – economics and business studies – in one of the most internationalised academic labour markets – Switzerland. Based on a historical database of 411 (full and associate) university professors of economics and business studies at three benchmarks (1957, 1980, and 2000), we investigate the evolution of internationality during the second part of the 20th century, and its link to scientific prestige and recognition. For both disciplines we find an increase in foreign professors and internationalisation of Swiss professors due to doctorial and postdoctoral phases spent in the US and other shorter stays abroad. This development can first be observed in economics, but business studies have managed to “catch up.” Using three negative binomial regression models we show that Switzerland imports excellence among professors and that high scientific prestige is linked to stays abroad, especially in the dominant US fields of economics and business studies.

Human resources in the global higher education market: the presence of foreign professors in Spanish universities

Despite the existence of a global higher education market in which universities compete to attract talented academics from all over the world, most higher education institutions hire very few foreign researchers. Indeed, in Spain, only 1 in 40 academics are from abroad. This article focuses the Spanish case in order to deepen our understanding of the factors affecting the internationalisation of academic staff in the higher education sector. The analysis is based on data from the European Register of Tertiary Education Institutions and Spanish Higher Education Statistics data, collected by Spain’s National Statistics Office. The main results of this exploratory analysis show that there are differences between Spanish regions in terms of the proportion of foreign staff they hire. Moreover, at the institutional level, the most internationalised universities are relatively new institutions, and most of them are located in Catalonia. The political and economic framework in Spain discourages the hiring of international academics. However, in this context, two important insights should be highlighted: On the one hand, the differences between Catalonia and the rest of the Spanish autonomous communities show that sub‑national policies may have a strong impact on internationalisation processes in decentralised countries like Spain; on the other hand, divergence between universities shows the importance of the strategic behaviour of actors facing environmental pressures.

Digital Learning in Higher Education: A Training Course for Teaching Online - Universidade Aberta, Portugal

This paper uses qualitative evidence to describe, explore and discuss the progress of the online teaching training course taught at the Universidade Aberta to Portuguese and foreign professors of higher education institutions. As this is an entirely online course, its pedagogical design results from the combination of the basics of open distance education and network education using the Moodle 2.0 platform and other digital environments. The results point, on one hand, to a dynamic pedagogical design that addresses the need for continuous improvement, and, on the other hand, to the changes in the role of professors in virtual teaching and learning environments, and to the different and specific pedagogical strategies in need of adjustment. They also point to the strong presence of technological and pedagogical elements of innovation.

Motivations to Study Among Tourism and Hospitality Students

ABSTRACTKnowing the motivations for why students study is important because it helps plan for prospective students. This study investigated the motivations for undergraduate students to seek studies in tourism and hospitality in a Taiwanese private university and the possibility of obtaining a postgraduate degree. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed within two different programs; 899 questionnaires were returned, for a response rate of 89.9%. Students chose tourism and hospitality as majors because of the scores they achieved on the joint university entrance exam, the possibility to contact people from other countries, and the potential for career growth. Among the reasons to study abroad after graduation were opportunities to learn a foreign language and develop relationships with foreign professors and friends. The results of this study help revise pedagogy, policies, curriculum; train teachers; and provide more state-of-the-art facilities to keep students motivated and progressing.

Internationalisation - professors' mobility and teaching in foreign languages in Slovenian higher education

Teaching and research in higher education is conducted in collaboration with foreign institutions, professors and researchers and in the presence of foreign students. Slovenian students, professors and other staff, and researchers learn, train, teach and conduct research at foreign institutions. By the end of this decade, the number of our professors going abroad for at least one year and foreign professors coming to Slovenia will increase, as the objective is to have at least 10' of foreign professors by the end of the decade. To achieve top quality, internationalisation and international attractiveness of higher education institutions, the study programs should be carried out in foreign languages. For this reason, we studied how many of our professors went abroad for a period of up to one year, how it was funded, and what the purpose of their stay was. Next, we investigated how many foreign professors and experts were involved in the Slovenian higher education system and in what way. Finally, we examined how many Slovenian study programs and courses were offered in foreign languages and how many professors taught in foreign languages.