Higher Education Research Institute Research Articles

Has the Quality of Accounting Education Declined?

ABSTRACT For decades, prominent members of the accounting community have argued that the quality of accounting education is falling. Support for this claim is limited because of a scarcity of data characterizing the constructs of interest. This study is a comparative evaluation of the quality of accounting education from the 1970s to the 2000s using unique data to quantify education quality for accounting and many comparison disciplines. I find that, compared to most other types of college education, accounting education quality has been steady or increasing over the sample period. However, relative to other business degree programs, the evidence is mixed. The quality of students self-selecting non-accounting business degrees has increased while the quality of accounting students has not. The disparity in student quality is not reflected in the pay received by accounting graduates, which has remained stable relative to the pay received by graduates with other business degrees, although this result is likely influenced by regulatory changes during the 2000s, including Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). Together, the evidence suggests that the quality of accounting education has not declined rapidly over the last four decades, but in the competition among business degree programs for high-quality students, accounting has underperformed. Data Availability: Data used in this study are available in the Freshman and Senior Surveys of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles; the IPUMS-USA database, which is compiled and distributed by the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota; the National Survey of College Graduates, which is available from the National Science Foundation; and the General Social Survey, which is maintained by the National Opinion Research Center at The University of Chicago.

Higher education research institutes in Chinese universities

Initially emerged in 1978, higher education research institutes (HERIs) in Mainland China have experienced rapid expansion and have become a major force in higher education reform in the last three decades. The development of these research institutes is closely related to the substantive growth of the higher education system itself as well as research development. This article outlines the trajectory of HERIs' growth in Mainland China, from its history through to its current development. This article also provides an overview of these institutes' roles and functions, as well as exploring future developmental trends and challenges facing them.

The Quest for Meaning and Wholeness: Spiritual and Religious Connections in the Lives of College Faculty by Jennifer A. Lindholm (review)

Reviewed by: The Quest for Meaning and Wholeness: Spiritual and Religious Connections in the Lives of College Faculty by Jennifer A. Lindholm William Buhrman Jennifer A. Lindholm. The Quest for Meaning and Wholeness: Spiritual and Religious Connections in the Lives of College Faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2014. Hardcover: 40.00$. ISBN 978-1-118-27147-6. Jennifer Lindholm’s provocative title comes from her administration of the 2012 Faculty Belief and Values Survey (FBVS). The survey, completed by more than 9,000 faculty members at over 250 institutions, investigated faculty attitudes towards spirituality and religion and, importantly, how these reflect the values they hold about their work in higher education. The Faculty Belief and Values Survey follows a significant pedigree of previous studies stemming from Lindholm’s collaboration with Alexander Astin and Denise Astin on the Spirituality in Higher Education Project. Their previous surveys include a set of items on the Triennial National Survey of College Faculty in 2004 (sponsored by the Higher Education Research Institute) and the College Student’s Belief and Values Survey (CSBV) in 2004 and 2007. The Faculty Belief and Values Survey stems from this collaboration, which developed the definitions used for measuring spirituality and religion on the CSVB as well as the survey items that might reveal the behaviors that college students associate with them. The processes and findings of the CSBV appear in Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Student’s Inner Lives (Jossey-Bass, 2011). This volume is referenced frequently in Lindholm’s current work. Those looking for more information on Lindholm’s guiding vision and previous conclusions will want to have Cultivating the Spirit at hand. Lindholm’s current book is divided into seven chapters that describe the empirical results of the Faculty Belief and Values Survey. Included also are a brief foreword, preface, and epilogue, each adding a glimpse into Lindholm’s own views about the role of spirituality in education. The first chapter describes the relationship of this survey to the prior studies of the Spirituality in Higher Education Project and provides background about the central operational definitions used to develop the test’s measures and items. [End Page 174] The second chapter gives a general picture of the spiritual and religious attitudes of faculty across a variety of characteristics including age, race, gender, as well as institutional and political affiliations. The remaining four chapters describe the results of the survey items with three dedicated to the spirituality measures and one to the religious. Following the protocol of the Spirituality and Higher Education Project, Lindholm distinguishes spirituality from religion. The former concerns a “multifaceted” attempt to answer life’s “big questions,” while the latter refers to behavioral or intellectual reactions to organized religion. The two have been separated to acknowledge that respondents may not necessarily associate religious beliefs and values with spiritual ones. Whether or not one agrees, noting this distinction is critically important to an informed reading of the book. Given their popular usage, it is easy to slip into reading these two terms as synonyms and thereby misconstrue Lindholm’s explanation of the data. Nine measures make up the survey and, of those, five focus on spirituality. “Spiritual quest” considers the importance of seeking meaning in life, of valuing beauty, and of becoming a loving person who possesses inner harmony. The “ethic of caring” inquires about the respondent’s concern for others, the desire to provide assistance to those in need, and a commitment to social justice. “Ecumenical worldview” measures the degree to which one views the world as interconnected and as calling for acceptance of others. The fourth measure, “charitable involvement,” queries participation in service activities and or other “helping behaviors” to friends or charities, including making monetary donations. Fifth, “equanimity” concerns one’s experience of “a dynamic state of internal equilibrium, or mental and emotional balance” with an internal “sense of calmness and peace” and an outward “sense of poise” (p. 158). The remaining four measures focus on participation in a religious faith tradition. The internal measure on “religious commitment” asks faculty the degree to which they seek to follow religious beliefs and feel those beliefs to be central to their identity. The “religious...

Malaysia's National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN): narrowing the research-policy gap in a dynamic higher education system

Policy decision-making in Malaysia has long used an approach based on intuition, ideology, or conventional wisdom. But as Malaysian society matures within an increasingly complex policy environment, a move toward an evidence-based approach to public policy-making is called for. This paper discusses the experience of the National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN) in its attempts at linking research to higher education policy formulation. The main aim is to understand the perspectives of the IPPTN researchers regarding the use and impact of higher education research on policy-making, and the challenges they experienced. The findings provide insights into the future of evidence-based higher education policy-making in Malaysia and the IPPTN's capacity and capability for evidence-based policy research.

MOOCing STEM courses: for what purpose and which audiences? (221.1)

The continuing campus, public, and even state legislature conversations about the big (massive!) enrollments in the first waves of MOOCs, coupled with a course inventory that includes lots of higher end (upper‐division and graduate‐level) STEM courses, has served as a catalyst for great aspirations and broad discussion about using MOOCs to transform the delivery and the learner experience in STEM courses. Yet a careful examination of several key issues, including content development, instructional infrastructure, and assessment/certification, suggests that any effort “to MOOC” core STEM courses will require the significant investment of time, money, and other resources on the part of professors, instructional support personnel, and academic programs. Moreover, credit remains the coin of the realm in academe: awarding credit and certifying competency pose real challenges for those who wish to leverage MOOCs to advance and enhance STEM education.BIO: Kenneth C. Green is the founding director of The Campus Computing Project, the largest continuing study of eLearnng and information technology in American higher education. From 1983‐89 Green was the associate director of UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute where he was involved in research on STEM pipeline issues.

Effects of diversity experiences on socially responsible leadership over four years of college.

Regarding collegiate experiences, several studies have examined the effects of diversity experiences on educational, psychosocial, and other college outcomes (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). However, there exists a limited body of research, which has focused on the impact of those types of experiences on leadership development among students attending institutions of higher education. This study examined the impact of college students’ experiences with diversity on leadership growth and development, particularly the social change model’s concept of socially responsible leadership (Higher Education Research Institute [HERI], 1996). Using data from a multi-institutional longitudinal study, the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study investigated the association between diversity experiences and socially responsible leadership, among 1,946 students from the beginning to the end of their collegiate careers. The findings of the present study parallel the prior research, which support the positive effects of diversity on college students, by suggesting that diversity experiences positively impact student leadership development. Also, this study addressed relevant implications for higher education and student affairs professionals.

The Data Portal of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the German Open Government Approach

A German online data portal containing tables with statistical data material was launched in early summer 2011. This is offered by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and implemented by the HIS Higher Education Research Institute. The portal is intended as an information system for research support as well as a data source for ministries, press, businesses and interested private citizens. It offers a wide range of data in the fields of education, research and innovation. The portal covers, amongst others, partially very long time series from the paper based publication „Federal Report on Research and Innovation“ and the former paper series „Basic and Structural Data“. It comprises more than 400 tables from different sources (e.g. Federal Statistical Office, European Union, OECD, Centre for European Economic Research, HIS Higher Education Information System, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training). The data portal is regularly updated, namely, several times a year, as soon as recent data is available from any source.

Agent Based Model of Young Researchers in Higher Education Institutions

Group of young researchers in higher education institutions in general perform demandable tasks with relatively high contribution to institutions' and societies' innovation production. In order to analyse in more details interaction among young researchers and diverse institutions in society, we aim toward developing the numerical simulation, agent-based model. This article presents foundations of the model, preliminary results of its simulation along with perspectives of its further development and improvements.

Racially Minoritized Students at U.S. Four-Year Institutions

Racially attending U.S. colleges and universities are often compared to their White peers in research studies, generally emphasizing their cultural deficits, masking group achievement, and homogenizing within group variations. This article reports data for who participated in the national 2000 College Senior Survey administered by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) housed at Higher Education Research Institute. Using descriptive data and chi-square tests, the findings draw a picture of these that does not presume homogenous characteristics or experiences and challenges some previously established beliefs about this population. Implications for research and practice are provided.Keywords: of color; higher education; demographics; cultural deficit modelsIntroductionOver the past fifty years, Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Native American have enrolled in college in steadily increasing numbers (El-Khawas, 2003). These groups constitute those who have been in U.S. society. The term racially students as opposed to of color or is informed by Benitez's (2010) use of minoritized and similar to this usage is intended to refer to the process [action vs. noun] of student minoritization (p. 131) that reflects an understanding of minority status as that which is socially constructed in specific societal contexts. Current presidential initiatives focused on college access and completion (Brandon, 2009) demand greater attention be paid to having an informed picture of in college and how to support their success.Researchers studying college typically make racial or ethnic comparisons within the samples, depicting White as more successful and prepared for college than students. Such findings reflect a cultural deficit approach (Flores, Cousin, & Diaz, 1991; Rendon, Jalomo, & Nora, 2000) that centers the experiences, habits, and characteristics of White as normative and optimal. The achievements of are rendered invisible and insignificant inasmuch as they fall short of the achievements made by White or as aberrant if they rise above them. Moreover, a cultural deficit approach masks the heterogeneity within and across the racial and ethnic groups that comprise students. Consequently, appear to be generally deficient in cultural capital, underprepared, and at risk for attrition, while the systemic structural inequities that contribute to uneven patterns of educational persistence and achievement are ignored (Chavous et al., 2002; Rendon, Jalomo, & Nora, 2000). Given this situation, it is vital to construct an understanding of that does not use a cultural deficit approach to transform higher education policy and practice to better ensure the successful matriculation and graduation of these students. This depiction studies pre-college characteristics, college involvement, and satisfaction among college students. College achievement was not included because the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), who granted access to these data, is using college achievement data in current analyses of pre-college and college achievement among students.Literature ReviewThis literature review includes studies that have examined the pre-college characteristics and campus involvement of college and takes a thematic approach, characterizing the general conclusions of the literature, and ends with a discussion of the purpose of this study and how it extends the current literature.Pre-College CharacteristicsGenerally, research on students' pre-college characteristics has portrayed on average as less academically talented, more in need of remedial education upon matriculating to college, and lacking the cultural capital and family support necessary for college success (Kuh et al. …

Mentoring young adults in the development of social responsibility

1 A NEW GENERATION OF YOUNG ADULTS Much has been written about the characteristics of Generation X and the Millennials, but at this point, they have been out of college for more than 10 years. In this paper, university students under the age of 25 are referred to as quarterlifers, because they are in the first quarter of their lives. In Helping College Students Find Purpose, Nash & Murray (2010) described the quarterlife period as a tumultuous time for most students because it triggers overwhelming anxieties about the past, present, and future. Many quarterlife students are plagued with worry about failure, for example, living up to others' expectations, letting go of the comfortable securities of childhood, coming to terms with the growing tension between freedom and responsibility, and constantly comparing themselves to their peers and coming up short (Robbins, 2004). Some quarterlifers, especially those in the United States, openly admit that they just do not want to grow up, and what they dread most is the need to return home to live with their parents after they graduate from college. 1.1 Purpose and meaning for young adults At the same time, quarterlifers look at their time in college as an opportunity to find purpose and meaning in their lives and to pursue their dreams. According to Nash & Murray (2010), purpose has to do with pursuing certain goals, reaching resolutions, seeking results, and realising particular objectives and ends in those worlds. Meaning, on the other hand, has to do with how we understand our lives on an ongoing basis. Meaning is about interpretations, rationales, perspectives, and belief systems that we bring to the various worlds in which we live and work. Meaning involves the search for a sense of connection and significance. What makes purposes worthwhile or justifiable to quarterlifers depends on those meanings that they attach to them and that drive their behaviours. Nash & Murray (2010) believe that too often in higher education, we insist that students achieve a whole host of academic and career purposes without first helping them to formulate systems of meaning to inform these purposes. Without developing sound and enduring whys, students often find their well-intended hows to be short-lived and directionless. In the long run, it is the whys that will help students experience the genuine satisfactions of making a difference in the lives of others. 1.2 Visions and dreams of young adults The quarterlife years is also a time of discovering and following dreams. In Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, Parks (2000) addressed the question of purpose and meaning for young adults. She believes that the Dream, with a capital D, has a quality of vision, that is, it is an imagined possibility that orients meaning, purpose, and aspiration. The formation of a worthy Dream is a critical task for young adults, and in its fullest sense, is a sense of vocation. Vocation conveys calling and meaningful purpose, in which young adults recognise that what they do with their time, talents, and treasure is most meaningfully conceived not as a matter of mere personal passion or preference but in relationship to the whole of life (Parks, 2000). They look to those who are beyond the quarterlife years for inspiration and guidance. 1.3 Enhancing the inner lives of young adults Researchers at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California at Los Angeles conducted a seven-year study of university students to examine the role that college plays in facilitating the development of students' inner lives, including their search for meaning and the pursuit of their dreams. Astin et al (2010) organised the findings around 10 spiritual and religious measures. Two of these measures are relevant to the development of social responsibility in young adults: spiritual quest and ethic of caring. 1.3.1 Spiritual Quest In the HERI study, Spiritual Quest reflects the degree to which the student is actively searching for meaning and purpose in life, to become a more self-aware and enlightened person, and to find answers to life's big questions. …

“Listening Dangerously”: Dialogue Training as Contemplative Pedagogy

Contemplative pedagogies in higher-education classrooms employ methods adapted from meditative practices in great religious traditions in order to enhance student learning and to fulfill the historic purpose of a liberal arts education: to discover the nature of human life. Our Western education systems were originally derived from religious settings in which questions about what it means to be human were paramount. Over the centuries, through the influences of the European Enlighten- ment, modern science, and postmodernism, questions about personal identity and the meaning of life increasingly have been removed from our classrooms and deemed inappropriate for the university. Now, in a rebalancing of priorities in higher educa- tion, the pendulum is swinging the other direction, largely driven by the insistence of our students, who indicate the centrality of religion and spirituality in their expecta- tions of college curricular and cocurricular offerings. The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California Los Angeles conducted a seven-year study that surveyed more than one hundred thousand college students, matriculat- ing freshmen attending 236 diverse colleges and universities across the country, and reported this: The study reveals that today's college students have very high levels of spiri- tual interest and involvement. Many are actively engaged in a spiritual quest and in exploring the meaning and purpose of life. They are also very engaged and involved in religion, reporting considerable commitment to their religious beliefs and practices. As they begin college, freshmen have high expectations for the role their institutions will play in their emotional and spiritual develop- ment. They place great value on their college enhancing their self-understand- ing, helping them develop personal values, and encouraging their expression of spirituality. 1

Precursors of Professionalism in Senior-Level Undergraduate Business Students and the Implications of These Precursors for Business Education and the Profession

Understanding the professional identity of senior-level undergraduate business students may shed light on the rampant unethical acts of business managers in industry. Business education is the largest segment of undergraduate majors, constituting more than 20% of students in four-year institutions, year after year. To explain the professional identity of business students, this study uses prior theoretical frameworks to model the precursors of professionalism — “autonomy of judgment,” “desire for expertise,” “self-concept,” and “social agency.” This study uses data from the College Senior Survey (CSS) collected by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA for two academic years 2006-2008.

Spirituality Supports Student Leadership Development

Spirituality Supports Student Leadership Development

Catching up with information literacy assessment: Resources for program evaluation

April 2012 202 In March 2009, the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA released its triennial report on national faculty norms for 2007–08, which were based on survey responses from 22,562 full-time faculty at 372 four-year colleges and universities nationwide. For 97.2 percent of the faculty surveyed, helping students to evaluate the quality and reliability of information was a top goal for undergraduate education. Information literacy is the evaluation of the quality and reliability of information, paired with the ability to use that information legally and ethically. Academic librarians charged with developing a reliable assessment tool for their libraries’ information literacy instruction programs can find a wealth of resources that are readily available from both commercially and institutionally developed and administered products that are used among librarian peers across the country and throughout the world. In an article that appeared in the November 2010, issue of C&RL News, Jennifer Jarson provided links to several such resources. The goal of this article is to build on the assessment links Jarson provided. Her stated goal was to “guide readers to important resources for understanding information literacy and to provide tools for readers to advocate for information literacy’s place in higher education curricula.” In addition to the information on resources and tools, Jarson provided links to universities whose assessment tools were available for review on their Web sites. For this article, selected Web sites have been accessed and evaluated further. A handful of additional information resources have been profiled, including new Web sites that offer a variety of assessment tool formats.

Cultivating Character Through Community Service: Community Service as a Predictor of College Student’s Pro-Social Character Development

Character development has become a topic among college administrators and student service professionals as well as parents and students. Although a laudable and much-needed area of investigation, there is a lack of data measuring the impact and efficacy of factors that might support pro-social character development in college students. The purpose of this study was to discover what factors best predict and therefore promote pro-social character in college students with the focus in this case on activities, goals, and values related to community service. This research also examined how activities, goals, and values related to community service predict other standard collegiate program measurements, including satisfaction with campus community, satisfaction with interaction with other students, and overall satisfaction with college. Secondarily, this study also examined the influence of gender, institutional characteristics, residential status, and major field of study in predicting pro-social character development. This research utilized a longitudinal study which examined the relationship between character self-ratings by students on the CSBV2003 (College Students Beliefs and Values Survey) and aforementioned variables in the CSBV2003, the SIF2000 (Student Information Form), and the CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program) higher education institutional characteristics regarding type, control, and selectivity, using the database maintained by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) of UCLA. The design of the study employed Causal Analytic Modeling with Blocked Regression Analysis (CAMBRA) on quantitative data derived from the SIF (2000) and CSBV (2003) surveys on a representative sampling of college students comprising the cohort of entering first-year students in fall 2000 at forty-six colleges and universities of which 12,030 students were sent the CSBV2003 with 3,680 students responding. This study utilized CAMBRA within the IEO model (Input-Environment-Outcome) developed by Astin and colleagues at the HERI to utilize advantages of CAMBRA and best allow for sequential modeling and causal analysis for studying what factors best support certain outcomes. The goal was to better understand and highlight the variables that best predict pro-social character development in college students so that college administrators and faculty, as well as parents and students, can promote pro- social character development. The hypotheses included that predictors of pro-social character development included involvement in activities, goals, and values related to community service. The student self-ratings were divided into four major groups: achievement orientation- which included courage, creativity, dependability, drive-to- achieve, leadership ability, and self-confidence (intelligence); compassionate self- concept, which included altruism, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, generosity, gratefulness, helpfulness, kindness, and patience; social, which included cooperativeness, humility, loyalty, open-mindedness, respectfulness, self-awareness, self-confidence (social), self-understanding, and understanding of others; and other collegiate outcomes, which included emotional health, physical health, spirituality, religiousness, satisfaction with sense of community, satisfaction with interaction with students, and satisfaction with overall college experience. Activities, goals and values related to community service had a significant predictive relationship with all of the self-ratings. Secondary factors examined including the influence of gender, institutional characteristics, residential status, and major field of study had mixed results in predicting pro-social character development. The results offer insights into the impact of community service on pro-social character development in college students and may shed light on the importance of related programs and activities for college students for shaping college student’s lives.

The Power of Peer Relationships in Shaping Character: Peer Relationships as a Predictor of College Student Pro-Social Character Development

Character development has become a topic among college administrators and student service professionals as well as parents and students. Although a laudable and much-needed area of investigation, there is a lack of data measuring the impact and efficacy of factors that might support pro-social character development in college students. The purpose of this study was to discover what factors best predict and therefore promote pro-social character in college students with the focus in this case on activities, goals, and values related to student peer relationships. This research also examined how activities, goals, and values related to student peer relationships predict other standard collegiate program measurements, including satisfaction with campus community, satisfaction with interaction with other students, and overall satisfaction with college. Secondarily, this study also examined the influence of gender, institutional characteristics, residential status, and major field of study in predicting pro-social character development. This research utilized a longitudinal study which examines the relationship between character self-ratings by students on the CSBV2003 (College Students Beliefs and Values Survey) and aforementioned variables in the CSBV2003, the SIF2000 (Student Information Form), and the CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program) higher education institutional characteristics regarding type, control, and selectivity, using the database maintained by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) of UCLA. The design of the study employed Causal Analytic Modeling with Blocked Regression Analysis (CAMBRA) on quantitative data derived from the SIF (2000) and CSBV (2003) surveys on a representative sampling of college students comprising the cohort of entering first-year students in fall 2000 at forty-six colleges and universities of which 12,030 students were sent the CSBV2003 with 3,680 students responding. This study utilized CAMBRA within the IEO model (Input-Environment-Outcome) developed by Astin and colleagues at the HERI to utilize advantages of CAMBRA and best allow for sequential modeling and causal analysis for studying what factors best support certain outcomes. The goal was to better understand and highlight the variables that best predict pro-social character development in college students so that college administrators and faculty, as well as parents and students, can promote pro-social character development. The hypotheses included that predictors of pro-social character development included involvement in activities, goals, and values related to student peer relationships. The student self-ratings were divided into four major groups: achievement orientation- which included courage, creativity, dependability, drive-to- achieve, leadership ability, and self-confidence (intelligence); compassionate self- concept, which included altruism, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, generosity, gratefulness, helpfulness, kindness, and patience; social, which included cooperativeness, humility, loyalty, open-mindedness, respectfulness, self-awareness, self-confidence (social), self-understanding, and understanding of others; and other collegiate outcomes, which included emotional health, physical health, spirituality, religiousness, satisfaction with sense of community, satisfaction with interaction with students, and satisfaction with overall college experience. Activities, goals and values related to student peer relationships had a significant predictive relationship with all of the self-ratings. Secondary factors examined including the influence of gender, institutional characteristics, residential status, and major field of study, which had mixed results in predicting pro-social character development. The results offer insights into the impact of student peer relationships on pro-social character development in college students and may shed light on the importance of related programs and activities for college students for shaping college student’s lives.

How to promote holistic development in university students?

How to promote holistic development in university students?

The Impact of Mentoring Relationships in Respect to Character: Faculty Student Relationships as a Predictor of Pro-Social Character Development in College Students

Character development has become a topic among college administrators and student service professionals as well as parents and students. Although a laudable and much-needed area of investigation, there is a lack of data measuring the impact and efficacy of factors that might support pro-social character development in college students. The purpose of this study was to discover what factors best predict and therefore promote pro-social character in college students with the focus in this case on activities, goals, and values related to faculty-student interactions. This study also examined how activities, goals, and values related to faculty-student interactions predict other standard collegiate program measurements, including satisfaction with sense of community, satisfaction with relevance of coursework, and overall satisfaction with college. Secondarily, this study also examined the influence of gender, institutional characteristics, residential status, and major field of study in predicting pro-social character development. This research utilized a longitudinal study which examined the relationship between character self-ratings by students on the CSBV2003 (College Students Beliefs and Values Survey) and aforementioned variables in the CSBV2003, the SIF2000 (Student Information Form), and the CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program) higher education institutional characteristics regarding type, control, and selectivity, using the database maintained by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) of UCLA. The design of the study employs Causal Analytic Modeling with Blocked Regression Analysis (CAMBRA) on quantitative data derived from the SIF (2000) and CSBV (2003) surveys on a representative sampling of college students comprising the cohort of entering first-year students in fall 2000 at forty-six colleges and universities. This study utilized CAMBRA within the IEO model (Input-Environment-Outcome) developed by Astin and colleagues at the HERI to utilize advantages of CAMBRA and best allow for sequential modeling and causal analysis for studying what factors best support certain outcomes. The goal was to better understand and highlight the variables that predict pro-social character development in college students so that college administrators and faculty, as well as parents and students, can promote pro-social character development. The hypotheses included that predictors of pro-social character development included activities, goals, and values related to faculty-student interactions. The student self-ratings were divided into four major groups: achievement orientation- which included courage, creativity, dependability, drive-to- achieve, leadership ability, and self-confidence (intelligence); compassionate self- concept, which included altruism, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, generosity, gratefulness, helpfulness, kindness, and patience; social, which included cooperativeness, humility, loyalty, open-mindedness, respectfulness, self-awareness, self-confidence (social), self-understanding, and understanding of others; and other collegiate outcomes, which included emotional health, physical health, spirituality, religiousness, satisfaction with sense of community, satisfaction with faculty interactions, satisfaction with opportunity for religious/spiritual reflection, satisfaction with relevance of coursework, and satisfaction with overall college experience. Activities, goals and values related to faculty-student interactions had a significant predictive relationship with all of the self-ratings. Secondary factors examined including the influence of gender, institutional characteristics, residential status, and major field of study, which had mixed results in predicting pro-social character development. The results offer insights into the impact of faculty-student interactions on pro-social character development in college students and may shed light on the importance of related programs and activities for college students for shaping college student’s lives.

How Students Spend Their Time

An analysis was performed of how students spend their time while pursuing a bachelor of science in civil engineering at Villanova University. The purpose of this study was to determine how many hours per week students spent both in and out of class and how the students spent their time when not in class or studying. Another purpose of this study was to provide a methodology for tracking how much time students spend on their course work that could be applied at other universities to monitor academic stress and rigor. Several data sources were used to gather data on how the students were spending their time: Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) surveys, end-of-semester course surveys, the recommended curriculum for each semester, and time logs. Overall, the data indicate that the amount of time students devote to their course work has fluctuated throughout the years. In six out of the eight semesters that students are in the program, they were found to study more often in 2011 than they did in 2004. The students were found to spend approximately 3–4 hours a week on their course work outside of class, or approximately 1–1.25 hours outside of class for every hour spent in-class. The only semester that showed consistent decline was the spring of senior year. This decrease is reflected in all three of the instruments used in the study: the nationwide HERI survey, which is administered senior year; the end-of-semester surveys; and the time logs. The time-log and HERI survey data indicate that students are spending a significant amount of time on leisure activities, as opposed to extracurricular activities or paid work. Curricular changes, which were made over the time period considered in this study, were reflected in the data—indicating that these methods can be used to monitor and assess academic rigor and make data-driven curricular decisions.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note