Nontraditional Higher Education Research Articles

Transforming oneself: delving into the processes of habitus transformation in the higher education field

In a context of universalization of Higher Education (HE) and fragmentation of educational trajectories, consolidating a process of educational and social mobility implies, for many students with non-traditional backgrounds, important identity conflicts. Based on 40 qualitative interviews with non-traditional working-class students enrolled in an HE institution in Barcelona (Spain), three major patterns of what we have called ‘habitus transformations’ have been identified: adaptation, substitution and dislocation or rupture. The results of this study suggest that the universalization of access to HE does not mechanically imply greater opportunities for educational success for non-traditional students. The contribution also introduces the subjective experience of being a non-traditional HE student and the emotional impacts and contradictions involved in the processes of social mobility through HE.

Research profile clusters among lecturers in non-traditional higher education. An exploratory analysis in the Swiss context

This article explores post-reform clusters of individual research profiles in non-traditional higher education through the case of lecturers employed by Swiss universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education. As elsewhere in Europe, former vocational training institutions in Switzerland were transformed into higher education institutions that each had to build a research capacity. The reliance on the integration of teaching and research at the level of the individual lecturer in this complex endeavor implies that lecturers have a role in fulfilling the public research mission. In order to empirically investigate the current outcome of the reform process, lecturers are clustered using variables related to their research role from recent survey data (N = 2454). The eleven variables used for this purpose are predominantly competence and task related, but also include demographic and motivational aspects. The findings regarding the resulting clusters empirically illustrate that the mission drift in Swiss non-traditional higher education has affected the individual research role differently. Considerable differences between lecturers within the sector exist and they can be clustered into only two similarly sized distinct profile groups. While one exhibits values for the analyzed variables suggesting that research has a low priority, the other is comprised of productive, competent, and motivated researchers. Possible ramifications of the clusters are discussed and in conclusion, several conceptual implications are drawn.

Research Profile Clusters among Lecturers in Non-Traditional Higher Education: An Exploratory Analysis in the Swiss Context

Research Profile Clusters among Lecturers in Non-Traditional Higher Education: An Exploratory Analysis in the Swiss Context

The tradies’ entrance into teaching: the challenges in designing teacher education for vocational education and training in schools

This article examines issues and challenges associated with the provision of effective professional teacher education for vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) teachers. Current minimum levels of qualifications for VETiS teachers are argued to be inadequate for the complexity of preparing senior secondary students for work in the future. VETiS teachers require a deep understanding of education and teaching that, as per their colleagues in schools, is acquired through completing a university-based teacher education program. Faculties of education are urged to enact strategies to recruit students to enter these university-based teacher education programs on the basis of their VET qualification and additional industrial experience. However, these university-based teacher education programs need to be specifically designed and tailored to the needs of these nontraditional higher education students. Evidence is presented from one such program and is used to identify potential features for an effective model of VETiS teacher education.

Modern higher education students within a non-traditional higher education space: not fitting in, often falling out

A growing number of studies are focusing on the ‘fit’ between the higher education student and the educational institution. These studies show that a lack of fit between the two generates anxiety, ultimately acting as a barrier to student learning. Research involving 23 higher education students attending a dual-sector further and higher education college in Northern Ireland was conducted in order to examine ‘this fit’. It was assumed that this fit should be greatest in a local institute serving the needs of its local population.Findings however highlight that the expectation of what a student is and should be by an institute is not in tandem to the life the student lives. Study participants cited an institute lacking in understanding; an institutional habitus that does little to make this a space that supports the learning needs of students.While this lack of understanding has been found in traditional higher education institutions, it is most surprising to find that it exists in a dual-sector organisation. The paper concludes that those who deliver higher education in this space must understand and respond to the modern-day student, before success of this initiative can be achieved.

Learning strategies and academic success in traditional and nontraditional higher education students

Aim: This paper aimed at studying the learning strategies and effort/persistence of the traditional and nontraditional students. Method: Through cluster sampling, 245 students from four major and large Islamic Azad University branches in Iran were randomly selected, and questionnaires were distributed among them. The research method was correlation and casual-comparative. Cronbach's alpha method was used to calculate the reliability. The Item analysis and expert consensus were applied to calculate the validity of instruments. Results: The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the learning strategies of these two groups of students. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the academic success of these two groups.

Possible Selves and Career Transition: Implications for Serving Nontraditional Students

Since the construct of “possible selves” was first introduced over two decades ago by Markus and Nurius (1986), a substantial body of research has explored the content, valence, origins, and motivational dynamics of possible selves in a variety of domains, including academic achievement, lifespan development, and health-related behaviors, among others. Of particular interest to educators of adult learners in higher education is the body of literature that has looked at possible selves in relation to career development and transition. However, very few studies have focused specifically on the possible selves of adult nontraditional students. The central premise of this article is that the possible selves perspective can be useful to adult educators and, in particular, to educators who work with adult nontraditional undergraduate students. Specifically, this article: (a) describes in general terms the possible selves perspective, (b) reviews selected possible selves literature related to career transitions and adult undergraduate students, and (c) discusses the implications for nontraditional higher education practice and research.

For-Profit And Non-Traditional Higher Education In The Wild, Wild West

For-Profit And Non-Traditional Higher Education In The Wild, Wild West

Lessons from the Edge: For-Profit and Nontraditional Higher Education in America (review)

Lessons from the Edge: For-Profit and Nontraditional Higher Education in America (review)

Lessons from the Edge: For-Profit and Non-Traditional Higher Education in America

Lessons from the Edge: For-Profit and Non-Traditional Higher Education in America

24 X 7: The Sunderland Experience

The University of Sunderland is committed to widening participation. This means we attract a wide range of students from the non-traditional higher education sector, and an increasing population of international students. The need to support and develop these students' study skills is important and the libraries are seen as central to the strategy in providing both quality learning environments and resources. We are aware of factors such as almost 90% of our students also have part time jobs; increasingly our students can be based in a partner college or are distance learners. Our commitment to learners should be proactive, in providing a quality-learning environment when they need it regardless of their personal life styles and commitments. The need to provide flexible access is vital and was an important planning factor when looking at our service provision and developing the buildings. Libraries also have an important role in supporting student recruitment and retention. To be customer focused we need to recognise students' pastoral needs where they affect their learning needs, and in the case of international students this may include making provision for real time contact with their families. Meanwhile the University is developing a two-campus profile, having been for many years spread throughout the city. The libraries are seen as focus points for study places, print and electronic resources.

Non-traditional higher education: An “outsider's” view

A rank-and-file professor's attendance at a non-traditional higher education conference led to some salient observations: (1) Contrary to the “odd-ball” image they may have on some campuses, non-traditional programs can trace their lineage back to the very origins of Western universities; (2) At the same time, they represent a break with recent American University history, in that they appear to serve adult needs more than adolescent/young adult needs; (3) They are able to recognize true learning as occurring outside the parochial boundaries of grades, semester hours, etc; (4) They not only can individualize education, but they can make it an active (rather than passive) process; (5) These programs apparently strive to teach judgement and understanding,not just information; and (6) Such programs may be a functional arm of the so-called women's movement.

An Accredited Program for Foreign Study in Community Colleges

Within the last ten years only the most bold and innovative American community colleges have ventured to make an association between on-campus education and international education. Wasn't the latter better left to senior institutions which were equipped to handle highly technical, sophisticated, elitist manpower needs? Most all government grants and contracting involving American higher education and U.S. or foreign governments flowed to and through senior universities. For the most part this pattern remains the same today.But a viable argument has persistently been raised over the last ten years for increasing involvement of community-based junior colleges in international affairs. Raymond E. Schultz and others, documenting the maturation process of community colleges, have noted the urgent need for community college-type institutions abroad to train middle-manpower work forces and provide for greater human capital development through non-traditional higher education.

A perspective on the accreditation of nontraditional higher education

This paper offers, indeed, a perspective rather than a report. For an account of accreditation of nontraditional higher education, readers should obtain the soon-to-be-published report of the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation's (COPA) project to develop evaluative criteria and procedures for the accreditation of nontraditional education. The perspective offered in this paper is greatly dependent on this COPA study to which we both contributed.

Will Nontraditional Higher Education Last?

Will Nontraditional Higher Education Last?