Parent University Research Articles

Social exclusion:Hear my voice

The following article details a journey of social exclusion. The article details experiences of exclusion from childhood, including time spent in prison, the difficulties faced post-velease, and experiences of being a single parent and attending university later in life. The article aims to give voice to the excluded, and to challenge the profession of clinical psychology to think further about haw it can best tackle social exclusion and broaden access to the profession.

Exploring the Application of Information and Communication Technologies in the Acquisition of Information Resources in Three Academic Libraries in North-West Nigeria: Preliminary Findings

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) incursion has brought a lot of changes to libraries activities. ICTs are used to manage libraries more efficiently and in meeting customers’ demands more appropriately at the right time. Despite the contribution of ICTs to library and information work, many libraries are yet to adopt these technologies especially in the acquisitions of library materials. This study was carried out in three selected university libraries in North West Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to: determine the influence of performance expectancy on academic librarians’ intention to use ICT for acquisition; establish the influence of effort expectancy on academic librarians’ intention to use ICT for acquisition; find out the extent of social influence and facilitating conditions on academic librarians’ intention to use ICT for acquisition and lastly to proffer recommendations. This study adopted a positivistic approach and used a questionnaire administered to 224 librarians to collect data in the three selected libraries. The study is guided by the Unified Theory Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) developed by Venkatesh. Findings from the study reveals that academic librarians are supportive on the use of ICT in their work; ICTs are significantly important, trainings were organized mainly for librarians on general use of ICT not only on acquisition, but also on the general issues related to library activities; librarians also have the knowledge necessary to use ICT for acquisition in their libraries. The study recommends among others that the parent universities should increase the funding of their libraries with adequate supervision, so that such funds are well utilized for ICTs application; university libraries should continually sponsor their academic staff on modern computerized ways of using ICTs to source for materials and the acquisition of information resources in academic libraries should be given all the seriousness it deserves by enacting legislation to allocate a reasonable percentage of the university’s budget to it.

Information-based imitation of university commercialization strategies: The role of technology transfer office autonomy, age, and membership into an association

We investigate whether university technology transfer offices, that is, divisions responsible for the commercialization of academic research, imitate their industry peers when designing their commercialization strategy. We borrow from information-based theories of imitation and the literature on academic entrepreneurship to argue that given a technology transfer office’s autonomy to strategize independently from its parent university, information from within and outside the technology transfer office affects its propensity to imitate the commercialization strategy of the “most successful peers,” that is, those with the largest live spinoff portfolio and greatest revenues from spinoffs in the industry. We contend that a technology transfer office’s experience, that is, a function of its age, represents a key internal source of information for the technology transfer office when deciding whether to imitate or not; we also consider the technology transfer office’s embeddedness in a network where the most successful peer is also a member as a key external source of information. From data on 86 British university technology transfer offices and their commercialization strategies between 1993 and 2007 that were drawn from both secondary sources and in-depth interviews with technology transfer office managers, we find that there is a negative relationship between technology transfer offices’ autonomy and their level of imitation of the most successful technology transfer office’s strategy, and that this relationship is moderated by the technology transfer offices’ age and by their membership into an association where the most successful technology transfer office is also a member.

청소년 부모긍정양육, 또래애착, 진로정체감과 대학만족도의 관계 분석

청소년 부모긍정양육, 또래애착, 진로정체감과 대학만족도의 관계 분석

Imitation and entrepreneurial learning: Insights from academic spin-offs

The subject of this article is the inheritance of the parent university of academic spin-offs through imitation and entrepreneurial learning. Building on a capability perspective, the article adds to the literature on university spin-offs and presents insights into the academic spin-off phenomenon that may be useful in supporting academic entrepreneurship. The study is based on four universities, all located in the metropolitan area of Milan. The authors followed the start-up processes of 74 spin-off ventures over the period 2004–2013, obtaining economic data for 61 of the ventures. The analysis we carried out shows that parent universities influence the industry distribution of spin-offs, since most spin-offs showing a positive performance were concentrated in industries that (1) could benefit from the most advanced research of the parent university and (2) were those in which previous start-ups had also tended to concentrate. Thus, a focus on the parent (university)–progeny (spin-off) dyad as the unit of analysis reveals that the specific capabilities available and previous spin-off experience developed in the university play an important role in facilitating spin-off ventures and influencing new firms’ behaviour in their start-up and development phases.

Alignment between universities and their affiliated professional schools: organizational segmentation and institutional logics in the USA

Universities are classically understood as segmented organizations. In the USA, ties between the university and law and medical schools may be particularly loose because these units have powerful ties to communities of practice and are linked to particular resource streams. Because of these ties to different social fields, medical and law schools may invoke different institutional logics that differentiate their communications from those of the parent university. Latent class analysis identified three distinct categories of university, medical, and law school mission statements in the USA. Logistic regression then predicted the circumstances under which a university and its affiliated professional school were likely to espouse mission statements that fell within the same category. Results indicate that agreement is likely when professional school and university share similar resource bases, suggesting that relationships between universities and their constituent units likely vary as local context moderates macro level patterns.

Parent University in alternative schools: Asset–based programming for parents of formerly–incarcerated youth

Familial engagement is a cornerstone in comprehensive alternative education; however, implementing high-quality parental outreach is difficult. Traditional approaches to parent outreach view diverse families from a deficit perspective and seek to change their behaviors, instead of building on their funds of knowledge. This article presents a case study about Parent University, a program designed with an additive lens to inform parents of formerly incarcerated youth about the college-going process. Findings showcase the framework of the program and analyze the experiences of participants. Approaching families through an additive perspective is key in developing mutually beneficial relationships amongst stakeholders. This study demonstrates how familial outreach initiatives can begin to include space for parents’ voices and draw from this to create more responsive curriculum and learning experiences.

Родительский университет как одна из форм повышения педагогической компетентности родителей

The research deals with the relevant and practical scope of study that is the education of parents in order to improve their pedagogical competence. The structure and components of parents’ pedagogical competence are analyzed. Cognitive, emotional and behavioral components are distinguished. The cognitive component includes the ideas of parents about how to raise a child of a certain age, what means are more appropriate to use. The emotional component helps parents understand better the emotional state of their child, realize their own feelings and respond adequately to the child’s feelings. The behavioral component of parental competence involves certain abilities to deal with the child, the skills of positive interaction. The parents’ skills in upbringing their children can be increased by means of the parent university that is a form of parent continuing education at all stages of the child’s development starting from the pre-school educational organization. The research describes the aspects of the Parent Open University project implemented in the city of Irkutsk. It demonstrates the dynamics of pedagogical culture level of parents involved in this project. The author identifies the significant changes in the cognitive component. They imply the increased responsibility for the upbringing of the child, the development of the ability to determine the factors affecting the child’s development, the awareness of the parents’ role in education and the need to establish their relations with the child on the basis of cooperation and mutual understanding. The methods of active interaction with parents influencing the cognitive component of pedagogical culture are listed. The emotional and behavioral components develop more slowly than the cognitive one; however, their changes are less visible. The research proves the feasibility of the parent university as a form of improving the pedagogical culture and the need for its creation for the purpose of the parent continuing education.

Satellite university campuses and economic development in peripheral regions

ABSTRACTSatellite university campuses – whereby established universities decentralise part of their activities, often to areas previously lacking a university – contribute to the diversification of university systems. While satellite campuses, due to their small scale and limited resources, might perform some activities less efficiently than their larger parent universities, we argue that they are uniquely placed to serve the needs of their localities. Based on the case of a satellite campus in North-West Italy, we show that: (i) the campus’ main contribution lies in widening access to higher education to residents who would not attend university in the absence of local provision; (ii) the campus contributes to local development also through research and business and community engagement, and by stimulating local demand for knowledge-intensive services; (iii) research and engagement are more effective for local development where local firms possess relevant absorptive capacity and where there is a favourable institutional framework.

Do academic spinoffs internationalize?

Universities are key actors within the entrepreneurial ecosystems. A positive spillover of their knowledge creation and dissemination activity is the establishment of academic spinoffs. This study is one of the first to investigate the post-entry internationalization of academic spinoffs in terms of international sales. Adopting a conditional difference-in-differences approach, we matched a sample of 508 Italian academic spinoffs established between 1999 and 2014 with 404 comparable non-academic innovative start-ups. We find that university spinoffs are more prone to internationalize than their non-academic counterparts. This result is intrinsic to their affiliation with universities but is also related to the degree of internationalization of the parent university. A two-stage Heckman procedure confirms indeed that university internationalization translates into the internationalization of their spinoffs. This study contributes to different streams of literature, ranging from entrepreneurial ecosystems to academic entrepreneurship and internationalization literature due to the academic spinoffs’ nature of being a phenomenon at the confluence of several research fields.

Patenting or not? The dilemma of academic spin-off founders

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of patenting on the performance of academic spin-off firms (ASOs) in the post-creation stage. Specifically, our study analyses how the combination of knowledge transfer mechanisms by ASOs and patents can foster ASOs’ early growth performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors explored the relations between patenting processes and spin-off performance through econometric methods applied to a broad sample of Italian ASOs. The research adopts a deductive approach, and the hypotheses are tested using panel data models by considering the sales growth rate as the dependent variable regressed over measures of patenting activity and quality and assuming that firm-specific unobservable drivers of growth are captured by random effects. Findings The empirical analysis shows that the incorporation of knowledge transferred by the parent university and academic founders through patents affects the performance of ASOs. Specifically, the authors find that the number of patents is a positive driver of ASOs’ performance, whilst patent age does not have a significant impact on growth. Moreover, spin-offs with a larger endowment of patents obtained before foundation, surprisingly, grow less on average. Practical implications The findings have implications for ASO founders by suggesting that patenting processes reap benefits. However, in the trade-off of external knowledge access vs internal knowledge protection, it may be better to begin patenting after the foundation of ASOs. Originality/value The authors enrich the on-going debate about the connections between knowledge transfer and organizational performance. This paper combines the concepts of patents and ASOs by providing evidence on the role of patenting processes as a transfer mechanism of explicit knowledge in ASOs. Furthermore, the authors contribute to the literature on costs and benefits of patents by hinting at unexpected findings.

Quality Assurance of Business Management Education in Africa: A Review of Current Systems and Recommendations for Quality Enhancements

Quality assurance systems – the collections of policies, procedures, and practices for achieving and maintaining quality – are critical to ensuring the relevance and effectiveness of business and management education in Africa. Currently, stakeholders may assess the quality of business schools and programs through the national accrediting systems, rankings by media, and global accrediting bodies for business school. But these may not be adequate to assure stakeholders; the national agencies and commercial ranking systems are broad assessments of parent universities and are not specifically focused on business management units or institutions. On the other hand, the global accrediting systems may be the most effective means for determining quality, but only a handful of African business schools have achieved this feat. The adoption of global quality measures and assurance systems is needed to ensure the quality of business institutions and programs across the continent. Hence, an integrative framework of quality standards is proposed for adoption to help build the capacity of African business schools towards global accreditation, and to enhance the quality of business management education on the continent. Specific strategies for capacity building towards the adoption of the global quality standards are offered.

Neither absent nor too present: the effects of the engagement of parent universities on the performance of academic spin-offs

There is a lack of studies regarding the impact of parent-child relationships on the growth of academic spin-offs (ASOs). The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the presence of the parent university can affect a new venture’s ability to create value after the spin-off is founded. We analyze the engagement of parent universities by examining their different roles in ownership structures and on boards of directors, and we test theoretical hypotheses using a sample of 194 Italian ASOs. Overall, our findings suggest that “neither absent nor too present” is the strategy that the parent university should adopt to support the growth of its spin-offs. These findings contribute to extending the parent-child approach to studies of ASO performance. We provide suggestions for ownership and board composition decisions after spin-off to help universities configure ex ante appropriate actions for the growth of new ventures.

What drives the growth of academic spin-offs? Matching academics, universities, and non-research organizations

This paper aims to contribute to the on-going debate on the factors that affect the growth of academic spin-off firms (ASOs) in the post-creation stage. Specifically, our study analyses whether the combination of academic and non-academic individuals and organizations on the board and in the shareholder base can foster ASOs’ early growth performance. We perform panel data estimates for a sample of 138 Italian ASOs observed between 1999 and 2009, which allows us to observe the non-linear effects of ownership and board composition on sales growth. Our findings suggest that, all else equal, the fastest growing academic spin-offs in our sample are characterized by the joint efforts of academic individuals and representatives of non-academic organizations on the board and in the shareholder base. Specifically, the estimates suggest that academic individuals’ engagement on the board of directors positively affects the early growth performance of ASOs’ early growth, but this effect is limited to a given share of board seats. However, academic individuals’ ownership shares do not exercise any significant impact on sales growth, and the effect of the parent university is negative, whereas non-academic organizations foster ASO sales growth in an inverse U-shaped fashion.

Understanding the Significance of Chinese Independent Colleges: Considering Quality Assurance and Differentiation

The massification of Chinese higher education not only has a significant effect on the expansion of opportunities to enter university, but has also influenced the development of and diversity within the Chinese higher education system. This is evident in its structures, purposes, institutional types, and talent cultivation functions and priorities. During this development, we note that a new institutional type, so called the “Independent Colleges”, was established in 1998. These independent colleges are an instructional innovation established by public universities (so-called parent universities) using private funds. Since their introduction, independent colleges have played an important role in terms of “propelling the development of Chinese higher education”, “responding to university educational demand”, and so on.

The Parent University Program: Factors predicting change in responsive parenting behaviors

Few evidence-based parenting programs exist for children under the age of three and even fewer have been rigorously evaluated in comparison to parenting programs for older children. The Parent University Program (PUP), was developed to serve parents with children birth through three who lived in southwest Baltimore. Parent-child dyads (N=86) participated in the parenting program with the goal of increasing responsive parenting skills.Participants of the PUP showed a significant increase in responsive parenting behaviors. Participants in this open trial study who completed pre-test, post-test, and follow-up assessments showed a significant change from clinical to non-clinical status after attending the PUP. Neither the type of facilitator nor the number of hours attended showed an association with changing parenting behaviors. The age of the child was associated with the change in responsive parenting. Parents of older children in the birth to three age range had higher scores at pre-test and showed less change over time. The results of this study suggest that the Parent University Program was associated with positive change in responsive parenting behaviors for parents with children birth through three years of age.

University research and the creation of spin‐offs: The Spanish case

AbstractThe backbone of the European innovation strategy is knowledge transfer from universities to companies, the programmes supporting the creation of university spin‐offs being one of its pillars. In order to achieve a better understanding of this kind of entrepreneurial activity in Spain, this article analyses the relationship between research activity and the creation of spin‐offs and identifies the factors which can be linked to the level of technology used by these companies. Consulting the websites of Spanish universities and their respective Technology Transfer Offices (TTO) led to the identification of 499 spin‐offs. We analysed two groups of universities, correlating their number and technological nature with the research potential of the parent university, the general economic situation and the assistance received in creating this type of company. We found a positive relation between the creation of university spin‐offs and the average number of projects achieved by the university. In addition, their technological nature is positively related to the number of patents awarded to the university. This article focuses on Spain. However, the aspects addressed are common to other countries and its results may therefore be of interest to universities and policy makers wishing to promote the commercialisation of research outcomes.

Open Access Strategy for a ‘New’ University Press: A View through the Stakeholder Lens

Enabled by technology, brought into being in response to a crisis in scholarly communication, and increasingly driven by governmental regulations, mandates of funding bodies, and universities' policies, open access (OA) is one of the fundamental issues that need to be considered as part of a publishing strategy and business model at a new university press. By considering the attitudes toward OA among the stakeholders of Australian university presses, I propose that a university press should take a hybrid approach to the OA publishing model to ensure diversified funding and income streams, editorial independence, and sustainability. At the same time, the press needs to maintain rigorous peer review, high-quality editing and production, and effective marketing while developing a focused publishing program in areas that are distinctive to the press and strategically aligned with the goals of its parent university.

The effect of parent university on firm growth: an analysis of the Spanish and Italian USOs

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that the university context may partially determine the growth of university spin-offs (USOs), with a cross-national analysis and using an “interactionist” approach.Design/methodology/approachTwo samples of USOs, from Spain and Italy (531 and 952 firms, respectively), were examined over the 2005-2013 period. Multilevel modelling was applied to empirically test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results confirmed that the university context is a critical and effective element for explaining USOs’ growth. The university context affected USOs’ growth only for the Spanish firms, while for the Italian spin-offs the evidence does not report a significant determining influence of the university context. This finding may be interpreted as the localization externalities, determined by the Spanish universities, have a more effective impact at firm level compared with those generated by the Italian universities.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper provides evidence that the university context has a significant role in supporting USOs’ growth in Spain, but not in Italy. This finding, together with the fact that the Italian USOs showed lower growth rates over the period of analysis, may suggest that greater involvement by the Italian parent universities is needed to foster USOs’ growth. The main point to be underlined to decision makers is that policies aimed at fostering USOs need the active involvement of the parent university in the whole growth process of the nascent firm, rather than just in the USO creation process.Originality/valueA multilevel approach provides both methodological and theoretical contributions to the study of USOs’ growth, which was adopted as an “interactionist” approach is recommended by literature. In addition, a cross-national approach allows for exploration of the actual effect of the university on the growth of USOs, taking into account international differences.

PARENT UNIVERSITY AS A NEW FORM OF INTERACTION OF FAMILY AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

This article deals with the parent universities as a new form of interaction of families and educational institutions in Russia. The theme is relevant, because at the moment the parent pedagogical illiteracy remains a major problem in the Russian society and the system of education of parents is virtually absent. At the same time, the curriculum and teaching approaches are constantly changing, and the parents can not help their children in their studies, even if they have such a desire. The phenomenon of intensification in education leads to the need to educate children and parents new ways of effective time management, effective methods of memorizing and psychological relief. Parent universities can successfully cope with these and other problems. The article shows the advantages of the introduction of parental universities and shortcomings of the existing ones. Benefit from the attendance of parent universities is obvious and confirmed by the participants of the pilot projects, but the share of skeptics and those, who takes a passive position, is very high. The author draws conclusions on the basis of data obtained from surveys designed and conducted by the author herself among parents of children of the appropriate age. The interaction of three groups: children, parents and teachers is important for the successful development of the child. The basis of this interaction of teachers, psychologists and parents is the principle: The most effective way to help children is to help their parents.