Higher Education Partnerships Research Articles

Economic and Higher Education Partnership of Hungary and Kazakhstan

The aim of our research was to describe, compare, and analyze the development of business and educational co-operation between Kazakhstan and Hungary over the past 19 years. The research was prompted by the university-level co-operation between the two countries that star ted in 2018, which was made possible by the strategic partnership that is the topic of the present article. We started from the hypothesis that both business and educational co-operation has developed linearly and significantly during the last 19 years. Our research methodology was based on gathering and analyzing secondary macroeconomic, trade, and educational co-operation data in the period between 2011 and 2020. The data were obtained from publications, national offices (statistical, commerce, and education), and international bodies (like TempusPublic Foundation, Eurostat, International Monetary Fund [IMF], and the World Bank). In this paper, we intend to link the main political, social, and macroeconomic endowments with business and educational developments of partnership in the two countries, trying to map out prospects for co-operation. One conclusion is that, although in the political communications of the two countries we were able to identify significant governmental efforts on both sides to support and enforce economic and educational co-operation, the data indicate a decrease in the size of business investments. At the same time, however, the educational co-operation between the two parties continues to develop further.

Enablers facilitating industry-academia, transnational education and university-community partnering agility in higher education

PurposeThe study has a two-fold purpose: first, to identify the enablers of partnering agility in higher education, and, second, to analyze the interplay between the enablers.Design/methodology/approachTotal interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to construct a theoretical model of partnering agility enablers, and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis was used to rank and segregate the enablers into independent, autonomous, dependent and linkage zones on the basis of their driving and dependence power.FindingsThe study helped in identifying eight enablers that can be instrumental in driving partnering agility in higher education. According to the TISM model, clarity on roles and responsibilities of partners was found to be the most crucial and vital enabler followed by resource sharing.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model provides a new direction on how to develop and strengthen higher education partnerships. The model has prioritized all the crucial enablers that the management can work around in order to drive partnering agility in higher education institutions.Originality/valueStudies in the past have majorly focused on academia–industry partnerships. This research has tried to provide a comprehensive view of the enablers and the multidirectional interplay between the enablers that can facilitate partnerships between academia and industry, Indian and international universities, and academia and community.

U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Funders' Briefing Program, January 19, 2021.

U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Funders' Briefing Program, January 19, 2021.

International program and provider mobility in Japan: policies, activities and challenges

Japan has traditionally emphasized international student recruitment and exchange as priorities in its internationalization strategy. However, little attention has been given to the increasing importance of international program and provider mobility (IPPM), which includes international branch campuses, franchise programs, international joint universities and joint/double degree programs. This article analyzes the policies, status and role of IPPM to meet future needs of Japanese higher education. The study reveals that the full potential of IPPM is not realized given the government's restrictive regulations for the establishment of Japanese programs and international branch campuses abroad as well as foreign higher education providers in Japan. While regulations are necessary to ensure quality and achieve the multiple benefits of IPPM provision, there is a need to re-examine and relax some of the government regulations that serve as barriers. The success of the three Japanese international joint universities provides evidence that Japanese universities are motivated and experienced in working collaboratively with international partners and looking for new IPPM opportunities. Scholars, policy analysts, and academics interested in Japan’s engagement with the rest of the world through collaborating with foreign higher education partners will benefit from this analysis of current and past IPPM activities and policies and the call for further research.

Looking Back: Reviewing the Challenges of Policy Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic for a TNE Partnership in Higher Education

This paper takes a retrospective view of the year 2020, with a focus on how Higher Education policy development was undertaken on a Transnational Education (TNE) program between the University of Glasgow (UofG) and the University of Electronics, Science and Technology in Chengdu (UESTC), China in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the approach to policy development under normal circumstances, contrasting this with the approach taken during the emergence of the epidemic and how the unfolding situation impacted on those policies. It demonstrates how the application of management tools for scenario planning and crisis management can be used effectively to develop a clear and prescriptive policy for staff. It also demonstrates how the use of such tools, combined with careful analysis and planning, can minimize disruption to student learning, teaching, and assessment. The paper then goes on to explain the creation and implementation of policies addressing three main areas: learning and teaching, Final Year Projects, and assessment. Finally, it reflects on the student and staff perspectives on the policies, considering how this information might be used to enhance the policy development process in future.

Experiential examination of higher education partnerships in the UK: a knowledge management perspective

PurposeHigher education institutions possess a plethora of knowledge at the institutional, departmental and individual levels. Therefore, knowledge management plays a vital role in assisting partnerships to synergise knowledge and strengthen market competitiveness when working collaboratively. The purpose of this study is to identify and critically discuss the role of knowledge management concepts that support development of UK higher education partnerships. This knowledge management research was undertaken with the purpose of exploring components of behavioural constructs in assisting the development of successful partnerships between higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approachThis research embraces a qualitative methodology and makes use of an expert panel method to gather field data and assess the relevance, robustness and applicability of a conceptual model developed in the context of higher education partnerships. Guided by two research questions, the researchers elicited knowledge from eight experts, academics and practitioners, who had initiated and led partnership development between UK higher education institutions. The experts were invited and selected to attend the panel using the criteria of “Years of Experience in the Higher Education sector”, “Job Positions and Experiences” and the “Partnership Scope and Impact”.FindingsDepicting in a tree analogy, the conceptual model indicates that effective knowledge management will require higher education executives, managers and practitioners to centre on nurturing “tree roots” presented as behavioural knowledge management constructs and include institutional culture, trust, absorptive capacities and communication channels. The research findings elaborate on previous research and provide a categorisation of partnership outcomes between higher education institutions, explaining that partnership outcomes can be of an “Academic”, “Marketing and Finance” or “Managerial” nature. Importantly, practical use of the model could be implemented using audit methods or benchmarking methods, whereby the categorised elements of the model are used as a criterion of assessment for audit teams.Originality/valueThe conclusion extracted experiential insights to provide guidance as to how higher education executives, managers and practitioners can make use of knowledge management behavioural constructs and activities to assist collaborative undertakings in the higher education sector. This paper provided a new, modified, knowledge management higher education partnership tree, thus giving researchers and academic practitioners a holistic viewpoint of important partnership knowledge management factors.

Partnership in Higher Education: Trends between African and European Institutions

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Development of a European competency framework for health and other professionals to support behaviour change in persons self-managing chronic disease

BackgroundHealthcare and other professionals are expected to support behaviour change in people living with chronic disease. However, effective behaviour change interventions are largely absent in routine encounters. The Train4Health project, a European strategic partnership for higher education, sought to address this problem. The primary aim of this study, which is part of an early work package, was to develop an interprofessional competency framework for health and other professions to support behaviour change for the self-management of chronic disease at a European level. A secondary aim was to derive a set of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) from an established taxonomy to link with framework competencies.MethodsThe study comprised two interlinked parts. Part 1 involved a two-round e-Delphi study with an interprofessional panel of 48 experts across 12 European countries to develop the behaviour change competency framework. Preparatory work included drafting a list of competency statements based on seven existing frameworks.Part 2 involved an expert panel of six behavioural psychologists deriving a set of BCTs to link with framework competencies. Their feedback was based on preparatory work, which focused on seven high priority chronic diseases for self-management, identified through European projects on self-management and identifying five relevant target behaviours from key clinical guidelines. A literature search yielded 29 effective BCTs for the target behaviours in the selected chronic diseases.ResultsTwenty-seven competency statements, were presented in Round 1 to the Delphi panel. Consensus was achieved for all statements. Based on comments, two statements were removed, one was added, and 14 were modified. All 15 statements subjected to Round 2 were consensus-approved, yielding a total of 12 foundational competencies for behaviour change in self-management of chronic disease and 14 behaviour change competencies. Four behaviour change competencies related to BCTs. Behavioural psychologists’ feedback led to a core set of 21 BCTs deemed applicable to the five target behaviours across the seven chronic diseases.ConclusionsA behaviour change competency framework comprising 26 statements for European health and other professionals to support self-management of chronic disease was developed, linked with a core set of 21 BCTs from an established taxonomy.

Double Agendas in International Partnership Programs: A case study from an Ethiopian University

ABSTRACT This paper explores the policy discourses underpinning an international higher education partnership involving a large Ethiopian university. Particular attention is given to a partnership programme established between an Ethiopian (EU) and a Norwegian (NU) university, and the main ideas and practices expressed and negotiated from an Ethiopian perspective. This study employs a theoretical framework based on critical policy analysis and a qualitative case study design using interviews and document analysis. The results illustrate how a loosely defined policy for international partnership in higher education frames the conditions and possibilities for this programme. Partnership in EU is based on policies that emphasise flexibility in various possibilities, but also with ambitions, foremost, to partner with a Northern university. In the EU, this partnership is viewed, mainly, as a means of academic growth and development while also convoluted with concerns about resource dilemmas and dependency. This partnership programme, therefore, appears to be based on contradictions from which a double agenda emerges: striving for mutuality versus avoiding dependency, and local needs versus global achievements.

A North\u2013South-South partnership in higher education to develop health research capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: the challenge of finding a common language

BackgroundGlobally, increasing numbers of higher education institutions (HEIs) in non-English-speaking countries have adopted English as a medium of instruction (EMI), because of the perception that this provides opportunities to attract high-calibre students and academic staff, and engage with the international research community. We report an evaluation of a North–South-South collaboration to develop health research capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by establishing a postgraduate programme in nutritional epidemiology at the Kinshasa School of Public Health (KSPH), where EMI was adopted. We report experiences and perceptions of stakeholders, facilitators and students about using EMI.MethodsIn-depth qualitative interviews were conducted between October and December 2019 among convenience sampled stakeholders (8), facilitators (11) and students (12) involved in the programme from all three partner institutions (University of Kinshasa; University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; University of Bergen, Norway). Interviews were conducted in participants’ language of preference (English or French), audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English when required. Analysis employed a thematic approach.ResultsMost participants viewed EMI positively, reporting that studying in English created opportunities to access relevant literature, improve interactions with the scientific community and advance their careers. As a result of adopting EMI, some students had opportunities to present research findings at international conferences and publish their research in English. English-speaking researchers from partner institutions were able to participate in supervision of students’ research. However, inadequate English competency, particularly among students, was challenging, with some students reporting being unable to understand or interact in class, which negatively affected their academic performance. Further, EMI created barriers at KSPH among academic staff who were not proficient in English, leading to poor participation among non-English-speaking staff and lack of integration with other postgraduate programmes. Participants suggested additional English language support for EMI.ConclusionPartnerships between HEIs could be a powerful tool to develop research capacity in low-income countries in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. EMI could be a solution to language barriers faced by many such partnerships, but wide-ranging support to develop English proficiency among staff and students is essential to ensure that the challenges do not outweigh the benefits.

Role of knowledge management in developing higher education partnerships: Towards a conceptual framework

AbstractThis research study discusses the role of knowledge management (KM) in facilitating the composition and development of higher education (HE) partnerships. The paper identifies and discusses the KM behavioural constructs, in other words, the fundamental elements that indicate the behaviour of higher education institutions (HEIs) and that impact the development of a partnership. Furthermore, this work explores institutional and partnership factors that affect the development of partnerships and compiles a list of KM activities deemed necessary to assist HEIs in exchanging knowledge in a partnership setting. The proposed conceptual framework can serve as a diagnostic instrument, assisting HE executives, managers, practitioners and researchers in being able to assess institutional capabilities for collaborative undertakings. The work presented in this paper aims to encourage further academic discussions as to how KM concepts can be used to assist HEIs in working together and overcoming challenges for sustainable development in the digital era.

Aqu@teach—The First Aquaponics Curriculum to Be Developed Specifically for University Students

Aquaponic food production requires a broad spectrum of knowledge in order to understand and manage the processes involved, and for commercial aquaponics to develop its full potential, it will require an appropriately trained workforce. Devised in collaboration as an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Higher Education, Aqu@teach covers the basics of aquaponics with a focus on transferable and entrepreneurial skills. The aquaponics curriculum can either be taught using blended learning—combining digital media and the internet with classroom formats that require the physical co-presence of the teacher and students—or as an e-learning course. The supplementary entrepreneurial skills module was devised on the basis of two surveys: of aquaponics companies around the world, in order to get a broad overview of the skills that are important in the early years of a business; and of European higher education institutions that teach subjects where aquaponics could be incorporated as an optional module. The entrepreneurial skills curriculum introduces the main processes involved in developing a business idea into a start-up company. All of the Aqu@teach resources—the e-learning modules, textbooks, module guides for students, curriculum guides for teachers, best practice guide for teaching aquaponics, and toolbox of innovative didactic practices—are open access.

Aspects of Research Training and Commercialization Research Results

The synergy of integration of science and education gives an accelerated educational effect in the training of highly qualified researchers. The accelerated process of training highly qualified researchers is implemented through the integration of higher education with advanced research fundamental science. Education and science, especially in their synergistic synthesis, are increasingly becoming the engine of technological progress, without which socio-economic progress is unthinkable in our time. High-quality training of researchers, based on an alliance with scientific activities, is a priority policy in all developed countries of the world, as well as a necessary component of the institutional structure of an innovative economy and business. The reproduction of highly qualified researchers who meet the requirements of an innovative economy and business has a high priority. Large corporations should invest sufficiently in research and development in the field of high technology, training specialists of appropriate quantity and quality, and form a system of public-private partnership in higher education. The creation of large educational complexes based on the joint activities of the university and the production sector is one of the most important areas of intersectoral cooperation for the development of high-tech industry. The commercialization of the transdisciplinary research process and its reproduction is difficult in the national framework due to the lack of the necessary modern technology and technology, skilled personnel, narrowness of the domestic market, and insufficient investment. Commercialization and reproduction of the transdisciplinary research process is possible only with intensive foreign economic relations and the reproduction of intellectual and research human capital.

Being Here Together: Global Partnerships in Higher Education

Being Here Together: Global Partnerships in Higher Education

Academic libraries in COVID-19: a renewed mission for digital literacy

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has placed online learning, blended or hybrid provision as the “new normal” in Higher Education. For most universities and their academic libraries, especially those with a less strong online presence, the pandemic has caused numerous challenges. However, it has also been a catalyst for change and resifting of priorities. For academic librarians involved in the delivery of information skills/literacy training, a renewed mission is emerging, addressing access and connectivity to resources, designing for online education and fostering the development of digital literacy of students.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper based on the author's personal experiences and subjective opinion as a Library and Information Science educator with considerable expertise in online distance learning in the UK. Reflecting critically on the impact of the pandemic from an educational point of view and on key changes experienced, the paper centres on the argument that academic librarians could emerge as strategic partners in Higher Education, towards the direction of enhancing students' digital competences development.FindingsThe complete and involuntary shift to online learning due to COVID-19 restrictions has opened the door to multiple challenges in Higher Education, which are complex and ongoing: the implementation of remote tools and practices en masse in online teaching and learning in a way that ensures accessibility and equity for all, issues connecting to online pedagogy and how to prepare students with the information and digital literacy competences required for the new online learning “normal”. As academic libraries move forward, they have a renewed mission to help learners in the online space to become both information rich and digitally competent. There is an opportunity to act as the connecting link that will help to move a step forward a strategic vision that places design for equity at the centre of education.Originality/valueThe impact of COVID-19 within Higher Education and academic libraries more specifically, is a theme that has not been yet sufficiently discussed, researched or critically debated as the world is still currently going through the pandemic crisis. This paper aims to initiate some early thoughts and conversation, as well as put forward the author's personal critical positioning on the issues, challenges and potential opportunities, emerging in the current educational climate for academic librarians, and to highlight areas of importance for the design and direction of information and library science curricula.

Formation of research skills of future primary school teachers in the process of teaching mathematics

One of the priority tasks of pedagogical education is wide comprehensive training of students, based on the concept of personally oriented education and involves the formation of a holistic system of universal knowledge, skills, as well as experience of independent activities, the basic competencies that determine the quality of education of a modern university student. The purpose of the article is to highlight the problem of formation of research skills of university students, as well as the role of inquiry-based learning approach in solving this problem. The research was based on scientific works of domestic and foreign scientists who studied the formation and development of research skills of students in the learning process. Methods. The author implements the purpose with the help of theoretical and empirical research methods (analysis and generalization of own pedagogical experience and pedagogical experience of domestic and foreign scientists). The results. The article considers and generalizes the views of scientists on the classification and essence of research skills, analyses the role of the inquiry-based learning approach in the formation of studentsʼ research skills in the process of teaching mathematics. The article suggests the effective method on forming the studentsʼ research skills based on the student-centered approach in the process of teaching mathematics (Inquiry-Based Mathematics Education). The special educational material (pedagogical cases) based on IBME was developed. The benefit of the study is that the material was tested during the teaching of mathematics to first-year students of specialty «Primary Education» of the Pedagogical Institute of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University (the research, the results of which are presented in the article, was conducted within the project «Partnership for teaching and learning of mathematics at the university» (PLATINUM) of the EU program Erasmus + KA203 – Strategic Partnership for Higher Education, 2018-1-NO01-KA203-038887); the data show the increase of studentsʼ interest in educational and research work, and the level of their motivation to study mathematics. Conclusions. As a result the author makes a conclusion that the teaching mathematics with the use of Inquiry-Based Mathematics Education ensures the growth of interest of students in educational and research activity, formation and development of research skills; increases the efficiency of independent work, general motivation for the study of mathematics.

A Program of Their Own: The Design and Evolution of an Undergraduate Degree Program for Police Officers in Ontario

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Toronto Police Service was exploring how to increase access to higher education to its officers. The service saw higher education as salient to its organizational imperatives of professionalization, increased public legitimacy and credibility, and enhanced academic recognition of police professional learning. To realize this mission, the Toronto Police Service entered into a higher education partnership with the University of Guelph and Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning under its then-new joint venture, the University of Guelph-Humber. The University of Guelph-Humber designed an accredited higher education pathway for Toronto Police personnel that also gave academic credit for past professional learning and increased educational access by offering blended course delivery. Based on semi-structured interviews with key educational administrators at the University of Guelph-Humber, Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, and the Toronto Police Service, this article narrates the origins of this higher education pathway—a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Justice Studies. In addition, it describes how this pathway evolved to include non-uniform Toronto police personnel, other police services, and expanded further to include learners from the larger justice and public safety fields. The exploration is situated in a larger discussion about the relationship between higher education, professionalization and legitimacy, and the potential of partnerships between higher educational institutions and professions in Canada.

PDK Connection: Organizational news about PDK International

PDK International invites members to help recruit and shape the next generation of educators by getting involved in supporting the Educators Rising program. The program relies on the involvement and support of possible future educators, state officials, higher education partners, and funders. PDK members can help by connecting PDK with members of these communities.

Community alliances and participatory action research as a mechanism for re-politicising social action for students in higher education

ABSTRACT Evidence from the UN World Youth Report (2015) suggests that young people, while increasingly disengaged with formal political processes, are motivated by cause-related social action. Higher Education (HE), through research and partnership, provides ideal learning spaces to explore cause-related social action. However, as HE partnership opportunities continue to be reframed under a narrative of employability and one-off participation, there is a risk that these experiences miss an opportunity to critically engage young people with issues at a socio-political level. This research paper considers the potential of participatory action research (PAR) as a pedagogical mechanism for re-politicising social action for students in a UK HE context. The project explores the experiences of 160 undergraduate students, working in partnership with 400 young children, aged 2–10 years, to investigate and co-construct their views and action concerning causes represented by local community organisations. Findings suggest that using participatory, youth-action approaches students shifted their self-identified positions from a non-social-orientated approach to establishing them as advocates for causes and children’s voices. We argue that PAR, as a learning experience, and service-learning pedagogy open up an alternative experience of social action through an educational context with engagement and consideration of social issues. In conclusion, we call for new alliances between HE, young people, and community organisations, to produce, through enquiry, critical knowledge aimed at social transformation, which can open-up authentic democratic spaces within the learning communities in HE and its networks.

Knowledge Management Evaluation in British Higher Education Partnerships

The purpose of this research is to encourage higher education institutions working in partnerships to evaluate the development of partnerships not only on the basis of financial indicators but take into consideration the newly created knowledge as a result of social capital, monitoring and reviewing and continuing professional development of staff. The empirical data were collected through a survey instrument originally used for a PhD study. This research study provides a better understanding of the knowledge management evaluation stage of partnership development. Findings point out that although embedded knowledge management practices support social capital development, it is expected that higher education institutions could exploit their available knowledge to a greater extent in order to improve their impact on social capital in the context of partnership development. Research findings suggest that evaluation frameworks implemented and controlled by higher education institutions regulatory and governing bodies would benefit from particular inclusion within “assessment of performance” of Higher Education partnerships that specifically consider the social impact of partnership ventures. Knowledge management is a developing theme within academia, and findings imply that executives within higher education are committed to include knowledge management training in CPD strategies, as this not only benefits higher education institutions but will also benefit higher education partnership development. In terms of originality and value, this paper straightens the critical importance of knowledge management evaluation as part of the last stage of partnership development in order to advance in the understanding of the benefits deriving from higher education institutions partnerships. Students, scholars and practitioners of knowledge management can gather a range of insights pointed at performance and knowledge creation within a partnership context.