University Places Research Articles

BUREAUCRATS AND INDIGENES: PRODUCING AND BYPASSING CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACTIn the last three decades, the politics of indigeneity have led to discrimination against and marginalization of non-indigenes as well as numerous violent conflicts between indigenes and non-indigenes in Nigeria. This discrimination, which is based on a localized place of belonging, has today become bureaucratized: local governments produce ‘certificates of indigene’ to identify the origin of their holders. This article looks at the bureaucratic machinery of issuing certificates of origin in two local governments of Oyo State (in the south-west) and the everyday encounters between users and bureaucrats that cannot be reduced to practices of corruption. It looks at the complicated and ambivalent process of identifying a ‘true indigene’; this process is supposed to strengthen local citizenship but it also contributes to the daily functioning of the state and is largely accepted by the majority as part of the state's ‘insidious gentleness’. The article also seeks to understand why official discrimination against non-indigenes is poorly contested locally by assessing the role of these documents in accessing public employment, university places and basic services, and examining whether areas inhabited by non-indigenes are perceived as being neglected or abandoned by the state. Currently, discrimination policies are implemented unequally and in many instances client–patron relationships help sidestep these policies.

The private rate of return to a university degree in Australia

This article presents estimates of the private monetary benefits in Australia associated with the completion of Bachelor degrees for a range of fields of study under a range of different assumptions. For the average person, results show strong monetary incentives to complete these degrees and the private rate of return compares favourably with the real long-term bond rate. However, differences can be observed in rates of return according to gender and discipline of study with, generally, lower returns for women and for those holding degrees in the humanities. The results are calculated on varying assumptions which provide evidence of the robustness of the conclusions. Finally, implications for policy, such as university financing and increases in university places, are discussed.

The effect of greenspaces on temperature adjustments in the city of Zahedan: A case study of the University of Sistan and Baluchestan

Zahedan, one of the large south-eastern cities of Iran, has a hot and dry climate. Its overall per capita greenspace is much lower than the general standards for urban greenspaces; in addition, the spatial distribution of greenspace is not consistent across the city. In this research, for the first time, field survey and statistical analysis were used to compare the University of Sistan and Baluchestan (a site within the city with a high per capita greenspace resulting in a different microclimate) in terms of temperature with other sites across the city. The results obtained from the statistical interpolation of data from 29 sites collected at specific times of day (06:00, 12:00 and 18:00) during the week beginning second of July 2013 using a geographic information system showed a large difference in temperature between the university and other places in the city. The extent of the per capita green area of the University of Sistan and Baluchestan and the rest of the city of Zahedan also demonstrated a great difference. The conclusion is that planning to increase per capita greenspace around the city of Zahedan seems inevitable for better urban management and the welfare of its citizens.

Parental Time Investments in Children: The Role of Competition for University Places in the UK

We use novel diary surveys coupled with universities' administrative student data for the last three decades to document that increased competition for university places at elite institutions in the United Kingdom contributes to explain growing gaps in time investments between college and non-college educated parents. Competition for university places in the UK grew significantly during the 1980s and early 1990s, and gradually diminished afterwards. We find that the gap in time investments by college and non-college educated parents and their children widened up precisely during this first period, especially in terms of human capital enhancing activities.

Evaluating the prevalence and nature ofblatin post-Soviet societies

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which the practice of using personal networks to obtain goods and services or to circumvent formal procedures, known asblatin the Soviet era, persists in post-Soviet societies and whether its character has altered.Design/methodology/approach– To do this, the prevalence and nature ofblatin the education sector in the city of Mykolayiv in Ukraine is analysed using 200 face-to-face structured interviews with a spatially stratified sample of Mykolayiv residents and 30 follow-up semi-structured in-depth interviews.Findings– The finding is thatblatis widely used to gain places in kindergarten, schools and universities. However, unlike Soviet erablatwhich took the form of non-monetised friendly help in the market-oriented society of post-Soviet Ukraine, both possessing control over access to assets such as education, as well as possessing personal connections to those with control over access to these assets, is increasingly viewed as a commodity to be bought and sold, and illicit informal monetary payments are now commonplace. The result is that nepotism, cronyism, bribery and corruption hinder meritocratic processes.Research limitations/implications– This paper examines the prevalence and nature ofblatin just one sector in one post-Soviet country. An analysis across a wider range of sectors in various post-Soviet societies is now required to develop a more context-bound and nuanced understanding ofblatin post-Soviet societies.Originality/value– This is the first in-depth empirical evaluation of the prevalence and nature ofblatin contemporary post-Soviet societies.

118IN - Overcoming Cancer in Developing Countries; How to Improve Cancer Care

ABSTRACT In order to improve the quality of cancer care the obstacles to care must first be identified. Poverty often inhibits health-care seeking behavior, since care may be unaffordable, while stigma also contribute to late diagnosis. Low GDP inhibits public spending on health-care as well as on factors that impact upon access to care, e.g., transportation, too few health-care facilities, and on the purchase of necessary equipment for imaging, diagnostic reagents, radiotherapy, chemotherapeutic drugs, trained cancer specialists and specialist surgeons as well as oncology nurses, pharmacists and social workers. Although some Low and Middle Income countries (LMIC) are able to provide transportation and treatment costs, sometimes by insurance schemes, the latter may not cover cancer and payment for diagnosis and treatment is usually “out-of-pocket.” With respect to expertise in cancer care, the obstacles begin at the level of secondary education, which is still insufficient in the poorest countries to educate students to the level required for university entrance. University teachers, similarly, are few. Although cancer has a higher incidence in high income countries, mortality to incidence ratios are significantly lower (0.47) than in LMIC (0.64). In the lowest income countries, the majority of patients with cancer die, generally without end-of-life care. What can be done? It is critical to increase the pool of young people eligible for university and the number of university places. Lack of universities can be compensated for by distance learning and webinars (from anywhere in the world) as well as tutors for knowledge transfer; but more hospitals will be required as well as at least one specialist cancer center to act as a nuclear site for skills training and delivery of cancer services. Campaigns via the media, posters, meetings, etc, should acquaint the population, including primary-care providers, with the signs of potential cancer to ensure earlier diagnosis and promote referral networks. Additional radiation machines, radiation oncologists and physicists are sorely needed. Treatment of diseases not requiring radiation or major surgery is presently the most feasible and cure is already possible. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Developing government policies for distance education: Lessons learnt from two Sri Lankan case studies

Education, especially higher education, is considered vital for maintaining national and individual competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. Following the introduction of its “Free Education Policy” as early as 1947, Sri Lanka is now the best performer in basic education in the South Asian region, with a remarkable record in terms of high literacy rates and the achievement of universal primary education. However, access to tertiary education is a bottleneck, due to an acute shortage of university places. In an attempt to address this problem, the government of Sri Lanka has invested heavily in information and communications technologies (ICTs) for distance education. Although this has resulted in some improvement, the authors of this article identify several barriers which are still impeding successful participation for the majority of Sri Lankans wanting to study at tertiary level. These impediments include the lack of infrastructure/resources, low English language proficiency, weak digital literacy, poor quality of materials and insufficient provision of student support. In the hope that future implementations of ICT-enabled education programmes can avoid repeating the mistakes identified by their research in this Sri Lankan case, the authors conclude their paper with a list of suggested policy options.

STRATEGIC EXPORT MARKETING PLAN OF DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

This is a case study of Deakin University that will expand their education service to Turkey. Turkey is located in Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia with a strong growing economy, population and demand for tertiary education. It presents a good opportunity for Deakin University to expand its education services in and increase its market share globally. Considering the high level interests amongst Turkish students in the field of Business, Deakin will offer a Business degree in Commerce where students can further specialize in various fields. In doing so, Deakin will be in partnership with a local university called Koc University. Located in Istanbul, where the majority of the target market is concentrated, Koc University has the facilities that Deakin can use in providing education services in Turkey. On the other hand, Deakin will provide the information technology equipments, Deakin Student Online (DSO) systems and learning resources such as access to Journals, online live conference etc. Highly qualified lecturers, both from Australia and local teachers will be help to ensure the quality of teaching learning process provided by Deakin. In addition, Deakin has an extensive experience in providing education services abroad through partnerships, often called offshore programs, and will use its experience for its expansion to the education market in Turkey. Despite having seven agents in Turkey, Deakin is currently relatively unknown to the Turkish education market. In order to promote the marketing activities in Turkey as well as support the students enrolled at the offshore program, Deakin will open a representative office. Considering the large market in the high school student segment and the education situation in Turkey where there is more demand of tertiary education than university places, there is a high opportunity of success for Deakin in Turkey. Keywords: Deakin University, Turkey, International Marketing, Education service

Selection methods for undergraduate admissions in Australia. Does the Australian predominate entry scheme the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) have a future?

This article considers the Australian entry score system, the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR), and its usage as a selection mechanism for undergraduate places in Australian higher education institutions and asks whether its role as the main selection criterion will continue with the introduction of demand driven funding in 2012. Admission strategies for undergraduate places in Australian universities have remained unchanged for many years. The author concludes that the current entry scheme, the ATAR, will continue as a dominant selection criterion particularly for courses where demand exceeds supply, but ATAR-based selection will be insufficient to meet the participation targets set by the federal government. There is now an opportunity for universities to differentiate themselves by their admission strategies and to improve participation of equity groups through the normalisation of alternative entry mechanisms.

Unannounced Crisis in Education and Bringing Up Citizens of the World. A review of the book: Nussbaum M. (2014) Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (translated to Russian). Moscow: Publishing House of the Higher School of Economics.

The book by the famous American philosopher Martha Nussbaum is part of a series of publications in support of humanities and arts. A lot of experts share the author’s idea of decay in contemporary democratic education. This is manifested in excessive amount of testing and monitoring, in a drop in university places for philosophy students, in reallocation of funds in favor of natural science and engineering higher education institutions. This paper advocates education designed to bring up citizens of the world and distinguishes between education for profit and democratic education. The existing economic growthbased model of social development should be replaced with a new model based on development of human potential. Bringing up citizens of demo cratic states aims to develop critical thinking and enable the citizens to see other people’s viewpoints and to understand them. The paper also unfolds the key principles of the so called Socratic pedagogy, which Nussbaum believes to become the central practice of humanitarian education in Western culture. The practice makes people think independently and argue without falling back on weighty or generally accepted opinions.

Qualidade de vida de estudantes de medicina medida pelo WHOQOL-bref - UERJ, 2010

O WHOQOL-bref foi utilizado em estudo transversal para avaliar a influência do sexo, da forma de ingresso, do ano de graduação, da classe econômica e da presença de morbidade crônica referida (MCR), na qualidade de vida (QV) de 394 estudantes de medicina da UERJ (72% dos 545 matriculados em 2010, erro 6,5%). A análise estatística foi feita no SPSS v17 e utilizados testes qui-quadrado, ANOVA/ pós Hoc de Bonferroni (p valor = 5%) e razão dos produtos cruzados ("Odds Ratio" - OR) com respectivos intervalos de confiança (IC 95%). A idade média foi de 23 anos, sendo 61% mulheres, 43% cotistas (dos quais 64% mulheres) e 20% referiu morbidade crônica. De 0-100, a média da QV referida foi 66 e da satisfação com saúde 62. Os menores escores de QV foram observados nos estudantes do sexo feminino, com morbidade crônica referida (MCR), que ingressaram por reserva de vagas, da classe C e do terceiro e sexto ano. Os resultados apontam para a necessidade de estudos qualitativos para aprofundar as informações sobre a QV dos estudantes da UERJ.

Impacts of user-selfishness on cooperative content caching in social wireless networks

Cooperative caching can be an effective mechanism for reducing electronic content provisioning cost in Social Wireless Networks (SWNETs). These networks are formed by a collection of mobile data enabled devices physically gathering in settings such as university campus, malls, airport and other public places. In this paper, we first propose an optimal collaborative object caching policy in order to minimize the object provisioning cost in SWNETs with homogenous user requests and a peer-rebate model for promoting collaboration. Then using an analytical model we study the impacts of user selfishness on the provisioning cost and the earned rebate when certain nodes in an SWNET selfishly deviate from the optimal policy. User selfishness is motivated in order to either increase individually earned rebate or to reduce content provisioning cost. The analytical model is validated by experimental results from simulated SWNETs using the network simulator ns2.

The Effect of Family Background and Socioeconomic Status on Academic Performance of Higher Education Applicants

This paper analyzes the effect of different aspects of family background such as family income, parental education, parental job, and the socioeconomic status of parents on the university admission in Iran in 2008. The Iranian university and college admission system involves prospective students listing up to one hundred majors in order of their preference in the application. Places in universities are offered to the applicants based on both their preferences and their entrance examination results. The gathered data from the Iranian university and college applications in 2008 is analyzed using data mining methods to investigate the effects of family background variables on entrance examination grades. The results of this analysis show that parental education, parental job and the socioeconomic status of family have large effects on entrance examination grades, and as a result on university and college acceptance. The proportion of acceptance in universities for high social class families are more than the proportion of candidates in the other categories. In other words, applicants who come from higher social classes have a significantly better chance of becoming admitted in university.

The Effect of Family Background, Socioeconomic Status and Individual Factors on University Admission in Iran

This paper analyzes the effect of different aspects of family background such as family income, parental education, parental job, and the socioeconomic status of parents on the university admission in Iran in 2009. The Iranian university and college admission system involves prospective students listing up to one hundred majors in order of their preference in the application. Places in universities are offered to the applicants based on both their preferences and their entrance examination results. The gathered data from the Iranian university and college applications in 2009 is analyzed using data mining methods to investigate the effects of family background variables on entrance examination grades. The results of this analysis show that parental education, parental job and the socioeconomic status of family have large effects on entrance examination grades, and as a result on university and college acceptance. The proportion of acceptance in universities for high social class families are more than the proportion of candidates in the other categories. In other words, applicants who come from higher social classes have a significantly better chance of becoming admitted in university.

Creating Spaces in Higher Education for Marginalised Australians: Principles for Socially Inclusive Pedagogies

The Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education provided a timely reminder of the dismal performance of the nation and its higher education system in terms of the proportional representation of certain groups of Australians within the university student population. While the Australian Government has taken on the challenge of creating more university places for people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, this article makes the case for creating spaces in higher education for marginalised Australians. Specifically, we argue that the most strategic place to begin this is with the pedagogic work of higher education, because of its positioning as a central message system in education. And it is from the centre that the greatest pedagogic authority is derived. In this paper we conceive of the pedagogic work involved in terms of belief, design and action. From these constitutive elements are derived three principles on which to build a socially inclusive pedagogy and to open up spaces for currently marginalised groups.

Anatomies of Inequality: Considering the Emotional Cost of Aiming Higher for Marginalised, Mature Mothers Re-Entering Education

The Anatomy of Economic Inequality in Wales (2011) provides quantitative evidence for the pervasive nature of class-based inequalities in education, demonstrating that an individual in social housing is approximately 10 times less likely to be a graduate compared to those in other types of accommodation. This article moves beyond the baseline figures and argues that for marginalised, mature mothers re-entering education, the emotional cost is often one that they are unable to pay, and that practitioners and policy makers need to be aware of, and responsive to their situation so that retention and completion rates can be improved. The article presents case studies from two research projects, which aimed to explore and represent the educational experiences of working-class mature students in urban south Wales. The article focuses on the accounts of women who completed Access courses and gained places in post-1992 universities, focusing on their initial aspirations and later disappointments. The article examines the ways in which classed, gendered and relational positionings conflicted with their education trajectory and often contributed to their withdrawal from academia.

Understanding the persistence of inequality in higher education: evidence from Australia

During the latter half of the twentieth century, Australia, like many countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, experienced rapid expansion in participation in higher education which was supported by government through increases in the number of publicly funded university places. However, in spite of this expansion, a disproportionately large share of the undergraduate student population is still drawn from higher socio-economic backgrounds. This paper seeks to understand the persistence of inequality in higher education by examining changes in patterns of participation in Australian universities since the 1970s. Using logistic regressions to analyse data collected by three Australian surveys conducted between 1987 and 2005, the authors examine the influence of having a university-educated parent on an individual’s chances of obtaining a higher education degree. They find that although the expansion of higher education has had some impact in terms of reducing inequality, having a university-educated parent continues to exert a direct effect on an individual’s propensity to graduate from university. The paper draws on the theories of maximally maintained inequality and relative risk aversion to interpret institutional and student behaviour. The policy challenges of addressing structural inequality in higher education are also discussed.

The Bologna Process and its changes for the teacher education in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany - Media-Education-Online as an innovative example for statewide cooperation of universities

Since 2007, the German Network Educational Science has offered the students of five university places (Kaiserslautern, Koblenz, Landau, Mainz and Trier) in the area of Rhineland-Palatinate the opportunity to study educational science. In addition to campus-based events the students also have access to online courses at the partner universities in the federal state. The main goal of the network is the professional exchange and mutual recognition of selected courses. This article provides information on the educational policy background presents the collaborative arrangements between the participating universities and reflects the exchange in university life on the basis of the blended learning course Media-Education-Online.

Complementing mathematics support with online MathsCasts

Widening of participation and budget cuts are strong drivers to motivate the investigation of educational technologies to benefit students seeking help in mathematics support centres. In Australia, the uncapping of university places by the Government from 2012 (with one explicit aim to increase the number of students from non-traditional backgrounds) may lead to an influx of students that are mathematically less prepared. At the same time European universities face financial challenges as a result of the Global Financial Crisis. This paper reports on an international research collaboration between mathematics support centres in Australia, Ireland and the UK. At all three universities, existing pedagogical expertise and knowledge of the topics and concepts students struggle with informed the production of MathsCasts---short screen movement videos of mathematical explanations recorded by a tutor using tablet technology. MathsCasts provide students with the flexibility to receive mathematical explanations whenever they like and from wherever they are. We overview the collaboration undertaken to get this project to its first roll-out phase. We then state and address specific questions relating to student use of MathsCasts and perceived benefits to students, and discuss lessons learnt from the feedback which will inform whether and how future MathsCasts will be made. We present findings of an early evaluation of the impact of MathsCasts on student learning across the three universities and outline plans for the future. The paper will benefit those who teach and support students who struggle with mathematics at university and those who wish to exploit emerging technologies to further their own teaching.

Reasoning as we read: Establishing the probability of causal conditionals

Indicative conditionals of the form if p then q (e.g., if student tuition fees rise, then applications for university places will fall) invite consideration of a hypothetical event (e.g., tuition fees rising) and of one of its possible consequences (e.g., applications falling). Since a rise in tuition fees is an uncertain event with equally uncertain consequences, a reader may believe the statement to a greater or lesser extent. As a conditional is read, the earliest point at which this probabilistic evaluation can take place is as the consequent clause is wrapped up (e.g., as the critical word fall is read in the example above). Wrap-up processing occurs at the end of the clause, as it is evaluated and integrated into the evolving discourse representation. Five sources of probability may plausibly influence the evaluation of a conditional as it is wrapped up; these are P(p), P(q), P(pq), P(q|p), and P(not-p or q). A total of 128 conditionals were constructed, with these probabilities calculated for each item in a pretest. The conditionals were then embedded in vignettes and read by 36 participants on a word-by-word basis. Using linear mixed-effects modeling, we found that wrap-up reading times were predicted by pretest ratings of P(p) and P(q|p). There was no influence of P(q), P(pq), or P(not-p or q) on wrap-up reading times. Our findings are consistent with the suppositional theory of conditionals proposed by Evans and Over (2004) but do not support the mental-models theory advanced by Johnson-Laird and Byrne (2002).