University Programs Research Articles

Academic literacy in enabling education programs in Australian universities: a shared pedagogy

AbstractWidening participation in higher education has led to the global expansion of universities, increased student and program diversity, and greater provision of flexible pathways into university. Critical to supporting a growing student body is helping all students develop their ability to communicate confidently and effectively in their academic communities. This research employs a collaborative benchmarking framework to explore academic literacy instruction in pathway or ‘enabling’ programs across nine Australian universities. While prevailing assumptions hold that such programs are overly diverse, the findings demonstrate that these programs have developed remarkably similar approaches; in particular, the investigation found that the programs all drew on established academic literacy models and reflected an emerging disciplinary coherence across the enabling education sector, despite the lack of a formal curriculum and standards framework.Kindly check and confirm the processed Article title is correct.This is correct

Sosialisasi Perguruan Tinggi berdasarkan Bakat dan Minat Calon Mahasiswa Se-Kabupaten Maros

The Community Service Activity aims to provide understanding to high school students in Maros District about the socialization in choosing a College to continue their studies, especially in the Department of Electrical Engineering Education, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Makassar, in accordance with the talents and interests of the students. The Community Service is conducted at SMA Negeri 2 Maros, SMA Negeri 1 Maros, and SMA Negeri 4 Maros, involving 100 (one hundred) students. Through the implementation of socialization, it is hoped to produce students who have a linear correlation between their interests and talents towards their chosen study programs, especially in the study programs available in the Department of Electrical Engineering Education at State Universitas Negeri Makassar, ensuring that students do not experience Drop Out (DO). Based on the results of the community service activities that have been carried out, it can be concluded that several problems are still encountered by prospective students and teachers in high schools in Maros District. Many prospective students have not yet determined their university and study program choices even though the time for new student registration is approaching. With the implementation of this community service activity, prospective new students are able to get to know the study programs better, especially those available in the Department of Electrical Engineering Education at Universitas Negeri Makassar

Prospective Teachers' Views on Teaching Science Concepts

This study aims to investigate the views of pre-service teachers who have taken the "Science Teaching" course in the undergraduate program of classroom teaching about the teaching of science concepts. In this study, the phenomenology study approach, one of the qualitative research designs, was used. The study group of this research consisted 75 pre-service teachers, 56 female and 19 male, studying in the third year of the undergraduate primary teaching program of a state university. In this study, the views of the pre-service teachers who took the science teaching course about the teaching of science concepts were determined through four open-ended questions followed by face-to-face semi-structured interviews with eight participants. It can be said that the idea that prototype examples should be given about a concept in concept teaching is known by pre-service teachers (82.3%). It was observed that the pre-service teachers were aware of a misconception about force as a science concept (90.7%), but they had difficulty writing the main views of learning theories (48.0%). It is an important detail that the participants did not see the exams as tools to eliminate misconceptions at a high rate (82.7%). Interviews were conducted with eight participants who volunteered and had available time about the answers they wrote for four open-ended questions. It was seen that the participants’ opinions supported the findings of this study. Some suggestions were made based on the findings of the study.

Exploration of Social Work Intervention Models in College Students' Youth Health Education—Taking University X as an Example

Based on the youth health program of colleges and universities, we carry out youth health education for X-school students based on the group work method of social work. It explores the practical path of youth health education in colleges and universities and develops a "trinity" youth health education model for colleges and universities, which promotes the organic integration of professional social work education, student peer education, community practice education, and youth health education, and finally provides suggestions for future youth health education in colleges and universities.

Unveiling the Challenges and Processes of Implementing Program and Performance Budget for Government Universities in Iraq

This study aims to identify the challenges facing the implementation process and necessary processes for the successful implementation of Program and Performance Budget (PPB) in Iraqi universities. Employing a qualitative approach, data was gathered through in-depth, semi-structured focus group discussions involving top management and financial department representatives from the University of Baghdad, the University of Al-Qadisiyah, and the University of Muthanna, totaling 30 participants. Utilizing Nvivo software, the data was analyzed to generate a word cloud, where larger-sized words indicated greater repetitions and higher impact rates. Thematic analysis techniques were subsequently applied for a more detailed understanding. The findings underscore numerous challenges in PBB implementation, including issues related to management competence, organizational commitment, financial constraints, and the unique features of PPB. Key thematic areas for necessary processes are the measurement system and the approach to implementation. The contribution of the theoretical study is to supplement previous literature that is concerned with trying to find an alternative to the traditional method of preparing the budget. The current study showed the challenges associated with implementing the PPB in the Iraqi context and the necessary procedures for that. The study focuses on Iraqi government universities. This empirical evidence contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and processes associated with PBB implementation, serving as a valuable guide for university management.

Their Skin Was Their Only Sin: Anti-Roma Murders in Hungary and Austria

On March 16, 2023, a documentary screening and discussion was organized by the Romani Studies Program of Central European University. Máté Fuchs's movie, Unprocessed introduces how Hungarian society dealt with the anti-Roma racist murders committed by neo-Nazis between 2008-2009. The screening was followed by a discussion with Máté Fuchs, Aladár Horváth, Manuela Horvath, and Angéla Kócze, during which the experts shared their insights about trauma and how to deal with it as a society, community, and individually in the Austrian and Hungarian context.

American and British Universities’ Experience in Forming Student Mindsets

TThe paper focuses on issues of building students’ mindsets at leading British and US universities according to global universities’ ratings and serving as elite training centers for international organizations. The major research question aims to uncover the key ideology that shaped the Anglo-Saxon higher education system. The ideology that shaped the AngloSaxon higher education system is evident through the design of Social Sciences and Humanities programs at British and US universities, targeting world leaders and global organization employees. The research method employed was contentanalysis of a range of international studies devoted to educational pathways of leaders,leadership training programs,structure and contents of the two eminent undergraduate Oxford University 3-year courses: Philosophy, Politics and Economics (BA), Global Governance and Diplomacy (M. Sc.), an interdisciplinary program Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) offered at the University of Cambridge, as well as missions of a select world leading universities (the case of Harvard). The authors conclude that graduates of European and US university programs tend to identify themselves as “exceptional” and privileged Euro-Atlantic actors of international relations, which, in turn, largely influence the current state of global affairs.

Gender Discourses in Civil Engineering TVET College programs: Marginalized Female Voices in the Learning of Engineering Concepts

Collectively, the Engineering sector is still the most male-dominated field and most TVET College graduates are males. Why is this even a case when the fourth industrial revolution pushes all livelihood boundaries and ensures that males and females are exposed to similar opportunities in the sector? Of course, there can never be a comprehensive response to this patriarchal question. Hence, this study delved into this societal issue through classroom discourse in a Civil Engineering and Building Construction course at a TVET college in Limpopo Province. This study was premised on the fact that lecturers in the college use “male” examples more than those of women which affects how women perceived the Civil Engineering field. Moreover, this study laid bare the preferences of female students and how they want to be involved in discourses without making reference to gender roles. This study used a qualitative research approach for a case of eleven (11) female students. Data was collected through focused group interviews. The study employed the Social Identity Theory as its framework. The study found that indeed unconscious biases are happening during classroom discourses and that the lecturers seem to be unaware of this. As a recommendation, reskilling, and upskilling of TVET college lecturers is needed as a matter of urgency with a focus on their scholarship of teaching and learning. Universities as close partners to TVET colleges can facilitate these professional development programs. This study contributes to the global discourse on female inclusion in the engineering sector and the pedagogical practices of an engineering educator in a TVET college. Keywords: Classroom discourse, Civil Engineering, Female students, TVET colleges

Sense of belonging and academic persistence among undergraduate university students: The chain mediation effect of emotional and academic adjustment

This study examined the relationship between sense of belonging and academic persistence, as mediated by emotional and academic adjustment. A total of 955 South African undergraduate students were participants (female = 71.7%; black = 44.8%; mean age = 27.80 years, SD = 7.65 years). They completed surveys on sense of belonging, emotional adjustment, academic adjustment, and academic persistence. Mediation analysis results showed that a sense of belonging significantly predicted academic persistence. Furthermore, emotional and academic adjustment independently and significantly mediated the relationship between sense of belonging and academic persistence, for higher academic persistence. The results further showed that emotional and academic adjustment played a significant chain mediation role in the relationship between sense of belonging and academic persistence. From these findings, we conclude that sense of belonging influences academic persistence through emotional and academic adjustment. These results suggest the need for university programmes to foster academic persistence in students by being supportive of their sense of belonging and providing resources for emotional and academic adjustment.

To Test or Not to Test? The Graduate Record Examinations: Predictive Validity toward Graduate Study Success on Research Masters’ Programs in a Large European University

Graduate admissions committees in Europe have a challenging task of selecting students from an increasingly large pool of candidates with diverse application files. Graduate standardized testing can ease the comparison of application files. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is predictive of several dimensions of graduate success on English-taught research masters’ programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at a large European university. The data from 167 masters’ students were collected. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. All GRE scales predicted Graduate Grade Point Average. Individual GRE scales predicted internship grade and supervisors’ assessments of students’ research performance and the content of their research report. None of the individual GRE scales predicted supervisors’ assessments of students’ practical skills, but the three GRE scales taken together improved the explanatory power of the model. The structure and style of students’ research reports was not predicted by the GRE. All relationships were held after accounting for socioeconomic status. Overall, the GRE appeared as a reasonable predictor of graduate study success. Both the benefits and drawbacks of the implementation of the GRE in European masters’ programs are discussed, as well as the legal limitations.

Visual impairment and associated factors in adults from three suburban communities in Nampula, Mozambique.

Scientific evidence on the burden of visual impairment, its causes, and associated factors are essential to monitor progress in eye health, identify priorities and develop strategies and policies that meet the needs of the population, towards the eradication of preventable blindness. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of visual impairment, its causes and associated factors in adults living in suburban communities in Nampula. This is a cross-sectional study conducted from November 2019 to February 2020. Eye examinations were performed on adults aged ≥18 years covered by the Lúrio University program, 'one student, one family'. The odds ratio (OR) and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) were calculated to study the association between the dependent variable (presenting visual impairment) and independent variables (gender, age, school level, residence, family income and systemic diseases), with a 95% confidence interval. Distance and near presenting visual impairment had a prevalence of 16.3% and 21.1%, respectively, and were statistically associated with the age groups between 45-65 (OR:4.9) and >65 years (OR: 29.1), illiterate (OR:13.8), primary (OR:4.8) and secondary (aOR:37.5) school level, farmer (OR:32.8) and retired (OR:14.3) occupation, and presence of systemic diseases (OR :3.3). The main causes of presenting visual impairment were uncorrected refractive error and cataract. The prevalence of presenting visual impairment is relatively high, given the enormous effort undertaken within the framework of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight global initiative. There is a need to develop intervention plans targeted at the highest risk groups, with a view to achieving the 'one student, one family' program goals with respect to eye health.

Evaluation of the Implementation of the International Credit Transfer Program of Makassar State University

In 2021, Universitas Negeri Makassar (UNM) first became one of the universities participating in the International Credit Transfer Program (ICT) and made Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) one of the partner universities. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the implementation of ICT held online by UNM for one semester. The evaluation model used in this study is an illuminative evaluation model that focuses on qualitative data collection using observation, interview, and document review methods. The results showed that the implementation of ICT by UNM went quite well. This is evidenced by the achievement of the goals of the ICT program for universities and students. In addition, this program motivates students to take part in other international programs participated in by UNM and organized by the government. However, there are some problems encountered by UNM and students during the program. Such as communication problems of the committee and participants, to administrative problems. In conclusion, ICT is incredibly good to be followed again by UNM, seeing the magnitude of the impact and enthusiasm of the students. However, improvements to the administrative and communication systems must be completed first before returning to participate in the following years.

The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science Curriculum: Summary of STEM+C and ITEST Program Impacts on NYC Teachers and Students

For over a decade, the Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration of New York Harbor (BOP-CCERS) Educational Program has supported New York City teachers and students through experiential learning in science education. The program has been supported by over $10 million dollars of award support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and has involved multiple community stakeholder collaborations led by Pace University. Within the University, the initiative spanned three different schools and colleges with collaboration through many academic departments. Two grants in the project have been the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics plus Computing (STEM+C) and Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. The purpose of this article is to summarize the major impacts this integrated program has had on New York City teachers and students designed to provide teachers with experiential education support and engage students to improve their STEM education and encourage further STEM studies and career pathways. Results from over a decade of programming, vast amounts of data collection and analysis, and multiple research studies have indicated considerable achievements for the program involving both support for teachers and engagement for students. The long-term outcome is improved student STEM achievement and recruitment and retention of diverse students in STEM college programs and careers.

Evaluation of LLM Tools for Feedback Generation in a Course on Concurrent Programming

AbstractThe emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) has marked a significant change in education. The appearance of these LLMs and their associated chatbots has yielded several advantages for both students and educators, including their use as teaching assistants for content creation or summarisation. This paper aims to evaluate the capacity of LLMs chatbots to provide feedback on student exercises in a university programming course. The complexity of the programming topic in this study (concurrency) makes the need for feedback to students even more important. The authors conducted an assessment of exercises submitted by students. Then, ChatGPT (from OpenAI) and Bard (from Google) were employed to evaluate each exercise, looking for typical concurrency errors, such as starvation, deadlocks, or race conditions. Compared to the ground-truth evaluations performed by expert teachers, it is possible to conclude that none of these two tools can accurately assess the exercises despite the generally positive reception of LLMs within the educational sector. All attempts result in an accuracy rate of 50%, meaning that both tools have limitations in their ability to evaluate these particular exercises effectively, specifically finding typical concurrency errors.

Early Field Experiences of PTEs in ELT Programme of a State University in Türkiye

Teaching programs in Türkiye consist of a 4-year process. Internship practice takes place in the last year of this process, each in two separate terms. Prospective teachers observe, evaluate, prepare course content, and teach under the guidance of in-service English teachers in public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education and with the support of supervisors at the faculties and complete their internship. However, the timing of the process is thought to be too late, which is carried out during the 4-year education period and where prospective teachers will be actively involved in schools/real teaching environments and gain experience. "Early Field Experience", which is also found in the world literature and has exemplary applications, has been implemented in some private universities in Türkiye today but has not yet found its place in state universities. This current research studies the subject of “Early field experience”. The present study focussed on the effects of "Early Field Experience" practice in a state university in Türkiye. The study analyses the reflections of Early Field Experience (EFE) on prospective teachers' anxiety and makes the voices of prospective teachers heard. In this convergent mixed method study, STAS (Student Teacher Anxiety Scale - Hart, 1987) was used as a quantitative data collection tool, and a semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions was employed for the qualitative part. In the study, prospective teachers of English had an EFE implementation process covering 10 weeks of observation and internship. The results of the quantitative data showed that there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores for the level of anxiety of PTEs (t=4.16; p< .05) in favour of the post-test. Findings of interviews revealed that the prospective teachers' concerns were in the areas of teaching, students’ background, classroom management, readiness to teach, and burnout before the EFE; and after the EFE, they experienced improvements in classroom management, appropriate language use, readiness to teach, experience and teaching content.

TRACER STUDY ON THE EMPLOYABILITY OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION GRADUATES FROM ACADEMIC YEAR 2019 TO 2023

Tracer study is used to determine the needs for improvement of a program in colleges and university by measuring the employability and the effectivity of the quality education provided by the institution to its graduates. This tracer study aims to determine the employment rate and status of graduates from 2019 to 2023 of the program Bachelor in Elementary Education – Generalist of a local college in Kapalong, Davao del Norte. The study used a descriptive method with a total number of 172 respondents and was conducted online using Google Forms. The result of the tracer study reveals that the employment rate of the graduates is 51.16% in which 30.81% practiced the teaching profession while 20.35% are in non-teaching field. The survey also revealed that 22.67% of the employed graduates earned within Php21,000 to Php30,000 per month, and 20.93% have secured their first job within 4 to 8 months. Attitude to work, quality education provision, and skills and abilities development both obtained a very high level of description which signifies that these are always manifested by the graduates. Thus, it is recommended that the institution should improve its partnerships with local industry partners and community linkages and establish graduates and employability coordinator to trace and help graduates informed for more opportunities for work. KEYWORDS: tracer study, elementary education, employability, teacher education

Workshop dan Pelatihan Pembelajaran Berbasis Higher Order Thinking Skill (HOTS)

Madiun is a city in East Java Province, Indonesia. The fourth largest city in East Java, after Surabaya, Malang, and Kediri, is 160 km west of Surabaya, or 111 km east of Surakarta, Central Java. The fourth largest city in East Java after Surabaya, Malang and Kediri. This city has a railroad industry (INKA) and a railroad high school. Based on the data above, the social capital owned by the city of Madiun must be maintained and increased from time to time as the times change and progress. Therefore, society and the world. Education in Madiun must keep up with the times by updating or reforming, learning innovations to be at the forefront, and at least not to be left behind. Higher-order thinking, known as higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), is an educational reform concept based on learning taxonomies (such as Bloom's taxonomy). The idea is that some types of learning require more cognitive processing than others but have more general benefits. The problem is that the busyness of teachers and the community and the lack of time to think about and carry out updates make teachers less active in implementing innovations or reforms in education. To overcome this problem, it is necessary to provide education and training on various ways of updating learning. The implementation method is carried out through lectures, demonstrations, and workshops to school inspectors and school principals in Madiun. Evaluation of the pretest results regarding the HOTS workshop showed that understanding increased by 19% with indicators during the activity, 90% of the participants were enthusiastic about practicing it, and 100% had made updates by carrying out HOTS-based learning. This community service is one of the PGRI Madiun University programs that implement the Tri Dharma of Higher Education by conducting training on implementing HOTS-based learning.

Examining a leadership development initiative for college students with intellectual and developmental disability: A brief report

BACKGROUND: The number of inclusive college programs for students with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) in the United States has steadily increased in recent years. As access to college becomes a more realistic prospect for people with IDD, there is a pressing need to examine the offerings and impacts of these programs critically. OBJECTIVE: One potential offering of inclusive college programs that has not been given much attention is opportunities for student leadership development (LD). The purpose of this brief report was to evaluate the perspectives of staff members in a program geared towards providing a paid LD opportunity to students with IDD in an inclusive college program in the southeastern United States. METHODS : Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten student-employees staffing this LD opportunity and constant comparative analysis was employed to organize interview content by themes. RESULTS: Four primary themes arose as a result of the analytic process: character development, communication, opportunities for leading and mentoring others, strategic reflection, and individual empowerment. Each is explored in summation and through exemplary quotes from participants. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study provide important implications for professionals and future research to support maximizing the positive impact of these programs on the lives of students with IDD.

Youth Health Risk Behavior Assessment among University Students in Baghdad, Iraq

INTRODUCTION: Health risk behavior is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. The social and economic costs associated with these behaviors can be reduced by changes in individuals’ behavior. Health-related behavior can either enhance or damage physical, psychological and social wellbeing. Human behavior is influenced by an individual’s health consciousness. OBJECTIVE is to study health related behavior that includes dietary habits, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption, screen time and behavior related to unintentional injury among students attending public universities in Baghdad. METHODS: Study design is Cross Sectional Study; sampling method is multi-stage Cluster sampling. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect student data, a total of 1836 students participated in the study RESULTS: Among the 1836 students who participated in the study, 21.4% are smokers, only 3.4% use seatbelts while driving, 11% took medicine without prescription and 78% did not perform regular exercise. 85% of students use the internet at least three hours per day. Dietary habits of students were average based on diet recommendation. CONCLUSION: Health related behavior traits were average among university students in Baghdad. Policy changes to reinforce stringent road traffic safety measures and initiate regular health promotion programs in universities to motivate students to be more proactive towards their health and fitness.

Professional self-concept of BSN students: A cross-sectional correlational study

BackgroundProfessional self-concept consists of one's judgments, attitudes about oneself professionally, and one's own perception as a professional. A positive professional self-concept can support students and new nurses throughout their nursing careers. ObjectiveTo describe levels of self-concept among pre-licensure undergraduate students. Participants/settingThe participants were nursing students in a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in the United States. Design/methodsThis is a cross-sectional correlational study with self-report instruments, including demographics and the Professional Self-Concept of Nurses Instrument. Data (N = 103) were analyzed with SPSS/WIN 29.0. Descriptive statistics and professional self-concept scores were examined with independent t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlations. ResultsMost participants were female (n = 90), with a mean age of 20 years (SD = 1). The mean professional self-concept of nurses score was 78 (SD = 7), ranging from 27 to 108, and professional self-concept was positively correlated with receiving tutoring through the university's program, working as a tutor for nursing students or students in prerequisite classes, transferring into the nursing program, and participating in campus nursing organizations. Professional self-concept was negatively correlated with advancement in semesters of the nursing program, being a first-generation college student, having a family member who is a nurse, GPA, and having clinical-related work experience in healthcare. ConclusionsHigher levels of exposure to nursing may be related to lower professional self-concept. This is important to recognize and it may generalize to other nursing schools and health-related departments. Schools of nursing should enhance students' resilience by promoting self-concept. Our findings also shade light on self-care and the mental health of healthcare professionals.