University Space Research Articles

Rozwój kompetencji komunikacyjnej studenta specjalności ‘Język angielski w biznesie i zarządzaniu’ oraz ‘Lektor i tłumacz języka angielskiego’ w przestrzeni uczelni o profilu praktycznym

The paper is devoted to the problem of shaping communicative competence at the level of higher education neoophilological studies with regard to the expectations of the socio-economic environment. Therefore, the publication outlines the evolution of the idea of communicative competence on the basis of selected theories and describes the tendency of moving away from the Humboldtian model of university towards an approach that takes into consideration the requirements of the socio-economic environment in order to reflect them in study programmes. In relation to the above concept, the paper also demonstrates factors determining the development of students’ communicative competence in the space of a practical profile university. The research presents an analysis of the development of communicative competence of the student of first-cycle studies conducted at a practical profile university, specialization: ‘The English language in business and management’ and ‘Instructor and translator of the English language’.

Formation and development of the language training methodology for foreign students at classical universities. Part 3. Teaching the Ukrainian language

The article is another part of a series of scientific and methodical studies on the formation and development of language training methods for foreign students at classical university. Previous research has analyzed the formation of the conceptual foundations of language training of educational migrants of various study profiles, the history, principles, and features of language education of students of higher education of non-linguistic and philological specialties based on the activity of the Language Training Department 1 of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. The third part is devoted to the analysis of problems and achievements of the department in teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language. The gradual transition to teaching the state language was carried out from the end of the 90-s of the XX century. This required a rethinking of methodological approaches and principles, the development of principles and provisions of the methodology of teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language, and educational and methodical support of the teaching process. The research tools of the article as a part of the series are the method of systematic analysis of the scientific work on the linguistic problems of the Ukrainian language done by the department’s specialists, characteristics of dissertation studies, scientific publications, didactic work, and their methodical implementations. The main stages of the formation of the methodological foundations of teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language at classical university, the optimal methods of teaching language aspects, the formation of speech activity skills, the intercultural communication are also highlighted in the paper. The authors defined the main scientific and methodological principles and components of the educational process organization (in particular, the development of the program as one of the main factors in the creation of methodical and informational support for language training of foreign students studying at Ukrainian universities). The authors relied on the concept of language education of foreigners presented in the first article of the series, the structure of the modern educational paradigm, analysis of the influence of the competence approach on curricula creation, and professionally oriented language training of foreigners. The article also contains an analysis of some educational and methodical Ukrainian language guides and manuals that have been used for forming components of communicative competence of educational migrants during language acquisition in a new social-cultural environment, in the academic space of a Ukrainian classical university.

Yekaterinburg Universities and SCO Countries Educational Space: Barriers and Risks

Educational interaction between Russia and the SCO countries has a long cultural and historical experience. The practice of such interaction is becoming more and more evident in obtaining more support and interest in the education system in Russia and the SCO countries. The modern social reality referring to the pandemic, changes in the geopolitical space of the world dictate new requirements for the formation of educational interaction models between the SCO countries. The trend of Russia’s refusal to participate in the Bologna process is also becoming one of the main directions of Russian educational policy. The major research objectives were to study the barriers that hinder the development of interaction between the SCOcountries in the educational space, to identify the advantages, disadvantages and problems of its implementation. The research methodology combined both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The primary data was collected using questionnaires (n= 560) and in-depth interviews (n=50). Students from the SCO countries studying at universities in Yekaterinburg (Russia) took part in the quantitative study The in-depth interviews with experts were conducted in order to identify key issues of educational interaction between the SCO countries. The research has investigated a number of barriers that prevent fruitful educational interactionbetween the universities of the SCO countries. They are as follows: objective circumstances of constantly changing geopolitical realities, technical difficulties in the implementation of educational interaction, insufficient readiness of the teaching staff to teach foreign students, financial risks, language barrier, cultural barrier, unfavourable infrastructure of universities, the specifics of educational programs and curricula. Our research has identified factors that will contribute to the development of educational interaction and overcoming barriers. They are as follows: personal factors, motivation to get education in Russian universities, the historically established cultural tradition of communication between the peoples of the SCO countries, the creation of uniform educational standards and organizations (similar to the SCO university).The study has identified barriers that prevent this interaction. They are as follows: objective circumstances of constantly changing geopolitical realities, technical difficulties in the implementation of educational interaction, insufficient readiness of the teaching staff to teach foreign students, financial risks, language barrier, cultural barrier, unfavourable infrastructure of universities, the specifics of educational programs and curricula. The study has revealed factors that promote the development of educational interaction and overcome barriers. They include: personal factors, motivation to get education in Russian universities, the historically established cultural tradition of communication between the peoples of the SCO countries,the creation of uniform educational standards, organizations (similar to the SCO university).

Evaluating the Effects of Different Improvement Strategies for the Outdoor Thermal Environment at a University Campus in the Summer: A Case Study in Northern China

A lack of consideration of outdoor spaces of universities has resulted in lower outdoor thermal comfort in summer. This study investigates the thermal comfort of outdoor spaces of a university in summer and proposes the model’s accuracy and optimization strategies to improve the outdoor thermal environment, including vegetation greening, building morphology, and surface albedo. The ENVI-met program was used for the simulation. The measured data were utilized to verify the accuracy of the simulation model. The typical meteorological year data were applied as the inlet boundary condition of the optimized case. The simulation results show that vegetation greening has the most significant effect on improving the outdoor thermal environment. At a greening rate of 45%, the air temperature (Ta), mean radiant temperature (Tmrt), and physiological equivalent temperature (PET) in the study area were 3.2 °C, 14.4 °C, and 6.9 °C lower, respectively, than that in the base case. In areas shaded by building, the Ta, Tmrt, and PET were 2 °C, 8.7 °C, and 5.5 °C lower, respectively, than that in the base case. Increasing the height of buildings did not significantly improve thermal comfort when the height-to-width ratio (H/W) exceeded 1.0. Increasing the ground albedo from 0.2 (base case) to 0.6 can reduce the Ta by 1.44 °C but increase the Tmrt by 3.7 °C and the PET by 4.3 °C. These findings can be used by urban planners to develop sustainable cities and improve thermal comfort on university campuses.

Exploring Environmental Barriers and Facilitators to Inclusion on a University Campus for Autistic Students.

Attending university allows individuals to build independence, develop social networks, and attain valuable qualifications, contributing to enhanced outcomes in adulthood. However, autistic people have poorer participation rates and outcomes in university than those with all other disabilities or without disabilities. Most research conducted with autistic young adults in the university environment focuses on their social and communicative challenges and supports rather than on how the physical environment impacts an autistic student's university experience. Therefore, there is a need for research into how the sensory aspects of the university environment can affect the well-being and outcomes of autistic students. This qualitative study explored the experiences of seven autistic university students in the physical spaces of an Australian university. Using a semi-structured interview guide, and photo-elicitation, we collected data in one-on-one interviews with seven autistic undergraduate students. We found that sensory aspects of physical spaces on university campuses are both enabling and challenging for autistic students. These aspects not only impact how students navigate and utilize aspects of the campus, but they also influence how students engage and participate at university. Autistic students need the space and resources to manage sensory overload on campus, and universities that seek to support autistic students need to consider the physical and sensory needs of this cohort. Inclusive university education requires attention to the physical aspects of campuses that support the mental and physical well-being of autistic students.

Ship of Darkness: Jazz and/as Affect in the Global Cruise Industry

Ship of Darkness: Jazz and/as Affect in the Global Cruise Industry

Strategies and Techniques of Desktop Documentary as Creative Pedagogical Tools in the Era of COVID-19 Global Pandemic

Desktop documentary is a contemporary film and media practice that self-reflexively explores technological limitations of the computer interface and its potentialities in order to create unconventional audio-visual works with elements of documentary and experimental cinema. This paper envisages the possibility of using desktop documentary methods and techniques within the context of current online education – the globally dominant model of knowledge transfer and exchange during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the focus of this article, in comparison to previous theoretical studies of desktop documentaries, which primarily investigated cinematic, artistic and media features of this form, is transferred from aesthetic and poetic to pedagogical, methodological and epistemological issues. Although several scholar papers have already discussed the possibility to employ desktop documentaries within the space of classrooms, their understanding of this practice was different from its contemporary mode theoretically acknowledged and creatively practiced by Kevin B. Lee, inaugurated with his paradigmatic film Transformers: The Premake. Lee’s vision, namely, presupposes a more transgressive approach towards desktop filmmaking, which entails various avant-garde and experimental cinematic and media techniques. Having as its starting point such bold methods, this article considers, analyzes and critically evaluates desktop documentary strategies and techniques relevant for online teaching: self-reflexive thought about technological limits and potentialities of online platforms; exploration of new digital aesthetics which oppose predefined digital forms; speculative discourse based on critical thought; online mode of lecture performance, etc. This paper thus opens the possibility to transpose and integrate the concepts and techniques of desktop documentary, primarily marked by avant-garde and experimental traits, into the creative methods of conducting the online teaching process – and eventually, after the termination of the pandemic, to preserve and expand them within the physical spaces of schools, colleges and universities.

Measuring the Image of Private University as a Generic Product: Validation of a Scale

The compulsory nature of online training in university education, brought about by COVID-19, has opened the door to the emergence of several potential competitors in the university space. Thus, measuring a university’s image may have even greater importance for the management and differentiation of universities in the new post-COVID-19 horizon. This study aims to test whether a standardized scale of brand image measurement is valid for measuring the image of the “private university” product. A non-probabilistic convenience sample was chosen, collecting information from 728 citizens from the same territory (Andalusia). The procedure to validate the scale involves dividing the sample (728) into two sub-sets: one to establish the scale, and the other to validate the results. The methodology applied is Confirmatory Factor Analysis using EQS 6.3 software. The scale was validated, and the main results show that people favor the quality of private universities, their commitment to society, and the perfect option that they are. Additionally, results show the idea that private universities present characteristics absent from public ones as non-significant, and do not agree that private universities provide a high value concerning the price that has to be paid.

Qualities of Safer and Unsafe Spaces at an Emerging HSI: Community-Based Participatory Research to Center Latina/o/x Undergraduates’ Voices in Addressing Campus Issues

ABSTRACT “Safe spaces” denote areas where students show up as they are and express themselves without fear of being made uncomfortable because of their sex, cultural background, or other status. Many dismiss the importance of safe spaces for students by accusing the institution of becoming a “therapeutic institution” concerned with their well-being, and/or viewing them as victims. We recognize the value of safe spaces to promote inclusion, and a sense of belonging for students. Utilizing photovoice with a LatCrit framework, we demonstrate the power of community-based participatory research to help Latina/o/x and Chicana/o/x students 1) explore and articulate which spaces at an emerging HSI support their sense of safety; 2) illuminate unsafe spaces and how they navigate them; and 3) center student voices in safer spaces issues. We also identify factors that make university spaces feel safer and unsafe so as to provide guidance to those interested in being supportive of this student population. The findings provide insight into the factors that impact Latina/o/x and Chicana/o/x students’ sense of safety and offer greater understanding of communal approaches that might support navigation of unsafe spaces and the increased creation of safer spaces.

Women, teachers and researchers

Introduction: In this research, our general objective is to present issues that can be identified and analyzed, around the experiences of women, teachers, researchers, who were in the university space at the time of the pandemic (which began in 2019), due to of the Coronavirus/COVID-19. Social isolation, which was imposed as one of the measures to contain the virus, required (and has required) all of us to (re)think new adaptations and readjustments, especially in regard to the academic field. Teachers have been challenged to reflect on their activities in various aspects, both professional and personal. In this way, from the context of a global pandemic, we problematize: what issues can be identified and analyzed, around the experiences of women, teachers, researchers, who were in the university space at the time of the pandemic? Method: To do this, we applied a questionnaire through the Google Forms platform, to ten women, teachers, researchers and who were inserted in Postgraduate programs during the years 2020 and 2021. The data collected was analyzed from the Feminist and Gender Studies, relevant for the analysis and discussion of the nuances of "being a woman" and their experiences in the face of the demands of this historical moment. Results/Conclusion: The data highlighted the gender inequalities associated with female researchers, and also pointed to the need to rethink gender issues in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It Felt Like a Little Community”: Supporting Rural Appalachian College Students

Students from rural Appalachian regions often face increased career development barriers within university spaces. As part of an NSF-funded program, we provided diverse, structured supports for a group of STEM majors from rural Appalachian backgrounds. We utilized narrative inquiry to interview 10 Program participants, which allowed us to explore which supports they described as impactful, including graduate student mentors, their fellow program peers, program coordinators, campus supports, and other various campus faculty. Participants further described being impacted in a variety of ways: as an individual person, in their research pursuits, in their future plans, academically, and financially through the program’s scholarship. Specifically, they described strategies for success and the importance of belonging as impactful. Implications for future college support programming and for how to best support the career development of rural Appalachian college students, along with suggestions for future research needs and limitations to the research, are provided.

Conversations in a Time of Crisis: Kuppi Talk in the Sri Lankan University Space

AbstractKuppi in Sinhala and Tamil refers to a small oil lamp, a vial. On university campuses in Sri Lanka, kuppi is the figurative term for a student‐led informal study group led by a “smarter” or senior student. Informed by the complexities of university life, kuppi signifies a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall. It parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies. Drawing upon this conceit, a group of academics and activists, found the Kuppi Collective in 2020, as an inquiry of the location of the university, academia, the intellectual and of their imbrication in the state and the global, in all its complexity.In “Conversations in a Time of Crisis,” five of the collective’s members enter into a conversation reflecting on its actions, expectations, and the political, remarking on what the future may hold. The conversation takes on an ever more insistent urgency as Sri Lanka catapults into an economic and political debacle, slowly shutting down, even as we speak. Participants in the conversation are Hasini Lecamwasam (HL), Sivamohan Sumathy (SS), Shamala Kumar (SK), Ahilan Kadirgamar (AK), and Nicola Perera (NP).

Development of an Innovative Seat Reservation System for University Buildings Based on BIM Technology

The usefulness of building information modeling (BIM) for facilities management, although widely demonstrated, has not been extended to use management in university spaces. In public facilities with free access, it is uncommon to be able to check the availability of seats, which causes capacity problems. In addition, while several studies show that the use of BIM makes the graphic communication of useful information about buildings more attractive and intuitive for its users, there are still challenges regarding how to make it accessible to the public, taking into account their preferences. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the benefits of implementing BIM in a real-time seat occupancy management system to enable reservations tailored to the user’s needs by offering various means of consulting model information. The research method focuses on the utility model designed for a university library in Malaga, Spain. The results, based on data obtained from a survey, indicate that users positively assessed the quality of the information offered, showed great interest in its use, and also considered it comparatively superior to other reservation systems used. The Results and Discussion and Conclusions sections also show the potential of the system to control social distancing and energy expenditure.

Educational Potential of Curatorship in a Pedagogical University

The purpose of the article is to analyze the educational potential of curatorship in a pedagogical university, and to determine the educational resources of the main activities of student groups’ curators. As a result of the theoretical analysis of curatorship as a subject of the educational space of a pedagogical university, various educational possibilities of the curatorʼs position are determined; the pool of roles and qualities in which the curator acts are analyzed. The article also presents the results of a broad study at Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University of the qualitative characteristics of curatorship in general, including its educational potential. The students and curators of academic groups’ relationship, the differences in the positions of an instructor curator and an undergraduate curator, the curator’s educating influence on various aspects of student life were investigated. In addition, the article presents an analysis of the regulations on curatorial activities in various universities in Russia, and the most common curator’s responsibilities are identified.

Fight or flight? Understanding female students’ response to sexist humour at an institution of higher learning in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT Student protests of 2015–2016 in South African higher education institutions calling for the decolonisation of higher education spaces and equal access to these spaces have necessitated and led to increased scrutiny around the lived experiences, particularly of female students in university spaces. Critical attention has been paid to how hegemonic structures of power embedded in higher education spaces continue to exclude and marginalise female students through gendered, sexualised and other forms of social identity and difference which are often taken for granted. As such, the study explores how female students at a university in Zimbabwe process, react and respond to this collective expression of male hegemony through sexist humour. The study further explores how these enactments may be constrained and therefore serve to re/produce, legitimise and instil gendered norms of violence. Findings from this study reveal how women respond to, resist and affirm their position in higher education.

Abolitionist Pedagogies, Pedagogical Labor

Abolitionist Pedagogies, Pedagogical Labor

Unregulated religious spaces in public universities in Ghana: evidence of the radicalisation of young Muslim students

ABSTRACT Why do young Muslim students who live in a relatively peaceful and pluralistic society like Ghana embrace extremist ideologies? This paper examines the radicalisation of young Muslims in Ghanaian universities. It analyses the different structural and managerial models adopted by three of the oldest public universities to govern students’ religious activities on campus. We draw on data from several sources to argue that the weaknesses of the management of religious spaces in university campuses and the marginalisation of Muslim students’ association in university chaplaincies contributes to the radicalisation of young Muslims in Ghana. The unregulated sacred spaces encourage students to search for religious resources on the internet; a significant source that helps to radicalise young Muslims in institutions of higher learning.

Optimal Design and Verification of Informal Learning Spaces (ILS) in Chinese Universities Based on Visual Perception Analysis

As the focus on higher education in China gradually shifts from rapid development to an emphasis on quality, the need for campus environments to become facilitators of education has gained increasing attention. The accelerated development of information technology has also led to tremendous changes in both teaching and learning methods, with informal learning taking on an increasingly important role. Furthermore, the development of human sensing technology, especially visual perception technology, has brought in new opportunities for the research and optimization of informal learning spaces (ILSs) in universities. This paper focuses on the ILS in Chinese universities by exploring optimal design approaches based on visual perception analysis. Through research and field investigation, this paper proposes revised theoretical research of classifications and spatial elements of ILS in universities more applicable to the architectural study of space. This paper also explores practical optimal design methods with two case studies and makes experiments with wearable eye trackers to study the users’ perception in these spaces before and after optimization. The optimal design is made from the aspects of physical space, facilities, and environment. Visual perception experiments and quantitative analysis were used to obtain a higher level of experimental accuracy than the previous studies and thus to study the real feeling of users in spaces. By these means, the effect of the optimized design was verified and the relation between users’ perceptions and the spatial environments was explored for further improvements to optimal design methods. This article can provide theoretical and practical references for campus space optimization research and design, especially for ILS on university campuses.

Trends in research: carbon footprint reduction in universities as a way to achieve a green campus

PurposeReducing our carbon footprint (CF) or decarbonizing is a sustainable development goal. Although there has been an increase in research on this topic, little is known about the status of CF research within universities. The purpose of this paper is to identify the initiatives implemented in universities aimed at reducing CF in their efforts toward creating a Green Campus.Design/methodology/approachUsing a bibliometric method, the status of this field of research was examined for the purpose of identifying the main publications and the most central researchers in terms of productivity and citations. Also, by using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the regions of the world with the most active research, as well as the direction of research, were identified.FindingsThe survey identified the region that published the most on the subject in the past 10 years, as well as the most relevant authors in the publications. Through this factor analysis, it was possible to identify, among the 105 publications analyzed, four distinct factors (clusters) with different thematic strands that appear to define a difference between the related studies on this topic. These factors were identified as campus management: supply and consumption operations; greenhouse gases emissions assessment: CF calculation; university air travel; sustainable food systems. The changes in people’s attitudes and in the use of university spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to the CF was also noted as a point that can be investigated in future research. As well as the reflection of the reduction in academic air travel and the “forced” occurrence of online events during the same period.Originality/valueThe paper aims to innovate by applying the multidimensional scaling method and EFA to scientific articles on the topic of decarbonizing campuses and identifying the clusters that constitute this field of study. The research seeks to contribute to current metric knowledge on the topic and to the creation of a specific research agenda.

Theoretical and Methodological Bases of Organization and Implementation of Educational Work in Educational Institutions of Higher Education

Introduction to the problem. Appeal to necessity of development of bases of educational work organization in university becomes the urgent task of development of modern higher education. Despite the fact that effective, meaningful traditions of upbringing are being preserved in the activity of universities, the existing practice has serious difficulties in the integral definition of theoretical and methodological foundations of educational work in the organizations of higher education. Objective of this article. Identify and substantiate the constants in the theory and methods of organization and implementation of educational work in educational institutions of higher education. The research methodology consists of systemic, environmental, socio-cultural, personal activity, and multisubject approaches as well as complex methods of theoretical research which was applied to a wide range of researches in this field as well as to descriptions of practices (self-descriptions, information from university websites). Results of the study. On the basis of the identified theoretical positions which require conceptual clarification (the level of understanding and implementation of education in high school, goals and objectives of education, the content, the methodological support of the upbringing process) the invariant theoretical and methodological foundations of the organization of educational work in the university were determined. Methodological invariant defining initial bases for organization of upbringing work in university. Account peculiarities of growing up of the contemporary youth. Reliance on basic research in the field of education. Integration of upbringing, self-education, and professional education. Combination of national, professional and personal values of subjects of education Initiation and maintenance of the saturated life activity and personal-professional communication in the university space Transformation of the university environment and space into educational environment and educational space. Conclusion. Present active attention to upbringing and educational work in institutions of higher education and corresponding state-social expectations can encourage renovation and development of corresponding educational systems and practices only if clearly outlined and clear theoretical and methodological grounds.