University Alumni Research Articles

Higher Education’s Curriculum and Challenges of the 21st Century: The Case Study of Cameroonian Public Universities

This paper is supported by Zhejiang Province Philosophy & Social Science Discipline, Major Subsidised Project 2019. No 19YSXK05ZD Abstract Higher education is worldwide recognised very crucial in socioeconomic development. University’s education generates new knowledge, innovates and stirs critical thinking that contribute to the economic growth and social development. In this regard, this study aimed to explore Cameroonian university programmes and their capacity to face socioeconomic development challenges. Based on one of the researchers’ own experience partly as Cameroonian university alumni, and a student enrolled at a university abroad; but also based on the documents’ analysis, the study used qualitative method to throw a critical view on the extent to which the quality implemented curriculum in Cameroonian state universities can or not meet the country’s economic development objectives. The results showed that state university’s programmes are mostly based on social sciences and humanities, which, yet, have no big significant impact on economic growth. Based on these results, critical socioeconomic development programmes such as STEM curriculum have been suggested so that state university programmes match the country’s needs as well as the international labour market. Keywords : Higher education, university curriculum, skill, socioeconomic development, Cameroon DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-18-16 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

Online Social Network Effects in Labor Markets: Evidence From Facebook's Entry into College Campuses

In this paper, I estimate the causal effect of increased exposure to online social networks during college on future labor market outcomes. Using quasi-random variation from Facebook's entry to college campuses during its infancy, I exploit a natural experiment to determine the relationship between online social network access and future earnings. I find a positive effect on wages from Facebook access during college. This positive effect is largest in magnitude for female students, and students from lower-middle class families. I provide evidence that this positive effect from Facebook access comes through the channel of increased social ties to former classmates, which in turn leads to strengthened employment networks between college alumni. My estimates imply that access to Facebook for 4 years of college causes a 2.7 percentile increase in a cohort's average earnings, relative to the earnings of other individuals born in the same year. This translates to an average nominal wage increase of $3,000-$5,000 in 2014.

University alumni mentoring programs: a win-win?

ABSTRACTAlumni-student mentoring programs have become commonplace at many universities, and yet, scholarly research has rarely explored the impact of these programs on participating students and alumni. To address this, we investigated three alumni mentoring programs at a large research-intensive university in Australia. Using a mixed methods approach (a web based survey and interviews), we sought both students' and mentors' perceptions of their alumni mentoring program and how their involvement may have impacted their perceptions of the university (n=197). The findings highlight that alumni mentoring programs provide distinct benefits to both students and alumni and may result in improved university engagement. Our results also indicate new revelations about alumni mentoring programs, including the challenges associated with mentoring postgraduate students and recommended best practice to ensure the success of alumni mentoring programs.

Trust and age: An experiment with current and former students

We examine differences in trust and trustworthiness across age groups by running a trust game experiment with current students and alumni of a large Austrian university. We find linear age effects, in that older adults are more trusting and more trustworthy than younger participants. We detect no gender effect in terms of trustingness, but observe that females are more trustworthy than males.

THE EVALUATION OF THE BUSINESS PLAN OF UNIVERSITY ALUMNI USING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT MINDSET CONCEPT

In the past, producers think only about the outcome of production, however, producers began to shift, as the need of customers must be in line with the purpose of the product or service that is produced. This phenomenon enables product and service suppliers to obtain new opportunities from the unfulfilled wants and needs of customers. One of the mindsets that can help excelling a business and controls business projects is continuous improvement mindset, which is a continuous revision of the operational activity of a business that can be implemented with the resources that the business owns. This study identified the effect of continuous improvement mindset on the business of alumni of University A located in Surabaya and University B located in Yogyakarta based on the teaching pattern that is received by the alumni. Data collection was done using interviews with alumni business. There is a similarity in continuous improvement mindset behavior between alumni of Universities A and B. Continuous improvement mindset is still implemented by both alumni from both universities. The research findings showed that the education in each study program and entrepreneurship teaching are interconnected. The control over alumni’s business project is positively impacting with the implementation of continuous improvement mindset. The implemented control can impact sales, operational system and the increase of customer service

Formation and Modification of Notions ‘Revolution’ and ‘War’: Bulgarian Case

Related notions of war and revolution are not something primordial and constant. They are constructed and constantly changing. The paper traces some aspects of these processes in the mentality of the 19th and early 20th century Bulgarians, with attention to their Balkan context.
 The lack of the own state for a long period of time (1396–1878) determined the initial negative image of the war. For the Bulgarians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries a war was something definitely negative, as it brings death, troubles, and disasters; it was also something alien or external as only few of them were recruited in the Ottoman army. The wars between Russia and Ottoman Empire generated some hopes for independence among certain elite groups of society (although not so much among common people). The Greek War for Independence (started in 1821) and other uprisings in European dominions of Turkey had their impact on Bulgarians. The idea of revolution grew in the 1860s and 1870s within the group of radicals, mainly the alumni of Russian Universities and high schools. Literature played a serious role in this process, and April uprising (1876), not without some debates, was represented as ‘revolution’ in the last decades of the 19th century. The two notions were mixed after the Russian-Turkish Liberation War (1877–78), especially in later interpretations.
 The newly established Principality of Bulgaria lived in constant threat (real or imagined) of Ottoman invasion and soon got drawn into the war with Serbia (1885) which contributed to creating the fully positive image of a patriotic war. This image persisted during the First (1912–1913) and Second (1913) Balkan wars, called in Bulgaria ‘inter-allied’. The defeat motivated to shift the image of war from something patriotic to something making the ordinary people suffer. This was a gradual change catalyzed by the World War I (1914–18) that made the previous image problematic. The notion of revolution that was previously associated only with the past (1876, 1878) also shifted and became associated in some leftist minds with the future as well. First and still shy anti-war humanitarian ideas appeared; the last poems of Dimcho Debelianov (1887–1916), who died in the war, were the most representative examples of this trend.

The Importance of Social Capital to Individual Auditors

We examine the role that individual auditors’ social networks play in their careers. We focus on educational networks in China, as measured by the size of an auditor’s university alumni network, including those who are auditors in public accounting firms (auditor alumni) and those who are executives of public companies (executive alumni). These social networks widen auditors’ access to expertise, information, and potential clients, which should enhance their professional development and audit quality. We find that individual auditors with larger social networks: provide higher-quality audits; attract more clients and earn higher audit fees; exhibit a higher likelihood of receiving a promotion and moving to a higher-quality audit firm, and exhibit a lower likelihood of leaving public accounting. Consistent with expectations, connections to auditor (executive) alumni play a more prominent role for audit quality (client acquisitions and career advancement). Evidence surrounding an exogenous large expansion in auditor social networks reinforces the main results.

Aplikasi Pelacakan Alumni STMIK AKAKOM Berbasis Sistem Informasi Geografis

Alumni is a product of an educational institution. The quality of the alumni shows the quality of the educational institution. The fact is increasingly felt, especially for college alumni. This is because alumni of college will directly come into contact with the world of work.
 Tracer study activity is one of the activities that have a very strategic value in the development of a college. STMIK Akakom is one of the universities in the city of Yogyakarta is required to always mempebaiki quality of education process accompanied by efforts to increase its relevance in the framework of global competition. In addition Tracer study is one effort that is expected to provide information to evaluate educational outcomes in STMIK Akakom. This information is used for further development in ensuring educational quality.
 This research produces alumni application of STMIK Akakom alumni by utilizing Geographic information system to map the location where alumni work, besides that it also displays alumni data in the form of year of admission, graduation year, long waiting time to work first after graduation

Received Respect and Constructive Voice: The Roles of Proactive Motivation and Perspective Taking

This study advances voice research by offering a social-relational view of the drivers of voice, a theoretical approach to voice that is seldom considered within the current paradigm largely focused on personality traits, job conditions, and organizational characteristics. One overlooked yet important social-relational antecedent of voice is received respect. Our core premise is that when employees believe they are respected by coworkers, they experience psychological changes to their control beliefs (representing “can-do” proactive motivation) and positive mood (representing “energized-to” proactive motivation), which then motivate voice. We further consider another social-relational variable—perspective taking—as a predictor of received respect and therefore as an indirect predictor of voice. Through a multimethod, multisample research program comprising four studies (two experiments involving more than 400 subjects in total, a sample involving more than 700 matched employee-coworker and subordinate-supervisor dyads, and a 9-week within-person field investigation of more than 400 university alumni), we provide evidence to support the proposed model. That is, received respect was associated with employees’ voice through control beliefs and positive mood, and perspective taking was a prominent predictor of received respect.

Role of employee felt obligation and endorsement of the just world hypothesis: A social exchange theory investigation in an organizational justice context

AbstractAccording to social exchange theory, felt obligation after being treated justly is key to explaining why justice perceptions influence behaviors important to organizations, such as task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Perhaps those who believe in a just world (Just World Hypothesis, JWH) are more likely to feel obligated to reciprocate just treatment with behaviors benefiting the organization. Thus, our goal was to investigate whether belief in the JWH influences to what extent people feel obligated after being treated justly and the importance of felt obligation in regard to behavioral outcomes, such as OCB and task performance. Based on 160 university alumni and their supervisors, results provide support that justice perceptions can relate to both job performance and OCB via felt obligation, providing empirical support for the theoretical role of felt obligation in the social exchange theory explanation of how justice perceptions can translate into employee behaviors benefiting the organization. Results also suggest that endorsement of the JWH interacts with procedural and distributive justice perceptions, but not interpersonal justice perceptions, to influence felt obligation and that the indirect effect of distributive and procedural justice perceptions on both OCB and task performance via felt obligation is only significant for individuals with relatively high levels of endorsement of the JWH. Implications are discussed.

Our Foundation’s Unique Annual Fund

To the best of my knowledge, just about every college and university alumni association has an annual fund campaign to raise money for scholarships, facilities, and other higher education purposes. At some schools, classes compete to determine which is giving the most funds. The Foundation for Post-Acute and Long-Term Medicine (PALTC), which we refer to as “Our Foundation,” also has an annual fund and I accepted the invitation to take on the role of campaign chair. I agreed because I strongly believe that AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine needs a robust foundation, a body dedicated to raising money for special programs and purposes not covered by our membership dues. It is like a college that raises money for programs not covered by tuition. Our Foundation focuses on three key areas: workforce development, PALTC quality measures, and recognition of excellence and innovation. Each year, the Foundation board reviews and evaluates the programs it is funding and the board continues to see great success in our Futures program, our efforts to develop and fund quality measures, and the excellence recognition awards we present at the annual conference each year. Yet, there is at least one significant difference between a college annual fund and our own annual campaign. The difference is largely math. For an undergraduate college, there is close to a 100% turnover in students every four years. Over time, this creates a very large pool of alumni. But within our Society, many people are members for as long as they are in practice—one, two, three, or more decades. While some give to the Foundation even after they are no longer members, most are donors at the same time they are members. So, the pool of funders for Our Foundation is much smaller. To me, that means we must accomplish a much higher percentage of contributions in order to fund Our Foundation. But there is a way that math can work in our favor. I may be setting the bar very low—or very high—but if AMDA members contributed an average of $100 each, Our Foundation would be able to fund programs with roughly $500,000—and that would mostly be new money. When I say “an average of $100 each,” I know I’m not speaking of a pittance. But I do want to point out that Our Foundation is unique. It is the only charity created by and that works for the purposes of our PALTC profession. Our Foundation is the only nonprofit dedicated to workforce development, quality care, and recognition of caregiving excellence. Your contribution to Our Foundation makes an important difference. I am asking you as a reader of Caring for the Ages or an AMDA member to please join me and many others in contributing at the level you can afford to our annual fund. All you need to do is go online at www.paltcfoundation.org and find “Donate” or write a check to the Foundation for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. We won’t hound you with phone calls, so it is important that you act now and make what is a very important contribution to what we can together uniquely call Our Foundation. Thank you. Dr. Wayne is chair of the Foundation’s Annual Appeal Campaign and a past president of AMDA – The Society for PALTC Medicine.

“People Like Us”: Theorizing First-Generation College as a Marker of Difference

Although composition scholars have long advocated for working-class and under-represented populations on campus, the emergence of “first-generation college” as a marker of difference in public, administrative, and scholarly discourses invites further consideration of how we theorize this marker. As a bureaucratic marker (originating in higher education administration) that exhibits potential for organizing students for self-advocacy across difference, “first-generation college” warrants particular attention from scholars interested in the intersections between literacy studies and rhetoric. This article initiates a conversation about FGC as a marker of difference, observing that the bureaucratic and rhetorical nature of “first-generation college” as a marker necessitates a constitutive rhetorical approach to the term, an investigation of how the use of the term articulates a literate positionality, situates it within local and cultural narratives, and assigns it value. Placing composition scholarship in conversation with interviews with 17 first-generation college and low-income students and alumni of a large state university, this article reads first-generation college literate positionality in light of students’ own use of the identifier and within the context of their accounts of navigating class difference in college.

Dynamic customer interdependence

In managing today’s customer base, firms need to consider not only interactions with customers but also interactions among customers. Much like the interactions between customers and firms, the interactions among customers are dynamic in nature and thus create a dynamic structure of preference interdependencies between customers. This research proposes a Bayesian spatio-temporal model that simultaneously captures the effects of the interactions between customers and the firm, the static interdependence due to customers’ inherent similarities, and the dynamic interdependence arising from observed interactions among customers. The model is applied to a rich dataset of university alumni donation and event attendance spanning 27 years. The results yield significant static and dynamic interdependence among the group as well as synergistic effects between static and dynamic structures. This research demonstrates that not accounting for such interdependence, when such interdependence exists, would provide a biased view of firms' marketing effectiveness, yield inferior prediction of customer behaviors in group settings, and miss opportunities to develop group marketing strategies.

ANALYSIS OF BEGINNING TEACHER TEACHING PROGRAM IN INCREASING THE PROFESSIONALISM COMPETENCE OF MADRASAH IBTIDAIYAH TEACHER EDUCATION IBN KHALDUN UNIVERSITY ALUMNI IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

The purpose of this study is, the first to analyze the implementation of mentoring programs for beginner teachers who are alumni of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Teacher Education Ibn Khaldun University who have worked in basic education institutions in the city of Bogor. Second, it describes the influence of the mentoring program on improving the professional competence of beginner teachers. Third, good communication and kinship between alumni and alma mater is established. The research method used is mix methods (qualitative and quantitative). Data collection in this study uses interviews, observation, focus group discussions, and scale. The object of this research is Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Teacher Education Ibn Khaldun University alumni who work in Bogor in different basic education institutions, namely public elementary schools, Private Madrasah Ibtidaiyah and Islamic Elementary School, which are honorary and permanent teachers. The conclusion of the result of this study is the Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Teacher Education Ibn Khaldun University alumni assistance program is proven to improve teacher professionalism competencies which include six indicators, those are the application of science, work productivity, innovation, problem solving, work environment adaptation, responsiveness of students' needs. And tighten the fabric of communication between alumni and nature.

Assessing the effect of university brand personality and attitude towards donation on alumni donor behavioural intention: Malaysian perspective

This study attempts to examine the relationship between university brand personality on intention to donate among Millennials alumni from one of renowned management-based university in Malaysia. Besides, alumni attitude towards donation is integrated in the model as a mediator to understand alumni willingness to donate to their alma mater. A quantitative survey among 311 Millennials alumni found that university brand personality significantly influenced alumni willingness to donate to their alma mater. Attitude towards donation fully mediate the relationship between university brand personality and Millennials alumni donor behavioural intention. Besides, theoretical implication and recommendation for university management is discussed at the end of this paper.

A Survey of CIS Alumni to Assess Curriculum: Findings, Implications, and Future Directions

Aim/Purpose: At a public, higher education program in information technology, faculty are frequently asked to evaluate their curricula concerning: course content, the matriculation experience, where and in what capacity graduates are employed, and future academic initiatives developed to keep pace with changes in technology. The problem is determining the best process or mechanism to accumulate the responses. Background: The increased importance of STEM programs (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), reduced state support, and the need for greater accountability are driving academic technology programs to justify their existence. This paper explores one process for evaluating a Computer Information Systems (CIS) program in a state-supported university in the Midwest USA, through an email survey designed for graduates to capture their unique perspective as ‘customers’. Methodology: An email survey was developed, field tested, and sent to 550 email addresses obtained from university alumni affairs. Results were accumulated in a Qualtrics program and analyzed for research purposes. Contribution: The contribution of this research is outlining one program’s experience gleaning information on the employment of graduates, assessing the CIS and business core curriculum, and collecting suggestions for future academic courses and experiences through the utilization of an email survey. This is a valuable source of curriculum feedback that is often overlooked by programs that want to enhance their academic offerings. Findings: Among the findings are the following: the CIS program is and has been a viable and relevant information technology program that prepares graduates for meaningful careers in this field; the business core curriculum of accounting, finance and business communication is essential to the career success of CIS graduates; graduates of the CIS program are prepared to assume managerial roles throughout their careers; and Cooperative (Co-op) education is an extremely valuable experience and should be required in the CIS curriculum. Recommendations for Practitioners: Graduates of an academic program are an excellent source of evaluation material. A well-constructed email survey can gather relevant data on employment and employability, the curriculum, the college experience, and other academic program information. This type of survey is an easy, inexpensive, and expedient means for gathering this information. Recommendation for Researchers: The current study surveyed CIS graduates to assess the appropriateness of the curriculum. Future researchers should seek input from IT managers and HR managers who will be hiring CIS graduates in the near future to find their perspectives on the CIS curriculum. Future Research: Further research needs to investigate the link between alumni surveys and accreditation. There is also a need to improve and refine survey instruments, increase survey response rates, incorporate survey responses into program marketing initiatives, and define a process for incorporating these results into the development/creation of academic courses.

ИНСТИНКТ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ – СОЦИАЛЬНАЯ АДАПТАЦИЯ ИНСТИНКТА САМОСОХРАНЕНИЯ

The instinct of self-preservation can be considered as the main instinct, it is directly related to other instincts, such as: the maternal instinct, the instinct of hunger, thirst instinct, instinct of power, sexual instinct, and all of these instincts are responsible for the preserving life and its continuation. Nowadays, in the conditions of scientific and technological progress, man has developed the habitat and is going to develop a new habitat – technosphere, one feature of which is the progressive increase in the amount of dangers, such as: technological, social and political, biomedical, ecological, etc.; thus, in these changed circumstances the instinct of self-preservation can be described as the instinct for safety. The protective mechanisms generated by scientific and technological progress against the danger have not formed for a human in the process of evolution. An example is penetrating radiation, the consequences that may be the cause of death or a significant deterioration in human health. The consequences of penetrating radiation are well acknowledged, since no senses perceiving it and the perceived danger launches the instinct of self-preservation. The foundation of this launch is an instinctive fear for life and health. In the conditions of scientific progress growth rates and the amount of dangers generated by the progress, the instinct for safety is necessary as synonymous with the instinct of self-preservation. The justification of it can be the fact, that it’s not possible to stop the development of scientific progress, it will keep providing regular danger, because it’s unreal for the modern society to keep away from the benefits of civilization.At present, the security has become a constantly increasing social significance. The confirmation of the significance is the initiation of the mandatory subject «Safety of vital activity» at schools and universities. The subject «Safety of vital activity» for the universities is particularly important, since an alumnus of university becomes entitled to hold senior posts and responsibility for security of the managed enterprise and the team of employees. The chief has a moral, administrative responsibility and even criminal liability in the event of employee injury.Human instincts, in contrast to animal instincts, in which they are realized in full and unchanged form recorded in the genome, are controlled by it and subject to its conscious activity, formed in the process of its socialization. On this basis, individual authors replace the instinct of self-preservation in man with the concept of homeostatic regulation, also formed in the process of evolution. Homeostasis and homeostatic regulation in terms of its functional content is the instinct of the constancy of the internal environment of the organism, as well as all the instincts formed in the process of evolution. An illustrative example in the resolution of these contradictions is the description of the behavior of people in the wreck of such ships as the Titanic and Lusitania. The chances of survival were about 30%; on both ships there were not enough lifeboats. The difference was in the sinking speed. The speed of the sinking of ships affected the behavior of people: on board the rapidly sinking «Lusitania», everyone was for himself, so the most viable had more chances to escape. It should be noted that in both cases there was a pronounced stress. Slow sinking «Titanic» allowed people to follow the accepted social norms – to save in the first place children and women. At the same time, everyone realized that he was doing this to the detriment of himself, that is, ignored his own instinct of self-preservation. This analysis illustrates, that it takes time, there should be a certain place, favorable conditions and the personality in demonstration of the instinct of self-preservation by human, but it does not mean that the instinct is absent at the genome.

Five-decade trajectories in body mass index in relation to dementia death: follow-up of 33,083 male Harvard University alumni.

In prospective cohort studies, obesity has been linked with a lower risk of subsequent dementia. Reverse causality, whereby neurodegeneration preceding overt dementia symptoms may lower weight, is a possible explanation of these findings. To explore further the weight-dementia association we followed people from early adulthood, an age at which neurodegeneration has typically yet to begin. In all, 33,083 male participants in the Harvard Alumni Health Study underwent a medical examination as undergraduates (typically aged 18 years) during which height, weight, resting pulse rate, blood pressure, physical activity, and smoking status were assessed. Subsamples provided height and weight in 1962/6 (mean age 50.7 years), 1977 (58.6), 1988 (67.5), and 1993 (71.1). Dementia deaths were extracted from death certificates (mean follow-up 53.1 years). We used latent class mixed models to create body mass index (BMI) trajectories; for comparison, we also constructed models with cardiovascular disease (CVD) death. We found no association between early life BMI and subsequent dementia (age-adjusted HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.85, 1.04). We identified two latent class groups based on different BMI trajectories-"early decliners" whose BMI began to decline around age 50 years and "late decliners" whose BMI declined about two decades later. The former experienced a raised risk of dementia-related death compared to the latter (multivariable-adjusted HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.14, 2.17). Expected associations were identified between CVD risk factors and CVD death. In a population likely to be free of dementia neuropathology at BMI measurement, we found no association between BMI at baseline and subsequent dementia-related death. Earlier decline in BMI was, however, associated with dementia, which suggests that findings associating BMI with dementia risk may be influenced by reverse causality.

Strategi Organisasi Bantuan Hukum dalam Penyerapan Anggaran BantuannHukum Kementerian Hukum dan HAMdi Jawa Tengah dan Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Tahun 2016

Law Number 16 of 2011 concerning Legal Aidmandates the government's obligation to provide legalaid funds to disadvantaged communities. To be able tochannel these funds, the Ministry of Law and HumanRights collaborates with Legal Aid Organizations (OBH)throughout Indonesia. There are more than 500 OBHspread throughout Indonesia. As many as 40 (forty)OBH are found in Central Java and 19 (nineteen) OBHare in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. The existingOBH is also required to make various efforts so thatlegal aid funds can be maximally absorbed. Thisresearch was conducted to find out how and thestrategies carried out by OBH in absorbing legal aidfunds by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights inCentral Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta.From the research conducted, it was found that inabsorbing OBH legal aid funds in Central Java and DIYconducted 1. Recruitment and collaborating withexisting university alumni as well as, 2. Conductinglegal counseling in collaboration with CommunityService Agencies and students , especially for OBHunder the University 3. Cooperation or communication,both formally (based on the MoU) and non-formal (oralcommunication) between OBH and the JudicialInstitution. 4. Conduct legal socialization through massmedia, such as newspapers and radio, and 5. Make useof its own network of members to provide assistance tothe poor justice seekers.

How Do Career Aspirations Benefit Organizations? The Mediating Roles of the Proactive and Relational Aspects of Contemporary Work.

This paper examines how employees’ career aspirations benefit organizations, i.e., contribute to strengthening organizational capabilities and connections, by means of two aspects of contemporary work: proactive and relational. Data were collected from alumni of a public university in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in two waves with a 1-year time lag. The results showed that employees with career aspirations strengthen: (a) organizational capabilities; and (b) organizational connections through their instrumental and psychosocial relationships. Interestingly, although employees’ career aspirations were positively associated with taking charge, we did not find that taking charge mediates the relationship between career aspirations and employees’ individual contributions to organizational capabilities. This study is the first to examine how individual career aspirations benefit organizations, and it discusses the results in light of their novel contributions to theory and practice.