Search results for "higher education"
showing 10 items of 1325 documents
Appréhender les inégalités dans et par l'enseignement supérieur : spécificité des mesures, spécificité des processus ?
2009
To assess social inequalities in higher education often appears as a straightforward issue: as a routine and as at the previous levels of education, one compares the diverse social groups' rates of access (or the rates of success) and any difference will be considered as an inequality... That will induce, sometimes, implementing some programs of positive discrimination. However, especially because higher education is the "final" stage of schooling careers, any analysis focusing on that level requires some specific reflection about how to assess social inequalities, with some political implications. This note raises some interrogations, both methodological and more theoretical (or political)…
It runs in the family?
2022
AbstractFamily background has been shown to be a strong determinant of educational attainment, yet relatively little is known about the role that family background plays in PhD attainment or in the selection into academic careers. In this study, we estimate sibling correlations from Finnish full population register data to comprehensively assess the importance of family background in selection into academia. Our results show that family background accounts for over a third of the overall variation in becoming a PhD and subsequently an academic — a share which is up to four times as large as implied by conventional comparisons by parental education. However, we did not find evidence that fam…
Who Controls the National Academic Promotion System: An Analysis of Power Distribution in Poland
2023
In studying the performance of academic systems, one often tries to find out—by inspecting some well-defined parameters—how specific changes in the legal system influence the volume and quality of desired outputs, such as publications, patents, or alumni. This mechanistic approach neglects the fact that the main actors in this spectacle are not passive, but have their own priorities, and actively self-organize in response to any changes in their professional environment. In this contribution, we investigate such collective social behavior using the data for academic promotions in Poland in the years 2011 to 2020. Focusing on degrees higher than the PhD, we analyzed over 12,500 habilitation …
University-wide, top-down curriculum reform at a Finnish university: perceptions of the academic staff
2021
This study examines academic staff’s perceptions of a university-wide, top-down curriculum reform in terms of the management of the reform, the support provided by the university’s administration, and the utilisation of the university’s guidelines. Differences between faculties are also scrutinised. The study was conducted at a multidisciplinary public research university in Finland using the survey method. The data (n = 394) consisted of academic staff’s responses to multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Correlation coefficients, exploratory factor analyses, and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were utilised to analyse the quantitative data. Responses to the open-ended questions …
Working outside academia? : perceptions of early-career, fixed-term researchers on changing careers
2019
This article examines the perceptions of early-career, fixed-term researchers in Finnish universities towards changing careers. It maps out the reasons this group has considered the change and where they see themselves in five years. As a theoretical framework, a synthesisation of variables related to career change, created by Ryan, Healy, and Sullivan [2012. “Oh, Won’t You Stay? Predictors of Faculty Intent to Leave a Public University.” Higher Education 63: 421–437.], was used. The results show that the most common reasons for early-career researchers to change careers are job-security related stress, job-related dissatisfaction, and salary. Over half of the respondents would like to work…
The Best Science, The Best Science in Finnish – and English – or The Best Finnish Scientists?
2013
Cet article traite d’une « vérité inconfortable » (un mythe), à propos de la mise en place d’une politique ainsi que des pratiques équitables en matière de gestion du personnel, dans le système éducatif supérieur d’un pays admiré pour l’égalité sociale qui le caractérise. L’étude présente une enquête participative des auteurs, qui se fonde sur leurs expériences collectives et leurs perceptions de l’intérieur d’un système qui est en train de changer rapidement. Les auteurs révèlent un certain nombre d’affirmations et de mécanismes qui ont mené à un abandon du débat sur l’égalité dans les discussions portant sur politiques éducatives. L’ironie de cette situation est que le « miracle finlandai…
What makes the difference : PIAAC as a resource for understanding the problem-solving skills of Europe's higher-education adults
2019
The ever-evolving technological landscape is challenging adults' problem-solving skills. The central goal of higher education (HE) is to guarantee a high level of know-how, which is in line with the changing demands of technology at work and in everyday life. This study builds on European data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) to understand adults' (N = 53,407) skills for solving problems in technology-rich environments. The study provides insight into the socio-demographic, work-related, and everyday factors that are associated with a strong and a weak problem-solving performance. The results indicate that HE adults stand out from adults with…
Finnish adult students’ perspectives on short-cycle study programmes : motives and evaluations
2018
We investigated how students in Finland perceive short-cycle higher education programmes. In line with the European trend, Finland has piloted short-cycle study programmes in order to attract adult students into higher education. We found that the students were mainly satisfied with their studies, and that their orientations to studies and learning were extrinsic in nature. The strengths of the programme were perceived as related to the flexibility of the studies, the variety of teaching methods, and the extensive contents of the studies. The main challenges were associated with difficulties in using information and communications technology (ICT) within the studies, and issues with time ma…
The peer groups bridging the disciplines and social contexts at higher education
2014
The aim of the study is to promote understanding of peer groups meanings from the students’ point of view. The research task is to find out teacher students’ conceptions of the andracogical peer groups in the health science teacher studies at university. Teacher students’ peer groups are based on andracogically formed principles. The participants are (65) health science teacher students, who have started in 2009-2012. The data (578 written pages) was gathered by using essay writing in the end of their one year teacher studies and analysed by a phenomenographic method. The results are three hierarchical categories of peer groups meanings description 1) Value of otherness in participation the…
Conceptions of teachership in the professional identity construction of adult educator graduates
2019
The aim of this study was to investigate the conceptions of teachership among graduates (n = 126) from a Finnish higher education study programme called Pedagogical Studies for Adult Educators. The conceptions of teachership comprise notions of teaching and of oneself as a teacher. Accordingly, the conceptions of teachership are viewed as one element in the process of constructing teacher identity. Currently, we have little knowledge about the professional identity construction of adult educators, even though there is a growing need for adult pedagogics in the changing professional life. Based on a qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended questionnaire data, three main conceptual categor…