Showing papers on "Higher education published in 1986"

Self-efficacy in the prediction of academic performance and perceived career options.

Abstract: This study explored the relation of self-efficacy beliefs to educational/vocational choice and performance, assessing the extent to which efficacy beliefs, in concert with other relevant variables, predict academic grades, persistence, and perceived career options in students considering science and engineering fields. Subjects were 105 undergraduates who participated in a career planning course on science and engineering fields. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy contributed significant unique variance to the prediction of grades, persistence, and range of perceived career options in technical/scientific fields. The two self-efficacy scales used were moderately intercorrelated but differentially related to previous academic performance; neither scale was significantly related to general selfesteem or career indecision. Implications for further career self-efficacy research, and for career and academic counseling, are discussed.

Pathways to Top Corporate Management

Abstract: With college attendance approaching universality among senior managers in large American corporations, the issue of the impact of distinctions within the system of higher education in providing access to these positions has become increasingly salient. This study, based on data on the education, social backgrounds, and careers of 2,729 senior managers associated with 208 major corporations, analyzes the relationship between stratification within higher education (as measured by institutional status and level of credential) and stratification within the ranks of top corporate management. Findings reveal that: (1) Corporate ascent is facilitated by the possession of a bachelor's degree from a top-ranked college, a master's degree in business administration from a prominent program, or a degree in law from a leading institution. (2) Controlling for educational credentials, an upper-class background increases the likelihood of rising to the top ranks of corporate management. (3) The impact of a law degree and an upper-class origin are most pronounced for successful movement beyond the firm into formal and informal inter-corporate networks.

Alienation of Ethnic Minority Students at a Predominantly White University

Abstract: Despite civil rights legislation, the national goal of providing ethnic minorities with equal access to quality institutions of higher education and opportunities for academic success has yet to be realized. Actualizing this educational vision requires understanding the forces that preclude and those that promote equal opportunity and academic success. Higher college dropout rates, lower levels of academic preparation in high school, lower socioeconomic status, and greater alienation or isolation in the white college environment have been cited as problems facing ethnic minority college students [2, 3, 14, 22, 29, 30]. There is a need at the national level for research on ethnic minority and white college students' attitudes and perceptions. Despite this need, little such research has been conducted [10]. Comparative studies have either been conducted among various white student populations [12, 18, 24] or between white students and only one ethnic minority group [13, 25, 28]. At a state and local level, the underrepresentation of ethnic minori-

Effective teaching and mentoring

Abstract: (1988). Effective Teaching and Mentoring. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education: Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 28-29.

What Professors Actually Require: Academic Tasks for the ESL Classroom

Abstract: Surveys of academic writing have an important role to play in providing a more complete picture of writing than the “process” approach has given us. However, previous academic writing surveys have not satisfactorily answered the question of just what kinds of academic writing tasks are typical. Without such information, creating realistic writing tasks in the English-for-academic-purposes (EAP) classroom remains largely a matter of guesswork. The present study attempts to fill this gap, taking as its data the actual handouts in university classes. The tasks were classified into seven categories, which are described. The implications of the controlled nature of many of the writing tasks are discussed, and ways to put these findings into use in the EAP classroom are suggested.

Effects of Single-Sex Secondary Schools on Student Achievement and Attitudes.

Abstract: A movement away from single-sex education occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, just as research was beginning to document positive effects of women's colleges. There has been very little investigation of single-sex education at the secondary level, however. In this study, we compared the effects of sing

Perspectives on the Professional Socialization of Women Faculty: A Case of Accumulative Disadvantage?.

Abstract: (1986). Perspectives on the Professional Socialization of Women Faculty. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 57, No. 1, pp. 20-43.

University-industry research relationships in biotechnology: implications for the university

Abstract: The growth of university-industry research relationships in biotechnology has raised questions concerning their effects, both positive and negative, on universities. A survey of over 1200 faculty members at 40 major universities in the United States reveals that biotechnology researchers with industrial support publish at higher rates, patent more frequently, participate in more administrative and professional activities and earn more than colleagues without such support. At the same time, faculty with industry funds are much more likely than other biotechnology faculty to report that their research has resulted in trade secrets and that commercial considerations have influenced their choice of research projects. Although the data do not establish a causal connection between industrial support and these faculty behaviors, our findings strongly suggest that university-industry research relationships have both benefits and risks for academic institutions. The challenge for universities is to find ways to manage these relationships that will preserve the benefits while minimizing the risks.

Community Colleges and Social Stratification.

Abstract: The expansion of the community colleges in recent years repeats an American pattern that couples class-based tracking with "educational inflation." Shaped by a changing economy and by the American ideology of equal opportunity, community colleges are moving toward vocational rather than transfer curricula and are channeling first generation college students into these programs. The author examines the social forces behind the community college movement and the social processes within the community colleges that have produced a submerged class conflict in higher education.

Untangling the satisfaction-performance relationship for college students.

Abstract: (1986) Untangling the Satisfaction-Performance Relationship for College Students The Journal of Higher Education: Vol 57, No 4, pp 393-412

To Advance Knowledge: The Growth of American Research Universities, 1900-1940

Abstract: American scientific supremacy was built upon the strength of our research universities. This book shows how these universities laid the foundation for the ascendancy of American science in the first half of this century, when they went from being provincial outposts of international science to being the equal of the best European centers of learning. This is a rich social history that tells much not only about the growth of American higher education but also about American intellectual life in general and the politics of scientific research in education. How did research come to be a major function of universities? How did universities reconcile the demands of an active research program with their other institutional commitments? To answer these questions, Geiger ranges over a broad spectrum of topics, from the adoption of a selective admissions policy and the development of graduate schools to the continuing vitality of liberal arts colleges within university settings. The book includes fascinating sections on the bizarre attempt to militarize college campuses during World War I and on the backlash of the 1920's, when many major campuses became more concerned with social life than intellectual matters. One remarkable feature of the development of research universities, Geiger points out, was that it was largely accomplished through private resources. Individual philanthropy was responsible for establishing the wealth of the private research universities, and played a key role at several state universities as well. Foundations and corporations were also highly significant in developing the institutions' research capabilities. Geiger describes how each university resolved in its own way the conflict between the research role and other institutional commitments. The major research institutions he deals with are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Columbia, Cornell, Pennsylvania, Stanford, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, the California Institute of Technology, and the Universities of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California.

Comparative and Predictive Analyses of Black and White Students' College Achievement and Experiences.

Abstract: Ever since the 1954 landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, efforts have been made to achieve greater desegregation at all levels of formal education. As a result of the gradual elimination of racially discriminatory barriers to higher education, more blacks began attending college in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, even though those two decades were the greatest overall enrollment growth years in the history of American higher education, black enrollment increased more than twice as much as total enrollment. In 1965, for example, black undergraduates represented 4.8 percent of all undergraduates in the United States, compared to 10.2 percent in 1980 [42]. This remarkable increase in black enrollment appears on the surface to herald a great movement toward the achievement of equality in higher education. However, an examination of students' college performance reveals that some formidable challenges remain to be faced by American colleges and universities in the quest for equality. Because of the enormous increase in the interest of minority students in attending college, many barriers to access have been challenged. Perhaps none has been challenged as strongly as traditional admissions standards of colleges and universities. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, there were many debates regarding traditional college admis-

Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practices and Principles

Abstract: (1986). Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practices and Principles. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 22-23.

Financing education in developing countries : an exploration of policy options

Abstract: With the current constrained financial conditions in many developing countries, it is essential to develop and utilize new methods of financing education to ensure efficiency and greater social equity. The current financing arrangements in many cases result in an underinvestment in education, an untapped willingness to pay for education and a misallocation of public spending in this sector. This report examines three broad policy options that could remedy the above problems. It is argued that they would result in an increase of resources flowing to education, improve their use, and ensure more equitable access to schooling. Although the suggested reforms need to be phased in gradually, and their specific content will differ among countries, the package includes three elements. They comprise: (1) recovering the public cost of higher education and reallocating government spending on education toward the level with the highest social returns; (2) developing a credit market for education, together with selective scholarships, especially in higher education; and (3) decentralizing the management of public education and encouraging the expansion of private and community-supported schools.

Validity and use of an instrument for assessing classroom psychosocial environment in higher education

Abstract: A strong tradition in research in primary and secondary schools has involved student and teacher perceptions of psychological characteristics of actual or preferred classroom environment. This paper provides a foundation for the extension of this tradition to the higher education level by describing the development, validation, and use of a new instrument, the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), suitable for small higher education classes often referred to as seminars. The CUCEI assesses students' or instructors' perceptions of the following seven psychosocial dimensions of actual or preferred classroom environment: personalization, involvement, student cohesiveness, satisfaction, task orientation, innovation, and individualization. Administration of the CUCEI to 372 students in 34 classes and to 20 instructors attested to the internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity of the actual and preferred forms with either the individual or the class mean as the unit of analysis, and supported the ability of the actual form to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. A research application of the CUCEI involving associations between student outcomes and classroom environment tentatively suggested that the nature of the classroom environment affects outcomes. Another research application suggested that both students and instructors preferred a more favorable classroom environment than the one actually present, and that instructors viewed classroom environments more positively than did their students in the same classrooms. Desirable future applications of the CUCEI for research purposes and in improving teaching in higher education are considered. The first main aim of this paper is to describe the development and validation of a new instrument to assess perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment in university and college classrooms. The second major purpose is to report the first two research uses of this instrument in, respectively, a study of associations between student outcomes and classroom environment and an investigation of differences between students and instructors in their perceptions of actual and preferred classroom environment. As well, desirable future research directions involving the new instrument are suggested. Before describing the development and use of the new instrument for the higher education level, important background information about analogous work at the primary and secondary school levels is briefly reviewed in an attempt to place the new work into context.

Development of an instrument for assessing classroom psychosocial environment at universities and colleges

Abstract: Despite a strong tradition of research and practical applications involving perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment in primary and secondary schools, surprisingly little analogous work has been conducted at the tertiary level. Consequently, in order to facilitate such work, an economical new instrument called the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) was developed to assess students' or teachers' perceptions of seven dimensions of the actual or preferred environment (e.g. personalisation, involvement, task orientation, individualisation) of university or college seminars and tutorials. Validation data collected from a total sample of 499 students and 20 instructors supported each scale's internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity in either its actual or preferred form, with either Australian or American students, for both students and instructors, and using either the individual or the class mean as the unit of analysis. Potentially useful applic...

Using learning contracts

Abstract: (1988). Using Learning Contracts. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 481-484.

Characteristics of the successful researcher and implications for faculty development.

Abstract: To understand better the role of faculty development in training family medicine researchers, the authors examined in a comprehensive literature review the characteristics of productive researchers, their training, and their work environment. Areas reviewed were faculty development and evaluation, career development, professional socialization, organizational development, and faculty vitality in higher education, medicine, and corporate research and development. Findings reveal that, besides prerequisite knowledge and skills in a research area, successful researchers have academic values and attitudes derived from specific socialization experiences. They also receive meaningful support from their organization, mentors, and peers.

Improving Faculty Teaching: Effective Use of Student Evaluations and Consultants.

Abstract: (1986). Improving Faculty Teaching. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 196-211.

Persistence to graduate education

Abstract: This paper examines the process by which students arrive in graduate school by estimating a causal model incorporating measures of socioeconomic background and undergraduate institutional characteristics and experiences. The student's background was found to influence strongly the initial choice of undergraduate institution, but the direct impact of background became nonsignificant as the student progressed through the educational process. However, background variables do affect decisions to enroll in graduate school, although indirectly, through intervening variables. Primary direct influences on graduate school attendance were found from variables associated with the undergraduate experience. Although both academic and social integration are significant for men and women, academic integration has greater influence for men, whereas for women, social integration has a slightly larger effect.