European Higher Education Area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies


Book Description

This volume presents the major outcomes of the third edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC 3) which was held on 27-29 November 2017. It acknowledges the importance of a continued dialogue between researchers and decision-makers and benefits from the experience already acquired, this way enabling the higher education community to bring its input into the 2018-2020 European Higher Education Area (EHEA) priorities. The Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC) has already established itself as a landmark in the European higher education environment. The two previous editions (17-19 October 2011, 24-26 November 2014), with approximately 200 European and international participants each, covering more than 50 countries each, were organized prior to the Ministerial Conferences, thus encouraging a consistent dialogue between researchers and policy makers. The main conclusions of the FOHE Conferences were presented at the EHEA Ministerial Conferences (2012 and 2015), in order to make the voice of researchers better heard by European policy and decision makers. This volume is dedicated to continuing the collection of evidence and research-based policymaking and further narrowing the gap between policy and research within the EHEA and broader global contexts. It aims to identify the research areas that require more attention prior to the anniversary 2020 EHEA Ministerial Conference, with an emphasis on the new issues on rise in the academic and educational community. This book gives a platform for discussion on key issues between researchers, various direct higher education actors, decision-makers, and the wider public. This book is published under an open access CC BY license.




Access to Post-Secondary Education: Does Class Still Matter?


Book Description

Defining Access Access to post-secondary education has received more attention in the past few years, with the Canadian Government, in particular, undertaking a number of Recognizing the studies of who does and does not attend post- importance of an secondary institutions. [...] While these are all important factors in understanding access to post-secondary education, this review of the literature will focus primarily on the socio-economic status (or class) of individuals and their families in the attempt to provide a broader understanding of how class relates to post-secondary participation. [...] The body of the review will address three elements of access to post-secondary education: 1) planning to attend a post-secondary institution; 2) socio-economic status and attending a post-secondary institution, including accessing professional degree programmes; and 3) socio-economic status and completing a post-secondary education. [...] By reviewing the literature on access to post-secondary education, it is hoped that it will be possible to understand some of the factors influencing decisions to attend, attendance, and completion of post-secondary education. [...] According to researchers using the 1999 Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning, less than one-fifth of families with incomes of less than $30,000 were saving for the post-secondary education of their children, while about two-thirds of those with incomes of more than $80,000 were doing so (Corak et al, 2003; Junor & Usher, 2002).3 Parents with higher levels of education are more likely both.







The New Buffalo


Book Description

Post-secondary education, often referred to as "the new buffalo," is a contentious but critically important issue for First Nations and the future of Canadian society. While First Nations maintain that access to and funding for higher education is an Aboriginal and Treaty right, the Canadian government insists that post-secondary education is a social program for which they have limited responsibility. In "The New Buffalo, "Blair Stonechild traces the history of Aboriginal post-secondary education policy from its earliest beginnings as a government tool for assimilation and cultural suppression to its development as means of Aboriginal self-determination and self-government. With first-hand knowledge and personal experience of the Aboriginal education system, Stonechild goes beyond merely analyzing statistics and policy doctrine to reveal the shocking disparity between Aboriginal and Canadian access to education, the continued dominance of non-Aboriginals over program development, and the ongoing struggle for recognition of First Nations run institutions.




Access to Higher Education


Book Description

This book is the first systematic attempt to examine one of the biggest challenges facing universities and society in the 21st century: how do we create opportunities to allow people from all social backgrounds to benefit from higher education? It examines how policymakers, higher education institutions and civil society organisations are meeting this challenge across the globe. Each chapter focuses on one of 12 countries, including the economically powerful US and Germany, developing nations from Africa and South America and the new higher education 'superpowers' of China and India. Access to Higher Education shows that across these different nations inequalities in higher education participation are common, but their nature differs. It argues for a new, 'nationhood' based approach to understanding why these differences exist.




Indigenous Pathways, Transitions and Participation in Higher Education


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book brings together contributions by researchers, scholars, policy-makers, practitioners, professionals and citizens who have an interest in or experience of Indigenous pathways and transitions into higher education. University is not for everyone, but a university should be for everyone. To a certain extent, the choice not to participate in higher education should be respected given that there are other avenues and reasons to participate in education and employment that are culturally, socially and/or economically important for society. Those who choose to pursue higher education should do so knowing that there are multiple pathways into higher education and, once there, appropriate support is provided for a successful transition. The book outlines the issues of social inclusion and equity in higher education, and the contributions draw on real-world experiences to reflect the different approaches and strategies currently being adopted. Focusing on research, program design, program evaluation, policy initiatives and experiential narrative accounts, the book critically discusses issues concerning widening participation.




The Development of Postsecondary Education Systems in Canada


Book Description

Significant public investment and increased access to higher education lead to economic development - governments across the political and ideological spectrum believe this and have designed and implemented policy based on this understanding. The Development of Postsecondary Education Systems in Canada examines how these policies affect the structure and performance of postsecondary education. This comprehensive study compares the evolution and outcomes of higher education policy in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec over the past three decades. The authors begin with an understanding that in order to explain the role of postsecondary education in society, they must locate systemic change. Drawing on documentary analysis and interviews, the focus is on how policy priorities are reflected in "system" behaviours: performance, funding arrangements, design, and structural components. Current theories about the liberal-democratic state, academic capitalism, and marketization inform discussions of the changing role of higher education in a globalized knowledge society. The book presents policy and education as a multidimensional exchange between the postsecondary community, policy makers, and the behaviour and performance of educational systems and concludes that higher education is a key actor in the restructuring of the state. The Development of Postsecondary Education Systems in Canada shows how higher education policy has been driven by a changing political and economic imperative and examines the contradictions and unintended consequences of education policy. Contributors include Jean Bernatchez (Université du Québec à Rimouski), Robert Clift (PhD candidate, University of British Columbia), Donald Fisher (University of British Columbia), Glen A. Jones (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto), Jacy Lee (McMaster University), Madeleine MacIvor (University of British Columbia), John Meredith (independent consultant), Kjell Rubenson (University of British Columbia), Theresa Shanahan (York University), and Claude Trottier (emeritus, Université Laval).




Post-secondary Distance Education in Canada


Book Description

Following a foreword (Ross Paul) and an introduction (Robert Sweet), three sections on instituting postsecondary distance learning systems across Canada are presented: access and student support, educational technology, and institutional response. The first section contains the following: "Women in Distance Education: Towards a Feminist Perspective" (Rebecca Coulter); "Building Bridges: Northern Native Teacher Training" (Robert Paulet); "Le Tuteur et le Support a l'Etudiant en Enseignement a Distance" (Celine Lebel, Bernard Michaud); and "Provision of Student Support Services in Distance Education: Do We Know What They Need?" (Gordon Thompson). Papers in the second section are as follows: "La Formation a Distance: Des Choix Technologiques et des Valeurs" (France Henri, Therese Lamy); "Third Generation Course Design in Distance Education" (David Kaufman); "Contradictory Directions for Distance: Cultural Miscegenation, or Cultural Symbiosis?" (Gary Boyd); "A Philosophy of Distance Education: Perceptivism" (Charles Brauner); "La Technologie Educative dans l'Enseignement a Distance, Son Role et Sa Place" (Louise Sauve et al.); and "Distance Learning using Communications Technologies in Canada" (Barbara Helm). The third section contains the following: "Diversity or Chaos in Canadian Distance Education? A View from Overseas" (Anthony Bates); "Canada's Open Universities: Issues and Prospectives" (Ross Paul); "Involvement with Distance Education: Issues for the University" (Margaret Haughey); "Distance Education and Accessibility to Canada's Community Colleges" (John Dennison); "Being Responsible to the Adult Distance Learner: A Secondary School Example" (Norman McKinnon); "Canadian Private Sector Distance Education: A Preliminary Analysis of Organizational Structure and Governance Issues" (Kenneth Slade, Robert Sweet); "Collaboration in Distance Education" (Abram Conrad, James Small); "Collaboration in Distance Education: British Columbia's Open Learning Agency" (Ian Mugridge); and "Collaboration in Distance Education: Ontario's Contact North/Contac Nord" (Terry Anderson, Connie Nelson). (NLA)




Preparing for Post-Secondary Education


Book Description

Most Canadian parents have had to assume a larger share of the financial costs of their children's post-secondary education because of declining government funding and changing loans and bursary programs. Preparing for Post-Secondary Education considers the impact of increased private support and the planning strategies parents use based on information from a 1999 Statistics Canada national survey of 34,000 households. The contributors begin by examining changes to national and international educational funding policies and the relationship between public and private costs. They focus on the role of families in marshaling the necessary resources, demonstrating that access to post-secondary education is also determined by social capital. The authors conclude that new partnerships between parents, the state, and schools are redefining the various players' roles and commitments to the educational futures of Canadian children. Contributors include the late Stephen Bell (York University), Scott Davies (McMaster University), Ross Finnie (Queen's University), George Frempong (York University), Dianne Looker (Acadia University), Nancy Mandell (York University), Sheila Marshall (University of British Columbia), Hans Schuetze (University of British Columbia), Victor Thiessen (Dalhousie University), Jim White (University of British Columbia), and Jamie Wood (University of British Columbia).




The Education Systems of the Americas


Book Description

This handbook focuses on and compares the education systems in the three Americas: North, Central and South America, and includes a chapter on most countries in the region. The chapters follow a common structure and include schematic diagrams of the structure of mainstream education from pre-primary to tertiary level. Each chapter starts with a description of the historical and social foundations of the education system from the post-World War II period up to today, including political, economic and cultural contexts and conditions. By highlighting important dates and structural decisions, the current education system can be understood as resulting from past developments. The first part ends with a description of the transitions to the labour market that are offered, and the way in which these are organized in the education system described. The second part consists of an overview of the institutional and organizational principles as well as the structure of education from pre-primary to tertiary level. It includes a focus on legislative bases and financial provisions for the education system and a description of the structure by using the ISCED-classification. It further includes information of the supply of human resources such as teachers and other educators. The third and final part of the handbook discusses selected educational trends and aspects. In this context, three topics are of particular interest: dealing with inequality, ICT and digitization activities, and STEM-related policies and programmes.