Performance Efficiency of University Education from Students Perspective

The study aims to identify the efficiency of the university education performance from the perspective of postgraduate and undergraduate students in international and Palestinian universities. The analytical descriptive approach was used for this purpose and the questionnaire was used as a main tool for data collection. The study community consists of: post graduate students, (23850) graduate students and (146355) undergraduate students. The sample of the study was 378 graduate students and 383 undergraduate students. The random stratified sample was used. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) was also used for data analysis. The study reached a number of results, the most important of which are: The level of efficiency of educational performance in Palestinian and international universities from the point of view of postgraduate and undergraduate students was high. And that there are significant differences between the average views of the sample of the study on the efficiency of educational performance in Palestinian and international universities attributed to the University and to the benefit of international universities. The study concluded many recommendations, the most important of which is the necessity of continuing to develop e-learning strategies that affect the efficiency of educational performance and research commensurate with the university's position in the local and international community, which puts it on the best classification between local and international universities through e-learning

Bellcurve: Built Environment Lifelong Learning Challenging University Responses to Vocational Education: Lifelong University for the Built Environment

BELLCURVE (Built Environment Lifelong Learning Challenging University Responses to Vocational Education) is a European Commission funded research project conducted at the School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, UK, in collaboration with Department of Construction Economics and Property Management, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania and Department of Building Production, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia. This project addressed issues associated with the mismatch between graduate skills and labour market requirements as this mismatch has been identified as one of the main factors behind graduate unemployment and employer dissatisfaction, particularly in the Built Environment (BE) sector. BELLCURVE considered ‘student engagement’ as a continuous through-life process rather than a temporary traditional engagement limited by the course duration. This through-life studentship defines the essence of the new innovative “Lifelong University” concept, whereby providing an opportunity for learners to acquire and develop skills and knowledge enabling responds to changing construction labour market needs on a continuous basis. This requires a reform in governance systems to respond labour market needs effectively while promoting the lifelong learning agenda

The systemic implications of constructive alignment of higher education level learning outcomes and employer or professional body based competency frameworks

The past 50 years has seen the development of schemes in higher education, employment and professional work that either identify what people should know and/or what they should be able to do with what they have learned and experienced. Within higher education this is usually equated with the learning outcomes students are expected to achieve at the end of studying a course, module or qualification and increasingly the teaching, learning and assessment strategies of those courses, modules or qualifications are being designed to align with those learning outcomes. In employment, there has been the emergence of job and role specifications setting out the knowledge and skills required of incumbent and recruits alike. Where professional bodies confer (often statutorily recognised) status in employment sectors they also increasingly set out their expectations of members through competency frameworks. This paper explores the varied relationships between these three means of measuring knowledge and skills within people including the nature of the knowledge and skills being measured as well as the specificity of the knowledge and skills being measured, using the case study of environmental management in the UK. It then argues that there needs to be a more constructive alignment between these three forms of measurement, achieved through a dynamic conversation between all concerned, but also that such alignment needs both to recognise the importance of less tangible ‘systems thinking’ abilities alongside the more tangible ‘technical’ and ‘managerial’ abilities and that some abilities emerge from the trajectories of praxis and cannot readily be specified as an outcome in advance

From academia to industry: are doctorate holders ready?

In policy debates related to innovation potential, the limited mobility from academia to industry is often explained by the supposed mismatch of skills needed in these different settings. We contribute to this debate by (1) examining the attitudes of Flemish doctoral candidates towards careers in industry; and (2) by analysing the extent to which doctoral candidates and employers in industry in Flanders differ in their views on the skills needed to perform well in this sector. We combined survey data with qualitative research. The Survey of Junior Researchers provides information on the doctoral candidates’ perspective on these matters, whereas the Research & Development Survey of Flemish companies reflects the employers’ views. Additional data obtained through interviews with both doctorate holders and employers provide a more in depth understanding of the transition from academia to industry. A mismatch between what doctoral candidates consider important skills for a job in industry, and what employers expect from researchers is observed. The importance of technical skills and more transferable competencies such as project management and business skills are underestimated by doctoral candidates. The findings raise questions on the awareness among doctoral candidates of the skills needed for a career outside academia. Addressing possible negative attitudes, and providing adequate training and career planning could improve their preparation for work in non-academic settings, confirming findings in other countries that institutional programmes have a role to play in bridging the gap between employers' expectations and those of doctoral candidates