The economic impact of UK higher education institutions

The economic importance of higher education is now well recognised and the contribution that it can make to the development of both national and regional economies is attracting significant policy attention in the UK. Higher education is seen as being of key importance in the creation and transfer of knowledge to the UK economy through its teaching, research and other activities. Both the White Paper on 'The Future of Higher Education' (2003) and the Lambert Review of University-Business Collaboration (2003) envisaged the sector as playing a pivotal role in ensuring the country's economic competitiveness. Higher education can impact on the economy in a very wide range of ways. Increasing attention is being paid to the contribution of higher education to the stock of human capital, with continuing analysis of both private and social rates of return to graduates. Higher education is also considered to have an important impact on the social and cultural environment, and this in turn has an impact on the economic environment within which business operates. However higher education institutions are also independent business entities and the economic activity generated by institutional expenditure (the aspect of sector's economic contribution which is most readily quantifiable) is substantial. The extensive scale of higher education institutional activity across the UK also means that this can be of significant importance at the macroeconomic level. This study presents key economic features of UK higher education in the academic and financial year 2003/04 and those aspects of its contribution to the economy that can be readily measured. Analysis is made of the sector as a conventional industry, highlighting major economic characteristics of higher education institutions including their sources of revenue, employment created, output generated and export earnings attracted. Modelled estimates are made of the economic activity generated in other sectors of the economy through the secondary or 'knock-on' multiplier effects of the expenditure of the higher education institutions, their staff and that of international students and visitors attracted to the UK by the higher education institutions

Joint application of socio-cultural approach on continuing professional education among mathematics teachers

The University's fundamental missions are teaching, research, and public service. Higher education promotes the advancement of knowledge and the pursuit of cooperation locally, nationally, and internationally. It develops in people a respect for the dignity and worth of the individual, a capacity for critical reasoning and a desire for learning. Therefore, expanding higher education in China through continuing education has developed high quality human resources in quantity and quality issues in universities. Especially, in the universities mission rapidly increased the extension of the boundaries of knowledge through research and scholarship. This was the result of developing ideas and the facing of issues and challenges in a knowledge based economic society that relies on information technology, innovation, knowledge creation, development of human resources, and cultivation of skills. Based on the socio-cultural notion that mediated action cannot be separated from the milieu in which it occurs, meaningful continuing professional education (CPE) among mathematics lecturers will be hypothesized in the present paper. We posit a study for continuing professional education of lecturers that prepares them for 21st century skills, competencies and identities as lecturers. The construct of Community of Practice (COP) is relevant and important for thinking about successful lecturer learning. Based on the literature, we propose design tenets for supporting and sustaining communities in the 21st century: foregrounding practice, relying on existing social networks, building on strengths, of diversity in membership, task practices that require collaboration and peer and leadership mentoring. Further, technology architectural considerations for the development of an online learning environment that supports the continual professional education of teachers is proposed. An attempt will be made in this study to investigate and to explore, effectiveness sociocultural issues on promoting continuing professional education (CPE) will be exhibited by mathematics teachers Malaysian .The quantitative method will be used in this study and will survey 45 lecturer respondents in Malaysia. A sample will be obtained randomly from universities in Malaysia whilst a questioner as a instrument will be used. Data analysis are Mean, Standard Division, Variance and ANOVA (F-test). In this study we will indicate the impact of socio-cultural approach on promoting continuing professional education (CPE) among mathematics teachers

Educational Planning Through Sharia Insurance for Gold Generation of Indonesia in 2045

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reports that the Indonesian adult population has a low interest in continuing education, due to the cost factor. This is the impact of the Indonesian population who do not have a good education cost plan. In fact, in 2045, Indonesia is predicted to have a golden generation because of the demographic bonus, which is 70 percent of the population is of productive age. Therefore, an effort is actually needed to prepare for the cost of education to a higher level, namely Sharia Education Insurance. Based on this background, this paper will analyze the impact of education planning through Islamic education insurance for Indonesia Emas 2045. This research is a literature study that collects data from primary and secondary literature, then describes it qualitatively. This paper argues that, the government must make improvements to the education sector, workforce training, industrial structure, transformation of the workforce, to improving the labor supply chain to welcome Indonesia 2045. In addition, the government must also maintain the employment sector which will increase in 2022, namely agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as fixing jobs in the service and commuting sectors which have experienced a decline. In order to achieve these improvements, previous improvements must be made in education planning through Islamic education insurance, because if this sector is not improved, the demographic bonus will only increase the number of unemployed

Learning needs assessment among professional workers in community mental health centres in Slovenia: Study protocol

Aim: This article aims to present a study protocol that represents a tool developed for a learning needs assessment. With a pilot study, based on the presented concept of a model study, we will be able to assess what mental health learning content is not yet part of formal higher education for professionals working in community mental health centres, but has been identified as necessary for inclusion. The presented tool is transferable with appropriate modifications. The goal is to conduct multiple research with the same basic tool at all levels of the educational system and in continuing professional education for all professionals who work with people. Methods: The learning needs assessment study protocol presented uses both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. It is expected that the research will be conducted in several interrelated phases that holistically cover the needs assessment process. Results: The pilot study will provide insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the prepared learning needs assessment tool. Through the research study, the learning needs of professionals working in community mental health centres, will be identified. Conclusion: Professional mental health care workers must be equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to perform their work with quality. By implementing appropriate mental health learning content in educational processes from pre-school education to higher education and further to continuing professional education, we can impact the mental health of the entire population. Since this can lead to acquiring the competencies necessary to care of one’s own mental health and that of others, it can be considered an important public health intervention

Education as a missionary tool : a study in Christian missionary education by English Protestant missionaries in India with special reference to cultural change

In the long nineteenth century all the English Protestant missionary societies in India used education as a missionary tool. This study examines their reasons for doing so and their attempts to implement various educational strategies. It also examines the theological and educational ideas that they brought with them from England, and the continuing pressures exerted on them by their English supporters. The way in which the missionaries adjusted to their new context and their relationship with the government and with the local culture are also studied. The thesis argues that missionary education had considerable impact on the culture in which it took place, but that it was not always the impact that the missionaries had intended. Similarly the culture affected the choices which the missionaries made. Missionary strategies changed as they experienced failure and success in achieving their aims. Attention is paid to the political, as well as the cultural, context of the missionaries. While the missionaries' educational aims were to some extent formulated in dialogue with government, the study suggests that the missionaries and the government had significantly different educational strategies. A clear cut distinction is drawn between the education aimed at the nation's elite through English medium higher education and the attempt to educate at a village level in the vernacular languages. The thesis argues that the latter was more successful in terms of the missionaries' long term aims. Finally, the thesis also argues that 'raising up a native agency' was the missionaries' initial purpose in founding schools and colleges. For a number of reasons they were often diverted from this aim in the intervening years. It became their strategy again, however, at the end of the period

The contribution of education to social progress

Education is the process of learning and expanding culture, and, as it contributes to the improvement of the human condition through better knowledge, health, living conditions, social equity and productivity, is a central tool for social progress. Education is expected to foster social progress through four different but interrelated purposes: humanistic, through the development of individual and collective human virtues to their full extent; civic, by the enhancement of public life and active participation in a democratic society; economic, by providing individuals with intellectual and practical skills that make them productive and enhance their and society’s living conditions; and through fostering social equity and justice. The expansion of formal education, which was part of the emergence of the nation states and modern economies, is one of the most visible indicators of social progress. In its expansion, education created a complex web of institutions distributed according to different paths along the life course, from early education through the school cycles to the final stages of higher education, continuing with the provision of forms of lifelong education. This web of institutions is subject to breaks and cleavages that reflect their diverse and multiple historical origins and purposes and the asynchronous developments in different regions. From primary schooling, education institutions grew horizontally (by learning fields, subjects, or occupations) and vertically (by levels and credentials.) The allocation of children and young people to different tracks and institutions, by a mixture of choice and assignment, is a core process in formal education that often reflects and reproduces preexisting inequalities. The chapter presents the main actions needed to allow education to fulfill its promise to promote social progress considering the four purposes of education. On a global level more research informed policy is required and a balanced approach to educational reform, including teacher education, by putting more emphasis on the civic and humanistic purposes. Governance structures that are flexible, participatory, and accountable considering the political and social context are recommended. The new agenda of Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 established in 2015 calls for a new cooperative paradigm based on the concept of “full global partnership” and the principle of “no one will be left behind.” Sustainable Development Goal 4 for Education aims “to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning”. This provides a broad framework for education’s contribution to social progress. To achieve this, it is necessary: (1) to expand access and improve the quality of early childhood education, as a precondition for life-long educational success in all its goals; (2) to improve the quality of schools, including in learners’ direct interactions with their peer groups, educators and the surroundings; in institutional characteristics such as group size, student-teacher ratio, teacher qualifications and spatial and material conditions, and in the provision of a meaningful and relevant curriculum; (3) to enhance the role of educators, considering that teachers are not just carriers of knowledge and information, but role models that have a significant impact on children’s dispositions towards learning and life more generally; (4) to make higher and vocational education more inclusive and socially relevant, thereby enhancing the opportunities for students of all sectors of society to further their education in a meaningful and practical ways, eliminating social and cultural restrictions to access and reducing the dividing lines between high and low prestige and esteem between institutions and careers. Additionally, appropriate use of the opportunities created by the new digital technologies is recommended. These are not a magic bullet that will replace existing educational institutions and create a new learning world. But they can be powerful instruments to improve the quality and relevance of education and its contribution to social progress

Planning for Success in Introducing and Embedding Technology to Enhance Learning

The authors reflect on the outcomes of recent change management projects for introducing technology into Higher Education in the UK and discuss key aspects which have led to success in the increasing use and subsequent embedding of learning technologies in the classroom. They focus on three areas where it is suggested that institutions need to ‘get it right’ in terms of justifying the expensive introduction of technology into the learning environment: the building and maintaining of the technical infrastructure; the provision of appropriate initial and continuing user support, which includes relating the use of technology to pedagogy; and the management of the impact of change on those who are faced with adapting to different ways of learning and teaching. These are mapped to a set of critical success factors by the authors. The paper investigate these firstly, via a case-study within a technology-focussed university, where its commitment to the enhancement of the student experience through using technology to support assessment and feedback mechanisms has increased. The authors explore how academics were encouraged to become further engaged within the process. Consequently, the use of technology in the classroom was no longer seen as being the preserve of a group of ‘enthusiasts’ or ‘early adopters’ but was perceived to be relevant to a wider user group. A further case-study shows how the critical success factors were applied to develop a flexible learning module within a more traditional teaching environment. This paper explores the importance of balancing underlying pedagogical approaches to the introduction of new technologies. It is proposed that while technology can be an excellent tool it should not drive the pedagogy. The aim finally is to ensure that throughout and following a period of change both academics and students can benefit from the appropriate use of technology to enhance learnin

A tool for evaluating the potential for cost-effective outcomes measurement

Cost related to higher-level outcomes measurement is often very high. However, the cost burden is felt even more by smaller, less well-funded continuing medical education (CME) programs. It is possible to overcome financial and participant-related barriers to measuring Level 6 outcomes, which are patient health outcomes. The Temple University School of Medicine’s Office for Continuing Medical Education developed a sequential tool for attaining cost-effective outcomes measurement for determining the likelihood of a CME intervention to produce significant changes in physician performance. The appropriate selection of the CME topic and specific practice change indictors drive this tool. This tool walks providers through a simple YES or NO decision-making list that guides them toward an accurate prediction of potential programmatic outcomes. Factors considered during the decision-making process include whether: (a) the intended change(s) will have a substantial impact on current practice; (b) the intended practice change(s) are well supported by clinical data, specialty organization/government recommendations, expert opinion, etc; (c) the potential change(s) affects a large population; (d) external factors, such as system pressures, media pressures, financial pressures, patient pressures, safety pressures, etc, are driving this intended change in performance; (e) there is a strong motivation on the part of physicians to implement the intended change(s); and (f) the intended change(s) is relatively easy to implement within any system of practice. If each of these questions can be responded to positively, there is a higher likelihood that the intended practice-related change(s) will occur. Such change can be measured using a simpler and less costly methodology

‘It’s Scary and It’s Big, and There’s No Job Security’: Undergraduate Experiences of Career Planning and Stratification in an English Red Brick University

There is a continuing trend within higher education policy to frame undergraduate study as ‘human capital investment’—a financial transaction whereby the employment returns of a degree are monetary. However, this distinctly neoliberal imaginary ignores well-established information asymmetries in choice, non-monetary drivers for education, as well as persistent inequalities in access, participation, and outcome. Non-linearity and disadvantage are a central feature of both career trajectory and graduate employment. This paper draws on the findings of a longitudinal, qualitative project that followed 40 undergraduate, home students over a period of four years in an English Red Brick University. Exploring the nature of career development over the whole student lifecycle and into employment, the paper examines how career strategies are experienced by lower-income students and their higher-income counterparts. It provides a typology of career planning and, in comparing the experiences of lower- and higher-income students, demonstrates some of the processes through which financial capacity and socio-economic background can impact on career planning and graduate outcomes