The Erosion of UK Higher Education: “Are Students Our Consumers?”

Given the rapid growth of the higher education sector in UK and the challenges it has faced in the past two decades, the government recognizes that a more concise, economical, and efficient management system for higher education should be established. This system requires all relevant institutions to locate students at the core of higher education services and treat them as consumers of higher education. The government has repeatedly stressed that students spend money to receive education and they must feel that they gain “value for money.” Students are involved in drawing up curriculum standards, quality assessment, and preparation of the syllabus. Such “student-centered” working philosophy, which is characterized by comprehensiveness, specialization and standardization, is deeply embedded in teaching, research, management, and student affairs. The current mainstream of world higher education development is market-based and student-centered. On one hand, the students’ willingness to consume and their actions determine the direction of higher education development. On the other hand, “students as consumers” are slowly eroding the traditional ethos of the higher education system. Module marks become a kind of good that can be bargained for, and the essence of education is slowly changing

SLC6A14 promotes cell migration and inhibits autophagy in gastric cancer by regulating JAK2/STAT3 signaling

Purpose: To investigate the role of solute carrier family 6-member 14 (SLC6A14) in gastric cancer (GC) tumorigenesis.Methods: The GC cell proliferation was evaluated by CCK8 and colony formation assays. Flow cytometry and wound healing assays were used to investigate cell apoptosis and migration, respectively.  Immunofluorescence was used to investigate autophagy.Results: The SLC6A14 was elevated in GC cells (p < 0.001). Overexpression of SLC6A14 increased GC cell viability and migration (p < 0.001), increased colony formation, and suppressed cell apoptosis (p < 0.05). However, knockdown of SLC6A14 inhibited GC tumorigenesis by decreasing cell viability and migration, reducing colony formation, and promoting cell apoptosis (p < 0.001). Overexpression of SLC6A14 decreased the LC3-II/LC3-I ratio. Silencing of SLC6A14 increased the LC3-II/LC3-I ratio and increased the fluorescence intensity of LC3. Overexpression of SLC6A14 increased phosphorylation of JAK2 and STAT3 (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Knockdown of SLC6A14 suppresses GC cell migration and proliferation and promotes autophagy through inactivation of JAK2/STAT3 signaling

The erosion of UK Higher Education: "Are Students Our Consumers?"

Given the rapid growth of the higher education sector in UK and the challenges it has faced in the past two decades, the government recognizes that a more concise, economical, and efficient management system for higher education should be established. This system requires all relevant institutions to locate students at the core of higher education services and treat them as consumers of higher education. The government has repeatedly stressed that students spend money to receive education and they must feel that they gain "value for money." Students are involved in drawing up curriculum standards, quality assessment, and preparation of the syllabus. Such "student-centered" working philosophy, which is characterized by comprehensiveness, specialization and standardization, is deeply embedded in teaching, research, management, and student affairs. The current mainstream of world higher education development is market-based and student-centered. On one hand, the students' willingness to consume and their actions determine the direction of higher education development. On the other hand, "students as consumers" are slowly eroding the traditional ethos of the higher education system. Module marks become a kind of good that can be bargained for, and the essence of education is slowly changing

Comparing the role of independent quality assurance system for Chinese and British Higher Education: Curriculum standards and monitoring confusion

The curriculum of higher education is designed to reflect the overall objectives and process of university talents cultivation, and curriculum is also the ground for cultivating talents. The monitoring of the construction and implementation of the curriculum standards of Chinese and foreign universities is the starting point and the basis of the third party supervision and evaluation on the school work. Compared with the curriculum standards of Chinese and British curriculum standards, process and evaluation mechanism, China curriculum quality standard monitoring faces many problems. The curriculum quality standards are not in accordance with the personnel training objectives in curriculum of Chinese higher education, its outline structure conflict with its form, and also, the goals to be achieved and requirements are not specific enough. When using the existing curriculum standards to check or evaluate curriculum, the “third party” supervision often encounters the embarrassing situation of what curriculum standards is in the process. The “third party” power can help to improve the curriculum construction, evaluation and quality control. The establishment and improvement of the “third party” power of colleges and universities become the key to solve the problems and confusion in teaching quality monitoring

MiR-29c-3p represses gastric cancer development via modulating MEST

Gastric cancer (GC) triggers a great number of deaths worldwide. Although great efforts have been made in treating this cancer, GC patients’ survival rate remains unsatisfactory. An increasing amount of evidence indicates that miR-29c-3p inhibits cancer progression. However, the mechanism of miR-29c-3p in GC remains to be fully defined. Hence, this work aimed to analyze the underlying mechanism of miR-29c-3p in GC. Outcomes showed marked downregulation of miR29c-3p in GC tissue and cell lines. Functional experiments exhibited that miR-29c-3p repressed GC cell malignant behaviors. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter gene detection indicated that MEST was targeted by miR-29c-3p. Rescue assay further proved that MEST participated in functions of miR-29c-3p in GC. To sum up, miR-29c3p/MEST signaling pathway suppressed formation of malignant phenotypes of GC, and targeting the signaling pathway may be a new method for treating GC