The role of teaching and learning in European higher education research

Published ArticleThis contribution offers a definition of the field of higher education research and its relationship to the field of higher education didactics (i.e. teaching and learning). It then provides an account of the difficult relationship between the two in Germany and their respective institutional basis. However, it is also pointed out that the separation between the two fields is beginning to give way towards more cooperation and integration. This is followed by a look at the relationship between higher education research and higher education didactics in Finland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In all of these countries, the two fields tend to separate each with a different institutional basis and a different organisation. Although the Bologna Process has contributed to a blurring of boundaries, it has also contributed to a higher importance being given to teaching and learning issues while at the same time PISA and related OECD studies have led to an 'empirical turn' in (higher) educational research. In this way, both fields are challenged and receive new inputs at the same time leading to more integrated and more internationally comparative approaches

La nueva gobernanza de los sistemas universitarios

This article is the product of a bibliographic review, which objective was to study and classify the governance regimes of universities at international level, their dynamics of changes and evolutionary tendencies, with a qualitative approach, non-experimental design, under transversal documentary-bibliographic level. After the documentary review, it was found that: university governance is a concept that has a constant evolution, adapting to different scenarios and different perspectives. In conclusion, educational policies respond more and more to an international arena in which the configuration of agendas, the development of criteria and guidelines are happening.El presente artículo es producto de una revisión bibliográfica, cuyo objetivo consistió en estudiar y clasificar los regímenes de gobernanza de las universidades a nivel internacional, sus dinámicas de cambios y tendencias evolutivas, con un enfoque cualitativo, diseño no experimental, bajo un nivel documental-bibliográfico transversal. Tras la revisión documental se encontró que: la gobernanza universitaria es un concepto que tiene una constante evolución, adaptándose a los diversos panoramas y diferentes perspectivas. En conclusión, las políticas educativas responden cada vez más a una arena internacional en las que están sucediendo la configuración de agendas, los desarrollos de criterios y directrices.Palabras clave: Gestión pública, gobierno, gobernanza, política, universidad

Ku nowemu rozumieniu relacji między szkolnictwem wyższym a światem pracy

In the perspective of the last few decades, the authors discuss the problem of relationships between higher education institutions and the labour market. Observations indicate that this problem appears periodically and comes to life in certain situations both in public debates and in the context of scientific research. The article contains a thorough analysis of the determinants of the phenomenon - in the global and regional aspect - and points out the multifaceted, predictable consequences for higher education institutions of a closer tie with the economy and - on the other hand - of the expansion of education for economic growth.Autorzy omawiają problem relacji występujących pomiędzy instytucjami szkolnictwa wyższego a rynkiem pracy w perspektywie ostatnich kilku dekad. Z poczynionych obserwacji wynika, że problem ten pojawia się cyklicznie i ożywa w określonych sytuacjach, zarówno w publicznych debatach, jak i na gruncie badań naukowych. Artykuł zawiera wnikliwą analizę uwarunkowań zjawiska - ujmowanych w aspekcie globalnym oraz regionalnym - ze wskazaniem wielorakich, możliwych do przewidzenia konsekwencji dla instytucji szkolnictwa wyższego, ściślejszego powiązania edukacji z gospodarką, a także - z drugiej strony - ekspansji edukacyjnej służącej rozwojowi gospodarczemu

Growth and Diversification of Doctoral Education in the United Kingdom

The chapter analyses the growth in numbers of doctoral students and doctoral degrees awarded in the United Kingdom in recent years and develops two arguments related to this growth. First, doctoral education and training no longer serve almost exclusively the reproduction of the academic profession but provide a highly qualified workforce for the knowledge-intensive sectors of society. Second, due to the growth in the numbers, motives and purposes for obtaining a doctoral degree have diversified leading to the development of new routes towards a doctorate and an expansion in the types of doctoral degree. The United Kingdom is probably the European country with the highest degree of diversity in terms of doctoral degree types, and the most important ones are briefly described in the chapter. This second part will also include a brief discussion of nonacademic labour markets for doctoral degree holders. A third part of the chapter will look at the extended policy field into which doctoral education and training have increasingly been embedded in recent years. Given the fact that doctoral degree holders are a valuable resource (e.g. in human capital terms) for various economic sectors of the knowledge society, their education and training is no longer considered to be exclusively an academic affair. Instead, it is increasingly managed at institutional level and guided by policy processes at national and – at least in Europe – at supranational level. The fourth and final part of the chapter will discuss the question of the growing divergence or growing convergence in doctoral education and training. It is assumed that, despite the growing diversity of pathways and doctoral degree types, there is also some convergence at play – at least at the European level – in so far as quality assurance, definitions of skills and qualifications as well as procedures for the examination and award of degrees are increasingly subject to standards, rules and regulations defined by the European network of quality assurance agencies. It remains to be seen whether the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union will have an impact on, or even reverse, this trend

The role of socially patterned risk factors in childhood cancer incidence and survival

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. July 2017. Major: Epidemiology. Advisors: Theresa Osypuk, Logan Spector. 1 computer file (PDF); xi, 103 pages.A primary goal of childhood cancer research is to understand the role of non-genetic, socially patterned, risk factors in incidence and survival. Many unanswered questions persist in the literature that, if answered, may help address this aim. Such questions include: do pregnancy-related exposures contribute to the rise in childhood cancer incidence over time; is socioeconomic status (SES) associated with childhood cancer incidence; and what is the underlying role of social versus biological factors in explaining racial disparities in childhood cancer survival? This dissertation addressed each of these questions by leveraging population-based data from multiple existing data sources, and by employing advanced statistical methods, in three separate investigations. In manuscript 1, we conducted a time series ecologic analysis at the county-level to test the hypothesis that the temporal rise in childhood cancer incidence is due to secular trends in established pregnancy-related risk factors including older maternal age, higher birthweight, and smaller family size. We linked population-based cancer registry data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 9 database (1975-2013) to natality data from the National Center for Health Statistics (1970-2013). We compared the crude average annual percent change (AAPC) in incidence of combined (all diagnoses) and individual cancers among children, ages 0-4 years, to AAPCs adjusted for pregnancy-related and sociodemographic (race/ethnicity and poverty) factors. AAPCs were estimated from Poisson mixed models. In crude models, we found a statistically significant temporal rise in incidence of combined childhood cancers (AAPC, 0.71%; 95% CI, 0.55, 0.86), ALL (0.78%; 0.49, 1.07), AML (1.86%; 1.13, 2.59), CNS tumors (1.31%; 0.94, 1.67), and hepatoblastoma (2.70%; 1.68, 3.72). Contrary to our hypothesis, AAPCs remained statistically significantly above 0% in models fully adjusted for county-level characteristics, though AAPCs were attenuated towards the null for AML (1.62%; 0.38, 2.87) and hepatoblastoma (2.36%; 0.71, 4.04). Therefore, we did not find conclusive evidence that secular trends in established pregnancy-related risk factors account for the temporal rise in cancer incidence rates among children, ages 0-4 years. In manuscript 2, we tested whether SES, measured at multiple levels of exposure, is associated with incidence of childhood cancers after accounting for established demographic and pregnancy-related risk factors. We conducted a population-based case-cohort study using the Minnesota birth registry, 1989-2014, as the source cohort. Cases, ages 0-14 years, were identified in the Minnesota Cancer Surveillance System and linked to birth records through probabilistic record linkage. Controls were 4:1 frequency matched on birth year (2,947 cases, 11,907 controls). We measured individual-level SES using maternal education, and we measured neighborhood-level SES using a census tract composite index. Associations between SES and childhood cancer incidence were tested with logistic mixed models. In crude models, we found that higher maternal education was adversely associated with incidence of combined childhood cancers (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.04, 1.13), ALL (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.02, 1.19), CNS tumors (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04, 1.21), and neuroblastoma (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.02, 1.30). These associations were attenuated towards the null, and no longer statistically significant, after adjusting for established demographic and pregnancy-related risk factors. Similar patterns were observed for neighborhood-level SES. A protective association, robust to covariate control, was detected between higher maternal education and hepatoblastoma risk (adjusted OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.51, 0.98). Overall, results suggest that, unlike for some adult cancers that show strong socioeconomic gradients, associations between SES and many childhood cancers appear to be explained by established demographic and pregnancy-related risk factors (i.e. non-Hispanic white race/ethnicity, older maternal age, and higher birthweight). In manuscript 3, we tested whether SES contributes to (i.e. mediates) black-white racial disparities in childhood cancer survival. We used population-based survival data from the SEER 18 database for black and white children, ages 0-19 years, diagnosed 2000-2011 (N=27,741). Race was recorded in SEER through medical record abstraction. We measured SES using a validated census tract composite index, and we tested treatment (first-course cancer-directed surgery and radiation) and distal stage at diagnosis as secondary potential mediators. We used the inverse odds weighting (IOW) method to test for mediation among combined and individual childhood cancers. Results showed that whites have a significant survival advantage over blacks for combined childhood cancers, leukemias, lymphomas, CNS tumors, neuroblastoma, and non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas (NRSTS). Significant black-white mortality hazard ratios ranged from 1.44 (95% CI, 1.11, 1.87) for NRSTS to 1.91 (95% CI, 1.52, 2.41) for astrocytomas. SES significantly mediated the race-survival association for combined childhood cancers and leukemias, accounting for 20% of the disparity for combined childhood cancers (indirect effect HR (iHR), 1.12; 95% CI, 1.08, 1.15), 44% for ALL (iHR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.08, 1.29), and 28% for AML (iHR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04, 1.29). Treatment and stage significantly mediated race-survival associations for astrocytomas (27%; iHR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.01, 1.40) and neuroblastoma (32%, iHR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04, 1.30). Overall, we found evidence that SES contributes to black-white racial disparities in childhood cancer survival, particularly for childhood leukemias. However, we could not rule out the possibility that non-social factors also contribute to survival differences by race, particularly for astrocytomas and neuroblastoma. Taken together, findings from these three investigations suggest that while continued study of socioeconomic exposures may generate limited new insight into childhood cancer etiology, this line of research may be fruitful for understanding and, ultimately, addressing differences in childhood cancer outcomes

Charakterisierung mechanischer Eigenschaften von versteifenden, dreidimensionalen Gitterstrukturen

Leichtbau ist eine innovative Schlüsseldisziplin der Konstruktionswissenschaften von morgen. Das Erreichen einer maximalen Bauteilsteifigkeit bei minimaler Masse ist ein zeitloser Grund- satz dieser Technologie. In dieser Arbeit wird das mechanische Verhalten einer dreidimensiona- len Gitterstruktur charakterisiert. Die Struktur ist an biologische Vorbilder angelehnt, stammt aus der ELiSE-Technologie Evolutionary Light Structure Engineering) und basiert auf spezi- ellen Verteilungsalgorithmen. Mit Hilfe von Referenzmodellen soll die Robustheit und Steifigkeit der ELiSE-Struktur im Vergleich zu anderen Konstruktionsmethoden ermittelt werden. Zur Voroptimierung werden an unterschiedlichen Modellen evolutionäre Algorithmen und Topologieoptimierung genutzt. Anschließend werden die Modelle in einer FE-Analyse belastet und auf Spannungsverteilung, Maximalspannung und maximale Verformung untersucht und gegenübergestellt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die diffuse Balkenstruktur von ELiSE die aufgebrachten Lasten am besten aufnehmen kann, indem sie die Kraft in die filigrane Struktur einleitet. Aufgrund der vielen möglichen Lastpfade für angreifende Kräfte und Momente, weist sie ein hohes Maß an Robustheit auf. Diese Robustheit der Struktur kann durch eine Adaptivität weiter gesteigert werden, indem die Balkenstruktur in hoch belasteten Bereichen sich autonom weiter verdichtet. Dieser Ansatz bildet die Grundlage für eine Optimierung der untersuchten Verteilungsalgorithmen der ELiSE- Struktur, welcher Potential zu einer zuku¨nftigen Verwendung in der Konstruktionsbranche hat. Durch den raschen Fortschritt der Additiven Fertigung wird ein Einsatz der Strukturen noch realistischer

Zur Zukunft der Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften in Deutschland

Projektbericht an die VolkswagenStiftung, Februar 202

Improving the PhD through provision of skills training for postgraduate researchers

Postgraduate research degrees in some systems, such as the UK, can be almost exclusively research based, with little formal, compulsory taught component. Government reviews recommend 10 days per year training in generic or transferable skills to ensure the suitability of doctoral graduates for employment. Professional bodies stipulate a commitment to continuing professional development as a requirement for chartered or accredited status. This includes The Chartered Society of Forensic Science and the British Association for Forensic Anthropology, as well as institutions for related fields such as The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Increasing numbers of universities therefore offer skills training programmes. Research students were surveyed to investigate their attendance and views on non-mandatory training courses, and only 33% of students agreed that all training needs were covered by their degree. However, in contrast to the recommended training commitment, over a one-year period students attended a mean of 5.5±0.7 training days, with 12% attending no training. Responses indicate a significant demand for increased training in management, consistent with government reviews; however, this work also indicates that provision of technical training should be addressed.Short course availability, design, delivery, promotion and recognition are discussed in relation to improving student uptake to reduce to the discrepancy between attendance levels and recommendations or aspirations

Retrodigitalisierung in der TIB

Folien zum Thema Retrodigitalisierung für den virtuellen Workshop "Frühlings TIB DOI Konsortium Workshop - Retrodigitalisierung und Langzeitarchivierung"