Enriching higher education training through values and social engagement

The present study starts describing the relevance of university mission statements and how they have been interacting with the social demands throughout the history of higher education. This way, the recent development of a knowledge economy has strongly impacted universities that look for ways to produce and commercialize ideas (second and third missions). The increasing accreditation agencies and regional and international rankings have helped to reinforce these processes. This trend has created a situation where isomorphic mechanisms are pressing universities to align themselves with models that do not always fit a wide spectrum of them. In addition, this chapter underlines the excessive emphasis on faculty research productivity in detriment of ethic and values training that is key to have a successful professional development and an effective and well-adjusted implementation of any project. A final section discusses possible scenarios with alternative tools for administrators, who want to enrich the actual state of their universities

The Emergence of the American Engaged University Paradigm

Ein zentrales Problem dieser Studie bestand darin, zu verstehen, was Universitäten veranlasst, sich an der Umgestaltung von Gemeinschaften und sich selbst zu beteiligen, wenn sie die traditionellen Missionen der Bildung neu gestalten. Durch eine bewusste Auswahl wurden drei Universitäten ausgewählt, um Daten zu sammeln und die Forschungsfragen zu beantworten. Die Daten wurden aus öffentlich zugänglichen Online-Berichten abgerufen, die jede Institution auf ihren eigenen Webseiten veröffentlichte. Über tausend Seiten der drei Institutionen wurden mithilfe einer Diskursanalyse (DA) analysiert. Die Dokumente stellten die offizielle Bestätigung des aufkommenden Trends dar. Die Analyse der institutionellen Diskurse zeigte Muster auf, die relevant waren, um die Institutionalisierung des Engagements an den drei Universitäten zu erklären. Sie folgten einem konsequenten Weg der internen Überarbeitung dessen, was sie taten, als tiefes Hinterfragen früherer institutionalisierter Praktiken und Diskurse, die sie zu Veränderungen führten. Dann erfolgte die Institutionalisierung von Diskursen in Form von Zentren für Zivildienst, strategische Planung, Service-Lernen, bürgerliches Leben, neue Klassen, herausfordernde Vorträge, um das Engagement zu fördern. Die Studie war in der Lage, einige der grundlegenden Mechanismen der sozialen Sprache zu identifizieren, die verwendet werden, um Institutionen innerhalb von Institutionen zu schaffen, wie z. B. das Engagement in der Gemeinschaft. Die Forschung lieferte Daten zur Unterstützung der theoretischen Annahme, dass Sprache durch eine Vielzahl möglicher Textkonfigurationen Diskurse erzeugt, die gleichzeitig soziale Handlungen wie Institutionalisierung hervorrufen. Diese Prozesse offenbarten, wie Engagement generiert wurde.A central problem to this study was to understand what prompts universities to participate in transforming communities and themselves as they reshape the traditional missions of education. Using a purposely selection, three universities were chosen to collect data and answer the research questions. The data was retrieved from public available online reports that each institution posted on their own webpages. Over a thousand pages from the three institutions were analyzed, using a Discourse Analysis (DA). The documents represented the official endorsement to the emerging trend. The analysis of institutional discourses presented patterns that were relevant to explain the institutionalization of engagement in the three universities. They followed a consistent path of internal revisions of what they were doing, as deep questioning of previous institutionalized practices, and discourses, that led them to changes. Then, the institutionalization of discourses occurred in the forms of centers for community service, strategic planning, service-learning, civic life, new classes, challenging lectures, among others, to promote engagement. The study was able to identify some of the basic mechanisms social language used to create institutions, within institutions, like community engagement. The research provided data to support the theoretical assumption that language, through a host of possible configurations of texts generates discourses that, at the same time, engender social actions such as institutionalization. Those processes disclosed how engagement was generated

A Mixed-Method Study of the Environmental and Personal Factors That Influence Faculty Research Productivity at Small-Medium, Private, Doctorate-Granting Universities

Problem. This study sought to determine what organizational factors and personal characteristics of faculty members most relate to research productivity at small- to medium-sized not-for-profit, private, doctorate-granting universities. Method. A mixed methodology was used that included an online survey, follow-up email surveys, and two face-to-face interviews. The main statistical tools used were multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and regression. The final sample came from 12 small- to medium-size, private, not-for-profit doctorate-granting American universities. A group of 277 professors responded to the online survey. An online follow-up qualitative survey was conducted with 34 replies. Two additional face-to-face interviews were performed to complete this mixed-method study. Results. The independent variables for this investigation were socio-demographic, career-achieved experience, self-knowledge, social knowledge, environmental conditions, environmental responses, social contingencies, and behavior. The dependent variable, research output, was the number of scholarly articles, books authored or coauthored, conference proceedings, and books edited within the last 2 years. The multivariate analysis of variance indicated that the highest research productivity was among faculty with the following profile: ages 41 to 50, male, from science departments, having 6 to 15 years at a university, tenured, in some level of administration, ranked as professor, and teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The six constructs of factors for the regression model explained 50.1% for article production (q34) in the last 2 years and a 61.4% for articles in the whole career (q38), respectively. The main constructs producing regressions were self-knowledge and scholarly behaviors. This model explained 23.7% of the conference proceedings (q36). Models for books authored (q35) and books edited (q37) were not significant. Qualitative data showed that: (a) human resources, such as good students and colleagues from the same fields, (b) lower teaching loads, (c) supportive and mentoring environments, and (d) clear expectations built into departmental mission statements were most helpful to create research productivity. Conclusions. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicated a high relationship between self-perception and research productivity. Professors who were self-committed to advancing knowledge generated more scholarly work. Recommendations, discussions, and suggestions for further studies are supplied

El surgimiento de la Idea de involucramiento social en la universidad de los Estados Unidos de America [The emergence of the idea of social involvement in university in the United States of America]

Since its inception, the American higher education system has been rapidly evolving into a highly complex and dynamic set of institutions with a broad spectrum of missions. During the last 35 years, questions have arisen about the relevance of their contributions to society as a whole. In this debate, the involved university is born to interact with communities as a partner to teach, research, and solve common problems. This article presents a global description of the emergence of community engagement, its characteristics, and challenges in the context of the United States

Emerging Decolonialized Research Collaboration: The Max Planck Society and the Leibniz Association in Latin America

Analyzing the number of publications and proportion of corresponding authors of Latin American scholars and scholars from the German Max Planck Society (MPS) and the Leibniz Association (LA; 1954–2018), this article asks if North–South partnerships continue to represent power imbalances. Our bibliometric analysis indicates that (a) in comparison with the LA, the MPS’s scientists published more articles with Latin American countries, led by Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico; (b) researchers from the MPS and the LA frequently took the role of corresponding author; (c) researchers from Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico primarily controlled their region’s productivity, but (d) Brazil built its own multinational research networks; and (e) countries with less productivity, such as Colombia and Uruguay, are on peripheries of research networks. Our findings indicate that the decolonial perspective needs further development to identify multipolar relationships of dominance and collaboration have developed out of a dichotomy world of North–South relations

Intercambios promotores de conocimiento y desarrollo. El caso del Tecnológico de Monterrey

Exchanges that foster knowledge and development. The case of the Tecnológico de Monterrey This chapter describes the growing bilateral exchange between Mexico and the United States. Both economies have taken important steps to integrate regionally with agreements that include, but are not limited to, services and human resources. Some universities have taken advantage of such agreements and have established academic exchanges that promote research and development (R&D), benefiting researchers, students and universities in the region. In particular, the study analyzes how the Tecnológico de Monterrey has been establishing academic relations with universities in the United States. To understand some of the dynamics of these exchanges, this study uses a qualitative methodology, interviewing three people in charge of promoting connections in the states of Texas, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The results show the motivations, benefits, and limitations from such exchanges. It also suggests possible policies to improve cooperation and academic collaboration between institutions in both countries

Global South Research Collaboration: A Comparative Perspective

Research collaboration has become a major research topic in the social sciences. While this literature has mainly focused on collaborative dynamics in the Global North, more recent studies have examined these dynamics within the Global South. This article expands the scope of analysis by comparing the level of co-publications by Global South-based scholars with Global South-based colleagues and that between academics at Global South institutions and researchers in Global North universities. It shows that academic partnerships within the Global South are less common than instances of collaboration between the Global South and Global North. The relatively weak Global South collaborative dynamics are at odds with most Global South leaders’ encouragement of partnerships between scholars within the South. The article also demonstrates that collaboration seems to be largely informed by linguistic commonality and historical (colonial) relations of dependency. Contrary to expectations that US-based academics would be the primary partners for Global South academics due to US hegemony, the latter are more likely to collaborate with colleagues in European countries, more specifically countries that colonised their countries

Mejorando la relación entre la universidad y la comunidad: el caso de la universidad de Montemorelos - Improving the relationship between the University and the community: The case of the University of Montemorelos

The idea of the university in Latin America has been strongly influenced by European models that were perpetuated since the arrival of the colonizers. As a result, the university activity was conceived in special places where students learned about  certain topics and then return to the real world. In recent years, there has been a growing concern in various groups of scholars and public leaders for the relevance of the impact that universities are having on their communities. This study focuses on Montemorelos University and its impact on the surrounding communities. This study also reveals examples of how community involvement can be a key factor in higher education.La idea de universidad en Latinoamérica ha sido fuertemente influenciada por los modelos europeos que se perpetuaron desde la llegada de los colonizadores. Como resultado, la actividad universitaria fue concebida en lugares especiales donde los estudiantes aprendían acerca de ciertos temas, para luego volver al mundo real. En los últimos años, ha habido una creciente preocupación en diversos grupos de académicos y líderes públicos por la relevancia del impacto que las universidades están teniendo en sus respectivas comunidades. Este estudio se centra en la Universidad de Montemorelos y su impacto en las comunidades circundantes. Asimismo, este estudio revela ejemplos de cómo la participación en la comunidad puede ser un factor clave para la educación superior

Las Acreditaciones y Su Impacto en Universidades Adventistas de Latinoamerica

El creciente desarrollo de universidades privadas y confesionales en toda Latinoamérica ha sido acompañado por nuevos e intensos controles de calidad a través de diferentes tipos de acreditaciones que impactan sus productos. La Iglesia Adventista tiene unas 17 instituciones terciarias en la región que preparan recursos humanos a través de múltiples carreras. Entonces, la pregunta que guió esta investigación fue: ¿Cómo ven las acreditaciones los encargados de controles de calidad en las universidades adventistas de Latinoamérica? Para responderla, este estudio exploratorio y cualitativo se propuso conocer las percepciones, a través de entrevistas a cuatro directores de acreditaciones de calidad en cuatro instituciones terciarias. Dos de dichas universidades tienen más experiencia con mejores estructuras y recursos humanos para llevar a cabo sus tareas de acreditación (universidades consolidadas). Las otras dos están en proceso de desarrollo (o consolidación). Los resultados indicaron que las acreditaciones, con sus respectivos indicadores de calidad, fueron vistas como necesarias y muy positivas para organizar y mejoraron el desempeño global de sus productos académicos y organizacionales. Los desafíos se evidenciaron en la administración interna de los tiempos y procesos para realmente poner en funcionamiento mejoras de calidad. La implementación de políticas para promover la investigación es una de las preocupaciones más grandes especialmente para las universidades consolidadas. El artículo concluye con alternativas para avanzar en calidad y acreditación entre las universidades adventistas. The recent growing number of new private and religious affiliated universities throughout Latin America has been also marked by increasing and multilayer quality controls, such as accreditations and certifications that seek to impact academic outputs and institutional development. The Seventh Day Adventist Church has about 17 tertiary institutions in the region that work intensively to train human resources through many academic degrees. So, this study intended to understand how the accreditation directors see all these processes in the context of their universities. In order to respond this central question, this exploratory and qualitative research interviewed four directors in four Adventist universities. Two of them had experience and human resources to carry out their task (consolidated universities), while the other two were in development with less resources and experience (In process of consolidation). The results showed that interviewed saw accreditations, and their quality indicators, as necessary and positive for organizing and improving the overall of academic and organizational performance. However, there were some challenges in the internal administration to handle time and processes to make effective quality improvements. Research productivity was felt as one of the most important concerns among consolidated institutions. The article ends with some alternatives to advance quality and accreditations among Adventist universities in the region

Preferences of U.S. Faculty Members regarding the Teaching- Research Nexus

The purpose of this article is to examine research and teaching trends over the past 30 years in U.S. higher education. While some faculty lean toward teaching and others toward research, often the two areas of intersect in synergistic and complementary ways. The merit of this study is that it is a follow-up of two earlier surveys. Findings include an examination of national data from 1992, 2007, and 2018 on a few select areas of the teaching-research nexus. The 2018 data includes 1,135 faculty responses from 80 higher education institutions in the United States. The once dominant research output gap between U.S. faculty and those in other countries is leveling off in many subject areas, most notably in STEM subject areas. Findings provide an in-depth analysis by faculty rank, highlighting current research and teaching preferences of junior and senior faculty members. The article also provides a model to partially explain faculty productivity among sampled participants where research preference, collaboration, and institutional research expectations serve as key predictors. Several suggestions for future areas of research are given in the conclusion section