Download or read book The Politics of Performance Funding for Higher Education written by Kevin J. Dougherty and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2015-05-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "One of the striking ways in which state governments have pursued better performance in public higher education is through the use of performance funding. Performance funding involves tying state support directly to institutional performance on specific outcomes such as rates of graduation and job placement. The principal rationale for performance funding has been that the introduction of market-like forces will prod institutions to become more efficient, delivering "more bang for the buck." Kevin Dougherty, an expert on state performance funding, finds its development puzzling. First, despite the great interest in it, only half the states have ever adopted performance funding for higher education. Moreover, of the states that did adopt performance funding, over half later dropped it. Finally, in the states that have retained performance funding over a long period of time, their programs have undergone considerable changes in the amount of state funding they devote to performance funding and in the content of the indicators they use to allocate that funding. In spite of this, performance funding continues to attract interest as a way of improving educational outcomes. This book, based on an extensive ten-state study, aims to shed light on the social and political factors affecting the origins, evolution, and demise of these programs"--

Download or read book Higher Education Funding Council for England annual report and accounts 2010 11 written by Higher Education Funding Council for England and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-05-12 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Higher Education Funding Council for England annual report and Accounts 2010-11

Download or read book The Breakdown of Higher Education written by John M. Ellis and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A series of near-riots on campuses aimed at silencing guest speakers has exposed the fact that our universities are no longer devoted to the free exchange of ideas in pursuit of truth. But this hostility to free speech is only a symptom of a deeper problem, writes John Ellis. Having watched the deterioration of academia up close for the past fifty years, Ellis locates the core of the problem in a change in the composition of the faculty during this time, from mildly left-leaning to almost exclusively leftist. He explains how astonishing historical luck led to the success of a plan first devised by a small group of activists to use college campuses to promote radical politics, and why laws and regulations designed to prevent the politicizing of higher education proved insufficient. Ellis shows that political motivation is always destructive of higher learning. Even science and technology departments are not immune. The corruption of universities by radical politics also does wider damage: to primary and secondary education, to race relations, to preparation for the workplace, and to the political and social fabric of the nation. Commonly suggested remedies—new free-speech rules, or enforced right-of-center appointments—will fail because they don’t touch the core problem, a controlling faculty majority of political activists with no real interest in scholarship. This book proposes more drastic and effective reform measures. The first step is for Americans to recognize that vast sums of public money intended for education are being diverted to a political agenda, and to demand that this fraud be stopped.

Download or read book Government reform of higher education written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-11-10 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report concludes that the Government's communications strategy on tuition fees could have been more effectively realised. It urges the government to "reconsider funding widening participation in higher education through a programme similar to the 'pupil premium'." The committee also concluded that "focusing financial support on providing money for living costs to students while they are studying would be a more effective means of support than fee-waivers and would be more consistent with the message that students should not be dissuaded from applying to university because of the cost." and recommends that the National Scholarship Programme be refocused accordingly. Furthermore reforms are not yet complete with a number of consultation exercises currently out for responses, including early repayment penalties for loans, the future of student number controls, loans for students studying at alternative providers, "off quota" students and a new regulatory framework for new and alternative providers. The detail to be required in the Key Information Sets has yet to be finalised. There will also need to be changes to both OFFA and HEFCE to reflect their changing responsibilities in higher education. The committee highlights the fact that the new fee regime is to start at the beginning of the next academic year and there is concern that the necessary coherent package of reforms be delivered to that timetable. The report also stresses that the reforms should be implemented as a package and not in a piecemeal way

Download or read book Rank Hypocrisies written by Derek Sayer and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2014-12-03 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In crystalline text steeped in cold rage, Sayer takes aim at the REF’s central claim, that it is a legitimate process of expert peer review. He critiques university and national-level REF processes against actual practices of scholarly review as found in academic journals, university presses, and North American tenure procedures. His analysis is damning. If the REF fails as scholarly review, how can academics and universities continue to participate? And how can government use its rankings as a basis for public policy?" - Tarak Barkawi, London School of Economics "Sayer makes a compelling argument that the Research Excellence Framework is not only expensive and divisive, but is also deeply flawed as an evaluation exercise. Rank Hypocrisies is a rigorous and scholarly evaluation of the REF, yet written in a lively and engaging style that makes it highly readable." - Dorothy Bishop, University of Oxford Few decisions are as consequential for the funding and reputation of Britain′s universities as those of REF panels. Not only do REF rankings determine the levels of research funding universities receive from the state. They equally affect institutions′ ability to attract external grants, top-flight faculty, and graduate students. Whatever benefit the UK′s periodic research assessment exercises may have brought to research productivity, the REF has been widely criticized for its enormous costs in taxpayers′ money and academics′ time, its discouragement of innovative (and especially interdisciplinary) research, and its negative effects on collegiality and staff morale. Derek Sayer extends these arguments, notably through his discussion of the questionable staff selection processes used in REF2014 within his own university. Where Rank Hypocrisies goes beyond previous critiques is in its open challenge to the REF′s claim to provide ′expert review of the outputs′ - the very heart of its legitimacy. Examining the composition and operation of REF disciplinary subpanels in forensic detail, Sayer paints a picture in which overburdened assessors assign vaguely defined grades in fields that are frequently not their own while ignoring all external indicators of the academic influence of the publications they are appraising, and then shred all records of their deliberations. Judged against international norms of peer review, the REF is an elaborate charade - and an insult to the core values of the academy.

Download or read book A University Education written by David Willetts and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A University Education, David Willetts draws on his experience as Minister for Universities and Science from 2010 to 2014, as well as a broad spectrum of research and international comparisons, to offer a powerful defence of the value of higher education in the world today. If you want to read one book about our universities today, then this is it. Never one to shirk controversy either as a Minister or an author, Mr Willetts combines a passionateadvocacy of the value of a university education with a serious in-depth knowledge of the higher education sector to present his vision of what our universities can offer us - both now and in the future.

Download or read book Higher education written by Great Britain: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This White Paper sets out the government's policies for the reform of higher education. The reforms seek to tackle three challenges (i) Putting higher education on a sustainable footing; (ii) Seeking to deliver a better student experience - that is, improvements in teaching, assessment, feedback and preparing the student for the world of work; (iii) Pushing for higher education institutions to take more responsibility for increasing social mobility. The Paper is divided into six chapters, with an annex. Chapter 1: Sustainable and fair funding; Chapter 2: Well-informed students driving teaching excellence; Chapter 3: A better student experience and better-qualified graduates; Chapter 4: A diverse and responsive sector; Chapter 5: Improved social mobility through fairer access; Chapter 6: A new, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework. By shifting public spending away from teaching grants and towards repayable tuition loans, the government believes higher education will receive the funding it needs whilst making savings on public expenditure. The reforms aim to deliver a more responsive higher education sector in which funding follows the decisions of learners and successful institutions are freed to thrive. Also, creating an environment in which there is a new focus on the student experience and the quality of teaching and in which further education colleges and other alternative providers are encouraged to offer a diverse range of higher education provision. The Government, through the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), will be introducing a National Scholarship Programme and will also increase maintenance grants and loans for nearly all students. New Technology Innovation Centres will also be rolled out followed by publication of an innovation and research strategy, exploring the roles of knowledge creation, business investment, skills and training.

Download or read book Dimensions of Marketisation in Higher Education written by Peter John and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dimensions of Marketisation in Higher Education is a critical analysis of the various dimensions of marketisation in a global context, exploring governance, policy, financial, ethical and pedagogical aspects. Bringing together a selection of influential authors who draw on the work of Roger Brown, the book is a timely examination of the impact that policies regulating cost, entry and practices in higher education can have on universities, students and academics. This book explores the tensions and dilemmas marketisation brings into the educational environment for academic leaders, managers and students, arguing that they can be managed through rebalancing the relation between the market and the educational dimensions. Key topics include: The economics of higher education Students in a marketised environment Regulating a marketised sector Marketisation and higher education pedagogies Universities’ futures. Unveiling nuanced and multifaceted perspectives and providing readers with collective and forward-thinking critical analyses, Dimensions of Marketisation in Higher Education will be an authoritative reference book on policy and practice, appealing to higher education leaders, managers and scholars worldwide.

Download or read book Enhancing Quality in Higher Education written by Ray Land and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-19 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interest in the quality of higher education provision has been steadily increasing over the last twenty years. This has been driven largely by the international creation of explicit policies and reporting requirements to review, audit and evaluate provision. The interest is associated in many countries with the granting by governments of greater autonomy to higher education institutions. This, crucially, comes bound with increased requirements for accountability in the exercise of such power. Enhancing provision, promoting innovation, cultivating exploration and adopting information-led approaches to practice are at the very heart of higher education. As such quality enhancement comes in many guises and is under constant scrutiny. Enhancing Quality in Higher Education looks critically at recent developments in higher education, taking snapshots of changing practices around the world and analysing the varied theoretical perspectives of quality enhancement that are emerging. The opening section draws upon this theoretical base, whilst the second section contextualises it through the analysis of a diverse range of international case studies. The concluding section considers future prospects for the enhancement agenda in the light of the international pressures facing all systems of higher education in the future. Policy will inevitably be shaped by the historical contexts within which national systems are located. The book draws on a wide range of international case studies, examined by a host of contributing experts. The movement towards quality enhancement can be seen as stimulating action at the grassroots of the academy to self-generate improvement. It is a counter to the prevalent view that change in higher education is essentially about the institutional response to increasing societal pressure and state control and, as such, is a welcome contribution to the literature. This comprehensive volume is essential reading for anyone involved in higher education and educational policy.

Download or read book Public Services written by Henry Kippin and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Griffiths, Kippin and Stoker bring together many of the country's leading academic and policy experts to explore the long-term challenges facing public services, and ask what the role of government, citizens and society should be in addressing them. The book sets out a new reform agenda, exploring possibilities for the future design and delivery of public services in the UK and beyond. Public Services: A New Reform Agenda is an important new contribution to the debate that will be invaluable for policymakers, practitioners and academics.

Download or read book Widening Access to Higher Education in the UK Developments and Approaches Using Credit Accumulation and Transfer written by Wayne Turnbull and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2022-03-23 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Credit is intertwined with higher education around the world and this book introduces and analyses the long-term effects that this connection brings. Structured in three parts, the book is grounded in experience, practitioner research and detailed policy analysis. The greater availability of credit in higher education is closely tied to policies of widening access and this book addresses current issues including the consequences of Brexit, standards in higher education and the management of mobile student learning. The contributors to this book: -Explore the development and integration of credit within institutional policy -Outline the systems of student progression and achievement, including methods of assessment and measurement -Examine the official account of credit, widening access and curriculum in the UK -Analyse how credit can facilitate flexibility in curriculum design The book is relevant to anyone engaged in educational development, academic policy and learner support. The breadth of contributions from across the UK ensures the variation in policies is mapped and charts the implications for learners. “Rarely does a text come along which tackles challenging, technical aspects of higher education and presents them in an accessible and creative way. “ Maureen McLaughlin, Academic Registrar, Northumbria University, UK “This is a scholarly and timely analysis of the development of systems for recognising academic credit within the context of widening access to higher education.” Dr Marie Stowell, Director of Quality and Educational Development, University of Worcester, UK “This book is required reading for anyone interested in the future of higher education in a rapidly changing world.” Dr Andy W. Smith, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education "It is hard to find enough words of praise for this excellent collection of essays.” Herman de Leeuw, Executive Director and Founder, Groningen Declaration Network Wayne Turnbull was Head of Academic Policy and is now a historian at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Harvey Woolf was Head of Academic Standards at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. He is a founder member of the Student Assessment and Classification Working Group.

Download or read book Equity Policies in Global Higher Education written by Orlanda Tavares and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses and analyses global policies and practices aimed at promoting equity in higher education participation and attainment. Although the massification of higher education systems has facilitated the participation of students from deprived backgrounds, socioeconomic inequalities persist in access to the most prestigious institutions and programmes. Privileged students benefit from a number of advantages in the competition for selective and scarce places: access to information, lower aversion to debt, higher expectations, better previous schooling and higher academic achievement. The chapters present a critical analysis of equity policies in different countries – with or without affirmative action policies, within a context of neoliberal policies or within a social democratic model – and the reasons why they have failed to promote equity and fairness, preventing students from achieving their full educational potential. This is an open access book.

Download or read book Regulating financial stability in higher education written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-04 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Higher Education Funding Council for England, the funder and regulator of the higher education sector, has overseen the financial sustainability of the sector through a period of growth in income and student numbers. It has taken a cost-efficient approach and delivered value for money in the context in which it has operated to date. However, the sector is facing a period of transition to a very different financial environment with an increased level of risk. The Council has contained the cost of its own regulatory activities and minimised the burden of its activities on higher education institutions. It has focused on supporting those institutions at highest risk, whilst managing to maintain the confidence of the sector. There is a wide variation in the financial performance of institutions. The Council's current assessment of financial sustainability of institutions provides effective coverage of medium-term risks but methods of detecting short term risks need reinforcing. The Council does not routinely publish its assessments of individual institutions as part of its annual assessment of risk within the sector, and delays its naming of "at higher risk" institutions by at least three years to give them time to rectify their problems. Even so, some institutions in difficulty can take a long time to resolve their weaknesses. But the Council needs to consider the balance between protecting institutions and their students and enabling prospective students to take more informed decisions on where to study.

Download or read book Academic and Professional Identities in Higher Education written by Celia Whitchurch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-12-04 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The latest volume in the Routledge International Studies in Higher Education Series, Academic and Professional Identities in Higher Education: The Challenges of a Diversifying Workforce, reviews the implications of new forms of academic and professional identity, which have emerged largely as a result of a broadening disciplinary base and increasing permeability between higher education and external environments. The volume addresses the challenges faced by those responsible for the wellbeing of academic faculty and professional staff. International perspectives examine current practice against a background of rapidly changing policy contexts, focusing on the critical ‘people dimension’ of enhancing academic and professional activity, while also addressing national, socio-economic, and community agendas. Consideration is given to mainstream academic faculty and professional staff, researchers, library and information professionals, people with an interest in teaching and learning, and those involved in individual projects or institutional development. The following provide the key themes of Academic and Professional Identities in Higher Education: The Challenges of a Diversifying Workforce: The implications of diversifying academic and professional identities for the functioning of higher education institutions and sectors. The pace and nature of such change in different institutional systems and environments. The challenges to institutional systems and structures from emergent identities and possible tensions, and how these might be addressed. The implications of blurring academic and professional identities, with a shift towards mixed or ‘blended’ roles, for individual careers and institutional development.

Download or read book Student Financing of Higher Education written by Donald Heller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-07 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The financing of higher education is undergoing great change in many countries around the world. In recent years many countries are moving from a system where the costs of funding higher education are shouldered primarily by taxpayers, through government subsidies, to one where students pay a larger share of the costs. There are a number of factors driving these trends, including: A push for massification of higher education, in the recognition that additional revenue streams are required above and beyond those funds available from governments in order to achieve higher participation rates Macroeconomic factors, which lead to constraints on overall government revenues Political factors, which manifest in demands for funding of over services, thus restricting the funding available for higher (tertiary) education A concern that the returns to higher education accrue primarily to the individual, rather than to society, and thus students should bear more of the burden of paying for it This volume will help to contribute to an understanding of how these trends occur in various countries and regions around the world, and the impact they have on higher education institutions, students, and society as a whole. With contributions for the UK, USA, South Africa and China this vital new book gives a truly global picture of the rapidly changing situation

Download or read book Education Policy Unravelled written by Dean Garratt and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-22 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education Policy Unravelled examines the nature of contemporary education policy, its purposes and political formation. It charts the continuity of policy development along neo-liberal lines, taking an historical perspective and moving from New Labour to the emerging position of the Coalition government. Contrary to popular belief about recent radical change in education policy, the author team draws attention to the fact that there have been strong similarities and nuanced disagreements between successive modern governments. Written in an accessible style, the book contains a number of activities and pedagogical features designed to appeal to students, to inform thinking and understanding around key policy issues. This is an invaluable guide for engaging with education policy as it uses a variety of key elements of policy theory in order to support students through some of the complexities involved in contemporary policy analysis and critique.

Download or read book Reassembling Scholarly Communications written by Martin Paul Eve and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical inquiry into the politics, practices, and infrastructures of open access and the reconfiguration of scholarly communication in digital societies. The Open Access Movement proposes to remove price and permission barriers for accessing peer-reviewed research work—to use the power of the internet to duplicate material at an infinitesimal cost-per-copy. In this volume, contributors show that open access does not exist in a technological or policy vacuum; there are complex social, political, cultural, philosophical, and economic implications for opening research through digital technologies. The contributors examine open access from the perspectives of colonial legacies, knowledge frameworks, publics and politics, archives and digital preservation, infrastructures and platforms, and global communities. he contributors consider such topics as the perpetuation of colonial-era inequalities in research production and promulgation; the historical evolution of peer review; the problematic histories and discriminatory politics that shape our choices of what materials to preserve; the idea of scholarship as data; and resistance to the commercialization of platforms. Case studies report on such initiatives as the Making and Knowing Project, which created an openly accessible critical digital edition of a sixteenth-century French manuscript, the role of formats in Bruno Latour's An Inquiry into Modes of Existence, and the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), a network of more than 1,200 journals from sixteen countries. Taken together, the contributions represent a substantive critical engagement with the politics, practices, infrastructures, and imaginaries of open access, suggesting alternative trajectories, values, and possible futures.