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Enrollment; Competition; Public Schools; Foreign Countries; Neighborhoods; Private Schools; Academic Achievement; Educational Improvement; Surveys; Correlation; Civil Engineering

Abstract:
Using data from the survey of the Ministry of Education, Nepal-2005 for school leaving certificate (SLC) exam, this paper attempts to estimate the impact of private school competition on public school performance for the case of Nepal. The study uses the number of private schools in the neighborhood as a measure of competition. The identification problem is that private school enrollment is likely to be correlated with public school performance. To address this, the study uses the existence of a motorable road within an hour's walking distance from the sample school as an instrument for number of private schools in the neighborhood. The OLS results show no significant relationship. In contrast, the IV method indicates a positive and significant impact of private school competition on public school performance, which holds true for the continuous and binary measure of private school competition. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Immigrants; Teaching Methods; Surgery; Foreign Countries; Medical Services; Patients; Expertise; Physicians; Injuries; Diseases; Urban Areas; Competition; Medical Education; Networks; Moral Values; Experiential Learning; Standards; Educational History

Abstract:
Due to its ascendancy as the administrative and commercial center of early modern England, London experienced sustained growth in the latter half of the sixteenth century, as waves of rural immigrants sought to enhance their material conditions by tapping into the city's bustling occupational and civic networks. The resultant crowded urban landscape fostered mounting demand for medical services, since injuries and ailments, ranging from consumption to contusions, proliferated within the city's teeming streets and markets. Due to consistently strong patient demand and the conventions of English common law, which stipulated that legal authorization to practice medicine was solely contingent upon patient consent, peddling medical services to the city's ill and infirm became an increasingly appealing--and potentially lucrative--venture. Consequently, London's largely unregulated medical marketplace--characterized by competition for patients, the mounting influence of print culture, and the emergence of small commercial networks--attracted a diverse array of practitioners, including university-educated physicians, guild-licensed surgeons, and a medley of specialist and itinerant practitioners. In the absence of effective institutional regulation, distinctions between medical practitioners and modes of treatment were often difficult to discern due to a lack of clearly defined legal demarcations. In response to such occupational fluidity, the Barber-Surgeons' Company--London's largest body of licensed medical practitioners and the city's only guilded branch of medicine before the advent of the Apothecaries' Company in 1617--endeavored to maintain exclusive control over the practice of surgery within the city. To prevent the encroachment of interlopers and foreign practitioners ineligible for guild membership, Company members devised an array of semiformal educational networks that reinforced their desire to train surgeons as proficient artisans, morally upright representatives of their occupational group, and agents of intellectual traditions ostensibly inaccessible to those excluded from the Company's ranks. Drawing inspiration from Andrew Abbott's notion of jurisdiction in the control of occupational skill and knowledge, this study argues that surgical education in early modern London was characterized by a synthesis of theoretical, experiential, and moral components that enabled members of the Barber-Surgeons' Company to bolster their expertise and erect occupational boundaries. By emulating prevailing paradigms of social disciplining--processes through which civic and guild authorities upheld order and stability within their communities by prescribing conventions of propriety and etiquette--the Company's self-conscious efforts to establish standards of occupational decorum and repress deviance not only mitigated the encroachment of interlopers, but also reinforced the nascent pre-professionalization of London's surgeons. (Contains 96 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Higher Education; Quality Control; Rewards; Strategic Planning; Public Policy; Sustainability; Educational Change; Political Influences; Performance Factors; Financial Support; Performance Based Assessment; College Faculty; Competition; Leadership Role; College Administration; Educational Improvement; Educational Policy

Abstract:
The renewal of strategy development and implementation is important in the context of the changing higher education landscape. Changing government policy and the political agenda require a university to engage in careful strategy development and implementation which result in long-term sustainability. The political interest of the government will place more pressure on universities to align their strategy and directions as performance-based rewards are linked to institutional performance outcomes in teaching and research. It is yet to be seen how performance-based funding could improve internal quality assurance in universities as more focus will be on aligning resources to attract performance funding. Such a strategy may not lead to internal enhancements and it may also scrutinise academic work in assessing and rewarding teaching and research performance. Lack of emphasis on careful planning and implementation could have implications for institutions in the current competitive environment. The author concludes that careful and intelligent strategy development and effective implementation and monitoring are based on the quality of institutional leadership which drives change and improvement. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Competition; Foreign Countries; Student Mobility; Foreign Students; Educational Trends; Study Abroad; Higher Education; Trend Analysis

Abstract:
The most striking trend in international student mobility over the past forty years is the increase in the number of globally circulating students, from approximately 250,000 in 1965, up to an estimated 3.7 million at present (OECD 2011: 320, UNESCO 2006: 34). Perhaps as important as the growing numbers of students is the fact that the traditional destination countries for international students--the USA, the UK, Germany, France, and Australia--face increasing competition from countries like the Russian Federation, China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Countries that send large numbers of students abroad are increasingly also becoming recipients of international students, while the growth of education "hubs" in recent years in the Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere is also providing new destination options for mobile students. Overall, the USA and Europe, and English-speaking destinations in general, remain the dominant actors in international student mobility, notwithstanding the increasing competition from the rest of the world. This paper discusses the trends in international student mobility in the USA and Europe and the challenges they face at present and in the near future. (Contains 3 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Factor Analysis; Validity; Self Efficacy; Questionnaires; Anxiety; Factor Structure; Elementary School Students; Competition; Correlation; Goodness of Fit; Team Sports; Athletes

Abstract:
The purpose of the present study was to test the validity evidence of the Child Sport Cohesion Questionnaire (CSCQ). To accomplish this task, convergent, discriminant, and known-group difference validity were examined, along with factorial validity via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Child athletes (N = 290, M[subscript age] = 10.73 plus or minus 1.13 years) from six elementary schools completed the CSCQ (Martin, Carron, Eys, & Loughead, 2012), a sport satisfaction questionnaire (Duda & Nicholls, 1992), the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory--2 Children (Stadulis, MacCracken, Eidson, & Severance, 2002), and a Self-Efficacy Questionnaire--Soccer (Munroe-Chandler & Hall, 2004). Results indicated that cohesion was positively related to satisfaction and negatively related to anxiety in children, providing support for convergent validity. Additionally, as hypothesized, social cohesion was less correlated to self-efficacy than task cohesion, supporting discriminant validity. Finally, support for the factorial validity of the CSCQ was demonstrated through acceptable fit indices. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Credentials; Competition; Participant Characteristics; Labor Market; Employment Experience; Interviews; Recruitment; College Students; Foreign Countries; Employment Potential; Extracurricular Activities; Student Attitudes

Abstract:
With the rise of mass higher education, competition between graduates in the labour market is increasing. Students are aware that their degree will not guarantee them a job and realise they should add value and distinction to their credentials to achieve a positional advantage. Participation in extra-curricular activities (ECAs) is one such strategy, as it allows students to demonstrate competencies not otherwise visible in their resumes due to limited job experience. This article presents data from interviews with 66 students about their use of ECAs in relation to the labour market. It describes the reasons students got involved in ECAs, how they integrate them in their resumes, their perceptions of their peers' behaviour and their beliefs about how employers will interpret their activities. Our data show that especially students involved in associations use ECAs to distinguish themselves from competition. Implications for employers, students and further research are discussed. (Contains 1 table.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Postsecondary Education; Postmodernism; Competition; Commercialization; Computers; Neoliberalism; Performance; Research; Financial Support; Foreign Countries

Abstract:
Jean-Francois Lyotard's classic work, "The Postmodern Condition," was first published in 1979 and has been available in English translation since 1984 (Lyotard 1984). Intended as a "report on knowledge," "The Postmodern Condition" has gained a wide readership among critical policy analysts with an interest in universities and research. Lyotard identifies fundamental shifts in conceptions of the nature, function, and status of knowledge that would become clearly evident both within and beyond the confines of the academy. Lyotard did not frame his work in terms of the organizing themes of utopia or dystopia, but "The Postmodern Condition" lends itself readily to analysis from such a perspective. With so much having been written about Lyotard, and "The Postmodern Condition" in particular, it can be helpful to focus on a quite specific context as a means for making some broader theoretical observations. In this article, the author examines developments in tertiary education and research policy in New Zealand, paying particular attention to the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) as an example of performativity, competition, and the commodification of knowledge in action. He argues that the trends evident in changes under the PBRF constitute a form of academic dystopia. The article begins with an overview of Lyotard's position on knowledge, competition, and research in a computerized, postmodern world. He then assesses the PBRF in the light of Lyotard's ideas. He comments on the limiting language of outputs, discusses links between information, interpretation, and the unknown, and considers the impact of research assessment regimes on intellectual life. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Higher Education; Private Financial Support; Skilled Workers; Grants; Scholarships; Employees; Labor Force Development; Public Policy; Expenditure per Student; Economic Climate; Competition; Tuition; Social Problems

Abstract:
It's no secret that states and the federal government have found themselves in a financial pinch when it comes to higher education. After years of recession and sluggish recovery, states have slashed per-pupil public spending on higher education by 14.6 percent since 2008. At the federal level, though money for Pell Grants has more than doubled since 2008, the program faces a shortfall of about $6-billion for 2014. It's time to experiment with a new way of leveraging private capital to finance postsecondary education and training--the social-impact bond. In its simplest form, a social-impact bond has three players: (1) the government; (2) private investors; and (3) providers of a social program. Under a bond agreement issued by the government, private investors front the money to providers, who offer services designed to reduce the likelihood that those in the program will need additional government services in the future. But unlike traditional state or municipal bond programs, the government repays investors only if the social program meets agreed-upon performance targets. If the program fails, the government pays nothing. And if it exceeds expectations, resulting in public savings, investors reap a return on their investment. These bonds are now popping up around the United States, including a partnership between Goldman Sachs and New York City to decrease recidivism of young offenders in Riker's Island jail and new programs in Massachusetts to reduce homelessness and juvenile recidivism. President Obama has announced pilot "pay-for-success projects" at the Departments of Labor and Justice to achieve specific social-service outcomes. What do such programs have to do with solving the skills gap? It's time to experiment with a new way of leveraging private capital to finance higher education. Local employers who need more skilled workers face a dilemma when it comes to investing in training employees. Directly subsidizing tuition for employees can help retain workers temporarily, but better-educated employees may also be more likely to defect and join competitors. Meanwhile, binding them to the company in return for postsecondary training raises legitimate concerns about "indentured servitude." Business-sponsored scholarship programs for prospective students present a similar problem: Competitors can get a "free ride" on those investments. The social-impact bond mitigates those problems. It also provides local businesses with an additional avenue to shape postsecondary offerings to reflect labor-force needs. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
College Admission; College Applicants; Graduates; Essays; Scores; College Entrance Examinations; Admission Criteria; Educational Trends; Trend Analysis; High Achievement; Competition; Student Recruitment; Foreign Students

Abstract:
Boston College saw a 26-percent decrease in applications this year, a drop officials largely attribute to a new essay requirement. Last year the private Jesuit institution received a record 34,051 applications for 2,250 spots in its freshman class. This year approximately 25,000 students applied, and all of them had to do one thing their predecessors did not: write a supplemental essay, of up to 400 words, in response to one of four prompts. Although some enrollment officials have nightmares about big one-year declines, John L. Mahoney, director of undergraduate admissions at Boston College, described the numbers as good news. After all, the quality of this year's applicants--as measured by their ACT and SAT scores--did not go down, compared with last year. In an era when many colleges are asking applicants to do less, some institutions have asked them to do more, purposely thinning the ranks of prospective students. If nothing else, Boston College's move reveals the slipperiness of application tallies, widely viewed as a meaningful metric. If the addition of one short essay can drain a quarter of a college's pool in one year, how much did those numbers say in the first place? For the last decade, selective colleges have operated according to their own laws of nature: Each year, applications rise, acceptance rates fall, and the trends seem as inevitable as gravity. In the competition for high-achieving students, bigger applicant pools have long been understood as better. And "more, more, more" is often the mantra of recruitment. The boom has brought plenty of challenges, too. A deluge of applications has made the admissions process less predictable, for applicants and colleges alike. More students applying to more colleges means more questions about who's a serious applicant and who's not. Some of the forces that have long driven application increases were beyond any college's control. The long-term surge in high-school graduates. The rise in foreign applicants. The growth of Web-based communications. Yet colleges do control the content of their applications, and how quickly a student can apply. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Disabilities; Assistive Technology; Foreign Countries; Adapted Physical Education; Accessibility (for Disabled); Housing Needs; Athletics; Social Justice; Physical Mobility; Phenomenology; Public Policy; Competition

Abstract:
The golden summer of sport is now over, but what is the legacy of London 2012 for disabled people? Nadia Ahmed, a disabled student, discusses the difficulties she has faced in finding accessible accommodation in London. She argues that while the Games are over, the United Kingdom still has lots of hurdles to leap when it comes to disability. The article focuses on her own personal experience of not being able to get wheelchair-accessible accommodation in Tower Hamlets, a London borough that is a close neighbour of Stratford where the Olympic and Paralympic games were held. The article raises questions about disability equality following the Paralympics. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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