Effects of Parental Divorce on God Image Among Young Adults at a Christian University

We used path analysis to investigate the impact of parental divorce on God image, mediated by father–child and mother–child attachments, among 178 college students at a Christian university. Findings revealed that parental divorce negatively impacts father–child attachment; however, father–child attachment does not impact God image. Instead, the quality of mother–child attachment, which does not seem to be influenced by parental divorce, best predicts the development of a healthy God image. Thus, preliminary findings elucidated that parental divorce undermines the quality of attachment between father and child but not mother and child, and mother–child attachment ultimately influences God image. Further research is needed to replicate and generalize these preliminary findings.     

The value of public relations: Different impacts of communal and exchange relationships on perceptions and communicative behavior

The study, using a survey of 508 university student publics, investigates (a) the impacts and mechanisms that a relationship has on a public’s perceptions and behavior around an issue and (b) how relationship types impact a public’s perception toward a tuition increase issue differently. The situational theory of publics was used as a theoretical framework. The results generally supported the theories. More important, the findings indicated that a communal relationship and an exchange relationship had different impacts on problem recognition, constraint recognition, and involvement recognition.     

The current state of evaluator education: A situation analysis and call to action

Education is critically important for the maintenance and growth of programme evaluation and its emergence as a profession. This position paper presents evaluator education as an initiative and provides a foundation for its evaluation. In it, the authors use Stufflebeam's Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) model to frame a review of the literature and practice. We follow this analysis of the current state of evaluator education in formal settings, with discussion of its implications, and directions for future research and action. Our analysis suggests that there is much work to be done to understand the needs for evaluator education, to delineate standards for quality in both education and practice, to identify the inputs and processes most effective for addressing those needs, and to document its ultimate impacts. The paper provides a call to action for improving the quality, consistency, and integrity of this important work.     

Step to college. Moving from the high school career academy through the 4-year university.

This study addresses the question "Do school-to-work programs, as embodied by career academies, facilitate postsecondary education?" The author conceptualizes postsecondary education as a series of steps through the university and examines the high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes from a 4-year university. Data are drawn from applicant and student records at a comprehensive, urban university for all individuals originating from a single district's high schools. The findings suggest that students from career academies have higher academic achievement upon leaving high school, less need for remediation in English at the university, and a 4-percentage-point increase in graduation from the university than students who are not from academies. These findings suggest that school-to-work programs could facilitate positive outcomes in postsecondary education. However, the continued high rates of remediation and the low rates of graduation, even for students from career academics, suggest that their influence might not be enough to ensure success in postsecondary education. This analysis therefore suggests that further research should identify program components that increase postsecondary education and determine how these components can be institutionalized and built on in subsequent reforms.     

The (social) innovation – subjective well-being nexus: subjective well-being impacts as an additional assessment metric of technological and social innovations

It cannot be assumed that technological innovations and social innovations are desirable per se. An innovation usually has positive as well as negative impacts on people, making its normative assessment a major research challenge. This has become increasingly recognized in the innovation literature. At the same time, subjective well-being (SWB) research has developed and matured largely independently of innovation studies. This paper puts forward a general conceptual framework of the (social) innovation – SWB nexus as a step towards the development of a unified normative “well-being theory of innovation” that applies to all types of innovation, e.g. social as well as technological innovation. Its main feature is the inclusion of multiple direct and indirect SWB impacts of processes as well as of outcomes. The framework can act as a focussing device that raises awareness of the many potential SWB impacts of innovation. SWB impacts should be used as an additional metric in the assessment of innovation, complementing other assessment approaches.     

Becoming International,becoming European: EU Research Collaboration at Finnish Universities

This article analyses the significance and consequences of the exceptionally extensive mobilization of Finnish researchers into EU-funded research from the perspective of university research. The focus is on the views of university researchers and heads of departments and research units concerning such questions as the quality and relevance of EU projects; the relationship between EU collaboration and other international collaboration; and the future attractiveness of EU-funded research. The study shows that Finnish university participation in EU collaboration is moving from an exploratory stage towards a more established stage in which collaboration is becoming more selective. In order to increase the appeal of EU projects among academics, EU programmes should give more space to curiosity-oriented research and become more flexible.     

HMOs and the Future of Student Mental Health Services

Abstract

The health maintenance organization (HMO) is likely to have a prominent position under national health insurance, which will have a strong systematizing effect on the nation's health services. Over the past two years the University of Massachusetts mental health services have provided benefits at both the university and a private medical group practice. Experience has shown that a university which already provides broad services to a large student population can extend itself to the university community including its faculty and staff. Several advantages of this development, as well as some significant problems, are discussed. As the HMO grew and quality services were established, it became feasible for the private medical group to develop its own mental health component. Based on this and other experiences in mental health delivery systems, certain conclusions are drawn about the ways universities can develop HMOs and some recommendations are made for national mental health planning.     

Navigating uncertainty,employment and women’s safety during COVID-19: Reflections of sexual assault resistance educators

COVID-19 affects women in ways unique to the impacts of structural inequalities related to gender, sexuality, disability, race and socioeconomic status. In this article, we reflect on our own experiences of the pandemic, as feminist students, workers and sexual assault resistance educators located in a Canadian post-secondary setting. Situating ourselves within feminist responses to sexual violence prevention, as facilitators of the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, and Act (EAAA) sexual assault resistance education programme for university women, we reflect on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our work as EAAA facilitators in our Canadian university. We explore the theoretical possibilities that critical disability theory and queer theory present to the EAAA programme, and argue that incorporating concepts from these frameworks will complement the goals of the EAAA programme and improve inclusivity of queer, trans and disabled participants. We conclude with a look into the future by anticipating the impacts of COVID-19 on our future work.     

Impact of smoke-free residence hall policies: the views of administrators at 3 state universities

Nationwide efforts to protect the public against the health effects of secondhand smoke have prompted college and university administrators to adopt more restrictive smoking policies. Some campus officials are concerned that new policies will lead to student backlash, increased staff workloads, and an increased economic burden. To understand the impact of smoke-free residence hall policies, we conducted key informant interviews and gathered archival data at 3 large state universities. The implementation of smoke-free residence hall policies imposed little economic burden. We noted positive impacts in several key areas, including decreased damage to residence hall buildings, increased student retention, and improved enforcement of marijuana policies. Increased costs, such as the purchase of outdoor cigarette receptacles, were outweighed by the benefits. Findings from this study should encourage college and university administrators to enact smoke-free residence hall policies.     

The adequacy of college health insurance coverage

This analysis of private health insurance plans offered in 100 four-year colleges and universities in 1988 indicates a tremendous diversity in plan options, benefits covered, cost-sharing requirements, and catastrophic protections. Consistent with relatively low premium prices, most student health insurance plans offer limited benefits and expose students to significant out-of-pocket medical cost liabilities. Only a minority of schools use financial incentives, such as preferred provider arrangements, to integrate their health insurance plans with their university health service system. We conclude that universities should carefully reexamine the adequacy of their health insurance plans and their relationship to student health centers. As more students rely on student health insurance as their only source of coverage, the quality of these plans assumes an even greater importance.     

Toward a more data-driven supervision of collegiate counseling centers

Hearing the national call for higher education accountability, the author of this tripartite article urges university administrators to move towards a more data-driven approach to counseling center supervision. Toward that end, the author first examines a key factor--perceived increase in student pathology--that appears to shape budget and staffing decisions in many university centers. Second, she reviews the emerging but conflicting research of clinician-scholars who are trying to empirically verify or refute that perception; their conflicting results suggest that no study alone should be used as the "final word" in evidence-based decision-making. Third, the author delineates the campus-specific data that should be gathered to guide staffing and budgeting decisions on each campus. She concludes by reminding readers that data-driven decisions can and should foster high-quality care that is concurrently efficient, effective, and in sync with the needs of a particular university and student body.     

Modelling university image: The teaching staff viewpoint

This study proposes a methodology for identification of the main dimensions determining university image and understanding the relative weight of each of these dimensions. This is important for university governance in order to improve the service provided and to develop and maintain a distinctive position giving a competitive advantage. The conclusions and implications deriving from these results suggest actions designed to improve the image of the university.     

高校辅导员队伍职业化建设的几点思考

高等学校辅导员队伍的定位不清,造成辅导员队伍的专业化水平较低,流动性较大。要加强辅导员队伍建设,就必须走职业化之路,在实践中要改革高校管理体制,实行专业化管理;确立高校辅导员系列职业体系,打通其职业化发展通道;增强培训的专业性与实效性。     

On Impacts of Comparative Policy Analysis. Immigration to Israel:What other Countries can Learn

Israel is a country of immigrants. Between 1948 and 1997 more than three-quarters of its population entered the country from abroad. Particularly marked within this period was an increase of 20 per cent between 1989 and 1996 following the great wave of immigration from former USSR.
Israel's current absorption problems are a stark example of what is increasingly to be faced, for instance, by countries in South East Asia, North America, and Europe as cross-border migration becomes easier or a matter of survival.
Israel's experience with immigration waves during the last fifty years and its policies of immigration absorption, as well as the components of this policy agenda, should be relevant for other countries.
This article argues that comparative policy studies based on individualnational cases should be regarded as naturally occurring experiments fromwhich broader cross-national generalizations can be made. Their importancelies in their scope and in their ability to provide useful information that hastransnational impacts on policy problems and on policy solutions.     

Declining enrollments of sociology majors: Department responses

Although the number of social science majors is purported to have slightly increased since 1988, in the period immediately prior to that year the figure was declining. Sociology was one of the disciplines to experience this decline. The possible reasons for the reduction include the quality of the subject matter presentation, an increase in career-oriented students, and the loss of those students now majoring in social work and criminal justice who might otherwise have majored in sociology. University administrations facing reduction decisions in the coming years are not likely to look favorably on sociology departments unless those units can position themselves more favorably. Undergraduate sociology departments need to examine ways to strengthen their political positions on campus, such as developing service courses and cooperative arrangements with other programs; generating activities that are associated with public constituencies; and most important of all, learning to do something that university administrations need and perceive to be essential, and therefore are likely to protect. He is currently doing research on sports and education.     

Toward a More Data-Driven Supervision of Collegiate Counseling Centers

Abstract

Hearing the national call for higher education accountability, the author of this tripartite article urges university administrators to move towards a more data-driven approach to counseling center supervision. Toward that end, the author first examines a key factor—perceived increase in student pathology—that appears to shape budget and staffing decisions in many university centers. Second, she reviews the emerging but conflicting research of clinician-scholars who are trying to empirically verify or refute that perception; their conflicting results suggest that no study alone should be used as the “final word” in evidence-based decision-making. Third, the author delineates the campus-specific data that should be gathered to guide staffing and budgeting decisions on each campus. She concludes by reminding readers that data-driven decisions can and should foster high-quality care that is concurrently efficient, effective, and in sync with the needs of a particular university and student body.     

Marketing higher education across borders: a cross-cultural analysis of university websites in the US and China

This cross-cultural analysis compares the visual elements of university websites in the US and China to determine whether culture might play a role in a university's marketing strategies. Results indicate that buildings, campus views, and university gates were the predominant visual elements on university websites in China, while single people and small groups of people were the most frequently used visuals on US sites. Overall, universities tend to sell from a perspective of “what we have” in China, whereas recruiting in the US comes from a position of “who we have”. Findings suggest that institutions need to tailor their marketing campaigns to a particular culture. For university websites that are designed to build and maintain relationships with multicultural audiences, how messages are delivered is as crucial as the information that is provided.     

Departmental quality ratings and visibility: The advantages of size and age

In this article I argue that quality ratings can be conceptualized as reflecting the extent to which departments are visible to outside raters. Using cross-sectional as well as panel data on sociology departments from the two latest surveys of graduate education published by the National Research Council in 1982 and 1995, I explain departmental quality ratings in terms of measures that reflect a department’s visibility, such as its faculty productivity, size, age, and location at an elite-status university. While the results of the cross-sectional and the longitudinal models tell different stories, the two are not incompatible. Specifically, both models suggest strong effects of departmental size and age. By comparison, the estimated effects of faculty productivity and location at an elite-status university are weaker and significant only in the cross-sectional model. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, NY, August 1996. This research was conducted under a FLAS fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education. I wish to thank Lowell Hargens for helpful comments and advice.     

THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY IS . . . THE UNIVERSITY MADE CONCRETE?

The application of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to higher education has recently gained a new impetus, fired by the promise, and also perhaps the threat, of the 'virtual' university. While there has been much empirical research on individual ICT initiatives, most of this has been narrowly evaluative with little attention paid to their cumulative impacts on the university as an institution. Equally, while there has been much writing on the development of virtual higher education, much of this has been speculative, concerned with the advent of still marginal new institutions and little of it has been empirically grounded. This paper is based on in-depth studies of ICT initiatives in four established universities in the North East of England. It argues that one of the consequences, often unintended, of the introduction of these technologies has been to generate demands and pressures for a more corporate institutional form in which goals, roles, identities and procedures are made explicit and standardized across the institution. To the degree that these demands are met, the result appears to be that the closer that institutions move towards the goal of becoming a virtual university, the more corporate, or 'concrete', their institutional form becomes.     

职业技能竞赛与高职人才培养相融合的研究

高职院校是培养高素质技能型人才的重要阵地,应充分认识到职业技能竞赛在高职人才培养中的正负功能,扬长避短。将职业技能竞赛与专业建设相结合,训练项目和企业项目融合,构建"赛教结合,以赛促教"的人才培养模式,建立完善的竞赛运行和管理机制,以此更好地发挥职业技能竞赛促进高职教育教学改革,提高高职生人才培养质量的积极作用。