Women's Higher Education in China

AT the Huairou NGO Forum on Women, participants in the Workshop on Women's Higher Education in China were inspired by Chinese speakers to give voice to their own ideas. The line for speaking grew so long as to require Qi Wenying, Workshop Chairwoman and Professor from Beijing University, to announce a new time limit of one     

Acculturation Identity and Higher Education: Is There a Trade‐off Between Ethnic Identity and Education?1

This paper examines the role of identification to home and host cultures on the pursuit of higher educations for individuals with immigrant backgrounds. Identity is defined according to a two‐dimensional acculturation framework based on strength of identification to both ethnic background cultures and the majority culture. Results indicate that integrated men that identify with both the majority and the background culture are associated with higher probabilities of completed tertiary educations than men that identify only with the majority culture as well as men with weak affiliations to both background and majority cultures. These results hold despite controls for early education outcomes and socioeconomic status. No systematic differences in higher educational attainment by identity are found for women once differences in early education are accounted for. These results put into question the premise of oppositional identities, i.e., a trade‐off between ethnic identity and higher educational achievement.     

The New Toll on Higher Education and the UK Student Revolts of 2010–2011

This profile gives an overview of the student protests and university occupations of the winter of 2010–2011 against the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government's higher education bill. In particular, the lifting of the cap on annual higher education tuition fees to £9000 pa was widely perceived by students (and lecturers) as unjust, unfair and a very real barrier to higher education. In order to understand the political dynamics of these student mobilisations, I argue both that we need to consider the network structure that exists on university campuses and how it facilitates political mobilisations, and to see the protests as a moral economy directed against a new toll on higher education.     

Impact of students’ behavior on continuous assessment in Higher Education

The aim of this study is to analyze students’ academic results following the introduction of a continuous assessment system in Higher Education. This study examines a large sample that consists of third-year students’ grades across nine subjects in the Bachelor of Business Administration program at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). Specifically, this paper studies the relations among three types of grades (i.e. final exam grades (FEGs), continuous assessment activities grades (excluding the final exam) and GAGs, which are calculated as the weighted averages of the FEGs and the continuous assessment activities grades) and the influence of the number of students who actively participate in a subject and the date of the final exam on students’ grades. Generally, this study reveals a positive effect of continuous assessment activities on students’ academic success. Furthermore, there is a statistically significant positive relation between the number of students who actively follow a subject and their GAGs. Finally, the earlier the students completed the final exam, the higher their grades were on this exam.     

Women In Higher Education——Half a Century

ZHOU Enru is a law professor at Chinese Women's College. In 1978, she took part in the school's reopening and renovation and then in 1995, she began collecting and compiling the school's history.     

Parental Borrowing for Dependent Children’s Higher Education

Using the 1992–1993 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, with the 1997 follow-up, the parental decision to borrow and, for borrowers, the level of borrowing for dependent children’s college education was analyzed. Parents with smaller household size and those being college graduates borrowed greater amounts. White parents borrowed greater amounts than their non-White counterparts. The age of the student, dependent students’ income and parents’ cash and savings each had a significant negative impact on the amount parents borrowed, while home equity was a significant positive factor. Greater college costs significantly increased parents’ decision to borrow, as well as the borrowed amount. Greater amounts of grants significantly reduced the amount borrowed.     

From Further Education to Higher Education: Social Work Students' Experiences of Transition to an Ancient,Research‐Led University

In 2004, as part of its initiative to widen access, a Scottish university offered places for the first time to a group of students coming from further education (FE) colleges with Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs). A longitudinal study has followed the experiences of transition and subsequent progression of this cohort of students. The study, entitled ‘From FE to HE’ has interviewed and surveyed 45 students at key points since 2004. This paper reports on findings from the study overall, giving particular attention to the views and experiences of the nine Social Work students within the cohort. It will be argued that whilst FE colleges provide considerable support for their students, there is no easy transition to an ancient, research‐led university such as this one. The findings of this study have implications for all those involved in social work education.     

Gaining by giving? Peer research into service user and carer perceptions of inclusivity in Higher Education

Abstract

Service users and carers (SUAC) have made significant contributions to professional training in social work courses in Higher Education (HE) over the past decade in the UK. Such participation has been championed by government, academics and SUAC groups from a range of theoretical and political perspectives. Most research into the effectiveness of SUAC involvement at HE has come from the perspectives of academics and very little SUAC-led research exists. This qualitative peer research was led by two members of the University of Worcester’s SUAC group. Findings were that SUAC perceived their involvement brought benefits to students, staff, the University and the local community. Significant personal benefits such as finding a new support network, increased self-development and greater confidence to manage their own care were identified in ways that suggested that the benefits that can flow from SUAC involvement at HE are perhaps more far-reaching than previously recognised. Barriers to inclusion were less than previously reported in the literature and the humanising effects of SUAC involvement are presented as a partial antidote to an increasingly marketised HE culture.     

Object Permanence in Five‐and‐a‐Half‐Month‐Old Infants?

Event Set × Event Set designs were used to study the rotating screen paradigm introduced by Baillargeon, Spelke, and Wasserman (1985). In Experiment 1, 36 5 1/2‐month‐old infants were habituated to a screen rotating 180° with no block, a screen rotating 120° up to a block, or a screen rotating 180° up to and seemingly through a block. All infants were then tested on the same 3 events and also a screen rotating 120° with no block. The results indicate that infants are using novelty and familiarity preference to determine their looking times. To confirm this, in Experiment 2, 52 5 1/2‐month‐old infants were familiarized on either 3 or 7 trials to a screen rotating 180° with no block or a screen rotating 120° with no block. All infants were then tested on the same test events as in Experiment 1. Infants with fewer familiarization trials were more likely to prefer the familiar rotation event. The results of these 2 experiments indicate that infants did not use the possibility or impossibility of events but instead used familiarity or novelty relations between the habituation events and the test events to determine their looking times, and suggest that the Baillargeon et al. study should not be interpreted as indicating object permanence or solidity knowledge in young infants.     

What Determines the Embeddedness of Forced‐Return Migrants? Rethinking the Role of Pre‐ and Post‐Return Assistance1

Return migration is not always a process of simply “going home.” Particularly when return is not fully voluntarily, returnees face severe obstacles. This study argues that such return can only become sustainable when returnees are provided with possibilities to become re‐embedded in terms of economic, social network, and psychosocial dimensions. We analyze the return migration experiences of 178 rejected asylum seekers and migrants who did not obtain residence permit to six different countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sierra Leone, Togo and Vietnam. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis, we identify several key factors that influence prospects for embeddedness, such as individual and family characteristics, position in the migration cycle, and the role of pre‐ and post‐return assistance. We find that the possibilities for successful return are highly dependent on the living circumstances provided in the host country: returnees who were enabled to engage in work, had access to independent housing and freedom to develop social contacts proved to be better able to exercise agency and maintain self‐esteem. Post‐return assistance by non‐governmental organizations will be particularly helpful when financial support is combined with human guidance and practical information to enhance a more sustainable return process.     

Can a Knowledge Sanctuary also be an Economic Engine? The Marketization of Higher Education as Institutional Boundary Work

Universities, particularly research‐intensive ones, have responded to a variety of external and internal influences by retooling their missions, culture, and organizational structures to generate revenue from market opportunities. This has resulted in the marketization of higher education: organizational practices that blur the boundary between knowledge‐driven and profit‐driven institutions. This blurring has spurred debates and uncertainties over the scope and boundaries of the 21st century university. We argue that these debates spring from institutional boundary work at the intersection of the three main missions of the contemporary academy: knowledge production, student learning, and satisfying the social charter. These missions can sometimes create areas of synergy, but also tensions that are particularly acute where market logics and business‐oriented practices contradict academic values. Within knowledge production, a key dilemma is the extent to which knowledge advancement should aim for transcendence versus revenue generation. Within student learning, the dilemma involves incommensurability between the ideals of democratic citizenship and demonstrable return on investment. Within the social charter mission, the dilemma is over whether the university can serve the public welfare while also facilitating the growth of local and national economies.     

Paragons of Education in Ancient Times

MOTHERS contributed greatly to children's education in ancient China long before schools took shape. Behind many prominent figures lay greatmothers whose personal example and verbal instruction benefited their children throughout life. There is an old sayingabout the "stern father and compassionate mother."However, you will always     

Who cares? A lack of self‐care for women in the non‐profit/non‐governmental sector

In this article I examine the lack of self‐care regimes for women working in the non‐profit/non‐governmental sector. While I draw on ethnographic research conducted in the Malaysian context of women's organizations, the issue of self‐care for activists and feminist activists is a global one that crosses borders and boundaries. I explore the gendered nature of care and care professions to demonstrate how women are predominantly affected in these working environments. To date, there has been little scholarship on self‐care and care in non‐profit/non‐governmental working environments. Using interviews with women working in the sector, I argue that women's emotional, mental and physical health comes at a cost in these hectic workplaces. This article contributes to the literature on gender, work and care in women's organizations by taking seriously women's concerns working in these spaces, where they experience self‐neglect and institutional barriers in care regimes.     

Female Education of China's Minority Nationalities

CHINA is a unified multi-ethnic country. Besides the populous Han nationality, China has 55 minorities with a population of 91.2 million, accounting for 8.04 percent of the country's total. The area of the minority autonomous regions is 64.3 percent of the total national territory. Before 1949, almost all minority women in China were illiterate. Since the founding of New China, the female education among the minority nationalities has made great progress. According to the fourth national census, the female population of minorities over six years old is 38.18 million. Of these 15.3 million females have received a primary education; 7.65     

Work‐to‐Society Spillover?

Nonprofit employees can make ideal volunteers for other organizations in the sector, and understanding their participation in volunteering is a timely task. Based on “spillover theory,” this study tests how nonprofit employees’ experience on the job may carry over into the nonwork arena. The study focuses on how nonprofit employees’ satisfaction with the job and perception of the organization's mission achievement relate to their volunteering, controlling for the generally higher levels of prosocial motivation found in the sector. The findings suggest that the consequences of job satisfaction for this group extend beyond the workplace, contributing to societal benefits.     

Freedom or money? The dilemma of migrant live‐in elderly carers in times of COVID‐19

As a consequence of the lockdown measures imposed by the Belgian government to fight against COVID‐19, migrant live‐in elderly carers had to choose between safeguarding their job — at the detriment of their personal freedom, their health and their working conditions — and safeguarding their freedom but losing their job — at the detriment of their economic survival and that of their families. This article explores this dilemma from an intersectionality perspective. In order to understand their experience in times of COVID‐19 and their response to this dilemma, I analyse their position as women, as migrants, as elderly care workers, as family breadwinners and as ‘quasi‐family members’ in the families of their employer — which correspond to five interlocking systems of oppression.     

Peek‐a‐What? Infants’ Response to the Still‐Face Task After Normal and Interrupted Peek‐a‐Boo

Infants’ sensitivity to the vitality or tension envelope within dyadic social exchanges was investigated by examining their responses following normal and interrupted games of peek‐a‐boo embedded in a Still‐Face Task. Infants 5–6 months old engaged in two modified Still‐Face Tasks with their mothers. In one task, the initial interaction ended with a sequence of normal peek‐a‐boos that included tension build‐up, peak, and release. In the other task, the initial interaction was followed by a sequence of peek‐a‐boos that ended with an interrupted peek‐a‐boo in which the build‐up was followed directly by the still face. Infants showed the still‐face effect with their attention and smiling when the still face followed the normal peek‐a‐boo sequence, but only with smiling when the still face followed the sequence with the interrupted peek‐a‐boo. Infants’ social bidding to their mothers in the still‐face phase was greater following the interrupted peek‐a‐boo sequence. When social exchanges are interrupted before the closure of the vitality envelope, infants respond with more attention vigilance and social bidding, demonstrating their awareness of the structure of social exchanges.     

Signs of Change? At‐Home and Breadwinner Parents' Housework and Child‐Care Time

The authors analyze American Time Use Survey data to examine patterns in domestic work among at‐home and breadwinner parents to gauge how time availability, relative earnings, and gender shape time use in couples with extreme differences in earnings and work hours. They find that involvement in female‐typed housework is an important driver of overall housework time. It is counternormative housework behavior by at‐home fathers that shapes conclusions about how time availability, relative resources, and gender influence parents' housework. Although time availability appears to shape child care in comparable ways across parents, mothers are more engaged in child care than similarly situated fathers. Overall, comparisons point to the importance of distinguishing among gender‐normative housework tasks and accounting for differences in engagement on work and nonwork days. The results provide a basis for assessing the social significance of growing numbers of parents in work–family roles that are not gender normative.