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Young people’s choice of higher education institution and subject are often assumed to take place in a social vacuum, ignoring the influence of family and friends. Despite a shift away from state funding of undergraduate higher education towards a cost-sharing model (Johnstone, 2004), little research has been carried out on family attitudes to debt, particularly in Scotland where home students do not pay tuition fees. This chapter explores how higher education decisions are made by Scottish domiciled students in the context of their families and the ways in which such decisions are mediated by social class.

Research on informal social networks is gaining momentum. However, there is still much we do not know about these networks and how they impact business practices in the countries in which they operate. This chapter presents the authors' perspectives on the current state of wasta (as a case study of informal social networks) research and the future directions that need to be explored in relation to wasta to further unpack this practice and to capture its complexity in a way that allows both researchers and practitioners to manage it. It is observed that wasta research is currently too reliant on short timeframe case studies which are mostly qualitative. While these have improved in their theoretical, practical and methodological rigor, it is suggested that there is a need for more mixed methods longitudinal and statistical modeling research. We conclude this chapter by suggesting ways in which wasta researchers can “borrow” from other disciplines to enhance our understanding of this practice.

This chapter discusses how Nancy Fraser’s theory of two-dimensional participatory justice may be employed in research concerned with inequalities within higher education. The main concepts of Fraser’s theory are discussed and evaluated in the light of the critical attention they have attracted. Following that, I demonstrate the empirical application of Fraser’s ideas through discussion of extracts of data from a recent small-scale investigation undertaken within a UK-based higher education institution. Finally, I conclude by discussing the strengths of Fraser’s concepts with some indications for future research.

This chapter provides an introduction to how the inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach is being used by colleges and universities around the world to strengthen the interconnections between teaching, learning, and research within the arts, humanities, and social sciences. This chapter provides a synthesis and analysis of all the chapters in the volume, which present a range of perspectives, case studies, and empirical research on how IBL is being used across a range of courses across a range of institutions within the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The chapter argues that the IBL approach has great potential to enhance and transform teaching and learning. Given the growing demands placed on education to meet a diverse range of complex political, economic, and social problems and personal needs, this chapter argues that education should serve as an incubator where students are part of a learning community and where they are encouraged to grow cognitively, emotionally, and socially by taking increasing responsibility for their own learning.

This article explores the role of history and historical memory in the formation of early Zionist/Israeli national security doctrine. To that end, it makes three moves. First, it explores a series of public addresses made by Zalman Rubashov (Shazar) in 1942–1943. A key public intellectual in the Jewish community of preindependent Palestine (the Yishuv), Rubashov means to help his listeners make sense of, and respond collectively to, the unfolding destruction of European Jewry. Second, it draws cautious parallels between those public intellectual pronouncements and the postwar work of Friedrich Meinecke, a prominent German historian and public intellectual and a sometime teacher of Rubashov. In both cases, I suggest, history does more than make sense of a moment of political transition: It seeks to reframe the self-understandings of citizens and their collective political relations. Third, drawing on a recent memoir by Noam Chayut, a prominent Israeli antioccupation activist, I explore how those self-understandings can be lost when the historical claims upon which they are predicated lose their sense of immediacy, naturalness, or coherence.

Higher education (HE) systems in Europe have been identified as an essential element for promoting economic competitiveness since the Bologna Declaration in 1999. The aim of the Bologna Process was to expand access to educational opportunities, fostering participation in post-compulsory education by creating the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Inequalities in training because of geographic, ethnic or social origin, and inequalities in job opportunities, salaries, and incomes are critical dimensions of social development in HE. The development of policies, including those concerning education, that extend access to opportunities is essential to prevent such exclusion becoming permanent. The Access4All project aims to promote the educational and social inclusion of underrepresented groups as well as of non-traditional learners.

In this chapter, the project’s main results are reviewed, with: (1) a brief overview of inclusion policies and practices in European HE; (2) an operational definition of “good practice” and criteria for selecting examples of good practice for inclusion in HE; (3) a self-assessment tool enabling the characterization of institutional capacity for innovation and of inclusion policies and practices; and (4) a model for promoting strategic planning, focusing on inclusion in HE.

By asking questions and presenting creative problems for students to solve, faculty nurture critical thinking and creativity. This type of inquiry-based teaching and learning is at the core of design curricula and provides the backbone of student charrettes and competitions, rooted in the professional realities of the disciplines. This chapter provides a guide for faculty members through the steps of how to do assessment of inquiry-based education within an artistic discipline. It provides a path to improve both content and form: to integrate what is known about inquiry-based learning in the arts with assessment practices that have emerged over the past three decades, and to use that as a basis for discussing how using reflective and inquiry-based practices coupled with well-designed assessment practices can serve to improve teaching practice, student learning, and further the development of inquiry-based environments at the individual, program, and even institutional levels.