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This paper aims to analyse how learning levels differ within and between degrees and diplomas with specific application to the Bachelor of Applied Business Studies degree and the New Zealand Diploma of Business, which are delivered at a New Zealand polytechnic.

A literature review and content analysis of National Qualifications Frameworks was conducted to analyse how learning levels differ within and between degrees and diplomas with specific application to the Bachelor of Applied Business Studies degree and the New Zealand Diploma of Business which are offered at a New Zealand polytechnic.

A literature review and content analysis of National Qualifications Frameworks reveals that learning levels are differentiated by level of complexity, degree of abstraction, depth in a major subject, research competency, learner autonomy and responsibility, relative demand placed on students and increasing complexity and unpredictability of operational context. This analysis failed to find any difference in learning level between Bachelor of Applied Business Studies and New Zealand Diploma of Business papers nominally at the same level on the New Zealand National Qualifications Framework. The degree comprises a portion of papers at a higher learning level than the diploma and it is at this level that the difference is realised.

Future research should investigate learning level differences between disciplines, qualifications and institutions.

This paper provides a framework on which to base course design, delivery and assessment of the Bachelor of Applied Business Studies degree and the New Zealand Diploma of Business and credit transfer between them.

This case study addresses the increasingly important issue of the compatibility of learning levels between different qualifications. As many economies acknowledge the necessity for increasingly skilled workforces, credit transfer to enable seamless transfer between qualifications is becoming a focus in seeking to facilitate lifelong learning. There are few studies that focus on National Qualifications level descriptors and the implications for different qualification types.

This study examines educational inequalities under socialism in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Russia to assess the extent to which egalitarianism was achieved and whether there was restratification after the common retreat from egalitarian ideology and practices since the 1970s. Exploring the extent of parental influences in three key educational outcomes and their changes in four birth cohorts, the study finds remarkable stability across cohorts and across transitions. Contrary to expectation, the net effect of parental social capital (communist party membership status) is prominent only in the former Soviet Russia and Bulgaria, moderate in Czechoslovakia, and negligible in Hungary and Poland. On the other hand, the effect of parental cultural capital is consistently strong but its influence is somewhat weaker at higher transitions. Its inclusion also dramatically reduces the effect of parental education and father’s occupation, suggesting that a significant extent of intergenerational transmission of educational inequality is mediated through parental cultural capital rather than human capital per se.

In Africa, the community college model, catered to nontraditional college aspirants, has been increasingly seen as an important alternative to respond to the growing demand for postsecondary education. By highlighting the case of Ethiopia, this chapter explores the implications of the community college model through the examination of the system, teacher training, and perspectives of students and employers. Some education and training can be more efficiently delivered at the community college level by means of focused and high-quality teaching, rather than through a long duration of bachelor's program.

There has been much discussion, but little research about why African American males do not attend and or complete a college education. We examine the alternatives that might reduce or compete with the decision to complete a college education. We analyze the number of men incarcerated, trends in labor force participation, and occupation and wages by educational attainment. We find that even when the number of 18–24-year-old African American males incarcerated increased, the number of 18–24-year-old African American males enrolled in college had a larger increase suggesting that incarceration is not a plausible explanation for the growth rate in degree attainment for African American males. We find that the decrease in the overall percentage and in the percentage of 18–24-year-old African American males reporting employed as their labor force status and the increase in the percentage for these groups reporting not in the labor force and unemployed may have an impact on the college degree completion. Additionally, an increasing percentage of African American males have an associate's or bachelor's degree, but there was a larger percentage change in the percent of African American males with some college. African American males with some college earn significantly less than those with an associate's or bachelor's degree, but earn significantly more than African American women with some college or an associate's degree. This supports Dunn's (1988) finding that African American males do not invest in college because they desire “quick money.” The earnings differential between African American males and females may also explain the degree attainment gap, as it is the African American females with a bachelor's degree that earn significantly more than African American males with some college.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss sheepskin effects in Colombia based on repeated cross‐section or pseudo panel data using cohorts in seven larges cities in Colombia.

A Pseudo Panel Data methodology is used as the basis for determining and testing sheepskin effects using labor market microdata in Colombia in the time period from 1996 to 2000.

Empirical evidence suggests that there are additional salary increases of 14 percent for individuals who hold a secondary degree and approximately 26 percent for holders of university degrees in Colombia.

Testing sheepskin effects based on pseudo panel data using cohorts.

In this study, we critically examine how students enrolled in a combined engineering and teacher education program given at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, understand the concept of sustainable development (SD) and the professional responsibilities of engineers versus teachers in contributing to this goal. A questionnaire was used to collect and analyze data based on five research questions: (1) How do students conceptualize the notion of SD? (2) What aspects of SD are students interested in? (3) Are there any gender differences in what aspects of SD students are interested in? (4) How do students perceive the roles and responsibilities of engineers versus teachers in contributing to SD? and (5) How confident are students in their abilities to address SD issues vocationally? The data indicated a conventional view of SD among the students; a clear interest in sustainability issues, especially for ecologically linked questions; a tendency to ascribe significant but differentiated responsibilities to engineers/teachers; and a low degree of confidence in their own ability to adequately address SD issues vocationally. The data also indicated differences between male and female students when looking at interest in different aspects of SD. Overall, female students were found to be slightly more interested in SD than the male students. This gender difference is larger in relation to social aspects than ecological or economic aspects. It is suggested that future sustainable development education needs a shift of focus from what separates female and male students to what unites them. The observed “confidence gap” that exists between stated degree of interest in, and perceived importance of, sustainability issues, suggests the potential for significant improvement of the design of the Master of Science in Engineering and in Education program (CL-program).

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Kenyan academic librarians, with varying education levels, solve and handle copyright issues when presented to them by library users.

A survey questionnaire was administered to 253 librarians in 14 universities in Nairobi, Kenya. Of those who responded to the survey, a think aloud protocol and critical incident technique interview were administered to a convenience sample of 32 librarians.

Learned helplessness was found to exist among librarians who were Certificate and Diploma holders when faced with copyright queries. Librarians from the different education levels differed in their ranking of problem‐solving strategies they employ when it comes to stopping copyright infringement in libraries.

This study helps to inform internal library policies regarding copyright and the type of staff member a library can utilize to serve library users whenever they present queries on copyright issues. The study supports the need for thorough copyright education for librarians.

This is the first time that a study has tried to compare how academic librarians in Africa with varying education levels in Library Science respond to copyright queries presented to them and approaches they use to fight copyright infringement.

A number of major studies of social stratification have been conducted since the Second World War. Focusing on societal openness, or equality of opportunity, these studies have ranged from investigations of individual status attainment and mobility processes to the analysis of class closure and class conflict among groups. What these studies have mostly in common, however, is that the form of stratification within which mobility or class closure is considered is occupational. Also, they have almost entirely concentrated on the male population. Openness, or equality of opportunity, is usually assessed in terms of the association between fathers' and sons' occupations, or the relative chances a son has to inherit his father's class or status position (Dale et al, 1985). Low rates of inheritance, or a lack of association in class position across generations, are interpreted as indicating weak tendencies towards social closure between strata and classes. Strong associations, or low rates of class interchange, are taken as evidence of greater structuration.