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1 – 10 of over 86000Amizawati Mohd Amir, Sofiah Md Auzair, RUHANITA MAELAH and Azlina Ahmad
The purpose of this paper is to propose the concept of higher education institutions (HEIs) offering educational services based on value for money. The value is determined based…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose the concept of higher education institutions (HEIs) offering educational services based on value for money. The value is determined based on customers’ (i.e. students) expectations of the service and the costs in comparison to the competitors. Understanding the value and creating customer value are a means to attain competitive advantage and constitute the basis of price setting. Drawing upon this belief, as an initial step towards value-based pricing method, the possible value factors are suggested for calculating educational programme prices across HEIs.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper introducing the value-based pricing approach in setting HEI tuition fees. Extending prior discussion on the demand for quality education and current financial challenges faced by HEIs, it introduces the concept pricing based upon customer perceived value (student/industry). Value-based pricing is deemed appropriate in view of the value of short tangible and intangible investment by both parties (students and HEIs) to differentiate in terms of setting the right price for the right university for the right student.
Findings
The primary aim is to suggest the applicability of value-based pricing for HEIs, which is likely to be both relevant and fruitful for the sustainability of the sector. It represents a personal point of view; building upon a review of the literature, the paper extends the established knowledge one step further in terms of setting the right price for the right university, which is deemed worthy of further study and development.
Originality/value
The paper will be of use to the management and policymakers in the education sector in searching for a contemporary pricing mechanism for higher education.
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Principals of traditional independent schools are invariablyallocated by their governing bodies all duties and powers regardingdiscipline, programmes of study, selection and…
Abstract
Principals of traditional independent schools are invariably allocated by their governing bodies all duties and powers regarding discipline, programmes of study, selection and management of staff, and school activities generally. They are thus in a powerful position within their schools to facilitate effective and efficient responses to legitimate pressures for change, and to recognise and reject meretricious pressures for change. It seems reasonable to suggest that their willingness to accept this role will depend, in large part, on the particular educational values that they hold. The findings of a study which investigated the level of educational progressivism held by the principals of Queensland′s traditional independent schools are reported. These suggest that such principals are neither protagonists nor antagonists of educational change, although they strongly support the retention of traditional educational referents.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate those factors that are associated with the adoption of social networking sites from the perspective of Muslim users residing in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate those factors that are associated with the adoption of social networking sites from the perspective of Muslim users residing in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A complete self-administered questionnaire was collected from 223 Muslim users of social networking sites in Malaysia. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to sort the significant items for the constructs and to check the validity. Structural equation modelling was applied in testing the hypotheses and the fitness of the proposed model.
Findings
The results of full structural model attest that technological and social factors are the most significant factors behind the adoption of social networking sites. However, this is followed by an educational factor. Among Muslim users in Malaysia, the study does not find significant influence of brand or product communication behind this adoption.
Originality/value
The paper investigates those factors that are considered inevitable in the adoption of social networking sites. Invaluable findings were offered in the form of a structural model for the stakeholders of social networking sties. These findings can be used in planning and making decisions that may benefit all parties associated with it.
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Yang Huo, Rachel Anna Messenger and Doug Miller
This paper aims to address the issue of why students want to drop out from a course and suggests appropriate strategies to enhance student retention.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to address the issue of why students want to drop out from a course and suggests appropriate strategies to enhance student retention.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 260 hospitality management students were surveyed based on both Tinto's model of student–institution integration and a theory of planned behavior on student departure. The research applies data mining and decision tree using the classification and regression trees (CART) method as an analytic tool to identify a group, discover relationships between groups and predict future events for segmentation.
Findings
The results regarding the demographics indicate that the most critical factors of dropout included residency status, financial situation, quality of class and occupation.
Research limitations/implications
This is a limited US sample, based on student perceptions only and not lecturer or institution perceptions.
Originality/value
The paper provides empirical evidence of student perspective along with institutional and learning environment factors. It includes data from students who are currently enrolled (which previous literature has not covered) by testing student–institution integration and planned behavior on student departure.
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Özge Hacıfazlıoğlu, Bilge Kalkavan, Chunyan Yang, Gökçe Ünlü and Serra Gürün
This collaborative effort aims to reduce international teacher attrition. Findings from the data are meant to be shared with principals to reduce the number of international…
Abstract
This collaborative effort aims to reduce international teacher attrition. Findings from the data are meant to be shared with principals to reduce the number of international teachers leaving teaching. The study revolves around three important research questions: What challenges do international teachers encounter and how do they meet them? What individual strengths help international teachers develop resilience in the transition process? and What support mechanisms help international teachers develop resilience in the adaptation process? The chapter ends with recommendations and implications for school leaders as they create conditions that will help retain new teachers.
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NAFTALY S. GLASMAN and G. ROGER SELL
The approach used here to the study of philsophical influences on educational administration is an examination of case studies of administrative decisions in educational…
Abstract
The approach used here to the study of philsophical influences on educational administration is an examination of case studies of administrative decisions in educational organizations where the decisions are considered as dependent variables, and the value and/or fact bases of the decisions are considered as independent variables. Nine such case studies are summarized. Decision‐making which deals with educational purpose is viewed as one significant area in educational administration where philosophical consideration can be studied. The study of correlations between administrative decisions and the value and factual bases should make contributions toward the prediction of administrative decisions. Additional significance of this study should focus on the development of strategies to influence or change administrative decisions.
Bokolo Anthony Jnr., Mazlina Abdul Majid and Awanis Romli
The purpose of this paper is to design a system deployment model that integrates case-based agent technique to develop an eco-responsibility decision support tool for greening…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design a system deployment model that integrates case-based agent technique to develop an eco-responsibility decision support tool for greening educational institutions toward environmental responsibility.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through questionnaires distributed among a statistical population that comprised practitioners across educational institutions in Malaysia that implement green practices. The questionnaire measured the feasibility of the developed tool based on factors derived from the literature. Accordingly, descriptive, exploratory and factor analysis approach using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to test the feasibility of the developed tool.
Findings
Results from descriptive analysis confirm the tool is feasible based on mean values that range from 4.1619 to 3.6508 on a five-point scale, indicating that the tool is effective in sustaining educational institutions going green. Besides, results from exploratory analysis verify the reliability of the tool based on the acceptable Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient score higher than 0.7 and Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin value being above 0.5. Finally, results from factor analysis reveal that the developed tool is usable, efficient, helpful, flexible and credible and supports educational institutions in going green at 88.44 per cent of the total variance, suggesting that the respondents are satisfied with the tool.
Research limitations/implications
The sample population in this study comprises only practitioners from educational institutions in Malaysia. Theoretically, this research provides feasibility factors and associated items that can be used in evaluating developed information systems.
Practical implications
Practically, this study develops an eco-responsibility decision support tool to facilitate green strategies and provides information on how practitioners in educational institutions can improve green growth.
Social implications
This study presents how case-oriented agents aid educational institutions in going green for environmental responsibility. Socially, this research provides the strategies for green practice improvement in educational institutions toward environmental responsibility.
Originality/value
The eco-responsibility decision support tool provides a Web-based platform for promoting ecological protection by supporting the measuring of practitioners’ current green practices for environmental responsibility. Thus, research findings from this study are expected to help decision-makers generate useful insights into environment-friendly strategies to be implemented in educational institutions. Lastly, the statistical tests adopted in this paper can be used to gauge the feasibility of information system application in future.
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Ramachandran N., Sivaprakasam P., Thangamani G. and Anand G.
Cloud Computing (CC) technology is getting implemented rapidly in the educational sector to improve learning, research and other administrative process. As evident from the…
Abstract
Purpose
Cloud Computing (CC) technology is getting implemented rapidly in the educational sector to improve learning, research and other administrative process. As evident from the literature review, most of these implementations are happening in the western countries such as USA, UK, while the level of implementation of CC in developing countries such as India is rare. Moreover, implementing CC technology in the educational sector require various decisions to be made by the managers of the Information Technology (IT) department such as selecting suitable deployment model, vendor providing cloud service, etc. in their respective university or institute. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to address one such decision. Since, different types of CC deployment are available; selecting a suitable one plays a key role, as it might have an impact on the requirements of various stakeholders such as students, teachers, administrative staff (especially the staff members in the IT department), etc. apart from affecting the overall performance of the facilities such as a laboratory. Naturally, a proper decision by analysing multiple perspectives has to be made while carrying out such strategic initiatives by any educational institute.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study methodology has been chosen as the research methodology to discuss and demonstrate the above decision problem that was faced in real time by one of the educational institutes in India, offering high-quality management education. The IT managers of this institute were planning to switch over to CC technology for the computer laboratory and they have to make a decision of choosing suitable alternative CC deployment models such as private cloud (PRC), public cloud (PUC), community cloud (COC), hybrid cloud (HYC), etc. by analysing and comparing them based on various factors and perspectives such as elasticity, availability, scalability, etc. Since, multiple factors are involved in making such a strategic decision, the most commonly used Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model – namely, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used as a decision support during the decision making process.
Findings
The team of decision makers, who were planning to implement CC in the case institute, found that PRC is best as they believed that it would provide adequate cost savings, apart from providing necessary security to maintain confidential information such as student's detail, grades, etc.
Research limitations/implications
The results obtained are based on a single case study. Hence, they cannot be generalized for institutions across educational sector. However, the decision making situation and understanding its impact on the stakeholders of the educational institute can be common across various educational institute.
Practical implications
Using a real-life case study of an educational institute, this paper presented a strategic decision making situation, which needs to be considered by the IT managers of the educational institutes when they decide to switch over to CC technology. Various criteria to be considered during the decision making process was identified from the literature review were identified and enumerated. These factors would useful for the IT managers of the different educational institute and they can suitably add or delete these decision criteria as per their requirements and situation at hand. Moreover, the algorithm of AHP, which was used as a decision support, was presented in a step-by-step manner, which should be beneficial for the practitioners to apply the same for similar decision making situations.
Originality/value
It is believed that this paper would be the first to report on a strategic decision of choosing the deployment model for CC technology especially in the educational sector. Similarly, this paper would also contribute to the field of CC, as it lists out the decision criteria that are to be considered for making the above decision, which has not got adequate importance. Lastly, this paper is also unique in the realm of AHP because application for a decision problem in the field of CC especially in the educational sector is least reported.
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Valentini Moniarou‐Papaconstantinou, Anna Tsatsaroni, Athanassios Katsis and Vasilis Koulaidis
Using Bourdieu‐inspired sociological literature, this paper aims to report on a study that examines the educational choices of new entrants in the three library and information…
Abstract
Purpose
Using Bourdieu‐inspired sociological literature, this paper aims to report on a study that examines the educational choices of new entrants in the three library and information science (LIS) schools operating in Greece at the undergraduate level, with reference to their socio‐cultural characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained through a questionnaire, distributed to 187 LIS students, aiming to address the question of what attracted them to the LIS field.
Findings
Analysis reveals three distinctive student groups in the sample and shows that these differ in respect to the reasons attracting them to LIS. The first group, with restricted cultural resources at their disposal, is attracted only by extrinsic reasons, namely the prospect of immediate employment. The second group, of middle level parental education, is attracted by intrinsic reasons, most notably the qualitative characteristics of the field as a future profession. This group seems to use these qualities to preserve the belief in an upwards moving and successful educational career. Qualities attracting the students of the third group, when examined with reference to their socio‐cultural characteristics, indicate that the choice of subject made is linked to their socially acquired ability to recognise what may be promising regarding possible future LIS career paths. This is in contrast to students from low socio‐cultural backgrounds, who seem not to have access to the high cultural resources the LIS field requires for “decoding” and understanding its hidden possibilities.
Originality/value
This paper uses socio‐cultural explanations of students' choice of LIS as a field of study, contributing methodologically and substantively to this area of research.
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