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The purpose of this paper is to explore not only the academic measures such as grade point average of success of college-to-university transfer programs (Pathway Programs), but also the social-cultural facilitators and barriers throughout the students’ Pathway experience.

The experience of students and academic advisors moving between Queensdale College and North Star University (NSU) (pseudonyms) were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach including analysis of data from online surveys, secondary data (course performance), and focus group interviews.

Students who are able to enter the Pathway Programs at NSU perform on average better than their four-year traditional program peers. There remain a number of social-cultural barrier which need to be addressed to improve the overall experience of these transfer students.

The results from this study will assist the administrative decision makers in designing Pathways and their associated communication plans in order to meet the needs of the students with tools and supports that are both perceived by the students as valuable and are improving their Pathway experience and ultimately their academic performance.

The move to develop Pathway Programs in Ontario is a new phenomenon, even in provinces where this is more common, few studies exist which consider the social-cultural aspects of the student journey between the two institutions. This study moves beyond the standard academic performance data and provides insight into the critical role played by the social aspects in higher education experiences.

Education and employment are important elements of successful integration for immigrants in a host country. In Germany, young immigrants and members of the second immigrant generation have only limited access to higher education pathways and academic careers. Their trajectories are shaped mainly by the vocational training system, if they obtain any qualifications at all. Social risks for young people with immigrant backgrounds, and women in particular, such as being unemployed or having unstable careers, have frequently been pointed out by researchers, but little has been said about more qualified pathways available through privileged apprenticeships or academic qualifications. This article explores the social risks in trajectories of female immigrants following middle‐range or higher educational pathways in Germany. The cases discussed focus on young women who arrived in Germany during childhood or adolescence. The paper will first discuss the institutional settings of the German education system, focusing on their impact on pupils with immigrant backgrounds and how they overlap with existing gender inequalities in the recipient country. Discussion of the particular methodological approach will follow, before presentation of the findings of the case studies on female immigrants' transitions from education to work. The concluding discussion considers potential means to support participation in education and work for young women with immigrant backgrounds.

Social democratic unionism has arguably been one of the most successful worker organisations in modern history. Through collective bargaining and political influence, this type of unionism has been effective in redistributing the gains from capitalist markets. This paper reviews the challenges, pathways and dilemmas social democratic unions face in the knowledge economy. Similar to industrialisation, the knowledge economy has the potential to fundamentally change the social fabric that trade unions derive their power resources from. There are three major and interrelated challenges: (1) technological change and the knowledge economy, (2) new socio-political coalitions and (3) keeping employers in. Focussing on Denmark and Sweden, it is argued that these three challenges strike the core of social democratic unionism, as they can undermine the ability to encompass the whole labour market because of polarisation or upgrading of jobs. The paper goes on to outline three possible pathways: ‘going radical’, ‘going academic’ and ‘going old-school’. ‘Going radical’ entails a sharper focus on fighting precarious work with other regulatory means other than collective bargaining. ‘Going academic’ entails a focus on education and lifting all occupational groups. ‘Going old-school’ entails adapting the principle of collective bargaining to new types of companies and occupations while sticking to the regulatory means as before. It is argued that none of the strategies is a silver bullet to the challenges, but that a key to the success of any of the strategies is that minimum wage levels are defended, as this will fuel investment in education for lower-paid work.

Business schools are vital in promoting responsible management (RM) – a management grounded in ethics and values beneficial to a wide array of stakeholders and overall society. Nevertheless, due to deeply embedded institutional modernistic dynamics and paradigms, RM is, despite its importance, repeatedly marginalised in business school curricula. If students are to engage with RM thinking, then its occlusion represents a pressing issue. Drawing on the United Kingdom (UK) business school context, this paper aims to examine this issue through a framework of institutional theory and consider the role played by (modernistic) institutional accreditation and research assessment processes in marginalisation of RM.

This study used an exploratory qualitative research method. Data were collected from 17 RM expert participants from 15 UK business schools that were signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education through semi-structured in-depth interviews and analysed using the six phases of Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis.

The study identifies a potent institutional isomorphic amalgam resulting in conservative impacts for RM. This dynamic is termed multiple institutional isomorphic marginalisation (MIIM) – whereby a given domain is occluded and displaced by hegemonic institutional pressures. In RM’s case, MIIM operates through accreditation-driven modernistic-style curricula. This leads business schools to a predilection towards “mainstream” representations of subject areas and a focus on mechanistic research exercises. Consequently, this privileges certain activities over RM development with a range of potential negative effects, including social impacts.

This study fills an important gap concerning the need for a critical, in-depth exploration of the role that international accreditation frameworks and national institutional academic research assessment processes such as the Research Excellence Framework in the UK play in affecting the possible growth and influence of RM. In addition, it uses heterotopia as a conceptual lens to reveal the institutional “mask” of responsibility predominantly at play in the UK business school context, and offers alternative pathways for RM careers.

Vocational education in Hong Kong suffers from an image problem. Stakeholders often perceive it as a second-best option for those who fail to advance in academic education. In 2016, to promote vocational education, the Hong Kong government launched a publicity campaign and rebranded vocational education and training (VET) as vocational and professional education and training (VPET). This study critically analyzes the new discourse crafted by this campaign and assesses its potential to change VPET’s status.

This study applies critical discourse analysis to the set of television public service advertisements produced as part of the government publicity campaign.

The messaging of the publicity campaign consists of two major discursive strategies. One stresses the ability to find self-fulfillment through VPET. The other stresses the academic ability and middle-class status of VPET students as well as the non-manual and high-end career opportunities for graduates. While the first strategy offers a new basis on which to value VPET, the second recreates assumptions about the value of academic achievement and what constitutes respectable employment, even as it attempts to challenge stereotypes. It reinforces that the ultimate goal of education is financial gain and social status. It overlooks other values of education and the potential value of VPET in enhancing individual choice and agency.

Discourse analysis does not provide information about audience perceptions and interpretations.

The government could consider reframing their messaging in terms of the diverse values and experiences of VPET students. Highlighting the values that VPET students themselves see in their education provides alternative discourses that can better challenge hegemonic ideas.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first discourse analysis of the government’s publicity campaign to promote VPET.

Academic promotion brings rewards to individuals but is also a critical measure of institutional quality: it is a positive indicator if colleagues successfully engage with rigorous scrutiny of professional practice. The higher education sector is also rapidly changing in response to demands for metrics to measure excellence. This chapter explores the influence of these external drivers within the UK context on local promotion policy, such as academic pathways, domains of practice, and levels of responsibility. Insights from successful colleagues are also shared and guidance offered on how to prepare for promotion through thoughtful professional development and a purposeful evidence base for demonstrating impact.

Moving up the career ladder has its rewards – more money, of course. However, in academia, it could also mean more time and autonomy to pursue your research interests and greater ability to influence the direction of your department and your field. However, getting a promotion takes time and effort, mixed in with a pinch of luck and willingness, while keeping your day job ticking over. Amidst all this, you also need to ensure you are across the process and criteria – slightly different at every university and different yet again in institutions overseas. This chapter will demystify the process by providing you with a useful overview across global contexts, tips, and tested techniques for making yourself promotion ready.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate mentors' and mentees' perspectives of the mentor role within an education doctoral mentoring program at a mid-sized public institution.

Data from individual interviews with mentors and mentees were collected as part of a larger case study of a doctoral mentoring program. Mentees were doctor of education (EdD) students in their first and second years of the program. Mentors were identified as individuals who graduated from or are further along in the doctoral program. Five (N = 5) mentees and seven (N = 7) mentors participated in interviews, which were then transcribed and coded to identify emergent themes, along with transcripts of presentations given by the mentors.

Four themes emerged within the data: differentiating support roles, mentoring as a way to identify gaps in doctoral student needs, mentoring as support for doctoral student success and ways to provide suggestions for mentoring program improvement. Results indicated that mentors and mentees viewed the mentor role as being unique from the roles of faculty advisor and dissertation chair. Mentors and mentees alike responded positively to virtual mentoring.

Participation by mentors and mentees was limited to first- and second-year doctoral students; thus, dissertation-stage students' perceptions of mentoring could not be determined. Implications include the value of mentoring in filling the gaps of support for doctoral students and the capability of mentoring programs to be adapted to unexpected circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study targets scholar-practitioner students in an EdD program, who are often overlooked by mentoring literature, and distinguishes research between faculty mentoring and mentoring performed by other students/recent graduates. Additionally, the pandemic gave the authors an opportunity to explore adapting mentoring to virtual formats.