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1 – 10 of over 63000Montserrat Cabré i Pairet, Marta García-Lastra and Tomás A. Mantecón Movellán
Starting from the premise that lifelong learning is a significant asset when it comes to enjoying an active ageing process and an important resource for exploring new interests…
Abstract
Starting from the premise that lifelong learning is a significant asset when it comes to enjoying an active ageing process and an important resource for exploring new interests and capacities that were not developed in previous life stages, this contribution explores our findings regarding the participation of older women in higher education in Cantabria, a Northern Atlantic Spanish region. Through analyzing secondary data provided by the main higher education institutions and associations involved with the organization of lifelong learning programmes, it identifies gendered patterns of participation in both the formal and informal educational options. Women's greater involvement in these programmes is analyzed in terms of overcoming a patriarchal traditional culture that in past times had not considered women as active participants in educational spaces. This was particularly clear in the context of the years following the end of the Spanish Civil War and during Franco's dictatorship. Through education, for women, ageing becomes a new life opportunity for self-construction and empowerment as well as for their own decision making in relation to their own life chances. Educational changes implemented in Spain in the last decades have opened up many alternatives to formal education at adult educational centres and university levels. These include informal and semi-formal programmes and educational options opened to people independently of their previous educational backgrounds that provide many opportunities for filling educational gaps to generations of women who could not have consistent access to formal, high-quality training in their youth.
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A questionnaire was used to collect data from 1676 undergraduate and postgraduate students randomly selected from three major Nigerian universities to understand how media…
Abstract
A questionnaire was used to collect data from 1676 undergraduate and postgraduate students randomly selected from three major Nigerian universities to understand how media gratification and constraints motivated their use of text messaging to meet educational needs. Sixty‐five (65 per cent) and 63 per cent of the respondents reported using the technology for contacting peers and lecturers for educational matters while less than 40 per cent have used technology to contact lecturers and others respectively. Generally, closeness to mothers and education of parents influence use of the technology for educational contact. The instrumental gratifications of SMS capability to enable students escape face to face communication, convenience and low cost also explain use of SMS to make educational contact although this activity is constrained by the difficulty to decipher the intention of the messages and by the confusion that often arises due mainly to unclear acronyms.
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The purpose of this study is to address how media gratification variables and constraints of global system for mobile communications (GSM) technology promote or inhibit use of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to address how media gratification variables and constraints of global system for mobile communications (GSM) technology promote or inhibit use of short messaging services (SMS) for sharing educational information by students in Nigerian universities.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was used to collect data from 1,676 undergraduate and postgraduate students randomly selected from three major Nigerian universities. Data were analysed using factor and regression analyses.
Findings
The instrumental gratifications of SMS capability to enable persons to escape face-to-face communication, and its convenience and low cost explain the popularity of the use of SMS to make contact for educational reasons, although this activity is constrained by the difficulty to decipher the intention of the messages and the confusion arising from unclear acronyms used by texters.
Research limitations/implications
Further research might focus on content analysis. What exactly is the information the students share with themselves and others?
Practical implications
The result of this research is critical in the design and deployment of mobile learning technologies in Nigerian universities.
Originality/value
There is no empirical evidence of how students use SMS despite the existence of mobile learning projects in Nigerian universities.
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Yixuan Zhao and Qin Xu
Matching with the timeline of major events in China, as well as major shifts in China’s human research management, the purpose of this paper is to present the comparisons of…
Abstract
Purpose
Matching with the timeline of major events in China, as well as major shifts in China’s human research management, the purpose of this paper is to present the comparisons of achieving styles among Chinese millennial employees, millennial university students and Generation X employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from the achieving styles literature as well as the life course theory, this study first proposes hypotheses on specific differences in nine achieving styles. The authors tested by using data from 889 millennial employees and 364 millennial students from five cities in China.
Findings
The results showed that the power direct achieving style stood out for the Chinese millennials, and the competitive direct achieving style ranked higher for Generation X. Moreover, millennial employees had higher scores for all nine achieving styles than millennial students.
Practical implications
This study advises that when motivating Chinese millennial employees, human resource managers can create a competitive environment and provide career planning guidance, and that to better assist millennial university students to socialize, human resource managers can develop matched internship programs.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the life course literature and the achieving styles literature by comparing the differences among Chinese millennial employees, university students and Generation X.
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Patricia Anderson and Julian Devonish
This study examines the changes which were observed in the composition of student enrolment at the University of the West Indies over two decades, and highlights the movement…
Abstract
This study examines the changes which were observed in the composition of student enrolment at the University of the West Indies over two decades, and highlights the movement towards greater inclusiveness, as the University campus in Jamaica enrolled greater proportions of students from rural backgrounds, and from lower income levels. The analysis shows that over this period (1983–2003), the University was itself seeking to become more responsive to regional needs and developmental priorities, while nonetheless being hampered by the limitations of the secondary school system, which still bore the colonial imprint of dual and unequal tracks. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the institutional demands that are generated by increasing diversity, and assesses the extent to which the UWI and the country have been able to respond effectively to these student needs.
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Päivi Tuulikki Siivonen, Katri Komulainen, Kati Kasanen and Paula Kupiainen
The purpose of this paper is to examine the construction of master narratives related to age, gender and entrepreneurship in the context of entrepreneurship education (EE) in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the construction of master narratives related to age, gender and entrepreneurship in the context of entrepreneurship education (EE) in Finnish higher education (HE). This is important as master narratives create and limit our understanding of entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
The data comprises 30 student interviews generated in one multidisciplinary Finnish university. The data were analyzed using narrative positioning analysis to examine what kinds of master narratives are (re)constructed in relation to age and entrepreneurship by Finnish university students and how gender intertwines with age in the construction of entrepreneurship.
Findings
Three aged and gendered master narratives were identified: (1) youthful, masculine, startup/growth entrepreneurship; (2) middle-aged feminine, expert entrepreneurship and (3) modest, feminine, senior entrepreneurship. The paper makes visible aged and gendered master narratives and cultural norms related to entrepreneurship in the context of EE and HE. Authors argue that the youthful, masculine startup/growth entrepreneurship is the hegemonic master narrative in the context of EE in Finnish HE. Femininity is mostly excluded from this master narrative.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to critical literature on entrepreneurship as an aged as well as gendered phenomenon in the context of EE and HE. So far research on entrepreneurship as an aged and gendered phenomenon in EE and in the context of HE has been virtually non-existent. Moreover, the theoretical and methodological focus on master narratives in entrepreneurship and EE literature is novel. The master narratives identified in the study show that HE students are not addressed equally in relation to entrepreneurship, but aged and gendered hierarchies are sustained.
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Low self‐esteem and confidence can make someone feel cut off from society and, as Toby Williamson explained, social exclusion can lead to depression and other mental illnesses…
Abstract
Low self‐esteem and confidence can make someone feel cut off from society and, as Toby Williamson explained, social exclusion can lead to depression and other mental illnesses. Here, June Kathchild explains about the Ransackers project, which has created a growing range of opportunities for older people to study (for the first time), giving the students a renewed zest for life.
Bishnu Sharma, Maria Raciti, Rebecca O'Hara, Karin Reinhard and Fiona Davies
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived susceptibility to alcohol retailers' sales promotion strategies and young, female university students'…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived susceptibility to alcohol retailers' sales promotion strategies and young, female university students' intention to buy alcohol and attitude towards alcohol consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a convenience sample of three universities in three OECD countries with high alcohol consumption per capita: Australia (n=305), Germany (n=323) and Wales (n=361). A self‐administered survey approach was used to collect data from female university students between the ages of 18 and 24 years in one university in each country. The four alcohol sales promotion strategies of interest were price reductions, quantity specials whereby the more you buy the less you pay on a pro rata basis, bulk purchasing of alcohol, and purchasing from more than one store to take advantage of low prices.
Findings
The study found that except for retailer price reductions, the association between Welsh university students' intentions to buy alcohol and their susceptibility to the remaining retailers' sales promotions was greater than that of university students in Australia and Germany, respectively. Significant differences between the countries were found in terms of the salience of perceived susceptibility to retail sales promotion strategies and their correlation with students' attitude towards alcohol consumption.
Originality/value
The paper's findings provide insights particularly for upstream, legislative strategic interventions to combat the issue of alcohol drinking of young female university students.
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Kamal Abouchedid and Ramzi Nasser
The first encounter of students at universities is the administrative office, which leaves a lasting imprint for their entire experience in higher education. With the exponential…
Abstract
The first encounter of students at universities is the administrative office, which leaves a lasting imprint for their entire experience in higher education. With the exponential growth of higher education in the Middle East, private universities face hardened competition in the overall retention of students. Registrar and academic advising offices are vital components to the university as well as the front end to the universities’ service quality. This study attempts to measure student attitudes of registration and academic advising across different faculties to assure positive quality service complementing that of the academic. Keeping in mind that many developing universities in the Middle East and other nations have not yet utilized automated services to meet student needs, the present study provides recommendations in the inroads en route to the development of touch‐tone and Web‐banner automated registration for a positive assessment of service quality.
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The year 2020 brought a series of previously unknown experiences, events, and life situations to the world. Fear of unknown, uncertainty, unpredictability, and dramatic changes…
Abstract
The year 2020 brought a series of previously unknown experiences, events, and life situations to the world. Fear of unknown, uncertainty, unpredictability, and dramatic changes have had a strong impact on all strata and segments of society. We assume that global happenings of the last decade, climate change, pandemic followed by its related strict restrictions mean a determining event for youngsters which fundamentally shapes their lifestyle, future prospects, problem perception, and their generational characteristics as well. In our study, we examine the real-life situation of students at the University of Szeged from numerous aspects, with particular regard to the possible generation-transforming role of climate and quarantine situation, and we also scrutinize to what extent our previous estimations can be verified with data. The online data collection was carried out in the spring of 2021, the sample contains 1195 members. As the result of the data analysis, we indicated that the coronavirus epidemic does not play a leading role in the problem perception of the students, however, their responses about their self-characterization testify on increased perception of crisis phenomena. Although public life and public discourse have been thematized by the coronavirus epidemic since spring 2020, incompetence of politicians and global environmental change are the most serious problems for the students. In the basic dimensions of youth vulnerability namely in the field of education, leisure, and finance, the satisfaction of the students are the lowest. As a result of the restrictive measures, the online activity of the students has further strengthened; instead of silence and apolitical behavior, the students are characterized by a strong public–political interest, increased sensitivity to global problems in the third wave of the pandemic.
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