Search results
1 – 10 of over 80000Hei-hang Hayes Tang and Chak-pong Gordon Tsui
The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which higher education participation is democratized in the entrepreneurial city of Hong Kong by the policy innovation that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which higher education participation is democratized in the entrepreneurial city of Hong Kong by the policy innovation that encompasses internationalization. There is a dearth of empirical studies about transnational education in Hong Kong, except for a few which examine students’ perceptions of transnational education from a user perspective, situated in marketized conditions (Leung and Waters, 2013; Waters and Leung, 2013a, b). The minimal volume of existing research has ignored the innovative aspects of democratizing higher learning by internationalization, namely, the operation of international degrees by overseas universities on offshore campuses. This policy innovation by transnational institutions is significant in an era of the globalization of higher education, as access to higher education cannot be otherwise realized given the local education policies.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing documentary research, this paper presents and assesses the growth of community college international education at The University of Hong Kong and its unique facets, juxtaposing it with the marketized context of East Asian higher education. It engages in specific reviews surrounding the operational mode and academic collaborations of the international educational programs and practices at the Hong Kong University’s School of Professional and Continuing Education.
Findings
This documentary research finds that the internationalized academic profession of partner universities enables curriculum design, pedagogy, teaching ideas and assessment methods to be informed by a diversity of international academic cultures and indigenous knowledge. Through this policy innovation, international education is institutionalized in such a way that it takes Hong Kong students beyond the community college context, which is relatively localized. It also illuminates the way in which the “ideoscape” of American community colleges and international partnerships with Australian and British universities have been manifested in the Hong Kong education hub for transnational student flows and intellectual exchanges across the Asian region.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the academic literature of higher education studies, particularly in the areas of massification and democratization, as well as their connection with internationalization and policy innovation. It also delineates various forces that are propelling the development of higher education’s internationalization and massification.
Details
Keywords
Angus Hikairo Macfarlane, Fiona Duckworth and Sonja Macfarlane
This chapter describes the pivotal shift occurring in our national research psyche whereby Indigenous epistemology is increasingly recognised as both valid and enriching. Two key…
Abstract
This chapter describes the pivotal shift occurring in our national research psyche whereby Indigenous epistemology is increasingly recognised as both valid and enriching. Two key contentions emerge from a description and discussion of this shift. First, ethics review bodies must evolve to incorporate a wider knowledge framework, one which conscientiously locates Indigenous knowledge and which empowers researchers to appropriately traverse Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural terrain. The second contention argues that there are ethical responsibilities to address inequities, based on our shared Treaty partnership, and that ethics review bodies should instantiate consideration of inequities within their oversight roles. This chapter sets the scene by describing the current shift away from Western homogeneity to cultural diversity in education, noting the formal higher learning undertaken by Māori prior to colonisation, alongside current Māori educational achievement and the goal of success as Māori. The emerging recognition of mātauranga Māori (Indigenous epistemology) is exemplified by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and Vision Mātauranga. However, this shift has not yet reached all parts of the New Zealand research community, and we argue particularly so for ethics review processes. Possible solutions are posed, and four cultural markers are offered as supporting foundations for professionals in the field as they traverse epistemological landscapes that are more attuned to Indigenous realities.
Details
Keywords
Tatiana Khvatova, Madeleine Block, Dmitry Zhukov and Sergey Lesko
The present paper aims to explore how to measure trust as a receptivity force in an intra-organisational knowledge-sharing network with the help of self-developed algorithms of…
Abstract
Purpose
The present paper aims to explore how to measure trust as a receptivity force in an intra-organisational knowledge-sharing network with the help of self-developed algorithms of modelling percolations.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a completely new methodology is applied by using a sample study of an international company’s financial centre as an example. Computer software has been developed to simulate the network and calculate the percolation thresholds by combining its characteristics, thereby revealing what and to what extent connectivity and trust, respectively, influence knowledge sharing.
Findings
The application of computer modelling to build up a percolation network is useful for answering questions about the determinants of knowledge sharing. Arguably, the authors demonstrate how the applied new methodology is superior in addressing how to measure the critical values of trust, connectivity and interaction issues, as well as leading to better insights about how these can be managed. The present paper confirms that trust is an essential factor influencing knowledge sharing and that there is a reciprocal effect between social interaction and trust.
Practical implications
The model provides a useful tool for assessing features of the intra-organisational knowledge-sharing network and thus an important foundation for implementing actions in practice. The findings of this study imply that managers should consider the important role of task-related trust between actors and in general for knowledge sharing. With the help of percolation modelling, the degree of trust in an organisation can be computed, and this provides managers with an approach for managing trust.
Originality/value
The topic of “how can trust be measured” is very important and is becoming even more important now because the financial crisis and other issues are raising questions about trust and moral compass rather than financial data. A percolation-based approach to studying knowledge sharing has not been researched in depth before now, and this study attempts to fill that gap. Fundamentally, this multidisciplinary research adds value to the theoretical foundation of the percolation network and research methodology to be used in social sciences and gives an example of their potential practical implications.
Details
Keywords
As school districts evolve in their ability to actively support schools and educators, they must simultaneously contend with external policies that create additional demands on…
Abstract
Purpose
As school districts evolve in their ability to actively support schools and educators, they must simultaneously contend with external policies that create additional demands on time and resources. This includes accountability policies aimed at increasing district and school capacity. This study uses Malen and Rice’s (2004) dual dimensions of capacity building to look at how district and charter leaders responded to the demands of Michigan’s Partnership Model, a district-based approach to school turnaround, focusing on how they tried to build capacity in response to the policy and whether and why these capacity building approaches were perceived as productive.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 out of 29 Partnership leaders between October 2019 to March 2020 in the second year of policy implementation. Data were analyzed using a combination of index-coding and thematic analysis.
Findings
Most leaders perceived the resources associated with the reform as useful, but the productivity of capacity building efforts was limited because some resources were not adequately matched to what they perceived as a core problem: the recruitment and retention of teachers. Engagement with the reform resulted in building informational and social capital because it fostered collaboration and continuous improvement processes, but leaders perceived technical partnerships as more productive than community partnerships.
Originality/value
Turnaround reforms like the Partnership Model that increase resources for districts and schools likely offer a better chance at success than those that simply focus on accountability threats without accompanying support because they give leaders new opportunities to coordinate and align resources, processes and ideas.
Details
Keywords
Ángel Rodríguez-López and Jaime E. Souto
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about entrepreneurship education through undergraduate dissertations (UDs). In order to achieve this objective, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about entrepreneurship education through undergraduate dissertations (UDs). In order to achieve this objective, this paper addresses the problems detected in the degree subject “UD” – which entails the creation of a business plan – and the proposal of improvements in the teaching-learning process of this subject.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative and quantitative analysis are used. First, the paper reports the problems that occurred during two academic years (2012–2013 and 2013–2014), as well as the solutions to these problems, in the two academic years that followed (2014–2015 and 2015–2016). Second, the improvements achieved are analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test, based on data drawn from the records and a survey conducted in 2012–2013 (174 responses), and in 2015–2016 (184 responses).
Findings
The results outline the positive effects on students’ learning outcomes and academic excellence, a three-stage assessment process, the strengthening of the coordination and supervision systems and the enhancing of entrepreneurial spirit among graduates, with a UD connected to a business incubator.
Practical implications
The authors describe the design and implementation of a UD that provides a major step in the students’ entrepreneurial education, emerging, not only, as an opportunity to train and connect skills and knowledge learned about the starting a new venture, but also as a practical experience of entrepreneurship; a first step that introduces the student to entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
There are very few examples of concrete subject designs that have undergone in-depth, longitudinal research, focusing on entrepreneurship. Prior research has focused on entrepreneurship primarily as a subject, forgetting the great utility of the UD as active training tool. Thus, this paper breaks new ground by highlighting the role of the UD in entrepreneurial education. In this regard, the UD allows the student to be guided and to actually engage in the real-world practice of entrepreneurship. Specifically, it encourages them to apply their academic knowledge of the field in the context of creating a new business. Moreover, by creating a business plan, students are applying the knowledge and skills learned in the subject of entrepreneurship with other spheres of knowledge and skills.
Details
Keywords
Joseph Ato Forson, Rosemary Afrakomah Opoku, Michael Owusu Appiah, Evans Kyeremeh, Ibrahim Anyass Ahmed, Ronald Addo-Quaye, Zhen Peng, Ernest Yeboah Acheampong, Bernard Bekuni Boawei Bingab, Emmanuel Bosomtwe and Akorkor Kehinde Awoonor
The significant impact of innovation in stimulating economic growth cannot be overemphasized, more importantly from policy perspective. For this reason, the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
The significant impact of innovation in stimulating economic growth cannot be overemphasized, more importantly from policy perspective. For this reason, the relationship between innovation and economic growth in developing economies such as the ones in Africa has remained topical. Yet, innovation as a concept is multi-dimensional and cannot be measured by just one single variable. With hindsight of the traditional measures of innovation in literature, we augment it with the number of scientific journals published in the region to enrich this discourse.
Design/methodology/approach
We focus on an approach that explores innovation policy qualitatively from various policy documents of selected countries in the region from three policy perspectives (i.e. institutional framework, financing and diffusion and interaction). We further investigate whether innovation as perceived differently is important for economic growth in 25 economies in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1990–2016. Instrumental variable estimation of a threshold regression is used to capture the contributions of innovation as a multi-dimensional concept on economic growth, while dealing with endogeneity between the regressors and error term.
Findings
The results from both traditional panel regressions and IV panel threshold regressions show a positive relationship between innovation and economic growth, although the impact seems negligible. Institutional quality dampens innovation among low-regime economies, and the relation is persistent regardless of when the focus is on aggregate or decomposed institutional factors. The impact of innovation on economic growth in most regressions is robust to different dimensions of innovation. Yet, the coefficients of the innovation variables in the two regimes are quite dissimilar. While most countries in the region have offered financial support in the form of budgetary allocations to strengthen institutions, barriers to the design and implementation of innovation policies may be responsible for the sluggish contribution of innovation to the growth pattern of the region.
Originality/value
Segregating economies of Africa into two distinct regimes based on a threshold of investment in education as a share of GDP in order to understand the relationship between innovation and economic growth is quite novel. This lends credence to the fact that innovation as a multifaceted concept does not take place by chance – it is carefully planned. We have enriched the discourse of innovation and thus helped in deepening understanding on this contentious subject.
Details
Keywords
Within the last two decades, entrepreneurship education has become institutionalized in Germany. It is offered as a stand-alone program or as part of a business degree, combining…
Abstract
Within the last two decades, entrepreneurship education has become institutionalized in Germany. It is offered as a stand-alone program or as part of a business degree, combining academic knowledge, practical skills, and personal development to enhance the entrepreneurial success of university graduates. While entrepreneurship education has experienced similar growth worldwide, its emergence in Germany is closely tied to the country’s political and economic developments. The significance of entrepreneurship education for a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and contemporary economic policy has been instrumental in advancing its academic recognition. This chapter provides a historical analysis of the academization of entrepreneurship in Germany. It explores the recursive and often idiosyncratic processes involving state and financial institutions, companies, and universities that have created, respecified, and mutually reinforced a subdiscipline and field of study. Academic entrepreneurship knowledge successively not only became relevant for starting a business but also for employment within the entrepreneurial infrastructure and beyond. This chapter follows a chronological order, highlighting three key stages in the academization of entrepreneurship education. First, the academic, financial, and political roots (I) of entrepreneurship up until the 1970s. Second, it explores the transformation (II) of entrepreneurship into a viable policy alternative and the challenges faced in establishing complementary research and education in higher education institutions during the 1980s. Finally, it sketches the institutionalization (III) of entrepreneurship as a central driver of government economic policy, allowing for the late bloom of entrepreneurship education and research at universities around the turn of the millennium.
Details
Keywords
Evidence suggests that international comparison has become a ubiquitous component of educational innovation and entrepreneurship in spite of significant variation among…
Abstract
Evidence suggests that international comparison has become a ubiquitous component of educational innovation and entrepreneurship in spite of significant variation among educational contexts worldwide. This chapter provides an overview of educational innovation and public sector entrepreneurship from an internationally comparative perspective. The influence that the global shift from natural resource and industry-based economies to knowledge-based economies has had on the development of educational innovation and entrepreneurship is explained. Several examples of educational innovation and education-oriented public sector entrepreneurship highlight the discussion, which concludes with an examination of specific knowledge society issues related to educational entrepreneurship and its reciprocal effect on innovation.
Details
Keywords