Den här uppsatsen handlar om utbildningspolitik och syftar till att undersöka hur svenska politiska partier talar om skolan i ett antal debattartiklar och repliker, samt om de är överens i några aspekter och vilka dessa i sådant fall är. Utgångspunkten är att det sker en avpolitisering av politik, där kampen mellan ideologier inte längre existerar på samma sätt som tidigare. Genom diskursanalys har ett antal texter analyserats med ett resultat som visar att det mycket väl verkar stämma att partierna inte längre kämpar ideologier emellan, utan att man är övergripande överens och först och främst förvaltar ett redan existerande system. Den politiska kampen, eller spänningen, är inte särskilt stark då samtliga partier är eniga på flera punkter. Däremot existerar en diskursiv spänning kvar i aspekten av att man ständigt försöker underminera varandras kapacitet att vara i regeringsställning. Alla är överens, och alla vill ha makten. / This essay is about education policy and its purpose is to analyze how Swedish political parties talk about school in a number of debate articles and replies, to see whether they agree in some aspects and if so – what these aspects are. We learn of a depoliticization of politics, where the struggle between ideologies no longer exists the way it used to. Through discourse analysis, a number of texts have been analyzed showing that it seems to be true that parties no longer struggle between ideologies, but that they instead agree widely and that they first and foremost administrate an already existing system. While the political struggle, or tension, is weak – since all parties analyzed are unanimous in several areas – but nonetheless a discursive tension still exists in the aspect of trying to undermine each other’s capacity of governing the state. Everybody agrees, and everybody wants to be in power.

This thesis investigates higher education regionalization by studying the case of the Asia Pacific Quality Assurance Network (APQN). In this thesis, higher education regionalization is conceptualized in three ideal-types: 1) as a sub-set of higher education globalization, 2) as a regional form of higher education internationalization, and 3) as an alternative to higher education globalization. Theories of international relations and globalization are used to develop a conceptual framework of the norms, values, ideologies, and concepts of regional identity that underpin these constructs. The main research question asks what can be learned about higher education regionalization through a study of the APQN? A sequential mixed method approach is used to gather data from textual analysis, key informant interviews, participant observation, and an online survey to investigate how the APQN bridges national, regional, and international levels of quality assurance in higher education. A methodological triangulation design is implemented to pinpoint the ideal-type of higher education regionalization that most represents the APQN. An embedded case study of Việt Nam’s QA capacity building activities demonstrates the APQN’s role in one country. The findings suggest that the ideal-type of higher education regionalization as a sub-set of globalization best represents the APQN. The nature of the APQN as a network for QA professionals highlights the transformative role that globalization is playing within the nation state. Instead of globalization being a homogenizing force on higher education systems, this study shows that higher education regionalization as a sub-set of globalization is changing the role of the nation state into a regulator for the global market. Higher education regionalization as a sub-set of globalization does not remove the control of the nation state, but rather reinforces the state’s role as a monitor of higher education for market competition. The study concludes by suggesting opportunities for QA policymakers and practitioners to shape higher education regionalization.

This thesis investigates higher education regionalization by studying the case of the Asia Pacific Quality Assurance Network (APQN). In this thesis, higher education regionalization is conceptualized in three ideal-types: 1) as a sub-set of higher education globalization, 2) as a regional form of higher education internationalization, and 3) as an alternative to higher education globalization. Theories of international relations and globalization are used to develop a conceptual framework of the norms, values, ideologies, and concepts of regional identity that underpin these constructs. The main research question asks what can be learned about higher education regionalization through a study of the APQN? A sequential mixed method approach is used to gather data from textual analysis, key informant interviews, participant observation, and an online survey to investigate how the APQN bridges national, regional, and international levels of quality assurance in higher education. A methodological triangulation design is implemented to pinpoint the ideal-type of higher education regionalization that most represents the APQN. An embedded case study of Việt Nam’s QA capacity building activities demonstrates the APQN’s role in one country. The findings suggest that the ideal-type of higher education regionalization as a sub-set of globalization best represents the APQN. The nature of the APQN as a network for QA professionals highlights the transformative role that globalization is playing within the nation state. Instead of globalization being a homogenizing force on higher education systems, this study shows that higher education regionalization as a sub-set of globalization is changing the role of the nation state into a regulator for the global market. Higher education regionalization as a sub-set of globalization does not remove the control of the nation state, but rather reinforces the state’s role as a monitor of higher education for market competition. The study concludes by suggesting opportunities for QA policymakers and practitioners to shape higher education regionalization.

Unlike multilevel data with a purely nested structure, data that are cross-classified not only may be clustered into hierarchically ordered units but also may belong to more than one unit at a given level of a hierarchy. In a cross-classified design, students at a given school might be from several different neighborhoods and one neighborhood might have students who attend a number of different schools. In this type of scenario, schools and neighborhoods are considered to be cross-classified factors, and cross-classified random effects modeling (CCREM) should be used to analyze these data appropriately. A common problem in any type of multilevel analysis is the presence of missing data at any given level. There has been little research conducted in the multilevel literature about the impact of missing data, and none in the area of cross-classified models. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of data that are missing completely at random (MCAR), missing at random (MAR), and missing not at random (MNAR), on CCREM estimates while exploring multiple imputation to handle the missing data. In addition, this study examined the impact of including an auxiliary variable that is correlated with the variable with missingness (the level-1 predictor) in the imputation model for multiple imputation. This study expanded on the CCREM Monte Carlo simulation work of Meyers (2004) by the inclusion of studying the effect of missing data and method for handling these missing data with CCREM. The results demonstrated that in general, multiple imputation met Hoogland and Boomsma’s (1998) relative bias estimation criteria (less than 5% in magnitude) for parameter estimates under different types of missing data patterns. For the standard error estimates, substantial relative bias (defined by Hoogland and Boomsma as greater than 10%) was found in some conditions. When multiple imputation was used to handle the missing data then substantial bias was found in the standard errors in most cells where data were MNAR. This bias increased as a function of the percentage of missing data.

Föreliggande rapport är resultatet av sex intervjuer kompletterade med litteraturgranskning. Rapporten speglar den pågående debatten kring studieavgifter. Den redovisar, inspirerad av diskursanalytisk metod, tre skilda diskursiva debatter dvs. lärosätets, individens, samhällets, på två diskussionsområden - kompensatoriska åtgärder samt möjligheter, fördelar/styrkor. Rapporten påvisar de problem och lösningar som förts fram inom dessa. Respondenterna lyfter fram att studieavgifter handlar om ett ömsesidigt investeringsproblem för framtida välfärd – för individen såväl som för samhället. Respondenterna pekar också på att samverkan mellan departement behövs liksom företagsstöd för industristipendier eftersom full kostnadstäckning behövs. Brister i investering blir ett dilemma som långsiktigt påverkar Sveriges välfärd och även den enskilda studentens välfärd, i synnerhet för den som inte själv har ekonomiska resurser. Fem av sex respondenter har den samlade synen på avgifter att kravet på full kostnadstäckning inte är rimligt utan ett välfungerande stipendiesystem och innebär att vi förlorar alltför många studenter. Den preliminära lösningen är att vidta kompensatoriska åtgärder samt att regeringen tillskjuter medel, säger studieanordnarna. Jag drar slutsatsen att vi ännu inte är redo för att ta hand om konsekvenserna av avgifter och att samverkansdebatten knappt påbörjats. / This paper is based upon six interviews completed by making a literature examination. The paper reflects the current debate on tuition fees. It shows, inspired by a discourse analysis method, three separate discursive debates i.e. higher education, the individual, the society, in two areas of discussion – compensatory measures and potentials, advantages/ stability. The paper demonstrates the problems and solutions put forward in these areas. The respondents highlight that tuition fees are about a mutual investment problem for future welfare - for the individual as well as the society. The respondents also point out that there needs to be collaboration between the ministries, as well as financial support for industrial scholarships because costs need to be completely covered. Lack in investment becomes a dilemma that affects Sweden’s welfare and even the students individual welfare in the long term, particularly for the one who does not have own economic resources. Five of six respondents have an overall view on tuition fees that indicate the demands on full cost coverage is not reasonable without a well-functioning scholarship system and results in us losing too many students. The preliminary solution is to take compensatory actions and that the government contributes funding, the study providers say. I conclude that we are not yet ready to deal with the consequences of tuition fees and that a collaborative debate has just begun.

This study focuses on exploring the current (2009-2010) state of the English Language Teacher Education (ELTE) Program in Yemen. The current state of the program was investigated through exploring the beliefs of teacher educators, teacher candidates, and administrators. Additionally, available education policy documents were critically examined. A pilot study pointed to the need for interviews with various stakeholders of language teacher education. Multiple semi-structured interviews were designed and conducted. Three teacher educators and four recent graduates were interviewed. Three administrators in the Ministry of Higher Studies and Scientific Research were interviewed. Furthermore, two bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education together with two administrators in an Education Sector were interviewed. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. An extensive reading of the transcriptions led to the identification of major patterns. Several themes were found. These themes highlight various aspects of the ELTE program in Yemen. The findings showed that the ELTE program had neither clear-cut standards nor educational philosophy, and suffered from distinctive administrative and academic problems. The findings, furthermore, revealed that the education policy-makers paid little attention to the program improvement and the application of the strategies they had planned. Finally, despite the problems encountered, all participants agreed on the critical need for the ELTE program at Yemeni universities.

The research presented here has three major purposes. The first is to explain how political institutions and policy outputs can change in the presence of a growing minority population when the preferences of these minorities differ from those of the majority. I show how representation in all three branches of government can lead to these changes, specifically in the local legislature and local bureaucracy. Secondly, I demonstrate the relationship between local legislative representation of Latino minority populations to substantive policy outcomes that favor this minority group, and explain how variable electoral institutions influence this relationship. The third general purpose of this research is to make the argument that the study of minority politics need not take place within a theoretical vacuum. That is, I use theories of minority group behavior (as opposed to Latino group behavior), and relevant empirical tests, to inform mainstream democratic theory. What democratic theory is missing, I argue, is the ability to fully explain and predict changes in institutions, policy, and policy outputs in a dynamic preference environment. Examining minority politics over time helps fill this void.

Since the year of 2000, some of the country and city governments had already established regulations or sent out official documents to encourage the schools under them to implement ¡§Primary School After-School-Care Service¡¨. 2003, it is officially classified into Children and Youth Welfare Act as a part of the law, and established ¡§After-School-Care services for Primary schools and staff qualification standards¡¨ to propose to the whole country. Its goal is to encourage women to give birth and to enable the parents to work without burdens, especially for those families who are receiving double-income, so that their children can grow up healthy. Also, schools which are located in the mountains, remote areas, or islanders, aborigines have the privilege to establish first, and the care service have to match the work hours of the parents. This research is taking Zuo-Zheng, Tainan as sample, and is researching on the conditions of remote primary schools¡¦ After-School-Care Service. We interviewed the principals of the primary schools, the head of administrative organizations and unofficial groups, and also did survey on the parents. We used descriptive statistics to analyze, and make discusses on if it is correspondent with the needs and goals, if gaps are found during the execution of the policy, and related advices are made for references. The conclusion of the founding are listed below: 1. After-School-Cares at remote areas cannot meet the needs. 2. After-School-Cares at remote areas are facing difficulties. 3. After-School-Cares at remote areas did not practice well. 4. The idea of After-School-Care is lack of cognition. 5. The policy of After-School-Care is complex and lack of continuity. At last according to the founding, we came up with advices for government organization of education: 1. Establish supplementary measures according to different regions. 2. Enhance the propaganda of the policy to enable the establishment of common views.

Sachsen steht im Vergleich der Bundesländer wirtschaftlich und kulturell gut da. Die Pro-Kopf-Verschuldung ist vergleichsweise gering, die Investitionsquote hoch, die Förderung der kulturellen Infrastruktur ist vorbildlich. Dennoch drückt der Schuh: die Einwohnerzahl im Lande nimmt von 4,8 Mio. im Jahr 1990 auf ca. 3,9 Mio. im Jahr 2020 ab, das Durchschnittsalter steigt im gleichen Zeitraum auf 48,8 Jahre. Die Einnahmen liegen – bei doppelt so hoher Arbeitslosenzahl – noch deutlich hinter denen der westlichen Bundesländer zurück, der finanzielle Solidar-Transfer seit der Wiedervereinigung wird 2019 eingestellt und Jahr für Jahr um 200 Mio. EUR verringert, die EU-Förderung könnte 2013 wegbrechen. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat die Sächsische Staatskanzlei am 29. April 2009 ein strategisches Grundsatzpapier (Sachsen 2020. Wegweiser für unseren Freistaat) vorgestellt. Darin werden strategische Handlungsfelder, Ziele und Maßnahmen für Wirtschaft und Beschäftigung, Bildung und Lernen, Leben und Umwelt, Gesellschaft und Kultur sowie Staat und Verwaltung zur Diskussion gestellt.

An increasing number of students entering college lack the academic skills necessary to perform well at the college level, forcing professors and academic institutions to lower standards. Students approach higher education as a commodity, and as consumers they assert their desire for easier course work by giving poor evaluations to instructors whose courses they find too demanding or difficult. Eliminating student evaluations is one necessary change that will help reverse declining standards in higher education and increase performance; providing effective venues for supplemental instruction is another. Teaching basic writing skills in freshman composition courses would waste valuable instruction time that must be spent on higher-order concerns, such as critical thinking, abstract reasoning, essay development, and research skills. Online writing labs offer lower-order instruction in grammar, punctuation, syntax, and style for students at any level, as do the learning programs that accompany composition textbooks and handbooks, yet these resources are under-utilized by students who need the most help. Usability studies would reveal site-specific reasons students avoid or abandon them. This paper includes an initial view of two online writing resources from the perspective of usability: what works about the design and functionality, and what most likely does not.