Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-190). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed on Mar. 9, 2007). PDF text: vii, 151 p. UMI publication number: AAT 3225795. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche format.

The thesis consists of five papers: three deal with the efficiency of higher education institutions (HEI) and two with entrepreneurship among university graduates. The efficiency of HEIs is analyzed at three different levels: units of one university, universities of one country and universities of a group of European countries. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA) the first paper compares technical efficiency among university units at the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm). An interesting result is that there seems to be a complementary relationship between efficiency of resource utilization in teaching and in research. The second paper applies stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to estimate the cost efficiency of Swedish higher education institutions. According to the estimates, half of the Swedish HEIs have an above average efficiency of 85 percent. The efficiency differences are mainly influenced by the source of funding, HEI size, the number of students per faculty as well as faculty and student compositions. The third paper analyses the cost efficiency of universities among a set of public higher education institutions from six European countries by means of stochastic frontier techniques. The results suggest small variation in the mean economic efficiency of higher education institutions from UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, implying that the efficiency differences are not explained by country effects. Instead the variations in efficiency are related to organizational differences. The two essays on entrepreneurship among university graduates are based on a unique dataset encompassing individual level data on all employees registered in the Swedish labor market. The first paper explores the differences in entrepreneurial choice of graduates from different universities. The main finding from this paper is that the entrepreneurial choice of graduates from internationally ranked Swedish universities systematically differs from others with the difference varying by the area of education. The second paper on entrepreneurship aims at explaining the high interest in entrepreneurship among arts graduates and finds that the need for self-expression is among the main motivations for their high interest in entrepreneurship. / <p>QC 20130107</p>

Numbers of persons with a higher education have inclined fast during the last dec-ades, as the University sector in Sweden has increased. This due to that the Swedish government has had a very encouraging attitude towards the Universities position for economic regional growth. The aim of this thesis is to see if there are any relationships between students at a University in a region and the number of patents that have been applied for in the same region using data taken from European patent of-fice and Statistics Sweden. Patent is one way to measure innovations, and knowledge is one of the core foundations for new innovations. Different models have been used to determine if any significant relationship between patent applications and number of people with higher education is present. The empirical findings came up with the results that numbers of people with higher education have positive relationship with University regions. The two variables, people with higher technical education and research and development at Universities also showed positive significant results, which gives support for the chosen theories in the thesis. It is hard to say that the decen-tralization of the Swedish universities have been a total success, because in the thesis results were found which shoed that the Malmö region was outstanding in terms of patent applications. In this region many different Universities and private R&amp;D de-partments are located, together with students etc. Further research in this field has to be conducted to be able to give the policy maker better foundation for decisions.

This study examined the effects of computer-assisted testing on text anxiety, achievement and student attitudes toward a course. One hundred students from an undergraduate educational psychology class were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group of students was assigned to take all of their unit examinations using computer-assisted testing (CAT). For those in the CAT group, examinations were presented on microcomputers. The second group of students took the same examinations using regular paper and pencil testing procedures (RT). With the exception of testing methods, an attempt was made to keep all other factors relating to course administration consistent for both groups. Pre and posttest measures of the students' levels of test anxiety were obtained during the course, using the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT). Both debilitating and facilitating anxiety scores were used from the AAT. Achievement was assessed using a comprehensive final examination at the end of the course. Student attitudes toward the course were measured using a course evaluation form. It was hypothesized that assignment to CAT would result in higher scores on the facilitating anxiety scales and lower scores on the debilitating anxiety scale. The study also postulated that students exposed to CAT would demonstrate higher levels of performance on the final achievement test. Finally, it was theorized that students in the CAT group would rate the course more positively than the students exposed to regular testing procedures. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance procedures. The results of the analysis indicated that there were no significant differences between the CAT and RT groups in terms of test anxiety, achievement, or attitudes toward the course. In comparing traditional and computer-assisted testing, the present study suggests that it may be possible to obtain the ease of test administration, feedback, item analysis, and record keeping provided by a computer, without affecting student testing behaviors or test norms.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the State supported Universities in Indiana adjust the number of selected support positions as enrollments vary. To facilitate reporting the data the study was written in five chapters. Chapter I included an overview that delineated the purpose for the study and organization for subsequent chapters.Chapter II presented a review of related research and literature directly pertaining to the study. No literature or research has been found that quantitatively describes what a minimum selected support staff should be, or what existing ratios are. Evidence exists within the literature and research to support the concept that the human resources approach to the personnel function is impacting higher education through the larger society. Evidence exists to support the notion that unions will continue to play a vital role in assuring that support services within higher education will receive a larger percentage of administrative attention within the next decade.Chapter III contained an explanation of the methods and procedures employed to derive the necessary data. The chapter contained procedures for selecting the population, methods used in the collection of data and methods used for analysis of data.Chapter IV contained the data collected from the respective Directors of Personnel Services of the selected institutions and enrollment data collected from the National Center For Educational Statistics. The data was presented in narrative form with the tables and figures utilized to report the raw data.Chapter V provided a summary of the study, findings, conclusions, and recommendations. The findings support the following selected conclusions:1. There has been a generally positive relationship among enrollments and the number of selected support staff positions during the time span stipulated within the study.2. During the time span stipulated within the study, enrollments at all universities have increased at a greater rate than selected support staff positions, although specific yearly negative relationships did occur.3. There appears to have been no conscious effort on the part of personnel directors at any institution studied to either establish appropriate support staff to student ratios or to maintain any such ratio.

The main purposes of this study were to explore civic consciousness, citizen participation and the influential factors of students of Taipei¡¦s community universities. This study adopted the questionnaire-survey approach. 553 students from six Taipei¡¦s community universities were randomly sampled by the researcher. The instrument for the study: ¡§the Questionnaire of Community Universities Students¡¦ Civic Consciousness and Citizen Participation¡¨ were developed by the researcher and included two scales, one was ¡§the Scale of Civic Consciousness¡¨ and the other was ¡§the Scale of Citizen Participation.¡¨ The methods for data analysis were descriptives, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, canonical correlation, and multiple stepwise regression. The following five findings were concluded: 1. Students of Taipei¡¦s community universities had high civic consciousness, but their citizen participation showed the medium participation only. 2. The civic consciousness of students of Taipei¡¦s community universities differed in terms of respondents¡¦ personal variables and community- university variables. 3. The citizen participation of students of Taipei¡¦s community universities differed in terms of respondents¡¦ personal variables and community- university variables. 4. There was significant correlation between students¡¦ civic consciousness and citizen participation they showed. 5. The personal variables, community-university variables and civic consciousness of students of Taipei¡¦s community universities could be effective predictors for students¡¦ level of citizen participation. Finally, some suggestions were raised to the community universities, the students of community universities, and future research.

We face a world in which a college degree increasingly dictates the likelihood of life success. At the same time, there has been an ever-increasing population of students who have not been prepared adequately through their high school education to meet the rigors of college/university-level content. This problem can be seen in the number of students needing Intermediate Algebra. Students who complete remedial courses with a grade of C or better are more likely to pass their first college-level mathematics course and continue their education until they have completed all coursework needed for a degree. Students entering colleges and universities underprepared for collegiate mathematics, reading, and writing have reached epidemic proportions, with 30% of the students needing remediation in one of these areas. A portion of this problem has been identified as mathematics anxiety. Because students have habituated mathematics failure, they are aware of their deficiencies, but still desire a college education. They bring with them years of negative emotions from repeated mathematics failures. These years of negative feelings about mathematics precipitated by repeated failures are often manifested as mathematics anxiety that must be addressed in order to improve students’ content knowledge. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a web-based technology centric course, Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS), on the remediation of college freshmen enrolled in an Intermediate Algebra class as compared to college freshmen enrolled in an Intermediate Algebra class taught using a traditional lecture method. Mathematics anxiety and attitude toward mathematics will also be investigated to determine if ALEKS can lower the anxiety associated with mathematics, as well as improve attitudes. An algebra test, mathematics anxiety rating scale, and mathematics attitude test was given to both groups of students at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The overall findings of this research suggested that ALEKS Intermediate Algebra students performed as well as the Control group taking a class in Intermediate Algebra taught by lecture. The anxiety of the Experimental group decreased more than the Control group, and the Experimental group’s attitude toward mathematics increased at a greater rate than did the Control group.

<p>Numbers of persons with a higher education have inclined fast during the last dec-ades, as the University sector in Sweden has increased. This due to that the Swedish government has had a very encouraging attitude towards the Universities position for economic regional growth. The aim of this thesis is to see if there are any relationships between students at a University in a region and the number of patents that have been applied for in the same region using data taken from European patent of-fice and Statistics Sweden. Patent is one way to measure innovations, and knowledge is one of the core foundations for new innovations. Different models have been used to determine if any significant relationship between patent applications and number of people with higher education is present. The empirical findings came up with the results that numbers of people with higher education have positive relationship with University regions. The two variables, people with higher technical education and research and development at Universities also showed positive significant results, which gives support for the chosen theories in the thesis. It is hard to say that the decen-tralization of the Swedish universities have been a total success, because in the thesis results were found which shoed that the Malmö region was outstanding in terms of patent applications. In this region many different Universities and private R&D de-partments are located, together with students etc. Further research in this field has to be conducted to be able to give the policy maker better foundation for decisions.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D..) -- University of Canberra, 2006. / Includes bibliography (p.283 - 300)