Based on case studies of a private and a public Mexican university, this research studied the economic strategies adopted by institutions of higher education to respond to financial stress. Rather than assuming that these strategies were selected primarily on the basis of their economic efficiency, the social processes that led to their adoption were explored. Economic development theory (Schumpeter, 1934) was employed to describe and conceptualize the universities' responses to financial difficulties. The concepts of institutional rules and rational myths in the environment (Meyer and Rowan, 1977), and the processes that lead organizations to become similar to their environment (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983), were utilized to explore the role of the institutional environment on decision-making in times of fiscal uncertainty. The study was exploratory in nature, utilizing data collected through university documents and interviews with university administrators. The data was analyzed through analytical semantics and content analysis. Results indicated that financial stress was managed through economic measures, however the universities' institutional environments filtered and gave specific meaning to particular decision strategies. Institutional rules in the environment, acquiring the character of rationalized myths, permeated and determined decision-making choices, and were evidenced in and sustained by mimetic, normative, and coercive processes. Results suggest that (1) different approaches are concurrently useful in looking at the management of financial stress, (2) institutional theory can be applied to the study of decision-making and not only to explain structural arrangements, and (3) treatment of the institutional environment as a phenomenon to be studied is essential to future research employing institutional theory.

No description available.

M.Com. (Economic Development and Policy Issues) / This study aims to examine the relationship between public funding on tertiary education in developing countries and the level of student enrolments. The intuitive economic expectation is that an increase in public education funding should lead to an increase in student enrolments. This study finds this general expectation to be true for only the primary and secondary education sectors, but not for the tertiary education sector. By using a sample of 39 randomly selected developing countries from different parts of the world, this empirical study finds that public expenditure on tertiary education has an insignificant and in some cases a negative relationship with student enrolments at the tertiary education level. The study interestingly finds public expenditure on primary and secondary education sectors to have more significant and positive relationship with tertiary student enrolments. The study also confirms earlier research arguments that governments in developing countries spend proportionately more on tertiary education than on primary or secondary education as compared to developed nations. This study finds that public education expenditure is three times as much, or more, on tertiary education than on primary or secondary education. However, despite this relative public overspending on the tertiary education sector in comparison to primary and secondary education sectors, tertiary student enrolment appears not to have a significant relationship with public expenditure, whereas the relationship is significant and positive in the case of both secondary and primary education sectors where public expenditure is ironically much less. The study further finds that the negative relationship between public expenditure on tertiary education and student enrolments is possibly caused by the rigorous global emphasis on implementing austerity measures across economies. At the same time, developing countries are experiencing a high demand for tertiary enrolment due to a rapid increase in population, improved adult literacy, worsening unemployment and other factors.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1980.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1980. / Also available in print.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Instellings vir hoër onderwys is unieke organisasies deurdat hul grootste groep kliënte verdeel is in twee heterogene groepe met uiteenlopende behoeftes naamlik die staat en die algemene publiek. Hierdie twee primêre kliënte is onderskeidelik verantwoordelik vir die sogenaamde eerste- en tweede-geldstrome van hoër onderwysinstellings. Weens reële afname van die staat se spandering aan hoër onderwysinstellings en die swak kompeterende salarisse van werknemers in universiteite met die privaatsektor, het daar toenemend druk ontstaan om alternatiewe inkomstebronne te ondersoek (sogenaamde derde-geldstroominkomste). Wêreldwyd fokus universiteite op derde-geldstroomaktiwiteite ten einde hul finansiële posisie te versterk. Hierdie situasie het aanleiding gegee tot die vraagstuk oor waar akademici se voorkeur is om hul entrepreneuriese energie te fokus, wat motiveer akademici om hul tyd op sekere aktiwiteite te spandeer en meer spesifiek watter rol speel die finansiële ingesteldheid van die instelling ten einde hierdie gedrag te bestuur? Hierdie studie toon aan dat akademiese instellings wat deur winsgewende verwante finansiële besigheidbeginsels bestuur word wel hoër entrepreneuriese gedrag in die hoofstroomaktiwiteite van die instelling kan toon. Kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe navorsingsbenaderings is gebruik om die hipotese te toets, met spesifieke fokus op die Fakulteite Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe van elke instelling. Drie van die vyf instellings wat ondersoek is het hierdie verband getoon, terwyl een instelling met duidelike redes nie hierdie verband bevestig nie. Die uitkoms van die studie toon ook rede tot omsigtigheid aangesien dit ook daarop dui dat hoër finansiële ingesteldheid nie noodwendig entrepreneurskap in die hoofstroomaktiwiteite bevorder nie, wat die vermoede versterk dat hierdie 'n baie komplekser vraagstuk is as slegs 'n twee-veranderlike probleem. Die doel van die verslag is om hoër onderwysinstellings wat slaag om die stagnering van inkomstestrome uit hul kernbesigheidsakriwiteite die hoof te bied deur finansiële modelle te ontwikkel wat akademici sal aanspoor om hul entrepreneuriese energie op laasgenoemde aktiwiteite te fokus. Die finansiële besigheidsbeginsels waarbinne die konteks van hoër onderwysinstellings van toepassing is en as indikators vir die ondersoek gebruik is, behels onder andere insentiefgebaseerde begrotingsmodelle, deursigtigheid, billikheid, delegering van verantwoordelikheid en goeie bestuursinligtingstelsels. Hierdie studie ontken nie dat ander indikatore ook 'n bepalende rol speel in die gedrag van akademici nie. Akademiese puriste is egter baie pessimisties oor die aanwending van meer suiwer finansiële besigheidsbeginsels in akademiese instellings meestal weens vrese in eie belang. Die studie bevestig egter dat die topbestuur van hoër onderwysinstellings wel finansiële bestuursbeginsels kan aanwend om entrepreneurskap aan te moedig in kernbesigheidaktiwiteite en sodoende finansiële volhoubaarheid te verseker op die langtermyn. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Higher education institutions are unique organisations in that their largest group of clients are divided into two heterogeneous groups with differing needs, namely government and the general public. These two primary clients are respectively responsible for the so-called first and second income streams of higher education institutions. As a result of the decline of government's spending, in real terms, on higher education institutions and the poor competitive salaries of employees in universities relative to the private sector, there is mounting pressure to investigate alternative income sources (the so-called third income stream). Globally, universities focus on third income stream activities in order to improve their financial health. This situation has given rise to the question relating to the preference of academics of where to focus their entrepreneurial energy, what motivates academics to spend time on certain activities and more specifically, what role the financial attitude of the institution plays to manage this behaviour. This study reveals that academic institutions that are managed on profit related financial business principles, can show higher entrepreneurial behaviour in the main stream activities of the institution. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to test the hypothesis with a specific focus on the faculties of Economics and Management Sciences of each institution. Three of the five institutions that were investigated revealed this relationship, while one has obvious reasons for not confirming the relationship. However the study also gives a warning in that financial attitude does not imply entrepreneurial activity in mainstream activities automatically. This enforces the suspicion that the quest of this research is far more complex than just a two variable problem. The objective of this report is to challenge higher education institutions to overcome the stagnation of income streams of their core business activities through the development of financial models that will motivate academics to focus their entrepreneurial energy on the latter activities. The financial business principles that are relevant within the context of higher education institutions and were used as indicators for this investigation include, amongst others, incentive based budget models, transparency, fairness, delegating of responsibility and sound management information systems. This study does not deny that other indicators also play a significant role in the behaviour of academics. Academic purists are, however, very pessimistic about the application of pure financial principles in academic institutions, most often, to protect their own interests. The study however, confirms that the top management of higher academic institutions can in fact apply financial management principles to motivate entrepreneurship in core business activities and thus ensure long-term financial sustainability.

This study presents and applies Agenda Setting theory or the Multiple Stream model by Kingdon on the free higher education policy proposal in post-apartheid South Africa. The aim was to uncover how and why free higher education has been elevated onto the agenda of decision-makers; and why it is not yet an accepted policy proposal. Kingdon argued that for a policy proposal to be considered, it must be technically feasible, anticipate future constraints and receive enough political support or consensus. Apart from that, the following streams of action must converge: the problem must be clearly defined, feasible solutions offered and political consensus obtained. Using qualitative methods such as thematic and documentary analysis to collect and analyse data, the study has discovered that free higher education has been pushed onto the agenda because it was aimed at addressing the problem of unequal access to higher education. Mechanisms such as continual marches and protests by South African Students' Congress (SASCO) have been used to push this policy proposal onto the government and decision agenda. The study has also discovered that it is not yet an accepted policy proposal primarily because it is considered to be not feasible by decision-makers. Furthermore, it has not received enough political support or consensus. Lastly, it is not yet an accepted policy proposal because the streams of action have not yet converged. The study shows that the events in the policy and political streams have been the major hindrances for these streams to meet despite a clear indication that the problem in question is significant: South African higher education is still confronted by high university dropout rates.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2007. / Title from title page screen, viewed on February 15, 2008. Dissertation Committee: Edward R. Hines (chair), Patricia H. Klass, Ross A. Hodel, W. Paul Vogt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-203) and abstract. Also available in print.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirement of Masters of Accounting degree in Management Accounting, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / This study seeks to provide a guide for a more advanced costing method that is going to provide some cost allocation techniques from a wider range of TVET college specific activities, and that will provide a valuable insight for management of a college. Such a method was achieved through the development of a standard activity dictionary and the functional decomposition of the campus into small divisions as the methods of identifying major activities that are performed at TVET colleges. Thereafter, a conceptual framework for adoption of Activity-Based Costing (ABC) was developed. The main expected contribution to knowledge is represented in the development of conceptual framework for adoption of the ABC system in KwaZulu-Natal TVET colleges and the originality in the current study lies in bridging the gap in the knowledge and understanding of ABC system in education sector. In addition to providing a way to allocate resources more efficiently, ABC can help colleges to determine the best way to meet their goal by monitoring the use of resources in particular activities. The theory that forms the basis of this study is contingency theory. This theory explains how ABC system is contingent upon contingency factors including organisational and behavioural and technical variables. This contingency theory suggests that the adoption of ABC systems within public TVET colleges is depend upon, or at least associated with size of the firm, cost structure, product diversity, training, resistance to change, internal champion support and innovation, top management support, internal resources availability and technical variables. The new model of ABC adoption has been developed in order to examine reasons why the ABC adoption remains low. This study also seeks to establish factors that constitute barriers to ABC. The hand-delivery questionnaire was appropriate for data collection in this study. The census survey undertaken comprised six public TVET colleges at KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Thirty (30) questionnaires were submitted, and thirty (30) questionnaires were returned, generating a 100% responses rate. The quantitative data were processed using a SPSS version 24.0, leading to appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, including frequencies, means, standard deviations and chi-squares. Nine factors were identified from the literature, seven were found to be statistically significant associated with ABC adoption. The qualitative research method was also used. The research strategy was embedded with multiple cases studies to validate the results derived from the census survey. This was selected to validate the results derived from census survey. The data were gathered via 10 face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees from top and middle levels of the five TVET colleges. The semi-structured interviews and survey helped the researcher to discovered new ways of identifying activities such as using business process and examining the colleges’ organogram. This study found that public TVET in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) are using the Student Based Costing (SBS) and these colleges do not obtain accurate programme costs because they fail to allocate overhead costs to their respective campuses under costing currently in use in these TVET colleges. This study also found that the public TVET colleges in KZN use a uniform cost (number of students) to assign overhead costs to respective programmes. The findings of this study indicated that ABC has not been adopted at the public TVET colleges in KZN, as 60% of respondents indicated that there is no consideration of ABC to date and 100% of participants also confirmed that their colleges has not been adopted ABC to date. This result confirms that public TVET colleges at KZN are still using Traditional costing system (TCS). This study also showed that eight out of nine factors assist in the adoption of ABC system, and there is positive correlation between these seven factors and ABC adoption. The research findings of this study have exposed some loose ends that could not be answered conclusively by the data, it therefore recommended that a further empirical research should be conducted using case study and survey at all 50 public TVET colleges in South Africa to detect the difficulties and barriers that prevent the adoption of ABC at TVET colleges. / M

The rise in globalization coupled with the exponential growth in technology has placed greater emphasis on a skills-based economy. This in turn has increased the demand for a labor force with advanced post-baccalaureate education. In order to better devise strategies and/or enact laws to promote, support and enhance post-baccalaureate education, it is imperative to understand the forces that drive or hinder individuals’ post-baccalaureate aspirations. Using PowerStats, an on-line analytical tool made available from the National Center for Education Statistics, I use data from the 2008/12 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study to develop a linear probability model of graduate enrollment incorporating variables informed by the research on human, social, and cultural capital as well as habitus. The results indicate that GPA, type of undergraduate institution attended, and expectation of post-baccalaureate credentials are statistically significant and positively associated with Master’s degree enrollment three years after earning a Bachelor’s degree. Older students and those with higher incomes, meanwhile, were found to have statistically significantly lower probability of graduate enrollment. Many of the variables previously used by researchers as proxies for social and cultural capital did not have a statistically significant effect in this model specification. This finding suggests that these measures may have been confounded by acting through other variables (interdependencies) in the model. This underscores the difficulty in assigning appropriate, direct and independent measures that capture the intended underlying effects proposed in Bourdieu’s theories. Additional research is needed in this area to better understand the influences that different groups experience in their pursuit of post-baccalaureate education. This dissertation also examines the impact of business cycle fluctuations on graduate enrollment over a thirty-year period, encompassing three major economic downturns, using a fixed effects approach. Using IPEDS enrollment data and national unemployment rates as a proxy for the business cycle between 1988 and 2017, I find graduate enrollment to be counter cyclical. Additionally, the expansion of Grad PLUS loans eased the credit constraint on graduate borrowing and seems to have had a significant and positive effect on graduate enrollment, regardless of the business cycle. While the expansion of Grad PLUS loans had a positive effect overall, there are racial differences that could suggest other barriers or constraints to graduate enrollment for minority groups during economic downturns.