Amidst concerns about achieving high levels of technology to remain competitive in the global market without compromising economic development, national economies are experiencing a high demand for human capital. As higher education is assumed to be the main source of human capital, this analysis focused on a more specific and less explored area of the generally accepted idea that higher education contributes to economic growth. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to find whether higher education also contributes to economic development, and whether that contribution is more substantial in a globalized context. Consequently, a multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to support with statistical significance the answer to the research question: Does higher education contributes to economic development in the context of globalization? The information analyzed was obtained from historical data of 91 selected countries, and the period of time of the study was 10 years (1990- 2000). Some variables, however, were lagged back 5, 10 or 15 years along a 15-year timeframe (1975-1990). The resulting comparative static model was based on the Cobb-Douglas production function and the Solow model to specify economic growth as a function of physical capital, labor, technology, and productivity. Then, formal education, economic development, and globalization were added to the equation. The findings of this study supported the assumption that the independent contribution of the changes in higher education completion and globalization to changes in economic growth is more substantial than the contribution of their interaction. The results also suggested that changes in higher and secondary education completion contribute much more to changes in economic growth in less developed countries than in their more developed counterparts. As a conclusion, based on the results of this study, I proposed the implementation of public policy in less developed countries to promote and expand adequate secondary and higher education systems with the purpose of helping in the achievement of economic development. I also recommended further research efforts on this topic to emphasize the contribution of education to the economy, mainly in less developed countries.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an experimental teaching method, Sport Aerobics, on the basketball skill acquisition of fifth grade students. This study investigated the differences in the shooting, dribbling, and passing scores of students taught with Sport Aerobics instruction compared to those taught with a traditional method, Practice Style. Sport Aerobics is an instructional method based on a theoretical framework developed by the researcher to enhance skill acquisition. This framework leads to teaching strategies such as using immediate feedback and specific cueing; arranging for students to engage in object free movement; arranging lessons, according to the framework's concept of movement progression, into lessons staged according to skill and sub-skill complexity; and instructing based on whole group organization. Sport Aerobic instructional strategies were designed to facilitate process learning that is recognized as important in today's development learning approach for age related curriculums. In contrast, the traditional Practice Style uses product-oriented strategies. Four classrooms, consisting of seventy-nine fifth grade students from two physical education programs, at different locations, were randomly assigned to two treatments; Sport Aerobics and Practice Style for instruction over a 15 period curriculum. Using the American Alliance Physical Education Recreation & Dance tests, both groups were pretested and post-tested for skill achievement of shooting, dribbling, and passing. Pretest and posttest skill score samples were collected and evaluated. ANCOVAs were performed on the posttests adjusted for the pretests to determine whether or not there would be greater achievement of skills with the Sport Aerobics method. Results failed to establish significant scoring differences between the two methods. Based on the literature and study findings a recommendation is made that longer lesson units will assist in the investigation of the effectiveness of both the instructional model and the individual elements that facilitate skill acquisition.

This study examined the predictive merits of selected cognitive and noncognitive variables on the national Registry exam pass rate using 2008 graduates (n = 175) from community college radiography programs in Florida. The independent variables included two GPAs, final grades in five radiography courses, self-efficacy, and social support. The dependent variable was the first-attempt results on the national Registry exam. The design was a retrospective predictive study that relied on academic data collected from participants using the self-report method and on perceptions of students' success on the national Registry exam collected through a questionnaire developed and piloted in the study. All independent variables except self-efficacy and social support correlated with success on vii the national Registry exam (p < .01) using the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation analysis. The strongest predictor of the national Registry exam success was the end-of-program GPA, r = .550, p < .001. The GPAs and scores for self-efficacy and social support were entered into a logistic regression analysis to produce a prediction model. The end-of-program GPA (p = .015) emerged as a significant variable. This model predicted 44% of the students who failed the national Registry exam and 97.3% of those who passed, explaining 45.8% of the variance. A second model included the final grades for the radiography courses, self efficacy, and social support. Three courses significantly predicted national Registry exam success; Radiographic Exposures, p < .001; Radiologic Physics, p = .014; and Radiation Safety & Protection, p = .044, explaining 56.8% of the variance. This model predicted 64% of the students who failed the national Registry exam and 96% of those who passed. The findings support the use of in-program data as accurate predictors of success on the national Registry exam.

This study compared the performance of students who earned GED credentials in Florida with that of graduates of Florida high schools, when members of both groups enrolled for the first time in fall 1992 at an urban multicultural community college in south Florida. GED’s and HSD’s were matched on gender, race, age range, placement levels, and enrollment in college preparatory courses (reading, English, mathematics). The paired samples t-test compared course grades, first semester GPA, and total college GPA for the groups and subgroups of matched students at a probability level of .05. The McNemar test compared how many students in each group and subgroup re-enrolled for a second and third term, or ever; how many were placed on special academic status during their college enrollment; and how many graduated within 16 semesters. Differences between groups were found only for placement on probation,- with HSD’s on probation in significantly higher proportion than GED’s. Additional findings among subgroups revealed that male and Caucasian HSD subjects earned higher math grades than their GED counterparts. Male HSD’s were more likely than male GED’s to return to the college at some point after the first term. However, male HSD’s were placed on probation in greater proportion than the GED’s with whom they were matched. Female GED’s earned higher English grades and higher first semester and cumulative GPA’s and returned to the college in greater proportion than their HSD counterparts. Black GED’s earned higher first-semester GPA’s, re-enrolled in terms 2 and 3 and graduated from the college in higher percentages than Black HDS’s. Black HSD’s were placed on probation in higher proportion than Black GED’s. Lastly, greater percentages of HSD than GED subjects in the lowest age range (16-19) were placed on probation. Results connected to the performance of Black GED subjects are likely to have been affected by the fact that 50% of Black study subjects had been born in Jamaica. The place of the GED in the constellation of methods for earning credit by examination is explored, future implications are discussed, and further study is recommended.

The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the relationship between athletic success of football and men’s basketball and the U.S News and World Report (USNWR) college rankings. There has been consistent debate among researchers who study institutional quality about whether intercollegiate athletics enhances reputation. This study is similar to other studies attempting to measure the relationship between athletic success and possible indirect benefits to the university from athletics, such as increased admissions applications and increased alumni donations and giving. This study offered a more nuanced model for measuring athletic success, a concept that has been difficult to measure quantitatively. The method used here also measured change over time (in this case, from year-to-year over an eleven year period). The research questions for this study were (a) is there a correlation between athletic success and the USNWR college ranking; and (b) is there a correlation in the change from year-to-year in athletic success with the change from year-to-year in the USNWR college rankings? Spearman Rho correlation and ANOVA tests were used to answer these research questions. The results from the statistical tests demonstrated little correlation between athletic success, whether in football or men’s basketball, with the USNWR college rankings. Although the relationships were weak, men’s basketball success consistently demonstrated a stronger relationship than football success. This finding differed from what is most often found in the literature, which often favors football success. The ANOVA test results did reveal some results that suggest athletic participation is a factor in the USNWR college rankings. As the debate continues about whether intercollegiate athletics enhances reputation, and as colleges and universities continue spending enormously on athletics, a keener understanding about the possible indirect benefits to the university from athletic programs is needed. The “advertising” provided by spectator sports such as football and men’s basketball is often assumed by university leaders to present substantial indirect benefits for the university. However, the existing research along with this study provides little evidence of such opportunities.

In the mid 19th century, Horace Mann insisted that a broad provision of public schooling should take precedence over the liberal education of an elite group. In that regard, his generation constructed a state sponsored common schooling enterprise to educate the masses. More than 100 years later, the institution of public schooling fails to maintain an image fully representative of the ideals of equity and inclusion. Critical theory in educational thought associates the dominant practice of functional schooling with maintenance of the status quo, an unequal distribution of financial, political, and social resources. This study examined the empirical basis for the association of public schooling with the status quo using the most recent and comparable cross-country income inequality data. Multiple regression analysis evaluated the possible relationship between national income inequality change over the period 1985-2005 and variables representative of national measures of education supply in the prior decade. The estimated model of income inequality development attempted to quantify the relationship between education supply factors and subsequent income inequality developments by controlling for economic, demographic, and exogenous factors. The sample included all nations with comparable income inequality data over the measurement period, N = 56. Does public school supply affect national income distribution? The estimated model suggested that an increase in the average years of schooling among the population age 15 years or older, measured over the period 1975-1985, provided a mechanism that resulted in a more equal distribution of income over the period 1985-2005 among low and lower-middle income nations. The model also suggested that income inequality increased less or decreased more in smaller economies and when the percentage of the population agecontrast, this study identified no significant relationship between school supply changes measured over prior periods and income inequality development over the period 1985-2005 among upper-middle and high income nations.

Tourism is an important and growing activity in the world. It produces significant impacts not only on businesses and the economy, but also on people and the planet. Tourism education at university level has grown just as rapidly as its target phenomenon. However, a vocationalist orthodoxy, focusing predominantly on business and the economy, is evident in the emerging curricula. Recent curriculum proposals in the tourism literature describe partial framings that legitimate this vocationalist trend. This thesis addresses concerns about what should be taught. Its initial review of methodological approaches to the design of the tourism curriculum finds that a philosophical approach to the problem is lacking. It therefore adopts such a philosophical approach and initially situates the curriculum amidst its related concepts of tourism and tourism knowledge. Here, the frill possible extent of, and contest for, the curriculum is revealed. Different types of knowledge, and alternative ideas of tourism compete for representation in the curriculum. Partial framings leave significant areas of the tourism world underrepresented in the curriculum. The thesis proposes principles for the ordering of a comprehensive curriculum for tourism higher education. The framework proposed comprises four key domains where vocational action is complemented by vocational reflection, liberal reflection and liberal action. The tourism world in which graduates are prepared for action is thereby extended from a narrow business setting to include tourism's wider society. This framework enables the case to be made, and the content outlined, for a tourism higher education which educates philosophic practitioners. These would be graduates who deliver efficient and effective tourism services whilst at the same discharging the role of stewardship for the development of the wider tourism world in which these services are delivered.

This thesis examines undergraduate international education in the USA and the EC. It establishes that significant differences in international education do exist in the two areas, then goes on to pose two related questions in explanation: how do they differ and why do they differ? A dual explanatory approach is explicitly engaged throughout, one emphasising macro-level factors, the other stressing micro-level perspectives. A preliminary discussion of these two explanatory modes appears in Chapter One, together with an argument for the significance of the topic beyond its educational ramifications. In Chapter Two, the range of meanings attached to 'international' is applied to international education. This is followed by a review of salient developments in both practice and research into tertiary level international education. Chapters Three and Four illustrate how and why regional variations in international education arise, building a detailed picture of the themes and modes of advocacy characteristic of each region. Both chapters adopt a structural analysis emphasising social, cultural, and political factors. The second explanatory approach is deployed in Chapter Five, where similarities and differences in international education are explored from an institutional perspective. Case studies are used to show the extent to which actors' accounts of institutional developments in international education reflect the themes anchored in a macro-level or structural framework. The evidence suggests that intermediate and institutional agendas have equal heuristic potential in accounting for variations in international education. Focusing on institutional perspectives and local accounts of international education grounds the macro-level analysis of regional differences and continuities; a mid-range explanatory approach is thus suggested in Chapter Six.

Transnational higher education (TNE) involves the offering overseas of ‘home university’ award courses by, or with, overseas partners, or directly through an overseas branch of the university. TNE is growing in significance in the context of the internationalisation of higher education and the increasing mobility of information and people in a more globalised world. TNE has become an important and distinctive avenue of access for many students. However, TNE is a complex and demanding activity for institutional managers. The context for the study is the relative paucity of research on the management of TNE, compared with the teaching-learning area, coupled with my own professional interest in understanding and improving TNE management. The study involved a thematic analysis of documentary sources in the form of institutional audit reports by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA). The specific objectives were to identify and analyse the patterns and themes in AUQA’s concerns and commendations, in order to draw out the implications for improving the development and management of TNE. Finally, using a strategic management perspective, the main challenges confronting senior institutional managers in TNE initiatives were examined. A total of 204 concerns and 31 commendations were identified by a systematic review of TNE management in 27 university audit reports. The concerns and commendations were categorised using a structured, 6-dimensional analytical framework to produce a comprehensive overview of management issues in TNE. Almost half the concerns and commendations related to institutional strategy and management, with significant numbers also relating to governance and quality assurance. In relation to the 235 concerns and commendations, 21 themes, or areas of recurring concern, were identified. Major themes included weaknesses in academic and corporate governance processes, alignment of TNE initiatives with overall university strategy, and senior management oversight. For each theme, implications for improving management practice were developed by drawing on relevant literature and my own professional experience. Adopting a strategic management perspective suggested that the 21 themes could be grouped meaningfully into 3 clusters relating to: Integrating the TNE venture into institutional structure and processes; Determining the nature and form of the TNE partnership and associated contract; and Managing and sustaining the TNE initiative. A model was developed to illustrate the interrelationship between the 3 clusters and the role of strategic leadership. The study contributes to developing a deeper and more systematic understanding of the nature of TNE and the sources for concerns that arise from its inherent complexity and risk. The study also extends the broad knowledge base for consultants, institutional managers, practising academics and quality assurance and accreditation agencies in Australia and other countries. Finally, the study contributes to strengthening my own professional knowledge and practice as a consultant to Australian and overseas universities and private higher education institutions who are developing TNE programs.

With the aid of information and communication technology, e-learning has become the latest model in education. Saudi Arabian universities are currently applying the idea of e-learning to facilitate life-long learning and provide new educational opportunities for students. In particular, e-learning is being strongly supported by the Saudi Ministry of Education. Therefore, the Jusur LMS was created, in order to manage the e-learning process. However, a 'one size fits all' approach, whilst not ideal in general, is especially not appropriate for the Saudi culture. Moreover, there is limited support for students to satisfy their individual needs, especially for implementing collaborative projects. To better understand the Saudi students’ needs, this research focuses on the acceptance of the social personalised e-learning, versus static e-learning and traditional education for Saudi university students, and how the former can cater to Saudi education, instead of offering an identical delivery to all students, regardless of students’ interests, preferences, backgrounds, or knowledge. The results from a relatively large-scale case study at Taibah University point towards Saudi students accepting more easily social personalised e-learning, than static e-learning or classroom education. Additionally, the results revealed that Saudi students cannot be said to perceive usefulness, ease of use, and intention of further use towards the traditional collaborative e-learning system they use (the Jusur system) for group project work. Furthermore, this study analyses the current level of satisfaction and the needs for collaborative team projects, with the aim of predicting further requirements for social personalised e-learning systems. It investigates the needs of the students for best ways for recommending the project, group members and communication tools for the group project, aiming at collecting the requirements for the implementation of the research environment. Additionally, it proposes a framework for recommendation of collaborative project work to function within a social e-Learning System. Additionally, it proposed the architecture of the system. It investigated Saudi Arabian higher education students’ acceptance of a recommended virtual project and recommended group formation for e-learning versus traditional project- and team-formation methods for e-learning. The comparison is based on the well-known technology acceptance model (TAM), the theoretical xi framework which was used for designing the data collection from students. The results of the case study have indicated that a recommended virtual project and recommended group formation for e-learning is more acceptable to Saudi students than current e-learning methods.