Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Over recent years there has been considerable debate about the purpose, value and expectations of higher education. The relationship between government and the higher education sector has become focussed on the efficiency and effectiveness of the sector and on the experience of students as customers. These notions are contested, and sit within a broader context that includes consumerism, marketization, globalisation, and public sectorreform more generally. In higher education, this debate has been polarised and sometimes characterised within institutions as “collegiate” versus “managerial”. These tensions are explored not simply as competing perspectives but as ciphers for competing ideologies. The study considered how academic managers have negotiated this terrain, and the contribution of management to the health of an institution. Qualitative interviews were carried out with senior academic managers in 12 post-92 UK universities, which were regarded as particularly susceptible to economic pressures affecting the public sector following the financial crash of 2008. Conceptual and practical issues relating to the use of interviews were addressed, and the limitations of the study explored. A number of broad themes were identified: management orientation, about how the organisation is run; institutional orientation, about institutionalpurpose and journey, past and future; orientation towards academic staff and students; and, student related performance measures. The inter-relations between themes, and the patterns in participant responses were examined. Management actions can affect institutional performance for good or ill, and the bounded nature of the relationship between academics and managers is acknowledged. In this context, advice is offered that may be of benefit to university academic managers balancing competing expectations in complex and challenging financial times.

This research examines the involvement of the parents of secondary school children in career education and guidance (CEG). It is based on a secondary analysis of existing data from a research project I was involved in. This initial research evaluated the impact of a parent-involved career intervention, 'Parents Turn', in which six career teachers delivered four successive sessions to parent(s) accompanied by their child in the third or fifth year of their secondary school (HAVO) in the Netherlands. The study is important both to the field and to practitioners. Examples of parentinvolved career intervention in CEG are limited, scantily researched, and most were not sustained, which may explain why knowledge on involving parents in CEG is underdeveloped. I discuss these gaps in the evidence by providing an overview on the literature on parental influences and roles in their child's career development, an international inventory of and taxonomy for parent-involved, school-based career interventions, and providing relevant knowledge on parental-involvement in education in general. I then present new analysis of data collected by an earlier evaluation of the 'Parents' Turn' intervention. My secondary analysis approaches this data with new research questions, in-depth analyses and a non-parametric methodology. I integrated the quantitative and qualitative results to understand who was involved in the intervention, why, and whether the impact differed for the learning of parents with and without higher education (HE) qualifications. I also sought to understand the role of the school in the intervention. The findings suggest that a school-initiated career intervention involving parents, in the form of family learning and community interaction, can build and enhance parents' capacity to be involved in and support the career development of their child: their knowledge and skills, parental self-efficacy and parental role-definition. However, the career intervention works differently for parents who have different levels of HE level attainment. Lower-educated parents seem less aware of the consequences of early educational decisions in their child's career and also have different needs for being involved in the career intervention compared to highereducated parents. Despite the impact of the career intervention on their parental capacity, lower-educated parents remain unsure as a parent of how to make use of gained information, guidance and support tools. Third-year (14-16-year-olds) parents' information and support needs are the greatest and they are open to changing their attitude to grant their child autonomy in managing their own career development. The study also finds that features of the present school system are major barriers to sustaining the intervention. Recommendations for policies and practice at school level are offered. A more focused public policy for parental involvement in career education and guidance in secondary schools could both improve the efficiency of the education system and combat social injustice.

Thesis (M.A. (Psigologie)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a Go Make a Difference (Go MAD) training programme on the self-regulation of a group of students at a higher education institution in South Africa. An availability sample of 20 university students took part in a simple pre-test, post-test experimental and control group design. Data were gathered with the Generalised Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS), the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS), the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI), and a self-compiled open-ended questionnaire to explore participants' subjective experience of the programme. It was found that Go MAD® shows potential as a valid tool to foster self-regulation in students and to help them ultimately to achieve their goals. However, students who chose unrealistic, non-feasible goals and who had to deal with unresolved emotional issues found it difficult to attain their goals. Findings support other impact studies regarding Go MAD. Further research on larger, random samples with presentation of Go MAD over a longer period of time, as well as longer-term follow-up assessments to determine the extent to which improved goal achievement is sustainable, is recommended. / Thesis (M.A. (Psigologie)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a Go Make a Difference (Go MAD) training programme on the self-regulation of a group of students at a higher education institution in South Africa. An availability sample of 20 university students took part in a simple pre-test, post-test experimental and control group design. Data were gathered with the Generalised Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS), the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS), the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI), and a self-compiled open-ended questionnaire to explore participants' subjective experience of the programme. It was found that Go MAD® shows potential as a valid tool to foster self-regulation in students and to help them ultimately to achieve their goals. However, students who chose unrealistic, non-feasible goals and who had to deal with unresolved emotional issues found it difficult to attain their goals. Findings support other impact studies regarding Go MAD. Further research on larger, random samples with presentation of Go MAD over a longer period of time, as well as longer-term follow-up assessments to determine the extent to which improved goal achievement is sustainable, is recommended. / Thesis (M.A. (Psigologie)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Extracurricular enterprise activities have steadily increased over the past decade within universities (Rae et al., 2012), as has the domain of entrepreneurial learning research (Wang and Chugh, 2014) yet limited empirical research examines links between the two phenomena. This thesis connects educational theory, entrepreneurial learning theory and entrepreneurial education research to examine the role that extracurricular enterprise activities may have within the entrepreneurial learning processes of students at United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions. Utilising a social constructionist paradigm of enquiry this thesis critically examines perceptions of the value of extracurricular enterprise activities from an educator and student perspective. A semi-structured survey (n=55) and in depth interviews with students (n=23) and enterprise educators (n=3) across 24 UK universities explored what extracurricular enterprise activities students engaged in, their motivations for engagement and the perceived value of extracurricular enterprise activities in relation to entrepreneurial learning processes. Findings suggest that extracurricular enterprise activities not only provide value in the experiential and social learning opportunities afforded for participants, but the positioning of these activities outside of the main curriculum enables students to develop their autonomous learning capabilities. The results contribute to an emerging body of literature examining self-directed learning activities and entrepreneurial learning (Van Gelderen, 2010; Tseng, 2013). The thesis concludes that while experiential and social learning opportunities occupy a central role within entrepreneurial learning processes of university students, self-directed learning activities are increasingly important, and emphasis should be placed upon enabling students to self-direct their entrepreneurial learning processes. For policy and practice, this research provides additional scrutiny of the proposition that extracurricular enterprise activities positively enhance learning through examining what extracurricular enterprise activities students choose to engage in and the benefits they perceive they attained. This research also provides an enhanced understanding of how students interpret and apply the theoretical concept of entrepreneurial learning. Research examining entrepreneurial learning is important in enabling a more effective understanding of the entrepreneurial process yet studies examining student perceptions of entrepreneurial learning remain limited (Mueller and Anderson, 2014; Wang and Chugh, 2014). Finally, this thesis presents the central role of self-directed learning activities to students’ entrepreneurial learning processes and provides recommendations for enhancing entrepreneurial education.

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This paper addresses the question of whether higher education Hispanic students of different nationalities have different perceptual learning style preferences. Independent samples t-tests findings suggest the country of origin of a Hispanic student's parents has a statistically significant relationship (n=165, p<0.0073) with student's learning style preferences. ANOVA results also identified a statistically significant relationship between SES and group learning style (p<0.004,) and between visual learning style and two factors: age (p<0.011) and family education (p<0.033).