The paper sheds some light on the education returns in Germany in the post war period. After describing higher education in Germany the current stand of higher education financing within the single states is presented. In six states tuition fees will be introduced in 2007/08 and discussions are going on in even some more. In the second part of the paper an empirical analysis is done using longitudinal data from the German social pension system. The analysis over the whole lifecycle renders results which proof that the higher education advantages are quite remarkable and might be a justification for more intensified financing by tuition fees. But all this has to be embedded into an encompassing strategy of tax and social policy, especially to prevent a strengthened process of social selection, which would be counterproductive for an increased and highly qualified human capital in Germany.

Der vorgestellte Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die gegenwärtige Hochschulfinanzierung in Deutschland; kürzlich haben einige Bundesländer Studiengebühren eingeführt, die zu einer teilweisen Finanzierung der Studienkosten beitragen sollen. Im II. Kapitel werden außerdem kurz die finanziellen Strukturen der tertiären Ausbildung in den OECD-Ländern beschrieben. Dabei geht es vor allem um die Kostenaufteilung zwischen öffentlichem und privatem Sektor. Im III. Kapitel werden dann die Verteilungswirkungen des gegenwärtigen Finanzierungssystems kritisch hinterfragt. Dabei wird auch auf den Lebenseinkommensvorteil einer Hochschulausbildung im Detail eingegangen, bevor dann mögliche Auswirkungen einer Gebührenfinanzierung diskutiert werden. Es wird deutlich hervor gehoben, dass die Einführung von Studiengebühren in eine umfassende hochschul- und bildungspolitische Strategie eingebettet sein muss, damit eine negative Selektionswirkung auf die Jugendlichen aus Haushalten mit prekären Einkommen vermieden wird. / The paper sheds some light on the financial structures of higher education in Germany. Recently in several member states of Germany tuition fees have been introduced. Chapter II describes the current situation in Germany, the financial structures in the OECD countries and sheds some light on the higher education costs as well as parts to be borne by the public and private sector. Chapter III discussed the distributional impacts of the current German system and adds some information on the education returns in Germany in the post war period. The analysis over the whole lifecycle renders results which proof that the higher education advantages are quite remarkable and might be a justification for more intensified financing by tuition fees. But all this has to be embedded into an encompassing strategy of tax and social policy, especially to prevent a strengthened process of social selection, which would be counterproductive for an increased and highly qualified human capital in Germany.

<p>The focus of this paper is the right of the visually impaired to access tertiary education that is not unfairly discriminative and unequal. The study is intended to highlight the inadequacy in the current legislation on equality such as the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 and the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997 in properly promoting the ideals and purpose of constitution. Furthermore to analyse the constitutional court's approach to equality and non discrimination in order to provide solutions and recommendations for changes to existing legislation that is indeed to be effective.It also aim to define what it means to have equality for the visually impaired, more especially in tertiary education through the constitutional court's definition of equality...</p>

Rapid internationalization of European higher education has resulted in a considerable increase in the number of English-medium instruction (EMI) degree programs now implemented at all levels of instruction. While this change of medium provides increased academic opportunities for all university stakeholders, the use of English by non-native speakers for teaching and learning in non-Anglosphere countries necessitates consideration of the ramifications of EMI. This study was motivated by the growing discussion of the challenges of English-medium instruction confronting lecturers for whom English is a foreign language. This case study investigated how 10 experienced lecturers in the natural sciences at the University of Copenhagen define their own teacher identity, and, their perceptions of any effects on their identity when shifting from Danish-medium instruction to English-medium instruction. This study utilized a multi-method approach to allow fuller access into the teachers' cognitions, and to overcome the weaknesses that arise from the use of self-report surveys to collect thoughts and perceptions. This approach comprised classroom observation of graduate level lectures, stimulated recall of these teaching events, and individual semi-structured interviews with the lecturers. The observations and stimulated recall served as a scaffold on which the interviews were built. In addition to questions directly focused on identity, the interviews also included two card sorting activities as elicitation devices. The analysis drew on the lecturers' comments and concerns related specifically to their underlying teacher cognitions about professional expertise, professional authority, and professional identity when teaching outside one's mother tongue in a multicultural, multilingual graduate setting. The results provide: 1) a model of teacher identity for lecturers in the natural sciences, 2) evidence that experienced NNS lecturers of natural science EMI do not find that the identified challenges of teaching in a foreign language affect their personal sense of teacher identify, and 3) reflections on teacher cognition studies. The lecturers highlight teaching experience and pedagogic content knowledge as factors that are at the core of their teacher identity. While the findings here report that these lecturers express confidence and security in the EMI context, the results also confirm the instructional and linguistic challenges identified in previous EMI research. This suggests that university managementneed to acknowledge these challenges, and develop and implement both linguistic and pedagogic competence training programs to support the needs of less experienced EMI lecturers.

The purpose of this thesis is to map possible benefits and drawbacks of the newly proposed funding system of tertiary education system in the Czech Republic (with a focus on an issue of private funding). The paper should examine two different interpretations of the funding system, that is the perspectives of ¡§Liberal¡¨ part and ¡§Socialist part¡¨ of the Czech political spectrum. The thesis will try to find and explain possible drawbacks (as they are expressed by left-wing oriented observers) and possible positive effects of a proposed tertiary education system funding reform (as observed by the liberal, right-wing, analysts and observers). The paper should demonstrate how market forces are and/or are not beneficial in a tertiary education sphere, and whether and how they can be reflected in efficiency and equity of tertiary education system. This paper should also provide interviews with people from different fields and of different perspectives and explore their reasoning in more detail. The observations included in the research demonstrate three models of higher-education system; these are a general USA model, a Swedish model, and a concrete model of a profitable successful college, EM Lyon, France. These models should offer a comparison and possible implications for the Czech TES funding reform; these possible implications should be a part of a conclusion of this paper.

<p>The focus of this paper is the right of the visually impaired to access tertiary education that is not unfairly discriminative and unequal. The study is intended to highlight the inadequacy in the current legislation on equality such as the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 and the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997 in properly promoting the ideals and purpose of constitution. Furthermore to analyse the constitutional court's approach to equality and non discrimination in order to provide solutions and recommendations for changes to existing legislation that is indeed to be effective.It also aim to define what it means to have equality for the visually impaired, more especially in tertiary education through the constitutional court's definition of equality...</p>

Research has observed an ever-increasing emphasis which is placed on the international dimension in higher education. This thesis is particularly interested in the question, why internationalisation? It constitutes a case study of the rationales driving the national policies for the internationalisation of higher education in New Zealand, the findings of which are compared with those of the seven European countries (Austria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom) analysed as part of a recent European Union 5th Framework Programme project. The available research suggests that economic rationales increasingly drive internationalisation and the first phase of the above project reaffirmed that this was the case at the national level in those countries analysed. This thesis provides an opportunity to corroborate this research and assess whether the same is true in New Zealand. Above all, it intends to contribute to an improved conception of the phenomenon of increasing internationalisation in higher education from which informed discussion and critical debate about its future can take place.

It is no unknown fact that South African learners underachieve in mathematics. Due to the fact that the quality of mathematics teaching is one possible factor that has an influence on learners' mathematics achievement, there are valid reasons questioning the conceptual mathematical knowledge of mathematics teachers. In order to facilitate conceptual understanding teachers themselves must possess profound mathematical knowledge. Apart from the influence of a teacher's knowledge for teaching, teachers' attitudes and beliefs play a meaningful role in the way they teach mathematics. The deficient nature of prospective and practising teachers' knowledge of school mathematics, as well as their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics has serious implications for the training of prospective mathematics teachers. Literature reveals that a technologically enhanced environment can improve the conceptual learning of prospective mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a dynamic technologically enhanced environment on the attitudes and beliefs, as well as the conceptualisation of prospective mathematics teachers regarding the function concept. In this study, prospective teachers were exposed to Geometer's Sketchpad®, a dynamic software programme providing a powerful learning context that promotes the investigation of algebraic relationships. In order to answer the research question, an explanatory mixed method design was used. In the quantitative part of the study, the Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics and a function test were administered to prospective teachers. In the latter, conceptualisation of the function concept was measured in terms of four competence components, namely interpretation, modelling, translation and reification. In the qualitative part of the investigation semi-structured and task-based interviews were held with a group of prospective teachers. Analysis of the results revealed that the dynamic technologically enhanced environment did not contribute to an improvement of the prospective teachers' attitudes and beliefs. In fact, these decreased visibly. Regarding their conceptualisation, only the reification component showed a practically significant improvement. It therefore appears as if prospective teachers are not being prepared to benefit from the dynamic technologically enhanced environment. A model is proposed for the effective use of such a learning environment. The model involves that diagnostic assessment be made of prospective teachers' basic knowledge of the function concept, their study habits, their attitudes and beliefs with respect to mathematics, as well as their mathematics anxiety. The second component comprises recommendations made to prospective teachers as a result of the diagnostic assessment, as well as continuous support being offered as an integrated part of the mathematics module. Support is offered with respect to cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, affective factors and the creation of an advantageous technologically enhanced learning environment. Despite the restricted value of generalisation of the findings from this study, I still recommend the expansion, refining and implementation of the model so that prospective mathematics teachers can effectively benefit from a technologically enhanced environment. Key words for indexing: mathematics education, mathematics teacher education, teacher knowledge, prospective mathematics teachers, function concept, conceptual learning, tertiary education. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

It is no unknown fact that South African learners underachieve in mathematics. Due to the fact that the quality of mathematics teaching is one possible factor that has an influence on learners' mathematics achievement, there are valid reasons questioning the conceptual mathematical knowledge of mathematics teachers. In order to facilitate conceptual understanding teachers themselves must possess profound mathematical knowledge. Apart from the influence of a teacher's knowledge for teaching, teachers' attitudes and beliefs play a meaningful role in the way they teach mathematics. The deficient nature of prospective and practising teachers' knowledge of school mathematics, as well as their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics has serious implications for the training of prospective mathematics teachers. Literature reveals that a technologically enhanced environment can improve the conceptual learning of prospective mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a dynamic technologically enhanced environment on the attitudes and beliefs, as well as the conceptualisation of prospective mathematics teachers regarding the function concept. In this study, prospective teachers were exposed to Geometer's Sketchpad®, a dynamic software programme providing a powerful learning context that promotes the investigation of algebraic relationships. In order to answer the research question, an explanatory mixed method design was used. In the quantitative part of the study, the Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics and a function test were administered to prospective teachers. In the latter, conceptualisation of the function concept was measured in terms of four competence components, namely interpretation, modelling, translation and reification. In the qualitative part of the investigation semi-structured and task-based interviews were held with a group of prospective teachers. Analysis of the results revealed that the dynamic technologically enhanced environment did not contribute to an improvement of the prospective teachers' attitudes and beliefs. In fact, these decreased visibly. Regarding their conceptualisation, only the reification component showed a practically significant improvement. It therefore appears as if prospective teachers are not being prepared to benefit from the dynamic technologically enhanced environment. A model is proposed for the effective use of such a learning environment. The model involves that diagnostic assessment be made of prospective teachers' basic knowledge of the function concept, their study habits, their attitudes and beliefs with respect to mathematics, as well as their mathematics anxiety. The second component comprises recommendations made to prospective teachers as a result of the diagnostic assessment, as well as continuous support being offered as an integrated part of the mathematics module. Support is offered with respect to cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, affective factors and the creation of an advantageous technologically enhanced learning environment. Despite the restricted value of generalisation of the findings from this study, I still recommend the expansion, refining and implementation of the model so that prospective mathematics teachers can effectively benefit from a technologically enhanced environment. Key words for indexing: mathematics education, mathematics teacher education, teacher knowledge, prospective mathematics teachers, function concept, conceptual learning, tertiary education. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

In South Africa, the staff of higher education institutions experiences several stressors in their work and home domains. Therefore, it is important to understand how these two life domains are in interaction with each other. The general objective of this study was to investigate how higher education staff experienced work-personal life interaction (WPLI). A sample of 24 higher education staff that was willing to participate in the study was taken from different faculties and departments from a higher education institution in the Free State Province. For the purpose of this research, a qualitative design from a phenomenological approach was used. The specific objectives of this study were to determine the experiences, main dimensions, antecedents, consequences, and strategies in the lives of higher education staff. The results obtained indicated that Afrikaans and African women and men experienced time and strain-based conflict. Their work environment was characterised by a heavy workload, long working hours, resulting in work being taken home, and their home environment was characterised by a demanding family (spouses and children) and household duties. Men and women also thought about things in the family domain (e.g., when their children were sick) while they were at work. This caused a constant spill over, leaving employees tired and stressed. Strategies (e.g., prioritising, planning and time management) and support (e.g., spouses, division of family and household duties, friends and colleagues, as well as the flexible working hours) helped them to cope with this interaction. Recommendations were made for future research and the organisation. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.