Thesis advisor: Irwin Blumer / The focus of this dissertation is the student voice in College Bound (CB), a pre-college preparation program at Boston College. College Bound has existed on the Boston College campus for more than twenty years as an academic enrichment and supportive program that benefits urban students from two Boston Public high schools. The two essential questions of the research are "What do students say they learn at CB?" and "What suggestions do students have to improve the CB Program?" Literature about the importance of the student voice in the educational enterprise is reviewed as a means of giving context to the study. Primary data included student surveys (n=29), interviews (n=12), and focus groups (n=3). Other sources utilized included field notes and observations of the researcher as participant-observer, in addition to official College Bound documents. The constant comparative method was used to analyze data from the primary data sources. Data was also analyzed by data type and findings were presented thematically. Major findings included: CB students know a lot of what is going on and do not attend CB as empty vessels, but bring their own knowledge and experience to the CB Program. Students say they learn academic self-discipline, a more focused search for potential colleges to attend, and value their experience attending the CB program on the Boston College campus. Suggestions for improving the CB Program include: creating a regular schedule, re-establishing a community meeting experience, ensuring a consistent connection with their Boston College mentors, and providing more field trips to other colleges and museums. Participating student voices should be encouraged and respected as an important source of information in educational programs that exist to benefit those very students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership.

Western democracies are characterised by a significant level of distrust and widespread feelings of disenfranchisement amongst ordinary citizens. The rise of populist political parties, figures and movements reflects the gradual development of a strong and increasingly vocal anti-establishment sentiment amongst millions of people who feel that the ideas and actions of political elites and experts are at odds with and do not represent their own lives. As sites where political elites are educated and socialised, universities (and the knowledge they produce) have a role in both causing and potentially solving this democratic deficit. There is a role for universities to alter their epistemological practices in ways that respect and give voice to the multiplicity of experiences, beliefs and issues in the world. There is also scope for universities to engage in civic education both on and off campus. This thesis reflects on an experiment that attempted to do this, applying the principles of philosophical pragmatism and the democratic vision of John Dewey in a participatory research project in east London to convene publics of citizens around pressing social issues and develop their power to effect change. This experiment highlighted the importance of having an underlying, place-based, civic infrastructure comprising relationships and sociality to do this work. There were further challenges in adequately respecting pluralism in a diverse world, and building citizen power in a context where experts are deemed to know best. The thesis ends by examining the wider lessons of this experiment. It looks at the potential of community-university partnerships to act as vehicles for democratic renewal, arguing that universities have the potential to re-cast themselves as mediating institutions to facilitate democracy in their local communities.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Leadership, 2005. / Title from second page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [2], iv, 177 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-174).

Teacher education programs have long grappled with the disconnects between campus and classroom in the preparation of teacher candidates. Both are important sites of learning for teacher candidates, and yet the design of conventional teacher education programs leaves little room for teacher candidates to explore theory and practice simultaneously in ways that recognize the multifaceted nature of learning how to teach. In addition, teacher educators are faced with the complex demands of being responsive to the needs of teacher candidates while at the same time challenging assumptions and beliefs in order to ensure new teachers are responsive to the diverse needs of their students. Teacher educators, too, need to make their own dilemmas and tensions of practice observable both to teacher candidates and to one another as they consider and interrogate their beliefs and assumptions about teaching. This study explores Link2Practice, a partnership between the University of Victoria and SD 62 (Sooke) which was organized to provide a campus and classroom experience for Elementary Post-Degree Program students from the beginning of their program. A group of participants involved as teacher educators in Link2Practice engaged in a self-study with the purpose of examining how sharing leadership in teacher education provided the participants the opportunity to engage in conversations about the partnership, and how our professional learning, understandings of teacher education, and understandings of ourselves as teacher educators were informed through the research. / Graduate

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There are currently over 300 Confucius Institutes in nearly 100 countries around the world. The fast rise of the Confucius Institute since its inception in 2004 has attracted attention from both political and academic arenas. Recent research on the Confucius Institute has focused on China's goal to increase its soft power through this establishment. The objective of this Master's thesis is to explore the nature of the partnership between Chinese and Canadian universities through the Confucius Institute. Specifically, three Canadian Confucius Institutes are selected for the case studies. This interdisciplinary research uses Constructivism from International Relations and Internationalization of Higher Education as the theoretical framework for analysis. Data collection involves interviewing key administrative staff from each site along with a review of secondary resources such as online and print literature. Significance of key findings and suggestions for future research are provided in the conclusion of this thesis.

There are currently over 300 Confucius Institutes in nearly 100 countries around the world. The fast rise of the Confucius Institute since its inception in 2004 has attracted attention from both political and academic arenas. Recent research on the Confucius Institute has focused on China's goal to increase its soft power through this establishment. The objective of this Master's thesis is to explore the nature of the partnership between Chinese and Canadian universities through the Confucius Institute. Specifically, three Canadian Confucius Institutes are selected for the case studies. This interdisciplinary research uses Constructivism from International Relations and Internationalization of Higher Education as the theoretical framework for analysis. Data collection involves interviewing key administrative staff from each site along with a review of secondary resources such as online and print literature. Significance of key findings and suggestions for future research are provided in the conclusion of this thesis.

Community-university partnerships have become more prevalent to support community-based research, especially as a collaborative approach to research with Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. One practice is the activation of a community-based research steering committee to initiate, govern, and review research pertaining to their local community. Within literature related to community-based research, perspectives on capacity strengthening and co-learning from the members of a community-based research steering committee are under-represented. A qualitative case study approach was used to explore the research question: What are the experiences of the Alexander Research Committee (ARC) members in defining and operationalizing capacity strengthening and co-learning across multi-sectoral research projects? Nine current and past members of the ARC participated in individual semi-structured interviews and five of these ARC members also participated in a subsequent focus-group discussion. Analysis of these qualitative data indicated that foundational relationships and a conducive learning environment are key factors for a community-based research committee to experience co-constructed knowledge and learning. The findings of this study highlight the importance of an operational foundation of trusting relationships in order to establish and sustain a working environment where a community-based research committee can learn together and from each other. This study also yielded insights about how this community-based research committee predicated capacity strengthening from the understanding that ‘we are all learners’, with each member bringing forward unique strengths, questions and growth to the research processes. / Graduate

This dissertation as an exploratory study examines the characteristics of the students of a charter school participating in a partnership with a university located in an improving low socioeconomic environment in the northeastern U.S., which has been dedicated to providing educational opportunities to the underserved. This dissertation also discerns the configuration, processes, goals, future, and challenges of a charter network as it relates to a partnership. In addition, this dissertation aims to provide the following: some understanding to the phenomenon (for example, changes/present key issues in higher education) at hand; insight regarding structural factors which may or may not be impediments for the students; to discover if the goals and objectives set forth within the partnership could serve as a model to address affordability and access. This exploratory study on the partnership supports the continuation of investigation into the effectiveness of direct university-charter school partnerships. / Educational Administration

Yes / The central aim of the paper is to examine the nature and function of higher education in Africa, and to explore the potential for partnerships between institutions in the Global North and South to assist in meeting the current capacity challenge. The paper starts with a critical exploration of the contemporary shifts taking place in higher education around the world and how this is transforming academic and professional identities. Following this is an analysis of the rationales that drive the process of ¿internationalisation¿ of higher education. We argue that internationalisation and globalisation present both a challenge and an opportunity for the rapidly expanding systems of higher education in Africa. We then go on to consider how international partnerships might support the development of Higher Education institutions in Africa and we present a critical analysis of the pitfalls and potentials of such collaborations. We also reflect on a long-term collaborative relationship between the Universities of Bradford (UK) and Mzumbe (Tanzania). From this we take the view that robust and strategic long-term partnerships can avoid neo-colonial relationships and offer potential for both partners, but this requires institutional commitment at all levels. This literature review serves as a foundational study, which will feed into further papers reflecting on the evolution and practice of the partnerships in place between JEFCAS (University of Bradford) and HE institutions in Africa.