NUAS conference Students in focus recruitment, retention and employability Reykjavík, November 8-10 2009 The higher educational market: on what grounds.

NUAS conference Students in focus recruitment, retention and employability Reykjavík, November The higher educational market: on what grounds do students choose a programme, and then stay or leave? Jón Torfi Jónasson School of Education, University of Iceland

Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009
Students in focus Will discuss the development of the university as an institution, setting the focus on the student, not only because that is the theme of the conference, but because I argue it is an eminently useful perspective to adopt in order to understand some of the problems and dilemmas of the modern university, and also to adopt particularly when discussing issues related to choice, the quality of education, retention and employability. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

A perennial problem The problematic relationship between research and practice, How does research, − information, understanding, theory translate into sensible actions, e.g. how does information, understanding and even theory about attendance, choice and drop-out in tertiary education translate into operational responses by the institutions? The constant demand for information. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Four perspectives Or suggest four levels of discourse Society and the university The university in society The university and the student The student in the university Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Four perspectives Society and the university How society moulds the university, e.g. by credentialism The university in society How the university is affected by the students being parts of society The university and the student How the university is affected by its dependence on students The student in the university How the student can flourish, develop, and be encouraged by the university Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Society and the university
Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

How society moulds the university Governments are important agents, operating by setting legal framework by using the research fund system, by establishing rules for funding the universities e.g. by attaching the funds to per student capita (FTE) The world of work is important but less important than many people envisage Students are perhaps the most important moulding force through their choices, general and specific through their demands and priorities Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Norway: The growth of female attendance at tertiary level (Universiteter og högskoler) Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Sweden: Growth coefficients for examination profiles for different female and male age groups: First examination 160 poang or more (four years or more) Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Higher education: enrolment in the US 1900-2004

Some of the implications of the credentialist or consumerist ethos This is not the sole concern of students, nor even an overriding one, but an important one, and Students will come to HE education in fairly massive numbers, but the competition (and probably increasingly a serious one) will be among, but probably mainly within the universities, Many students will adopt a consumer approach to the way they judge or value their programmes and decide to stay or leave. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The gender issue, following Camilla Schreiner, I have come to analyse educational development differently for males and females, because of the systematic and robust differences. I have found in some instances increased polarisation, rather than reduced, e.g. in the choice of subjects. However given the ubiquitous and robust statistical differences, one should constantly be reminded, that boys differ and so do girls. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The university in society

How the university is affected by the students being parts of society, by their age, many of whom are full adult participants in society, and even though they take their studies seriously, they have a host of demanding pressures, commitments, situation constraints, priorities, ambitions, these must be accepted by the institutions, but it is not clear to what extent this must be done nor what the implications are: this is an urgent topic for discussion. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The age of students in Nordic HE, % distribution (2007, 2008) Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The age of students in the Icelandic university system Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The university and the student

How the university is dependent on students, The culture of universities, Humboldt 1809 / Whitehead 1929 H The goals of science and scholarship are worked towards most effectively through the synthesis of the teacher’s and the students’ dispositions. The teacher’s mind is more mature but it is also somewhat one-sided in its development and more dispassionate; the student’s mind is less able and less committed but it is nonetheless open and responsive to every possibility. The two together are a fruitful combination. W The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative considerations of learning. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

In order to fulfil the Humboldt / Whitehead ideal, there must be a temperate number of students, but there are certainly two issues that complicate the situation, i.e. cost and policy. Government policy is twofold, one side is to reduce its financial contribution per student, but the other is to demand wider access, and that a steadily higher proportion of students, not only attend HE institutions, but also complete their courses. These policies are implemented by a very direct and transparent tie between the financial contribution and the FTE; thus the institutions become very dependent on high student throughput, with an obvious threat to quality. This is to me an urgent topic for discussion. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The student in the university

The point has been implied in the above that it would be problematic to deal with issues within the institution, without taking into account, the three perspectives, already discussed. We must understand in what way the university is seen as a vehicle of advancement, security and status, but of course also and important venue for education, by the student. We must also understand in what way our students, even though keenly interested in their studies, are also active participants in other arenas of society. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Furthermore we must note that we should not treat them as customers, being served, but as our active partners, they are as Humboldt noted, no longer at school, but adult participants in the quest for learning. Something the institutional ethos of mass education tends to ignore, being in danger of turning HE into a robust routine. At the same time we might openly discuss to what extent we treat or serve our students for our somewhat selfish aims of financial well-being. From both these perspectives, those who leave without obtaining their degrees are a particular concern. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The student in the university A survey
A study of those who drop or stop-out from the University of Iceland (May 2008, in Icelandic). Survey of a sample of 350 students originally registered in under- or post-graduate programmes at the University of Iceland, selected from a larger group of dropouts. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

The student in the university, but the institutions differ
English universities: Student workload by subject – highest and lowest institutional mean hours per week (average of 2006 and 2007 results combined) Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Four perspectives Four levels of the discourse suggested Society and the university The university in society The university and the student The student in the university Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

An institutional response to attending and leaving students
I have tried to argue above that understanding how choosing to go to university, and then attending, persisting or leaving the institution is very complex and we must be mindful to adopt a number of perspectives in order to understand the students and their behaviour, inter alia their attributions when asked about the university. They live in many worlds, apart from their own. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

An institutional response to attending and leaving students
I have lately come to the conclusion that we should couch our dilemmas concerning students, in cultural terms. What should be the operational culture of a university? Thus, rather than asking what specific responses might be appropriate when dealing with attending, or leaving students, we might ask ourselves what institutional culture we want to create. A culture that treats the students as co-workers and equals, rather than school students or customers. We should certainly be professional directors of the operation, leaders and mentors, shouldering our full responsibility – with them. Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

Thank you Kærar þakkir Jón Torfi Jónasson - NUAS - Nov 2009

NUAS conference Students in focus recruitment, retention and employability Reykjavík, November 8-10 2009 The higher educational market: on what grounds.

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NUAS conference Students in focus recruitment, retention and employability Reykjavík, November 8-10 2009 The higher educational market: on what grounds.

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