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The study reported in this article investigated motivation and integration dimensions that influence college academic achievement of first-generation students compared to nonfirst-generation students. Participants consisted of 277 ethnically diverse students who were attending a community college. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses revealed that motivation and integration dimensions contributed significantly to academic achievement for first-generation students, but not for nonfirst-generation students. Specifically, among first-generation students, academic integration contributed to higher grade point averages while extrinsic motivation and amotivation contributed significantly to lower grades. Implications of these finding and recommendations are discussed.

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The research report provides a comprehensive overview of the development of lifelong learning (LLL) in the higher education sector worldwide. It examines how higher education institutions (HEIs) have contributed to LLL and shows the levels of advancement in different areas of implementation. The report is based on the results of an international survey conducted in 2020, which was led by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in cooperation with the International Association of Universities (IAU) and Shanghai Open University (SOU). Valid responses to the survey were submitted by 399 institutions from 96 countries in all regions of the world.

The report considers three main aspects of lifelong learning institutionalization in higher education. These are supportive policy environments to promote LLL in higher education; institutional governance and implementation; and how and to what extent HEIs are widening access through diversification and flexibility. Overall, the survey results show that, in many HEIs around the world, important steps and initiatives have been taken towards implementing lifelong learning within the field of higher education. Nevertheless, more holistic and institution-wide approaches are needed to fully transform HEIs into LLL institutions.

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This report provides an overview of key policy developments in education, training and employment in Azerbaijan which is in the process of redefining its government structure following the Constitutional amendment in September 2016, making it a presidential republic. In April 2018, the Azerbaijan Parliament adopted the Law on Vocational Education and Training (VET), which defines the principles of state policy in the field of vocational education and provides the legal, organisational, and economic basis for the VET system. In August 2018, Azerbaijan's president signed an order on additional policy measures in the field of social protection of the population. The order provides for the establishment of new social agencies and centres and the improvement of services in the fields of employment, labour, and social protection. Negotiations on the new agreement with the EU were formally concluded in July 2018. The new upcoming agreement will replace the existing Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and will include four main areas of cooperation: strengthening institutions and good governance; economic development and market opportunities; connectivity, energy efficiency, environment, and climate action; mobility and people-to-people contacts.

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Rarely in the histories of their institutions have college and university leaders in the United States been under such pressure to come up with imaginative solutions to a range of emerging challenges. These challenges stretch from declining enrollments and stressed budgets to incorporating new technology, especially online learning, into traditional educational structures. Although presidents of public and private institutions have a separate set of concerns and anxieties on some issues, they share common ground on where they think American higher education is, and where they think it should be headed. This research brief attempts to inform that struggle happening on many campuses. It is based on a survey of college and university presidents that explores their attitudes about the future of higher education and the innovations being tested to reduce costs, improve quality, and inject technology into how students learn and how faculty do their jobs. The survey, completed by some 350 presidents of four-year colleges, focused on innovations in higher education, including the role various constituencies play in advancing ideas, as well as their opinions on online learning, hybrid courses, and competency-based degrees.

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This handbook aims to provide a compendium of research on distance education. Although dealing with education that uses technology, the focus is on teaching and learning and how its management can be facilitated through technology. Key features include: coverage of a range of aspects of distance education, including design, instruction, management, policy, and a section on different audiences; contributions from authors discussing the nature of current practice in terms of empirical research, and highlighting future research needs in relation to current practice and recent changes in the field; a review of the theories that support distance education pedagogy; and a focus throughout on contemporary applications, online and e-learning.

The contents are as follows: Part one, ‘Historical and conceptual foundations’, contains the following chapters: An overview / Michael Grahame Moore; A history of scholarship / Linda M. Black; University correspondence study: a revised historiographic perspective / Von V. Pittman; Charles A. Wedemeyer: visionary pioneer of distance education / William C. Diehl; Building the future: a theoretical perspective / Farhad Saba; The theory of transactional distance / Michael Grahame Moore; Independent learning theory: autonomy, control, and meta-cognition / William Anderson; The community of inquiry theoretical framework / D. Randy Garrison and Zehra Akyol; Part two, ‘Learning, learners, and learner support’, contains: An overview / Michael Grahame Moore; Cognitive perspectives on online learning environments / Richard E. West, Michael J. Hannafin, Janette R. Hill, and Liyan Song; Satisfaction with distance education / Mike Allen, Kikuko Omori, Nancy Burrell, Edward Mabry, and Erik Timmerman; Student persistence - and teaching strategies to support it / Tina M. Stavredes and Tiffany M. Herder; Student achievement in elementary and high school / Cathy Cavanaugh; Culture and online distance learning / Charlotte N. Gunawardena; Academic advising in degree programs / Robert F. Curry; Enabling learning for disabled students / Susan Crichton and Shelley Kinash; The role of academic libraries / Kay Johnson and Elaine Fabbro.

Part three, ‘Design and teaching’, contains the following chapters: An overview / Michael Grahame Moore; Theory to practice in instructional design / Rick L. Shearer; Instructional design models for optimal learning / Som Naidu; Activity design and instruction in online learning / Vanessa P. Dennen; Technology integration: from implementation to dynamic scaffolding / Minchi C. Kim, Kadir Kozan, Woori Kim, and Andrie A. Koehler; Realizing the promise of learning objects / Susan Moisey and Mohamed Ally; Emerging practice and research in blended learning / Charles R. Graham; Modes of interaction / Norm Friesen and Alex Kuskis; Teaching and learning in negotiated and informal online learning environments / Janette R. Hill, Denise P. Domizi, Minchi C. Kim, and Hyeonjin Kim; Faculty participation in online distance education / Kay Shattuck; Students and teachers as ethical actors / Melody M. Thompson and Jonathan W. Wrigglesworth; Part four, ‘Policies, administration, and management’, contains: An overview / Michael Grahame Moore; Management of online programs / Greg Kearsley; Institutional policy issues / Michael Simonson and Charles Schlosser; Strategic planning and needs assessment in distance education / Ryan Watkins, Roger Kaufman, and Busayo Odunlami; Institutional leadership / Michael F. Beaudoin; Accreditation: assuring quality and fostering improvement / Patricia M. O’Brien; Evaluating distance education in an era of internationalization / Modupe E. Irele; The changing costs of delivery of distance education programs / Alistair Inglis; Cost-effectiveness of online education / Insung Jung and Sung Lee; Legal and recent copyright issues / Tomas A. Lipinski.

Part five, ‘Audiences and providers’, contains the following chapters: An overview / Michael Grahame Moore; The evolution of K-12 distance education and virtual schools / Tom Clark; The landscape of K-12 online learning / Michael K. Barbour; Online learning in community colleges / Shanna Smith Jaggars; Distance training and education in the corporate sector / Zane L. Berge; Continuing professional education / Gary W. Kuhne; Distance education in the armed forces / Peggy L. Kenyon, Gary Twogood, and Linda A. Summerlin; Doctorates for professionals through distance education / Terry Evans and Rosemary Green; Teaching science at a distance / Dietmar K. Kennepohl; Emerging organizational models in higher education / Donald E. Hanna; Learning in a world of blurred boundaries / Jan Visser. Show less

This paper examines the qualifications and professional credentials of lecturers, managers and directors for their respective positions. A particular case study is taken into consideration - the Electrotechnology section of the Defence and Resources Division of the Challenger Institute of Technology in Western Australia. Staff qualifications are anonymously placed in a rubric and assessed against the selection criteria outlined in job descriptions. The research finds out that while the expectations for professional qualifications placed upon lecturers is extremely high and very specific (especially for ASL1 and ASL2 lecturers), the bar for middle level management positions is set extremely low. Also the criteria for the middle management positions are given in very broad and vague terms. This seems to lead to the paradox that the higher one is positioned in the institution's hierarchy, the less qualifications are expected. The paper concludes that the selection criteria for middle management positions should be made much more specific, demanding and transparent, in order to reflect the rapid changes in the vocational education and training (VET) sector.

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Despite having a well-documented history about community colleges across the United States, relatively few discussions have covered state-level governance structures. To understand the typology of state community college governance structures, it must first be recognized that community college governance is characterized as a complex web of relationships and arrangements that have evolved over time. There is a myriad of ways in which states can structure their higher education systems. Changes, emerging issues, and taxonomies that currently exist in the literature are becoming out-of-date and less precise. The purpose of this study was to develop a national landscape of state-level community college governance structures and to provide an updated categorization of state-level community college governance structures. This study identified common themes, patterns, and emerging developments regarding state-level community college governance. The results of this study about state-level community college governance structures is beneficial for state-level community college governance leaders across the country to stay current and informed on changes and trends, and an opportunity to gain a better understanding about other states' power-structures, governance, and administration over community colleges.

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[The authors'] research aim was to determine what enables engagement with graduate outcomes in tertiary institutions in Aotearoa/New Zealand. [The authors] used a mixed methods approach comprising a survey sent to all tertiary institutions, follow-up interviews with 10 academic leaders and eight case studies of good practice of programmes engaged with graduate outcomes across four institutions. Using a general inductive approach, analysis of the academic leader interviews generated five categories of enablers: external drivers, structural/procedural, development, student achievement and contextual enablers. Combining these enablers led to an integrating framework for institutional engagement in the development of graduate outcomes. Drawing on wider datasets from the survey, interviews and cases studies, relevant strategies were identified that staff and students perceived influenced the development of graduate outcomes. The framework and the associated strategies adopt a 'whole-of-institution' approach, which is inclusive of programmes, staff and students and their individual histories, traditions, cultures and purposes thus allowing for each institution's unique characteristics.

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Objective: To examine the discursive strategies deployed by community colleges to sustain legitimacy in an evolving and contradictory institutional environment. Method: Using corpus linguistics software, [the author] compared 1,009 mission statements from 2012-2013 with a reference corpus of 427 mission statements from 2004. Results: Keywords analysis, collocation analysis, and concordance analysis suggest that mission statements have changed along four discourse trajectories: credentialing structures, pedagogies, practices, and curriculum goals. Contributions: These findings situate the community college as a point of entry into understanding the relations among institutional legitimacy and a changing cultural, political, and economic milieu.

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Most African countries that were former British colonies replicated the British higher education system and created both universities and polytechnics. However, in order to increase their tertiary education enrolment, these countries are gradually upgrading their polytechnics to universities. This article argues that this is a wrong move as polytechnics are as important as universities for Africa's development, and calls for a re-consideration of the polytechnics conversion policy.

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