In New England, interactions between Native peoples and some public institutions have taken divergent paths over the past three decades. State legislatures and the many academic institutions that call the region home have developed different approaches to working with Native peoples. Public colleges and universities, given their ongoing…

During a speech to community college administrators in October, President Barack Obama recognized two-year colleges as the "unsung heroes" that provide opportunities to those who otherwise would be unable to enter higher education. Community colleges, he said, play an important role in reviving the economy and putting Americans back to…

In this article, the author presents an activity wherein she uses the first Arab Human Development Report to examine not only the levels and measures of development in the Arab countries of the Middle East, but also to examine the act of measuring itself. The goal of the Arab Human Development Report is to measure "development in all its…

On July 8, 2003, at Goree Island, Senegal, George W. Bush delivered the most important speech on American slavery since Abraham Lincoln. As an example of rhetorical artistry, the speech is a masterpiece, putting the brutality of slavery into historical, political, and theological perspective. Although the speech had deliberative effects--it grew…

This article investigates how reality television talent-quest formats model the normative neoliberal worker and learner--roles which are increasingly drawn together. In the age of "life-long learning" and shifting employment demands, new models of the supple, adaptable and willing learner are increasingly important both to meeting…

In European Union policy documents, the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is described as a neutral tool embedded in an evidence-based policy process. Its purpose is to improve the transparency, comparability and portability of qualifications in the European Union. The aim of this article is to denaturalise the EQF discourse through a…

In most economically developed countries, the authorities have recognized the importance of academic migration as a means of formation of human capital, essential for the development of the national economy. They actively encourage academic migrants to come to the country by simplifying migration rules for college students and other academic…

This article explores the implications of new public sector "reforms" for the culture of higher education. It argues that a culture of carelessness, grounded in Cartesian rationalism, has been exacerbated by new managerialism. The article challenges a prevailing sociological assumption that the character of higher education culture is primarily…

The concept of social innovation has recently emerged as an influential approach to address intractable social problems. Increasingly discussed in academia and policy circles, the concept draws on multifaceted practices and ideas from many disciplines. Yet despite widespread discussion and promotion, there is still limited understanding of…

Employers across the globe project a slightly more positive hiring outlook for 2013 compared with 2012, according to responses to the 2012 Year-End Poll of Employers of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Hiring decisions in 2012 were influenced by a mixture of economic conditions from the unfolding Eurozone crisis, to slower growth…

Due to imbalanced social and economic development, education in poverty-stricken rural areas in China is lagging behind that of urban areas. The current study explores the role of the nonprofit organizations (NPOs) involved in rural compulsory education promotion. Results show that the NPOs are providing a variety of programs to promote rural…

The article analyses the discourses underpinning formal vocational education and training (VET). More specifically, it presents three accounts of European VET with the twofold aim of reviewing them and of recommending a conceptual shift that leads to further theoretical discussion. The discussion is organised around the existence of three…

Research suggests that certain common policy presuppositions can be identified regarding teacher education programmes in advanced knowledge-based economies, most notably the relationship between formal education (schooling) and economic production, and the role of teacher education in respect to this relationship. This article draws on the work of…

This article first illustrates how recent social, economic and educational development in Hong Kong contributes to teacher stress. It then presents data from an international study on teacher stress with respect to working with challenging students, i.e. students with behavioural problems. Teachers were asked to report on the perceived behavioural…

This paper examines the determinants of economic performance of 149 English rural Local Authority Districts (LADs). A Three Stage Least Square (3SLS) estimation procedure was employed to jointly determine the influence of a wide range of indicators representing economic, human, cultural and environmental capital, as well as less tangible or…