EQ953-30 Comparative Perspectives on Higher Education
Department Education Studies
Level Taught Postgraduate Level
Module leader Dr Georgiana Mihut
Credit Value 30
Module duration 10 weeks
Assessment 100% Coursework
Study location University of Warwick main campus, Coventry
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Introduction
This is an optional module for several of our MA programmes, and offers students the opportunity to think through current trends affecting higher education, distil differences and similarities between higher education systems in different world regions, and engage creatively with higher education decision-making processes and policy challenges. The module is highly interactive and challenges students to design policy proposals; simulate decision-making processes; apply concepts learned during the module to analyse higher education in different national contexts and engage in comparative analysis.
Principle Module Aims and Outcomes
- Gaining a broad and comparative perspective on the major trends currently affecting higher education internationally.
- Demonstrating awareness of differences and similarities between higher education systems across world regions and across national contexts.
- Developing familiarity with relevant higher education data sources and the use of data to support higher education research and policy.
- Engaging critically and creatively with policy challenges affecting higher education and the multi-stakeholder processes underlying change in higher education.
Syllabus
The module will be structured in two distinct phases. During phase 1 of the module, several major trends affecting higher education internationally are introduced and discussed. These trends include (1) massification, diversification, stratification, and quality assurance, (2) access and equity, (3) flexible pathways and tertiary education, (4) internationalisation and the student experience. Activities included in Phase 1 will offer students opportunities to discern through the challenges associated with policy change in higher education.
Phase 2 of the module will focus on discussing the major trends listed above in the context of different world regions: (1) Africa and Middle East, (2) Asia and Oceania, (3) South and North America, (4) Europe. In Phase 2, students are asked to apply the concepts and trends discussed in Phase 1 to understand higher education in an assigned national context. In the form of a ‘conference symposium’ and over the course of four seminars, students will be asked to present the higher education system of their assigned national context. At the end of Phase 2 (and the module) students are asked to write an essay in which they compare the higher education system in their assigned country (and presented in the ‘conference symposium’) and a second country of their choice.
Study Time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 10 sessions of 1 hour (3%) |
| Seminars | 10 sessions of 2 hours (7%) |
| Private study | 170 hours (57%) |
| Total | 300 hours |
Assessment
| Weighting | |
|---|---|
| ‘Conference symposiums’ country presentation | 30% |
|
Students are asked to present on the higher education system of an assigned national context. |
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| Comparative essay | 70% |
|
3,000-word assignment in which students compare two national contexts focusing on one of the major trends affecting higher education discussed in the module. One of the countries the essay focuses on is the country presented in the ‘conference symposium’ and assigned in Week 2. Students are free to choose the second country of focus for this assignment. |
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Module Information
This is an optional module on MA Childhood in Society, MA Education, MA Educational Innovation, MA Educational Leadership and Management, MA Islamic Education: Theory and Practice, and MA Psychology and Education.