Academia

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Academia

Answer 1

Faculty (division)

A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas. In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges (e.g., "college of arts and sciences") or schools (e.g., "school of business"), but may also mix terminology (e.g., Harvard University has a "faculty of arts and sciences" but a "law school").

The medieval University of Bologna, which served as a model for most of the later medieval universities in Europe, had four faculties: the Faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine, and finally the Faculty of Arts, from which every student had to graduate in order to continue his training in one of the other three, sometimes known as the higher faculties. The privilege to establish these four faculties was usually part of all medieval charters for universities, but not every university could do so in practice.

The Faculty of Arts took its name from the seven liberal arts: the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy). In German, Scandinavian, Slavic and other universities, the name for this faculty would more often literally translate as 'faculty of philosophy'. The degree of Magister Artium (Master of Arts) derives its name from the Faculty of Arts, while the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) originates within German education and derives its name from the German name of the Arts faculty.

The number of faculties has usually multiplied in modern universities, both through subdivisions of the traditional four faculties, and through the absorption of academic disciplines which have developed within originally vocational schools, in areas such as engineering or agriculture.

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Answer 2

Academic genealogy

An academic, or scientific, genealogy, organizes a family tree of scientists and scholars according to mentoring relationships, often in the form of dissertation supervision or postdoc supervision relationships.

The academic lineage or academic ancestry of someone is a chain of professors who have served as academic mentors or thesis advisors of each other, ending with the person in question. Many genealogical terms are often recast in terms of academic lineages, so one may speak of academic descendants, children, siblings, etc.

There are sites such as the Mathematics Genealogy Project devoted to documenting academic lineages for specific subject areas, and sites like the Academic Family Tree and PhDTree to providing a complete academic genealogy for every academic disciplines. However, not all the links recorded in databases of this type are formal advisor-advisee relationships; for instance, the University of Cambridge did not require a formal doctoral thesis until 1919, and academic genealogies that include earlier Cambridge students tend to substitute an equivalent mentor.

Academic genealogies are particularly easy to research in the case of Spain's Doctor degrees, because until 1954 only Complutense University had the power to grant Doctorates. This means that all holders of a Doctor degree in Spain can trace back their academic lineage to a Doctoral supervisor who was a member of Complutense's Faculty.

Academic genealogy may influence research results in areas of active research. Hirshman et al. examined a controversial medical question, the value of maximal surgery for high grade glioma, and demonstrated that a physician's medical academic genealogy can affect his or her findings. Articles written by authors from certain medical academic genealogies were likely to favor (or oppose) maximal surgical treatment for this disease.

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Answer 3

Governance in higher education

Governance in higher education is the means by which institutions for higher education (tertiary or post-secondary education) are formally organized and managed (though often there is a distinction between definitions of management and governance). Simply, university governance is the way in which universities are operated. Governing structures for higher education are highly differentiated throughout the world, but the different models nonetheless share a common heritage. Internationally, tertiary education includes private not-for-profit, private for-profit, and public institutions governed by differentiated structures of management.

Governance and management of post-secondary institutions becomes even more diverse with the differences in defining the relationships between higher and tertiary education (university education), postsecondary education, technical and vocational education, and community college models of education. The issues are complicated by current debates over collegial and shared forms of governance contrasted to corporate and business forms of institutional governance.

The concept of governance in postsecondary education predominantly refers to the internal structure, organization and management of autonomous institutions. The internal governance organization typically consists of a governing board (board of regents, board of directors), the university president (executive head, CEO) with a team of administrative chancellors and staff, faculty senates, academic deans, department chairs, and usually some form of organization for student representation. In the United States, state institution governing boards often emphasize the concept of citizen governance in recognizing that board members serve a civic role for the institution. Management structures themselves have become increasingly complex due to the increasing complexity of intraorganizational, interorganizational and governmental relationships. Whether college and university education, adult education, technical or vocational education, educational administration presents complex challenges at all levels of private and public education.

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Answer 4

Graduate teaching assistant

A teaching assistant or teacher's aide (TA) or education assistant (EA) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include: graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs), who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school students or adults; and elementary school TAs, who are adults (also known as paraprofessional educators or teacher's aides). By definition, TAs assist with classes, but many graduate students serve as the sole instructor for one or more classes each semester as a teaching fellow or graduate student instructor. Graduate and adult TAs generally have a fixed salary determined by each contract period (usually a semester or an academic year); however, undergraduates and high school students are sometimes unpaid and, in the US and other countries with the credit system, receive course credits in return for their assistance. Teaching assistants often help the main teacher by managing students with learning disabilities, such as ADHD, Autism, or even physical disabilities, such as blindness or deafness.

Graduate teaching assistants (often referred to as GTAs or simply TAs) are graduate students employed on a temporary contract by a department at a college or university in teaching-related responsibilities. In New Zealand, Australian, and some Canadian universities, graduate TAs are known as tutors. North American graduate TA positions provide funding for postgraduate research—although the main purpose is to provide teaching support—and it often serves as a first career step for aspiring academics. TA responsibilities vary greatly and may include: tutoring; holding office hours; invigilating tests or exams; and assisting a professor with a large lecture class by teaching students in recitation, laboratory, or discussion sessions. Professors may also use their teaching assistants to help teach discussions during regular class. This gives the graduate student opportunity to use their teaching skills, as many are in pursuit of teaching careers. Some graduate students assist in distance education courses by meeting with the students as professors are not able to. Graduate TAs should not be confused with teaching fellows (TFs) or graduate student instructors (GSIs), who are graduate students who serve as the primary instructors for courses. However, at some universities the TF and TA titles are used interchangeably.

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Answer 5

Higher Attestation Commission

Higher Attestation Commission (Russian: Высшая аттестационная комиссия, Ukrainian: Вища атестаційна комісія, abbreviated Cyrillic: ВАК, Latin: VAK) is a name of a national government agency in Russia, Ukraine and some other post-Soviet states that oversees awarding of advanced academic degrees. Due to translation differences, these committees are sometimes translated as the "State Supreme Certification Commission" or other similar variation; the common Cyrillic-based acronym of VAK remains a constant with all versions.

A commission of a similar kind (Bulgarian: ) operated in Bulgaria until 2010, when it was abolished as part of a reorganisation of academic structures.

On December 9, 2010, the Higher Education Commission of Ukraine was merged into the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

During the Soviet Union, the Higher Attestation Commission under the USSR Council of Ministers (also abbreviated as VAK) oversaw and controlled the awarding of advanced academic degrees and academic ranks in all of the USSR. With the fall and break up of the Soviet Union, separate Higher Attestation Commissions arose in the newly independent nations. For example, the Russian agency became the Higher Attestation Commission of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, taking similar duties in the Russian Federation.

The responsibilities of the Russian Commission include:

The Higher Attestation Commissions in other nations have similar responsibilities.

Scientific degrees awarded VAK were classified into an established list of specialties, grouped into the following major sections

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Answer 6

Academic imperialism

Academic imperialism is a form of imperialism where there is an unequal relation between academics, where one group dominates and the other is dominated or ignored. Early theories of academic imperialism date to the 1960s.

Academic imperialism has been defined either in the context of certain disciplines or subdisciplines oppressing others, or (more often) as part of the political imperialism, focused on inequality between academia in the First World (the West) and Third World.

In the intradisciplinary context, an example of imperialistic behavior was the dismissive attitude of the 1920s-1930s adherents of behavioral psychology in the United States towards non-behavioral psychologists.

In the international context, academic imperialism began in the colonial period when the colonial powers designed and implemented a system of academia in their colonial territories.C. K. Raju claims academic imperialism emerged thanks to adoption of racist thoughts among native colonial elites. Academic imperialism is blamed for "tutelage, conformity, secondary role of dominated intellectuals and scholars, rationalization of the civilizing mission, and the inferior talent of scholars from the home country specializing in studies of the colony." In the modern postcolonial era, academic imperialism has transformed itself into a more indirect form of control, based on Western monopoly on the flow of information in the world of academia.Syed Farid Alatas calls this "academic neo-colonialism".

International academic imperialism generates academic dependency, or the dependency of non-Western scholars on Western academia. In non-Western countries, science is still dependent on institutions and ideas of Western science, which are often transplanted from Western countries.

Syed Farid Alatas lists the following six aspects of academic dependency:

Specific examples of academic dependency include the fact that most major journals are based in the Western countries and carry works by scholars located at Western universities; and that scholars in the Western countries study the entire world, whereas scholars in the non-Western countries focus on their own societies. Another example is the dominance of English language in the world of international academia.

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Answer 7

Academic honor code

An academic honor code or honor system is a set of rules or ethical principles governing an academic community based on ideals that define what constitutes honorable behaviour within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the notion that people (at least within the community) can be trusted to act honorably. Those who are in violation of the honor code can be subject to various sanctions, including expulsion from the institution. Honor codes are used to deter academic dishonesty.

The documented history of an academic honor code dates back to 1736 at The College of William and Mary and is the oldest honor code in the United States. The Honor Code is an enduring tradition to this day, students administer the Honor pledge to each incoming student and educate faculty and administration on the relevance of the Code and its application to students' lives at the College. Students administer the Code through six Honor Councils and the Council of Chairs. The College of William and Mary founded the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society in 1776 and was the first school of higher education in the United States to install an honor code of conduct for students. The College’s Honor Code is based upon the premise that a person’s honor is his or her most cherished attribute. In a community devoted to learning, a foundation of honor among individuals must exist if that community is to thrive with respect and harmony among its members. An Honor System is an ideal mechanism to ensure such a state of affairs. With it, students and faculty are afforded a freedom that otherwise may not be available. With this freedom comes each individual’s responsibility to conduct himself or herself in such a way that the spirit of mutual trust which sustains the system is not compromised. The Honor Code applies to alleged acts of lying, stealing or cheating that adversely affect the College community, whether committed by a student on campus or elsewhere.

Presently, some of the most notable and most stringent honor codes exist at the U.S. Military Academy (see Cadet Honor Code), Virginia Military Institute, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and the United States Coast Guard Academy. The United States Naval Academy has an "Honor Concept" which is similar in scope to the honor codes at the other academies. The military academy honor codes not only govern the cadets' and midshipmen's lives at the academies, but are deemed essential to the development of military officers who are worthy of the public trust. As such, the codes are not limited merely to academic situations or to conduct on campus; cadets and midshipmen are expected to live by the codes' ethical standards at all times. The codes are as old as the academies themselves, and simply state that cadets and midshipmen do not lie, cheat or steal. The only single-sanction Honor Code in the United States exists at the Virginia Military Institute, where a "drum out" ceremony is still carried out upon a cadet's dismissal.

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Answer 8

History of knowledge

The history of knowledge is the field covering the accumulated and known human knowledge created or discovered during the history of the world and its historic forms, focus, accumulation, bearers, impacts, mediations, distribution, applications, societal contexts, conditions and methods of production. It is related to, separate from the history of science, the history of scholarship and the history of philosophy. The scope of the history of knowledge encompass all the discovered and created fields of human derived knowledge such as logic, philosophy, mathematics, science, sociology, psychology, data mining etc.

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Answer 9

Institutional research

Institutional research is a broad category of work done at schools, colleges and universities to inform campus decision-making and planning in areas such as admissions, financial aid, curriculum, enrollment management, staffing, student life, finance, facilities, athletics, and alumni relations.

Institutional researchers collect, analyze, report, and warehouse quantitative and qualitative data about their institution's students, faculty, staff, curriculum, course offerings, and learning outcomes. They are involved in collecting and reporting information to government bodies (for example, in the USA, the United States Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System), to the public (e.g., Common Data Set, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities's University-College Accountability Network), and various college guide publishers (e.g., U.S. News & World Report and College Board). On occasion, institutional researchers share data with one another to compare their own practices and outcomes against those of similar institutions. Organizations that facilitate this sort of cooperation include the Association of American Universities Data Exchange, the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, and the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. Institutional research is the source of much of the information provided to regional and national accreditation bodies to document how institutions fulfill the standards for accreditation.[1]. In the British Isles, The UK and Ireland Institutional Research Network (HEIR) carries out similar functions.

In addition to reporting, institutional researchers often engage in data analysis, ranging from simply testing whether differences in reported data are statistically significant to developing and using causal and predictive statistical models. Such models are often used in support of assessment and strategic enrollment management.

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Answer 10

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is the moral code or ethical policy of academia. This includes values such as avoidance of cheating or plagiarism; maintenance of academic standards; honesty and rigor in research and academic publishing.

During the late 18th century, academic integrity tightly correlated to the southern honor code (United States). This was monitored mainly by the students and surrounding culture of the time. The southern honor code focused on duty, pride, power, and self-esteem. Any act promoting the uprising or building of any of these within an individual was the goal. Thus, academic integrity was tied solely to the status and appearance of upstanding character of the individual. Any acts of academic dishonesty performed to maintain their good name was seen as a necessary means to an end.

It wasn't until the end of the 19th century when the goals of the university changed that the concept of academic integrity changed. Academics of this era were required to teach and produce original research. The pressure to acquire tenure and publish added extra stress to their jobs, though acts of academic dishonesty were viewed as acts of follies. Still, the southern honor code concept of academic integrity was evolving into a more contemporary concept. Academic integrity was now beginning to replace honor of the individual honor to the university as an institution. Such an evolution was important to promote unity throughout the academic institution and encourage students to hold each other accountable for dishonest acts. It also allowed the students to feel empowered through the self-monitoring of each other.

As the importance of original research grew among faculty members the questioning of research integrity grew as well. With so much pressure linked to their professional status professor were under intense scrutiny by the surrounding society. This inevitably led to the separating academic integrity ideals for student and faculty. Because of each groups different goal orientations it no longer made sense to hold them to the same standards. By 1970 most universities in the United States has established honor codes for their student body and faculty members, although this concept has not really caught on elsewhere in the world (e.g. see Yakovchuk et al).

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