This study examines undergraduates' research practices, as described in reflective essays submitted in applications to a library research award. Thematic analysis of 24 student award essays identified three strong themes in student reflections about their research experiences. Students experienced research as a social process, made meaning closely…

Time to degree completion is an important metric of academic progress and success for doctoral students. It is also a common way for educational stakeholders to compare programs even if the content of the degree programs varies. But what types of behaviors and experiences are associated with faster times to degree? In this study, we examine the…

To increase faculty participation and to recognize the strategic educational position held by undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activities (URSCA) in many institutions, faculty mentorship of undergraduate students needs to be valued as a standard component of workload and formally included in activity reports and evaluations,…

The National Graduate Education Comprehensive Fees Policy has been in operation for more than five years since the fall semester of 2014, which is long enough to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy. Base on the existing research results, this paper proposes to adopt the core index of graduate students' scientific research ability--the level…

National History Day (NHD), a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, is widely known for the National History Day Contest, in which students conduct historical research and submit their projects at local and state levels, with top students invited to the National Contest. Participation in NHD demonstrates that students learn…

This paper contributes to research on teaching excellence by extending the current body of literature pertaining to mentoring pedagogies in undergraduate research settings across diverse social, institutional and disciplinary contexts. Our data comes from in-depth interviews with 32 international faculty who have received excellence awards for…

The aim of this paper is to map the pattern of awards for research degree supervision in institutions in Australia and the United Kingdom. In particular, it explores the scope of such awards, their objectives, the criteria for nomination, the evidence required to be submitted, the composition of award panels, the criteria for award, and the…

The article deals with peculiarities of undergraduate and postgraduate linguistic courses at Lancaster University. It has been stated that the latter is considered to be one of the best higher education institutions both in the UK and worldwide. Being a relatively new higher education institution (founded in 1964), it can already boast its…

We conducted a survey of the winners of University of California (UC) Berkeley's Library Prize for Undergraduate Research (2003-2016) to learn about the long-term impact of undergraduate research projects on students, find out what winners gained from the experience, and compare their careers post-graduation with other students. Seventy-four…

While studies of predictive factors for success in honors have been increasingly creative and expansive on what these factors might include, they have rarely challenged the dominant, virtually monolithic definitions of success. The majority of studies measure success either by collegiate grade point averages (GPAs) or retention rates in honors,…

The School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt (SSMV) is an innovative partnership program between a Research I private university and a large urban public school system. The SSMV was started in 2007 and currently has 101 students enrolled in the program, with a total of 60 students who have completed the 4-yr sequential program. Students attend…

A policy analysis of Florida's 10-factor Performance-Based Funding system for state universities. The focus of the article is on the system of performance metrics developed by the state Board of Governors and their impact on institutions and their missions. The paper also discusses problems and issues with the metrics, their ongoing evolution, and…