Since 1987, the College of Health and Human Services at San Diego State University has facilitated two-way exchanges of information and service with the Republic of China, a model of a newly industrialized country of the Pacific Rim. The challenges of working creatively to educate the College and University to international opportunities with the…

If we want talented young teachers to develop the capacity to get students excited about high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning, we must develop a network of STEM teachers who can support teachers in their continued learning about their work and enable them to collaborate with others. If we want teachers to…

In recent years, a credit recognition system has been developing in Chinese higher education institutions. Much research has been done on this development, but it has been concentrated on system building, barriers/issues and international practices. The relationship between credit recognition system reforms and democratisation of higher education…

To ensure a student-centered campus, schools must integrate student empowerment in and out of the classroom. In China, this concept remains a novel idea. In the US, student empowerment outside of the classroom, for example, in student governance, is prevalent. However, faculty at-large still remains somewhat unaware that internal belief systems…

Identifying a community problem or need and helping to solve it via student-led initiatives is at the heart of service learning. Elson Nash, associate director for program management at Learn and Serve America, a grant program of the Corporation for National and Community Service and USA Freedom Corps, calls service learning "the glue that…

Last year, 15 students in the Montpelier (Vermont) High School's Advanced Placement Spanish class paid class-time visits every week to a nearby dairy farm. They interacted with the Mexican laborers by conversing with them in Spanish, having picnics together, and playing cards and soccer. As the students advanced their Spanish verbal skills, they…

Teaching students in the inner city has been likened to hugging a porcupine--teachers nudge them toward success while getting pricked along the way. Many urban students perform below proficiency level and are difficult to manage. Their apathy toward completing class assignments, let alone homework, compounds the problem. As a whole, educators do…

This publication presents an overview of the Asia-Pacific Regional Planning Meeting on the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE). Countries in Asia and the Pacific that participate in the LIFE initiative are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea. The purpose of the meeting was to assist…

This paper quotes the qualitative data from one author's recent research (Feng, 2006, 2007) in China and the other author's ongoing PhD research in India. Both studies used multi-methods of data collection in mainstream school settings. This paper discusses the relatively under-researched topic of "quiet disaffection" of pupils with…

There is in higher education a powerful discourse of "independent learning". While there may be pedagogical rationales to support the desirability of increased independence at the tertiary stage, it may also serve other institutional agendas, such as functioning as a way for academic staff to "manage" the frustrations…

Argues that democratisation, localization, and national identity are indivisible in Taiwan. Explains that social pressure groups, teachers, and parents are empowered in policy making processes, while the power of school officials to respond to these groups is limited. Discusses the role of school curriculum in promoting ethnic cultures and…

Explores the origins and significance of the "victim" debate within global feminism. Focuses on the divide produced by the victim debate by examining the evolution of two development planning platforms. Discusses issues facing women in a China under reform and the relevance of the victim debate in the Chinese context. (CMK)

"Teachers' Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-State" is an innovative account of educational and social transformations in politically tumultuous early twentieth-century China. It focuses on the unique nature of Chinese teachers' schools, which bridged Chinese and Western ideals, and the critical role that these schools…

Begun in the early 1990s, The Skills-Based Literacy Programme for Women aims to improve the lives of rural Chinese women by linking literacy education with skills training in agriculture and other forms of income generation. Xuan Wei County, Yunnan Province, was chosen as the seat of the project because of high female illiteracy rates and the need…

Based on a 20-month qualitative study in a Canadian university, the present paper reflects on how issues of empowerment emerged for Chinese students, who following study in English for Academic Purposes, registered for a Master of Business Administration program. These issues are addressed in relation to: (a) the literacy demands and socialization…