Editorial

Citation

Roberts, B.E. (2006), "Editorial", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 20 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem.2006.06020aaa.001

Editorial

Twenty years on and still moving forward positively to represent the education world is a significant achievement for IJEM. I am proud to have been associated with this journal since its inception with Dr Roy Felgate (deceased), and the ongoing support from the publishers, particularly through Rachel Murawa, the Managing Editor, is appreciated.

The variety of papers, both in content and geographical spread, has been an important feature of the journal. This year it is especially true, because Issue 3 will be concentrated on a Special Issue guest edited by Professor Ray Calabrese on the subject of partnerships in education.

Meanwhile in this issue there are contributions from Turkey, Finland, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Spain. Unusually, a different article from each of six separate countries and none on this occasion from the USA or the UK!

The first paper is a joint contribution from Associate Professors Halici and Kasimoglu. The paper is a comparison of the level of discrimination directed at academic staff in a Turkish and an Azerbaijani university. The research outlined here is the last of four stages. In the last part of the research outlined here, the discrimination level in Azerbaijan was analysed and compared to the results gathered in Turkey. A web page was used to help the reply rate from those targeted to respond. In every factor the messages of academic staff were obtained, a difference between averages was received and the significance of differences between averages was tested. The results show that although the Azerbaijani instructors faced more discrimination in this research, the Turkish response could not be ignored.

Dr Kettunen is Rector of Turku Polytechnic, Finland, and has written on strategies for the co-operation of educational institutions and companies in mechanical engineering. The study analysed the strategic planning of the Centre for Mechanical Engineering, which is a joint venture of the educational institutions and companies in Southwest Finland. It presents the strategies of focus and cost efficiency and shows how the selected strategies can be adjusted according to the centre’s place in its life cycle. The initial phase of the centre emphasises the importance of growth strategy. The strategies are described using the balanced scorecard approach, which allows organisations to articulate and communicate their strategies to their employees and stakeholders.

The next contribution is from Cynthia Simmons, Associate Professor at the University of Calgary (together with Dr Wright and Dr Jones). The work relates to actively based costings for business school programmes. The purpose of the paper is to suggest an approach to programme costing that includes the approaches and concepts developed in actively based costing. The paper utilises a hypothetical case study of an executive MBA programme as a means of illustrating the suggested approach to costing. The paper illustrates both the benefits of using an actively based costing approach and the danger of allocating organisational sustaining costs to a specific programme for the purpose of assessing the profitability of that programme.

In the fourth paper, Professor Badri, together with Assistant Professors Abdulla, Kamali and Dodeen, contributes to identifying potential biasing variables in student evaluation of teaching (SET). The study analysed 3,185 student faculty evaluations from a newly accredited business programme at the United Arab Emirates University to investigate the effect of many factors on the student evaluation of teaching. Using univariate and multi-analysis of variance, their findings support previous research on the existence of potential liaising factors. Results indicate that expected grade, actual grade, course level, class size, course timing, student gender, and course subject affect the SET significantly.

Vanessa Ratten and Yuliani Suseno of Brisbane make a contribution on knowledge development, social capital and alliance learning. The purpose of the paper is to clarify what creates the different types of knowledge. The main finding is that knowledge is an important by-product of an alliance-forming process. Both market-specific and firm-specific knowledge have implications on two main types of alliance learning, that of mutual and non-mutual learing.

Several authors from Alicante/Valencia, Spain, have submitted work on quality performance assessment as a source of motivation for lecturers; a teaching network experience. The paper presents the findings derived from the research work carried out by a team of six university lecturers who are members of a teaching quality improvement network. The research has as its aim to increase the motivation of the lecturers involved, so that a better performance can be achieved and the process of teaching-learning enriched! Three performance measures have been used:

1. 1.

   students’ active participation;

2. 2.

   lecturers’ personal reflections; and

3. 3.

   lecturer peer-to-peer assessment.

These tools have provided the teaching staff with information about their strengths and weaknesses, as a consequence of which they have learnt to deploy their skills inside the classroom and prepare their subjects more effectively.

Brian E. Roberts