This analysis examines how Ethiopian universities view and engage with University-Industry Linkage (UIL). Informed by the triple helix model of university, industry, and government cooperation, this research uses a phenomenological qualitative design, drawing on evidence from policy documents and in-depth interviews with UIL directors from seven public universities. The findings highlight a growing recognition among government officials and academic leaders regarding the critical roles UIL plays in national economic development. The results also indicate that in Ethiopia, the dynamic among the three main UILs resembles a “statist” approach, with the federal government taking aleading role in UIL. However, actual governmental influence over university-industry linkages is found to be weak. University-industry linkage in Ethiopia lacks clear accountability at both institutional and partnership levels. Key challenges include institutional culture, limited commitment to partnerships, lack of ownership in guiding linkages, inadequate organizational structure and leadership support, and a shortage of faculty with industry expertise. The study underscores universities' need to demonstrate their value as reliable partners in addressing industry challengesand promoting development. It also highlights the importance of close collaboration between industries and universities, emphasizing the need for industries to invest in cultivating highly skilled human resources. Moreover, industries must better recognize the impact of research and innovation on their productivity and competitiveness.

As higher education expands in Ethiopia, the unemployability of graduates, especially women, remains a persistent challenge. An exploration of this issue that leaves women with limited employment opportunities in Ethiopia requires a thorough explanation of the underlying factors. Using a mixed-methods case-study methodology, this study investigated why college-educated women experience challenges in the Ethiopian labor market. Drawing from extant literature and survey data from a large-scale mixed-methods formative assessment of 460 human resources (HR) managers and 1,261 purposively sampled tertiary students, this study offers a comprehensive understanding of the perspectives of employers, university faculty and administrators, and students. This paper provides a more nuanced illustration of the cultural, social, institutional, and political barriers women face in Ethiopia as they navigate higher education and the post-college/university job market. The findings show (1) gendered cultural expectations, (2) inequitable access to campus career support systems, and (3) uneven commitment to gender parity among employers. Based on these findings, one major implication is that colleges and universities should promote gender equity in the labor market and provide women with tailored academic and career support. Government and policy makers in Ethiopia should ensure gender equity policies are in place and functioning, incentivize gender equitable employment practices, and subsidize gender equality-related studies and awareness raising campaigns.

Youth unemployment in Ethiopia is a widespread problem that threatens the country’s economic and political stability. This quantitative article, driven by the active participation of the youth, aims to provide insight into the national context of youth unemployability in Ethiopia. Methodologically, we conducted a quantitative analysis of secondary data collected as part of a national youth-focused project in Ethiopia between 2021 and 2023 using a participatory action research (YPAR) framework. YPAR serves as the theoretical foundation that undergirds this analysis. Regarding the demographic characteristics of the participants, 3,215 youth were surveyed about their employment experiences. The data reported in this article comes from 545 survey respondents who were higher education students enrolled in 10 universities and six colleges across Ethiopia. Among the respondents, 52.1% were women and 47.9% were men. The respondents were aged between 18 and 29, with 13.5% falling into the 18–19, 58.5% in the 20–24, and 28% in the 25–29 age brackets. We conducted a descriptive analysis: all non-Likert categorical variables and demographic questions were evaluated using frequency and percentage computations, while means, medians, and standard deviations were generated for the Likert-scaled questions to provide insight into the participants’ responses. The findings from this analysis can help education researchers and practitioners understand that a major stakeholder group is missing from policy development conversations in Ethiopia: students. We conclude by discussing how YPAR, emphasizing youth participation, can be helpful for future research and policy development about employment for Ethiopian university graduates.

This study explores the choices and experiences of undergraduates who transfer out of for-profit 4-year universities and matriculate into a public university. Interviews with students who moved from one of seven 4-year for-profit universities to a single public university during Fall 2021 indicated a combination of academic and financial factors that precipitated their decisions to transfer. Specific academic-related issues included lack of alignment between students’ interests and the school's available degrees, quality concerns, and institutional policies and practices that restricted students’ agency in making decisions about their academic program of study. Affordability was also a major consideration for many study participants. Attending the for-profit was a low-cost option initially but changes in aid packages and/or tuition prices motivated them to seek less expensive options elsewhere.

A key determinant of reentry success for justice-involved youth is productive engagement in school or work. Lack of employment for this population is often tied to inadequate vocational training, work experience, job opportunities, or the stigma attached to incarceration. Although very few studies have been conducted on employers’ perceptions of juveniles with criminal records, research suggests that views related to hiring may vary according to crime type. The purpose of this study was to explore how likely employers would be to grant an interview to a juvenile with a criminal background, and what experience, training, or skills employers seek when hiring juveniles with criminal backgrounds. The results indicate that, all else being equal, a juvenile record might penalize an applicant’s opportunities, and also, offense type matters. The implications of this study are discussed in relation to employment preparation and reentry services and supports for justice-involved youth.

AbstractIntercollegiate athletics occupies a unique place in higher education, but little is known about administrators working in this area. This chapter proposes a functional definition of “mid‐level” in the context of college sports, describes the prevalence of these jobs nationally, and summarizes key factors associated with mid‐level employment in intercollegiate athletics departments.

This inquiry explores university faculty attitudes toward college students with criminal records to better understand whether professors view them differently than the general student body. Utilizing a framework informed by the concept of stigma and existing research on individuals with criminal records in traditional higher education settings, we analyzed faculty responses to nine scenarios related to their encounters with students on campus. The 229 survey participants had relatively supportive reactions, but their views were significantly more negative about college students with criminal records compared with other students. Faculty exhibited particularly stigmatizing attitudes toward college students convicted of serious violent offenses.

Over 50,000 Ph.D. degrees in Science and Engineering (S&E) are awarded annually by United States (U.S.) universities, but few studies have systematically considered how the various aspects of doctoral training can influence the occupational outcomes of S&E doctoral graduates. This inquiry draws from the National Science Foundation’s Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System to investigate how the characteristics of U.S. degree-granting departments and institutions are associated with doctoral graduates’ entrance into different career sectors (i.e., academia, industry, government). The conceptual framework is based on the Scientific and Technical Human Capital theory (Bozeman et al. in Int J Technol Manag 22(7–8):716–740, 2001) as well as Berger and Milem’s (Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Agathon Press, New York, 2000) model of college impact. We find that a number of university and department factors are associated with the career choice of S&E doctoral graduates after finishing their Ph.D including: (a) structural characteristics, such as geographic location and faculty composition, (b) organizational behaviors, such as those symbolizing a program’s relative emphasis on traditional academic work versus activities valued in industry, and (c) peer group characteristics such as a department’s proportion of female and minority Ph.D. students. These results will be particularly informative for policy makers, faculty and administrators in S&E programs, and prospective doctoral students.

Recent research suggests at least half of community college faculty who are teaching part-time would rather have a full-time appointment (Cashwell, 2009; Kramer, Gloeckner, & Jacoby, 2014). Little is known, however, about what distinguishes those voluntarily teaching part-time from those preferring a full-time faculty position. This inquiry draws from person-job fit theory to investigate adjunct faculty members' abilities and qualifications, as well as their needs from the job itself (Edwards, 1994). Participants were 1,245 adjunct faculty teaching in 10 community colleges during the spring 2016 term. Two thirds of the participants were at least somewhat interested in becoming full-time faculty at a postsecondary institution, with 47% expressing strong, immediate interest in such a position. An ordered logistic regression model indicated that several dimensions of qualifications, job experiences, and socio-demographics predicted employment preference. Part-time faculty with higher levels of recent teaching experience in the community college setting were more likely to express a strong desire for a full-time position, as were adjuncts who utilized more job-related resources. Those who viewed the recognition and rewards given for adjunct job performance as adequate tended to be content in a part-time role. In terms of demographic characteristics, involuntarily part-time faculty were more likely to indicate economic need and self-identify as African American or Hispanic. The findings illustrate how careful attention to the distinctive backgrounds, experiences, and attitudes of part-time faculty subgroups may help college and university administrators more intentionally design policies and programs to better meet the needs of their increasingly diverse constituents.

Drawing from a survey of 1,239 part-time community college faculty, this analysis investigates their views about being involved in departmental and campus-wide decision-making. The adjuncts had somewhat of a voice in instructional decisions pertaining to their area of expertise, but virtually no involvement in personnel or broader organizational matters. In all domains, they expressed desire to have a stronger voice. However, they also noted barriers to inclusion of part-time faculty in decision-making, including schedule constraints, compensation, and respect from their full-time counterparts.

ObjectiveOver the past decade, increased scrutiny has been given to health‐related consequences of participating in American football. This study considers whether the known risk has affected individuals’ willingness to play at the intercollegiate level.MethodsDrawing from a survey of 726 adult males, this study uses quantitative experimental vignette methodology to investigate factors associated with the self‐conscious choice to risk brain damage in exchange for a football scholarship.ResultsRespondents whose mothers’ highest level of education was high school or lower were especially willing to assume the known long‐term risk associated with playing college football, as were African Americans.ConclusionsThe findings may foreshadow a moral quandary should radical changes to football player safety not occur soon. If the sport's physical risks are acceptable mainly to those from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, it could be difficult for presidents, faculty, and other stakeholders to allow young men to represent their universities in this capacity.

The purpose of this essay is to describe key dimensions of contemporary Latin American Public Universities (LAPUs), especially pertaining to access, equity, and quality. Analyses of LAPUs must be contextualized within the great diversity of organizational models, as well as the accelerated process of economic and institutional expansions and contractions, particularly after the 1950s. Framing LAPUs in their broader economic and socio-historical landscapes, we consider how the notion of “public” evolved in the region’s approach to higher education. We describe the case of the Latin American macro-university, a globally unique model of public higher education, which combines ideals of democratization, very large enrollments and meritocratic models of selection and access. We conclude by discussing the dynamics influencing the distinctive notions of “public” and “publicness” in the Latin American context and its potential applications for other regions of the world.

Non-tenure track faculty are a growing majority in American higher education, but research examining their work lives is limited. Moreover, the theoretical frameworks commonly used by scholars have been critiqued for reliance on ideologically charged assumptions. Using a conceptual model developed from Hackman and Oldham’s (1980) Job Characteristics Model (JCM) and prior research on faculty workplace experiences, this study considers the extent to which full-time non-tenure track and tenure line faculty share a professionalized approach to their jobs, working conditions, and how this is associated with their organizational commitment. Findings demonstrate important consistencies in full-time faculty views of their workplaces and jobs across appointment type. Satisfaction with resources, rewards, autonomy and feedback had a significant positive relationship with odds of organizational commitment for all faculty groups. Overall, the results suggest being removed from the tenure track is not associated with faculty viewing their jobs in a substantially different way than those in tenure line positions, which underscores the importance of conceptualizing full-time faculty work as an integrated whole.

The purpose of this manuscript is to describe a competency-based approach to designing and assessing master’s level professional preparation programs in the field of higher education administration. Given the absence of a universal set of competencies defined for HEA master’s degree programs, the authors draw from the CAHEP (2010) and Wright (2007) general guidelines for HEA graduate programs, and the literature pertaining to graduate competencies and outcomes that are specific to early career student affairs positions. The competency-based approach described here contributes to the literature on competency-based assessment models for master’s level graduate programs, and has utility for faculty and administrators seeking to assess professional master’s programs, especially those that lack nationally defined standards or certification.

A conceptual framework grounded on procedural justice theory was created to explain how judgments about the fairness of tenure decision-making evolved among faculty who had not yet undergone the review. The framework posits that faculty beliefs about fairness are influenced directly by their workplace experiences and both directly and indirectly by their socio-demographic characteristics. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the proposed direct and indirect effects with data from 2,247 pre-tenure assistant professors at 21 research universities. The results substantiate the importance of perceived campus and department conditions in shaping faculty members' views of tenure reviews and as mediators of faculty members' socio-demographic characteristics. Equitable treatment of junior faculty at the department level and effectiveness of feedback have the strongest relationships with beliefs about the equity of tenure decision-making. Generally speaking, an individual's sense of control during the process of constructing the tenure dossier predicts his or her judgments about the fairness of tenure reviews. Practical suggestions for campus leaders regarding the conditions that inform faculty beliefs about tenure reviews and implications for future research are discussed.

This study focuses on a contested area of shared governance, intercollegiate athletics. The researchers consider how faculty perceptions of organizational politics shape their orientations toward collaborative decision-making in this domain. The results provide insights into ways social cognitions about campus-level decision-making affect faculty satisfaction with their collective influence and their prioritization of governance issues. Several directions for further research on athletics oversight and shared governance are identified.

Building on a theoretical framework that links characteristics of individuals and their work settings to organizational commitment (OC) and citizenship behavior, this study considers why faculty may be disengaging from institutional service. Analyses of survey data collected from a state system of higher education suggest that job characteristics, exchanges and social learning are associated with faculty members’ OC. For instance, opportunities for advancement and research support, as well as responsiveness of administrators to faculty, contributed to the likelihood that faculty would accept a position at their institution again if given the chance. Commitment, however, did not significantly affect time spent on institutional service. Two job characteristics—time spent on research and time spent on teaching—were negatively associated with this behavior.