Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 23, Issue 6
Welcome to the sixth issue of 2009. Thank you to all who have submitted papers to this journal for publication and congratulations if you have been successful – commiserations if you were not successful on this occasion. Later this year there will be the opportunity to submit papers via a web-based system of review which once up and running should make it easier for all to monitor progress. Certainly my study should be somewhat tidier with reduced paperwork! Bearing in mind the international nature of the journal it is of course possible that some potential authors may not have the same level of access but I am sure that it can still be possible to receive papers in other ways.
For this journal issue there are the usual six papers approved and from a variety of nationalities – Australia, United Arab Emirates, China,Malaysia, Germany and Cyprus. The first is on educational decision making in a centralised education system – Greece and is offered by Dr Anna Saiti and Dr Maria Eliophotou-Menon. The study uses case study to examine the limitations in educational decision making in Greece, and in particular it examines the process that led to the establishment of all day primary schools in the country. The authors show that the decision to establish these schools was not a collaborative process as the system is controlled by the Ministry of Education. The paper attempts to present practices that will lead to improved educational decision making in Greece.
The next work is from Professor Dr Hechaun Sun who was my sponsor at Shenyang Normal University, and who is a member of the editorial board of this journal,and Xialin Yung. Their paper aims to survey the time pressures on students and the relationship between their daily time management and learning outcomes in three different types of higher secondary schools (14 schools in total) in Shenyang Liaoning Province. The highest pressure found was from the national college entrance examinations but others included parents, society, other people,school and teachers. The students’ time management and outcomes was also surveyed. A paper, which will be of interest to others concerned with student pressures, which will likely be mirrored in other parts of the world.
From the University of Sharjah, UAE, Assistant Professor Khalifa contributes on student evaluation to draw up a strategy for a business school. A survey was used to solicit and measure the students’ perceptions which was then subjected to statistical analysis in order to create the strategic canvas for the school. The findings show the strengths and weaknesses of the school’s current strategy profile. The authors then suggest how the resources should be used to improve performance on critical value dimensions and to trigger thinking on new innovative dimensions. It is recognised that the sample size limits any broader conclusions outside of the establishment surveyed.
In the next paper Mitsis and Foley have put together a piece on “culturally anchored values and university education experience perception” in which the paper examines whether business students’ gender, age and culturally anchored values affect their perceptions of their university course experience. The study’s findings may help universities improve their relationship with their total student population by recognising the non homogeneous nature of a business student cohort, especially their culturally enhanced values. The paper suggests that it may be both possible and useful to identify different student customer segments based on students’ culturally anchored value orientations which may be valuable to universities in their efforts to attract retain and grow an ongoing relationship with students especially international full fee paying students.
Othman and Rauf have researched a system of performance measurement in selected primary schools in Malaysia. The system known as school performance index was the outcome of collaboration between the accounting research institute and the Prime Minister’s exchange fellowship programme. By a combination of fieldwork, observation, interviews, and documentary analysis, with over 100 heads/principals results show that schools scoring highly in test scores do not necessarily score highly in other aspects.
In the final paper Professor Dilger submits a work on “the principle of hiring the best available academics”. The study shows why and how to hire the best available academics. Higher education depends upon the quality of the people involved. Hiring the best may be too expensive for most but it is not difficult to recognise the best scholars but the problem is to act on this rather than following other objectives, which is why, the author argues,detached decision makers like managers, politicians or academics from other institutions nay be in a better position than faculty members with respect to senior hirings.
Brian Roberts
