Annotated Bibliographies (Week Three)

This was written for the University subject, BCM111.

Mok, KH 2016, ‘Massifying and internationalising higher education, changing labour markets and social mobility: challenges for education and urban governance’, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 233-241

This article attempts to address the rapid expansion of internationalisation of higher education across the world as well as the challenges that result from this expansion especially the “difficulty in finding jobs matching [the university graduates’] qualifications, knowledge and skill sets” as a result of the “over-supply” of these graduates in recent years. Mok’s article can be fitted into the literature of the subject topic as it builds upon and provides further insight into the difficulties that face international students as well as other graduates who are a part of this over-supply or “massification” of higher education. The article would be useful in global media studies as it examines a variety of studies that supply statistical evidence on the explosion of higher education across the globe, not just in specific areas like Asia or Australia. The main use of the article will derive from its statistical breakdown and analysis of higher education students across the globe. For example, a “study of Western European countries by Jackson et al. discovered a strong correlation between students’ socioeconomic characteristics like socioeconomic status and parental education”. The article’s main limitation is that, while the statistical and correlative analysis is sound, it relies heavily on these aspects in order to support its conclusion that the internationalisation of higher education is mainly or even solely responsible for “social consequences like the growing pressure for graduate employment, stagnant social mobility and the rise of unhappy youth in contemporary society”.

Maringe, F & Sing, N 2014, ‘Teaching large classes in an increasingly internationalising higher education environment: pedagogical, quality and equity issues’, Higher Education, vol. 67, no. 6, pp. 761-782

This article’s main goal is to research the “twin issues” of large classes that, due to the increase in the internationalisation of education and the diversity of students, are now in a ‘increasingly globalised context’ - facing enhanced challenges in regards to “the quality and equity of learning…in large and demographically diverse classrooms…”. The article clearly relates to the subject topic of internationalising higher education due to placing emphasis on the expansion of the demographics in increasingly diverse classroom spaces, how to address the issues that arise from them and thus, “…transforming pedagogical practices which address these concerns…” and issues. In terms of usefulness, the article provides unique insight into the adversities that face practitioners of education and the “internationalisation strategies” that could be used to combat problems such as the massification of higher education and the “stagnating staff numbers in universities”. The article will be somewhat useful in future assessments as it delineates and stratifies ways of minimising the issues of equity and quality that arise from higher education internationalisation. The article’s main limitation comes from it being almost entirely theoretical - although, the article itself also points this out as well.