Higher Education in England Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Higher Education in England - Research Paper Example Reports from the Guardian point to the fact that the government's failure to extend access to higher education caused higher drop out rates and lower number of students who attend university (Smith a), 2006). Current statistics on from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) caused disappointment among government leaders and ministers who advocate for the yearly rise on the population of students apply to universities (Smith a) 2006). Considering the funds that the government has disbursed in order to widen the access of individuals from all walks of life to enable them to gain entry to higher education institutions, many have expected that the results of these efforts can put a halt to the declining trend. The government is spending about 300 million pounds in order to attract and increase the rates of individuals who attend higher education institution to 50 percent until 2010 (Smith a) 2006).  The National Union of students has affirmed that the current figures on the tuit ion fees which continue to increase during the previous decades have a huge impact on the number of applications to the higher education system. The union national president, Gemma Tumelty said that the current figures and the declining number of applications to colleges and universities in England have 'real effect' on the choices of students which in turn thwart and discourage other prospective students to pursue their goals of achieving university degrees. The decrease stood lower in England at 4 percent - lower than in the rest of the country (Smith b) 2006) as the top-fees have not been put into effect in England yet. Clearly, what hinders many prospective students from entering higher education in England was brought about by the rising fees imposed even on poor students and the marginalized sector of the society. The impact of the 3,000 increase in tuition, which will be put into effect in September, poses worries among university officials already nervous about the declining student population. This only means that universities and colleges across England will have to apply extra efforts to promote higher education to prospective students and individuals who are from poor families and are already apprehensive about their escalating debt (Smith a) 2006). HESA figures strengthen this view as it contends those students from the disadvantaged families and who come from the lower rung of the social ladder.

Reflective learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reflective learning - Essay Example I also made them believe that raising funds is not really hard as many of my peers thought. I made them understand that there are a lot of ways to raise funds we just have to be creative and exert a little effort to raise it. I introduce the idea of a garage sale with a party. The items that will be on sale will be the things that our neighbours are ready to dispose. To make the story short, we were able to exceed our objective to raise fund for our project while having fun at the same time. The other experience I had about leading a group was during a school project where I was assigned as a project leader. I was hesitant at first because I was anxious that I might end up doing the whole project myself if my team members will not work and cooperate. It was not as hard as I thought if one will just know how to push â€Å"the right button† or motivate the group members to work. Before these projects were realized, the process and dynamics of getting it done was quite tough. It was an interplay of leadership, organizational skill, team work and resolving personal issue among the members in the group. But the main component is leadership on how to direct the energy of the team to commit and realize our objective (Kayser and Melcher 2007). It was not easy asking people of my age to do certain things that it made me think how to go about it and in the process learned several things about myself. I learned that in getting people commit to do certain things, I have to get along with them very well especially if it is a volunteer work just like our community project or a school work where one cannot direct others because everybody is in equal footing (we are all students). I learned that I do pretty well in this department that it is almost effortless on my part. But I have to admit that there are things about me that is un-leader like that I have to change such as my tendency to procrastinate. I observed that when I procrastinate, my team members also did the s ame. There are also certain things about my behaviour that I did not realize to be a leadership trait. Knowing that my team members in our community project are not being paid to do it, I invoked their higher sense of achieving and contributing good when I told them that what we are doing is for the community and that we will become an invariable part of it because we worked hard for a project dedicated to our community. This is actually a trait of transformational leadership (Judge and Piccolo 2004). My good interpersonal skill also enabled me to effectively address an issue with our group. The person I assigned to go door to door in one of our streets suddenly did not show up. I was worried. But instead of passing judgment at him to be lazy and non-committal, I inquired what happened. I learned that my team member had a medical emergency at home because a sister has to be rushed to the hospital. When the issue was already done, my team member was very motivated to go door to door to collect things for our garage sale and this would not have been possible had I judged him earlier. On areas that I need to improve my behaviour about leadership, I believe it would be my organizational and administrative skills. I have to admit that I am disorganized as a leader. I realized this during the garage sale itself because I had hard time putting up the event. The event could have been better with more attendees and more funds could have been raised if I had a better