Institute of Education

What is ‘higher education’ and what does it do for persons, organisations, communities, cities, nations and the world? What difference does it make? How do we know? While these questions and others related to the contributions or effects of higher or tertiary education are discussed across the world, there is no agreement on what are those contributions. The higher education sector is connected to most other parts of society, and it is often difficult or impossible to isolate its discrete causal effects. In some quarters a disabling thinking prevails. Higher education is modelled as if all that this vast sector produces is measurable earnings benefits for individual graduates and new research-based products for globally competitive industry. Yet graduate earnings are partly shaped outside education, by family background and economic fluctuations; and higher education not only augments careers, it immerses students in knowledge, and it helps to shape them as people, and has many other individual and collective-social outcomes, as Assessing the contributions of higher education will show. Still, the fact that radical simplifications dominate this debate is not surprising. It is difficult to grasp the full range of what the sector does. There is no universal template and no comprehensive account. Perceptions of what higher education is vary according to beliefs about government and society, and the disciplinary or purposive lens used to view the sector, not to mention the interests at stake. Is both a common and comprehensive understanding possible, and if so, how? That question repeatedly returns during this book.

Originally developed in the US educational context, the student engagement concept has become increasingly recognised internationally. It suggests a particular approach to the evaluation of higher education quality and institutional practices for enhancing student growth. However, the lack of cross-national research on student engagement patterns in various national contexts restricts the implementation of engagement practices in different national contexts. This study uses the data of an undergraduate survey conducted in the USA, China, and Russia (n = 166,919) to explore whether the associations between student engagement and four personal characteristics of students (gender, field of study, year of study, and plans after graduation) are consistent across nations. This research disclosed that the USA, China, and Russia do not vary with regard to the associations between personal characteristics and student engagement dimensions.

The study of cultural contributions of higher education is important for a variety of reasons. The first one is quite evident. As far as we know there is no comprehensive study analysing the role of higher education and higher education institutions (HEIs) as cultural contributors in their respective societies or internationally. However, there are a number of studies focusing on separate cultural activities related to higher education (see below). The second reason is the increasingly dominant role economic perspective has reached in defining higher education and research during the last decades. HEIs have been seen mainly as economic entities and actors that should promote innovations, strengthen national economies and act as engines of regional development. Concerning students, higher education has been defined as an economic investment that should profit students as consumers with promising career prospects and high income. While there is nothing wrong with defining HEIs also as economic actors, the problem with this myopic, neo-liberally inspired focus is the neglect of other important functions HEIs have internationally and in their respective societies. Especially neglected and overlooked aspects are the cultural roles played by higher education and HEIs. Therefore, this chapter aims to open a fresh perspective to higher education by analysing the variety of cultural contributions that higher education and HEIs have.

Animal-assisted therapy and intervention have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of people with mental health issues that are connected to social functioning difficulties. Anorexia is a mental health disorder that is associated with problematic formation and maintenance of long-lasting personal relationships. There is a limited number of papers that describe how people with eating disorders, including anorexia, treat their pets. Since the perceptions of people with anorexia of their pets are largely unexplored, in this article, I aim to contribute to this lacuna. In particular, I study the meanings that young women with anorexia attach to their pets. The data on this topic was collected through semi-structured biographical interviews and the concentric circles method (N = 50). The narratives were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that pets are scarcely included in personal networks. Only seven women out of 50 mentioned them as members of these networks. Pets as parts of personal networks are referred to in five ways: (1) as providers of needed emotional support, (2) as targets of care that help to find the reason to be alive; (3) as triggers of depression and other mental health problems, (4) neutrally, or (5) as family members who are both in need of care and capable of providing support. Based on the results of the present research, I suggest the cautious implementation of animals in the provision of mental health services for young women with anorexia because these individuals tend to create strong bonds with their pets and the sudden cut of these ties (for instance due to pet death) could result in the worsening of the mental health of these vulnerable women.Animal-assisted therapy and intervention have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of people with mental health issues that are connected to social functioning difficulties. Anorexia is a mental health disorder that is associated with problematic formation and maintenance of long-lasting personal relationships. There is a limited number of papers that describe how people with eating disorders, including anorexia, treat their pets. Since the perceptions of people with anorexia of their pets are largely unexplored, in this article, I aim to contribute to this lacuna. In particular, I study the meanings that young women with anorexia attach to their pets. The data on this topic was collected through semi-structured biographical interviews and the concentric circles method (N = 50). The narratives were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that pets are scarcely included in personal networks. Only seven women out of 50 mentioned them as members of these networks. Pets as parts of personal networks are referred to in five ways: (1) as providers of needed emotional support, (2) as targets of care that help to find the reason to be alive; (3) as triggers of depression and other mental health problems, (4) neutrally, or (5) as family members who are both in need of care and capable of providing support. Based on the results of the present research, I suggest the cautious implementation of animals in the provision of mental health services for young women with anorexia because these individuals tend to create strong bonds with their pets and the sudden cut of these ties (for instance due to pet death) could result in the worsening of the mental health of these vulnerable women.