FIRE, Volume 01, Issue 03 (2014)

This paper examines higher education in Afghanistan. Based on qualitative research, including interviews with key policymakers and stakeholders, the paper examines the primary issues, challenges, progress, and future vision for higher education in the country. The research reveals that one of the most significant issues in the country in the post-Taliban era is female participation in higher education. It also shows the importance of alternative forms of higher education, such as two-year institutions, private education, and technical/vocational education.

This research was supported in part by grants from the Office of English Language Acquisition, United States Department of Education, Washington, DC. Award Numbers: T195N070385 & T195N070264. A PowerPoint synthesis of selected findings relating to this research has been accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), April 2015, Chicago, Illinois.

The Standards for Effective Pedagogy and Learning (CREDE, 2014) specify five transnational universals of teaching that are especially effective for the rapidly growing population of English language learners in North America. CLASSIC is an evidence-based, CREDE-aligned model of teacher education for classroom educators of English language learners. CLASSIC has utilized with more than 10,000 teachers in 100 school districts, located in eight states, in collaboration with eight different universities.

The twentieth century has witnessed an upsurge of Human Resource Development (HRD) activities reflected through globalization and overall economic initiatives to improve the economy. This paper undertakes a critical approach to adult education in the United States and does so through the lens of human resource development issues, trends and policies. Through the use of key reports and other recent literature, adult education is placed in a wider economic development framework.

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, tribal familial affiliations form the basis of society with opinions and viewpoints of parents and other family elders heavily influencing the decisions of younger Emiratis. Social transitions caused by rapid and progressive economic development have affected each consecutive generation with a vastly different set of social circumstances than the preceding generation.

Higher education regionalization in Asia Pacific: Implications for governance, citizenship and university transformation edited by J. N. Hawkins, K. H. Mok, and D. E. Neubauer describes and summarizes the conversations happening around regionalization in the Asia-Pacific region, and is a potential resource for the higher education community interested in the Asia-Pacific region.