ERIC Number: EJ1113403
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Oct
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0018-1560
EISSN: N/A
Constructing Departmental Culture to Support Student Development: Evidence from a Case Study in Rwanda
Schendel, Rebecca
Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, v72 n4 p487-504 Oct 2016
In recent years, there have been numerous attempts to improve the quality of higher education in Africa, but there is limited knowledge about the impact of these initiatives on student learning. The results of a study published in 2015 offered some initial data in this regard by identifying a lack of improvement in the critical thinking ability of students enrolled at three of Rwanda's public universities, despite extensive pedagogical reforms across the sector. However, subsequent analysis of the study data suggests that this lack of improvement is not a general phenomenon, as students graduating from the KIST Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design appear to exhibit deeper approaches to learning and stronger critical thinking skills than graduates with similar backgrounds from other Faculties involved in the study. This paper examines the factors that appear to have contributed to this outlying Faculty's success and argues that departmental culture has played a crucial role, by fostering the conditions necessary for pedagogical innovation.
Descriptors: Case Studies, Foreign Countries, Educational Quality, Higher Education, Educational Improvement, Teaching Methods, Instructional Innovation, Departments, Role, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills, Educational Change, Architecture, Design, School Culture, College Faculty, Graduates, Qualitative Research, Interviews
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Rwanda
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A