eprintid: 1507872
rev_number: 34
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/01/50/78/72
datestamp: 2016-08-22 09:45:04
lastmod: 2020-02-17 04:53:45
status_changed: 2016-08-22 09:45:04
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Schendel, R
title: Constructing departmental culture to support student development: Evidence from a case study in Rwanda
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: A01
divisions: B16
divisions: B14
keywords: Critical thinking, Pedagogy, Higher education reform, Higher education policy, Architecture, Rwanda
note: Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
abstract: 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 & 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.
date: 2016-08-18
date_type: published
publisher: Springer Verlag (Germany)
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0036-6
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
article_type_text: Article
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1145998
doi: 10.1007/s10734-016-0036-6
lyricists_name: Schendel, Rebecca
lyricists_id: RCSCH77
actors_name: Schendel, Rebecca
actors_id: RCSCH77
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Higher Education
volume: 72
number: 4
pagerange: 487-504
issn: 0018-1560
citation:        Schendel, R;      (2016)    Constructing departmental culture to support student development: Evidence from a case study in Rwanda.                   Higher Education , 72  (4)   pp. 487-504.    10.1007/s10734-016-0036-6 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0036-6>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1507872/1/art%253A10.1007%252Fs10734-016-0036-6.pdf