Values and attitudes in the world of higher education

Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy (BJSEP), Volume 7, Number 1, 2013 VALUES AND ATTITUDES IN THE WORLD OF HIGHER EDUCATION Veronika BOCSI University of Debrecen, HUNGARY Abstract. The beginning of mass higher education in Hungary goes back to the 1990s, and as a consequence of this process great differences have arisen in the prestige of the institutions and faculties. The sample of our analysis is drawn from the higher educational institution having the largest number of students in Hungary, the University of Debrecen. In the course of our analysis three subsamples have been created by means of the university’s fifteen faculties (groups of students attending faculties of high, medium and low prestige), and in these subsamples the students’ value preferences, their expectations about higher education and their moral behaviour and principles within the institution have been mapped. In our analysis the 2012 database of HERD Research 1) has been used. In the field of value preferences our results revealed, in a slightly surprising way, not the differences between the faculties of low and high prestige, but the medium group’s preferences rejecting peculiar material values, while concerning moral principles the looser norm system of the faculties of lower status could be observed, which was accompanied by material approach and, in a slightly surprising way, an image of elitist higher education. Keywords: values, higher education, full time students, learning, behavior Introduction Our study is intended to examine the connection between the world of values and higher education. The theoretical frames affect the logic of scientific life, the attachment of the different segments of higher education to it, the prestige and mobility of the different faculties and the nature of the reconversion of the middle class and the elite. In the empirical section of our work these issues have been examined by means of a student sample which covers the different segments of diversified higher education, and is hereby capable of approaching the connection between the world of values and higher education through these filters. In the course of the statistical analyses cross tabulation analyses, averages, variance analysis and factor analysis have been used. Our research is based on the sample of the institution having the largest number of students in Hungary, which is representative of faculties. 2) Connection between higher education and values The institutional network of higher education before its becoming mass, which was closed to wide layers of the society and could be described with the mechanism of elite education, must have displayed a more unified image from the viewpoint of values than today’s fragmented higher educational network, in which different institutional types, students with different sociocultural background and lecturers with increasingly different sociocultural background appear. With peculiar worlds of values both the certain populations and the certain institutions can be described, as it is by no means the same what social groups form the dipping base of higher educational institutions from which students are ‘lifted’ into the institutions, as the value preferences of the different layers have different characteristics. This statement must also be true of the different ethical systems. The value preferences of certain sociocultural groups form a complicated constellation with their environmental conditions, cultural and religious codes and if the composition of the students changes, the atmosphere and the system of rules and norms at the universities and colleges also change. With the advance of mass higher education the staff of lecturers can be described with the same tendencies, as the institutional network, which has considerably expanded within a short time, requires the rapid expansion of the staff of lecturers, which inevitably involves, however, the population’s becoming diluted. The formal organisations of the certain institutions can also be described with certain worlds of values. The preferences held can be detected from the mission statement of the institutions, but its elements, declared or hidden, appear in the image of universities and colleges, and can also be grasped in the objects and symbols. The higher education being saturated with values in the region of our examination is also indicated by the appearance of higher educational institutions run by the church after the end of communism in 1989, in which the the educational offer in many cases can be described with prosocial and communal characteristics. In the formation of the world of values of higher educational institutions these three spheres (students, lecturers and organizations) are present intertwined, and they create the peculiar atmosphere of the universities and colleges together. If the preferred values of one of the sets change, it shifts the already formed system towards some new direction. From the viewpoint of values the development of mass higher education generates changes in the case of all the three fields mentioned above. Weber (1989) describes the logic of scientific world as a rational, logical order, in which the causal relations and not the intuitions play the main role. In the hierarchical world of higher education the realization of a lecturer’s career comes up against several difficulties, the solution of which requires persistence, perspective thinking, setting specific aims and renunciation. If his concept is matched to Schwartz’ (1992) model (Fig. 1), which shows the arrangement and position of values in comparison with each other, the logic of science is connected to the sphere of interest enforcement and self-realization, and at opposite poles sets such as, for instance, security and tradition, and conformity can be found. Benevolence is also located relatively far from this group of values. Fig. 1. Schwartz’ model of universal human values (Rice, 2006) Considering the different university conceptions this idea of scientific life is in harmony with the classical image of university, before its becoming mass – a higher educational institution prepared for elite education can indeed much less be related to, for instance, social values. The nature of this peculiar character must be traced back to quite a lot of factors, from which the social background of the students and the lecturers, and also the reconversational functions of the institutions can be emphasized. The advance of mass higher education, which is by Archer (1982) determined by the proportion of a cohort’s gaining admission to universities and colleges, called for new types of institution, which are mostly attended by students who have earlier not reached this level of education. In the 1990s the number of students was considerably increased in Hungary due to the development of mass higher education (however, in the past few years a decreasing tendency can be experienced – which has both population and educational political reasons). 3) The advance of mass higher education has led to the fragmentation of its institutional network: in the new system the scientific indicators of lecturers and students and the system of requirements show vast differences, if we compare the certain universities and colleges. The different position of the institutions is strengthened also by the trainings offered, as the newly established institutions do not often launch classical university majors, but in many cases they offer courses, which are more practical, often of social nature and farther removed from Weber’s concept of science. In such institutions the worlds of values take up, as appropriate, charactersitics that cannot be experienced in institutions fulfiling the function of elite education. The peculiar sociocultural background of the students results in a different knowledge, learning practice and a different relation to higher education and it also alters significantly the work of lecturers. So in Schwartz’ model these institutions can be fitted into another segment of the values. In addition to fragmentation we must mention the fact that the changes have also reached the prestigious faculties of universities and the so-called elite institutions of higher education: in the past decade in Hungary the appearance of so-called non-traditional students, different from the earlier basis, could be certified (Engler et al., 2012), as the number of students has increased even in these faculties and majors during the past decade. Analysing the student bases of the different faculties and institutions several theories are to be linked here in the field of value preferences. One of them is Inglehart’s (1997) Scarcity Hypothesis, which says that if satisfying the survival needs is no more a daily challenge for the individual, the preferences will shift towards post-modern values. Accordingly the greater acceptance of these items are to be found in the case of faculties with higher prestige. In his work about economic stagnation Smelser (2005) writes that the phenomenon entails the change of values, which, among others, results in the following items’ becoming more important: the value of work, rationality, desire for power, ambition and freedom. All these ideas can be projected on the faculties and institutions. The fragmentation of higher education may probably result in the earlier unified academic worlds of values becoming more tinged. The higher education being saturated with values can also be approached from the direction of mobility and reproduction of inequalities. The middle-class habitus in Bourdieu’s sense of the word (Bourdieu, 1996) assists the easier adaptation to elite educational institutions, as both the elements of knowledge and the way they acquire them, as well as the world of exercises directing towards them are more familiar to young people coming from the middle class, and perspective thinking, wider time horizons and the education-sociological interpretation of the theory of Deferred Gratification (Leshan, 1959) are also influential in this direction. Considering cultural education as a value and a positive relation to school knowledge are also phenomena embedded in the social structure, which can be linked to the concept of incorporate cultural capital, as well (Bourdieu, 1986). The quality of students’ value preferences is presumed to be connected to their views about higher education. Prosocial attitude can be compared to the idea of lower-status groups’ more extensive incorporation into universities and colleges, while children of favourable sociocultural layers are linked to a performance-related higher education. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that not only the ‘habitus’ of different majors works as a certain kind of previous selection, but the impact of the institutions on value systems can also be significant. Radical shifts can be caused by cases, where a great difference is experienced compared to the value preferences of the sending agent, and we should also consider the segment of student socialization which occurs at the level of peer groups – this process can also bring about shifts in the field of the values proved. The issue of academic ethic is more or less closely connected to our research question. Its examination is also embedded in the problem of mass education, and in the process of the change in student base. We presume that it is worth examining the phenomenon in those segments of the universities that can be described with different prestige, so we are also trying to find the answer to the following question: what differences arise examining the students from this viewpoint. University faculties and prestige at the University of Debrecen The prestige of the majors and faculties is also embedded in the labour market processes. Mass higher education entails the devaluation of the diplomas, so it is not at all the same what chances the student is considered to have to get a job after graduation – especially regarding the fact that in the past few years the unemployment rate in Hungary has been around 10-11%. The length of time needed to get a job by the students graduated in different fields of science shows that those taking a degree in medicine, economy and law are in the most favourable position. The same fields of science were positioned first in Fónai’s (2009) survey, in the course of which the students who got into the Talent Support Program of the University of Debrecen between 2001 and 2007 estimated the prestige of the institution’s faculties (Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration). However, in another study the author, analysing the example of the Faculty of Law, calls our attention to the fact that the faculties cannot be treated as homogeneous blocks. 4) Veroszta (2009), who in his examination tried to detach among other things the elite segment of Hungarian higher education, argues that the particular institutions cannot unanimously be matched to certain levels of higher education. Our earlier analyses, which examined the sociocultural background of the students at the University of Debrecen directed attention to the fact that the parents of these students are more highly qualified and their economic and cultural capital is also more significant (Bocsi, 2008). One of the reconversion strategies of the families with favourable backgrounds in the region is the children’s conscious choice of major, the targets of which are often the university faculties with higher prestige. 5) Getting a job for students taking part in teacher training education and in the social and helping professions takes more time and the salaries earned in this sector are lower. The prestige and labour market payoff of university faculties and their qualifications that can be characterized with prosocial values are smaller – while these institutions provide them most frequently with the chance of becoming a firstgeneration intellectual, but due to the nature of the majors the education positions the graduated principally in the lower spheres of the middle class. The University of Debrecen was born through an integration at the turn of the millenium. Concerning the number of students and the spectrum of education it is the biggest university in the country, on the other hand there are Hungarian institutions that in the international ranking orders of higher education precede it. 6) The structure of faculties consisting of 15 units was created not only based on the old-established institutions, but by joining college courses that earlier operated independently and that can be regarded in certain cases as relatively young instituions. The University of Debrecen has altogether 25 graduate schools, but faculties without an independent graduate school, and where the students’ sociocultural characteristics and their being supplied with different forms of capital seem to be the most unfavourable belong to the latter group. Summary of earlier research results The national and international value research that affects Hungary 7) as well points out that the mentality of Hungarian society is located in the rational segment of the traditional-rational axis of values, while in the axis of open and closed thinking it can be found at the pole of closed thinking (Keller, 2009), and the dominance of individualized thinking must also be emphasized (Füstös & Szakolczai, 1994). Based on value preferences Hungary is mostly in tune with Eastern European, former Communist countries. The youth cohort can also be described with postmaterial charactersitics due to its agerelated features and peculiar life situation – as shown by the national youth examinations of the past ten years. 8) An explanation for the increased existence of postmaterial characteristics can be connected to Inglehart’s (1997) scarcity hypothesis, according to which the dominance of postmaterial values becomes conceivable in those groups of the society where satisfying the survival needs is not any more a daily challenge. A significant part of the university population probably belongs to this group, as the youth age allows them to live half-independently. If we take the fundamental connection as a starting point that value preferences are considerably influenced by qualification, the university population can probably be characterized by peculiar features, and these features will include traits of graduate, middle class thinking. Based on the results of national examinations, for instance the items of fantasy/imagination or intellect can be considered such values embedded in qualification. In the course of our earlier surveys, which affected the region and not the University did not decrease under one unit. The elitist factor created in this way contained statements harmonizing the restriction of higher education’s dipping base, academic approach and critical attitudes towards the present system, while the second factor can be interpreted as a mixture of practicality, payoff and some social attitude. In the course of applying ANOVA test (p˂0.05) significant relation (sig. 0.039) was outlined in the case of the first factor, where – surprisingly enough – elitist attitude was characteristic of students attending lower status faculties, while the counterpole was represented by the medium subsample. 13) The interpretation of the data obtained is a rather complicated task: on the one hand we can start from lower status group’s inconsistent image of higher education proved earlier, but the pattern outlined can also be linked to social mobility set by them as an aim, which shifts students towards the direction of accepting elitist education. It should be noted, however, that the student base of the University of Debrecen can be characterized by several special features – we could see that a large part of the student base lack middle class background, moreover young people with the most favourable sociocultural background of the region mostly choose to attend the institutions of the capital. Table 2. Factors on the basis of value items (factor scores, N=1118, self-made table) postmaterial-embedded material religious inner harmony .653 .064 .169 power -.144 .839 .050 freedom .618 .295 -.119 a world at peace .685 .066 .190 family security .722 -.003 .048 love, happiness .701 -.115 -.031 social order, stability .633 .094 .255 religious belief .080 -.030 .950 material needs .240 .765 -.066 true friendship .748 -.067 -.026 an exciting life .671 .146 -.105 Table 3. The judgement of the role and functions of higher education on a four-grade scale by subsamples (ANOVA test, p˂0.05, N=1118, self-made table) low prestige faculties medium prestige faculties high prestige faculties sample average sig. The university should concentrate on research instead of education. 2.68 2.49 2.16 2.44 0.005 The quality of education at universities/colleges is poor. 2.86 2.52 2.40 2.55 0.010 Poor students should only be admitted if they are very talented. 2.52 2.00 2.18 2.14 0.000 I like lecturers who set high requirements and let only those students pass the exam who are very well-prepared. 2.90 2.51 2.73 2.63 0.003 Teachers set exaggeratedly high requirements for students. 3.00 2.68 2.80 2.77 0.032 It costs too much nowadays to be a university student. 3.42 3.20 3.44 3.30 0.015 Table 4. Factors based on the functions and roles of higher education (factor scores, N=1118, self-made table) Elitist factor Practicalsocial factor Only students completing the secondary school with excellent results should gain admission to university. .676 .053 The university should concentrate on research instead of education. .632 .089 The university should educate real intellectuals. .572 .361 The quality of education at universities/colleges is poor. .619 .212 Poor students should only be admitted if they are very talented. .724 .134 I like lecturers who set high requirements and let only those students pass the exam who are very well-prepared. .675 .223 The number of students enrolling at the university should decrease. .535 .298 The state should provide university graduates with workplaces. .125 .750 I like lecturers who also encourage students with weaker performance to study. .209 .651 The majority of students enrolled at the university only to obtain a diploma. .502 .273 It costs too much nowadays to be a university student. .203 .681 At the university/college students should primarily be taught things that they will actually use at their workplaces. .198 .789 Table 5. The judgement of the moral rules of higher education by the status groups (averages of four-grade scale, significant relation, N=1118, self-made table) low status subsample medium status subsample high status subsample average sig. Reading the compulsory literature is natural. 2.84 2.98 3.15 3.00 0.000 Paying for writing your thesis is acceptable. 1.29 1.23 1.17 1.22 0.005 The regular use of a crib is acceptable at the university. 1.93 1.75 1.67 1.76 0.001 It is acceptable if students study only for higher stipendium. 2.53 2.52 2.32 2.48 0.002 It is acceptable if you strive to gain profound knowledge only in subjects you are interested in. 2.41 2.58 2.43 2.51 0.003 It is acceptable to adopt other authors’ texts and thoughts without reference to them. 1.53 1.42 1.26 1.4 0.000 It is acceptable if you receive your diploma without a real academic performance. 1.38 1.37 1.21 1.33 0.000 Of course, you yourself have to write every essay to be submitted. 3.38 3.5 3.39 3.45 0.021 It is acceptable to lie if you have failed to write your essay or have failed to prepare for your examination. 1.85 1.79 1.68 1.77 0.026 It is acceptable to include fictitious resources, literature that you have failed to read or unrelated articles in the bibliography. 1.76 1.59 1.48 1.60 0.000 It is acceptable to write an essay based on only notes. 2.39 2.35 2.23 2.33 0.034 It is acceptable to manipulate research results on purpose. 1.54 1.34 1.22 1.35 0.000 It is acceptable to have your essay written by someone else. 1.57 1.45 1.31 1.44 0.000 It is acceptable to tear a page out of books borrowed from the library. 1.24 1.17 1.13 1.18 0.041 If the deception comes to light, it is a shame not only bad luck. 3.12 3.31 3.38 3.29 0.007 In the last phase of our analysis we intended to examine the judgement of moral rules related to scientific life and work by the students. This block of questions of the sampling contained 23 items, which were evaluated by the students on a four-grade scale. Table 5 demonstrates the differences by status groups. The table shows that breaking the moral rules, crossing the moral borders of academic work and research seems to be an acceptable step mostly among students belonging to the low status group – this result is especially interesting, if we match it to the elitist model of the role of higher education. (Statements like for instance that ‘the university should educate real intellectuals’ are positioned in the elitist factor). The possible explanations here are also various: on the one hand the moral rules of academic life may be unfamiliar for them, as the students involved lack middle-class background, unlike in the case of high status students, who bring along accepting the academic norms much more as a habitual characteristic. (We can see that observing the moral rules is mostly typical of this subsample.) For another reason we go back to value preferences, where the material factor, which showed an aim-fulfilling pattern based on material needs, was characteristic in this group – taking it as a starting point higher education for them can be determined not as a profession in Weber’s sense of the word, but as a task to achieve. However, the task to achieve also opens the way upwards for them, and the elitist factor, which was determined with the roles of higher education, can be defined as the possibility of a certain mobility (or probably as its illusion). Summary In the theoretical part of our analysis we attempted to examine the value sociological embeddedness of higher education, and then to analyze three segments of this field: students’ value preferences, the interpretation of the functions of higher education, and the moral rules of academic life. The issue is thought to be topical, as in the past two decades Hungary has gone through the process of higher education becoming mass education, which has disrupted the earlier more unified academic world. It is important to emphasize that the processes outlined in our article, like for instance the change of value preferences, the phenomenon of joining social mobility to higher education, are considerably embedded in other subsystems and segments of the society, so the data obtained may have, for instance, economic or political relevances as well (e.g. the position of power or politics, or statements related to the social sensitivity of students in the course of the functions of higher education). The results obtained point out that the fragmentation of the academic world, which earlier showed a more unified image, has taken place, but the values and attitudes of the different groups related to higher education do not follow the rule system of a normal society in many cases (e.g., the rejection of material needs in the medium status subsample). It is worth emphasizing the peculiar, contradictory image of higher education of students coming from lower status faculties, which shows a student image that is pragmatic, aim fulfilling and therefore more indecent concerning moral issues. It is also worth mentioning the fact that despite our expectations, the counteraxes were not the two extreme subsamples in some cases (e.g., in the case of the material factor). About the moral projection of higher education, however, we can say that the highest degree of following the rules can be experienced in the ‘elite’ segment of the students. The image of the structure and worlds of values of the higher educational institution examined by us, which is outlined in front of our eyes, does not seem to be in complete harmony with the image presumed by us based on the theoretical frames outlined. We could find no trace of, for instance, the increased existence of prosocial traits in those faculties, either, where students’ sociocultural background is less favourable. The university’s segments of different status probably have their own rulesystems and structures, which is coloured by institutional influence and shifts generated by peer groups, but reconversion and the subjective judgement of mobility are also likely to exert their effects. NOTES 1. Higher Education for Social Cohesion. Cooperative Research and Development in Cross-border Area. Registration number: HURO/0901/253/2.2.2. Leader: Prof. Dr. Tamás Kozma. 2. In 2011 the number of students at the University of Debrecen was 32 359 http://www.unideb.hu/portal/sites/default/files/togyib/Masolat_eredetijehallgatoi_oss zletszam_diagram__2000_2011.pdf However, the institution has a regional, rather than a national schooling background: the majority of the students come from the northeastern counties of Hungary and from transborder areas inhabited by Hungarians (Teperics, 2006). 3. In 2012 the number of students gained admission to a higher educational institution in Hungary was 84 694, while 10 years before this number was 109 355 http://www.felvi.hu/felveteli/ponthatarok_rangsorok/elmult_evek/!ElmultEve k/elmult_evek.php?stat=1 4. http://www.felvi.hu/pub_bin/dload/DPR/dprfuzet4/Pages227_244_Fonai.pdf 5. At the same time it is important to emphasize that a previous filtering had already selected those who wanted to stay in the region – the sociocultural background of students staying in the region after completing the secondary school is less favourable than that of young people intending to continue their studies in the capital (Ceglédi & Nyüsti 2012). 6. See for instance the 2012 ranking order of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-universityrankings/2012?page=28 7. For example the different waves of World Value Study, or the research conducted in the representative sample of Hungary’s inhabitants with Rokeach Value Survey http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ 8. Every four years from the year 2000 the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour conducts a youth survey drawn from a large sample in Hungary, which contains a block of value sociology, as well http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ 9. 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Désány István Street Hajdúböszörmény, HUNGARY E-Mail: [email protected]