CURRICULUM ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION Introduct

One curricular issue that has been addressed in several studies (e.g. Abraham, 1990; Council of Graduate Schools in the U.S., 1991) is that of providing curricula that is meaningful and relevant to international students. According to Abraham (1990), one of the pivotal components with respect to providing curricula to international students is the provision of an English reading assessment program.

Abraham (1990) states that colleges and universities need not only to assess the reading skill level of international students, but they also need to use these assessment data to establish a base-line level of reading proficiency to which students who are non-native speakers of English can be compared. He further reports that in order to fully benefit from curriculum in any class, it is important that institutions of higher education bring students up to required levels of college reading.

In another discussion of the issue of international students and college curriculum, McCarthy (1986) stated that a fundamental part of producing curriculum improvement in this area is that no serious curriculum revision take place without faculty support and involvement. Moreove

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njoy working with CLIOTUTOR and find it an effective way to understand and remember text material. It is particularly appreciated by students whose reading comprehension is modest or poor. . .Faculty feel that students understand text material better when they come to class. (Porter, 1989, p.1) Zwana (1988) has stated that frequently college and university curriculum fails to address the learning needs of non-white students. In particular, he states that this issue is not merely a curricular issue but rather a curricular component of the much larger issued of institutional racism. In order to effect curricular improvement for the non-white student, Zwana reports that colleges and universities must take several steps, steps that involve considerably more than re-design of existing course materials. Specifically, he recommends: (1) an increase in non-white enrollment, both at the graduate and undergraduate level; (2) provision of non-Western academic disciplines and courses; (3) involvement of minority group students, faculty, administrators, and staff in institutional policy decisions; (4) effective and decisive handling of racism; (5) provision of meaningful facilities for students; (6) recognition of the valid
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Specifically Porter, Hadley Vitale, Brousseau Freeman, According Abraham, Dickinson University, Pine Keane, Hart Weinman, Abstracts ERIC, Illinois University, DOCUMENT ED, eric document, college university, document ed, eric document ed, curricular issue, non-white students, international students, computer assisted instruction, computer assisted, assisted instruction, hart weinman 1990, paper annual, abraham 1990, hadley vitale 1985, weinman 1990 examined,
Approximate Word count = 1426
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)