Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In the 2003 - 2004 university year in Ontario, students from both the 'old' (five year) high school curriculum and the 'new' (four year) program began university. This study looks at the differences in mathematical skills in these two groups of students, and compares their initial mathematical knowledge with their performance in a first year mathematics course.

Publication Type: Dissertation
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In recent years, limited in-depth studies of women, higher education, and the Middle East have been taking place separately in scholarly circles. Meanwhile, no research has been conducted on the overlapping of these three areas of interest. My dissertation research will begin to forge this divide by focusing on the juxtaposition of women and higher education in the Middle East.

Jordan, a part of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, is viewed as a country of social, political, and economic advancement (World Bank 2005, 2007; United Nations 2004). In the past decade, Jordan has been working towards becoming a “knowledge-based economy” (World Bank 2005, xi) by investing in health and education of its people, it is currently leading the region in literacy rates (Adult: 95 percent Males, 85 percent Females), and it is well on its way to achieving gender equity, one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Despite Jordan’s reputation as one of the most ‘advanced’ countries in the MENA, Jordan maintains the widest gender gap in tertiary completion in the MENA region with female tertiary completion rates just 31 percent of the male completion rate (World Bank, 2005). These statistics expose a glaring discrepancy in Jordan’s education system. This discrepancy leads me to believe that educational data available for Jordan does not present a holistic portrayal of what is actually happening.

Why is there such a significant gender gap at the tertiary level, when Jordan is achieving other education standards as compared to other countries in the MENA region? Research in the area of tertiary education (specifically attainment and experience) is currently sparse, yet it is critical for Jordanian women as well as continued national development efforts. Using Jordan and Jordanian women as the setting in my dissertation, I hope to answer the following research questions:
Given the context of low completion rates of Jordanian women in higher education:
(a) What are the experiences of those women who complete and those who do not complete tertiary education in Jordan?
(b) What role do various factors play in the contribution to completion or non-completion of tertiary education for Jordanian women?

My dissertation will be a case study of a purposeful sample of Jordanian women, which includes women that are currently at the threshold of completing higher education and women that at one point (no threshold will be designated to facilitate recruitment efforts) were enrolled but did not complete higher education. Case studies are used to grasp the complexity of the natural world (Stake 1995; Yin 1994) and for this reason I will employ the case study approach to allow me to capture the nuances of the lived experiences of these women. This case study will rely on many sources of evidence and will employ a variety of qualitative methods such as interviews, observations, documents, and focus groups.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: The PATHWAYS project is an evaluation of the implications of the closure of Riverview Hospital, British Columbia’s only tertiary, civil psychiatric hospital. This presentation will document the development of this large-scale naturalistic study. In particular, we demonstrate how we incorporated stakeholders into the research planning process and present data from a small study designed to canvass stakeholders’ opinions on the objectives and methods of the proposed study. Integrating patients, families, front-line staff, clinicians, and decision-makers into the development of the study has been a valuable process anticipated to increase participation in the project and the integrity of the results.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Statistics indicate a wide gap in educational attainment between men and women in Japan, particularly in comparison with other industrialized countries.
Data supports that in Japan, women who settle on a "pink-collar" career often attain higher economic standing through marriage than those who accept a traditionally male-dominated professional job. There exists a perception that investment in human capital is not a rational choice for women given the persistent gender inequality in the labor market. But the picture of gender-imbalanced educational participation has been changing over the past few decades. The college enrollment rate for women doubled between 1992 and 2004 from 17% to 35%. What are the implications of the increase of college-educated women for labor relations? How do female workers with tertiary education differ from their colleagues with high-school diploma or less? Using a high-quality dataset collected by the Japanese government, the present study finds that women with college education differ markedly from women with lower educational attainment in their employment status and career aspirations. At the same time, the present study also finds that the effects of variables that have been associated with women's lower labor market participation rates are present for college-educated women as well.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Development scholars, heavily informed by the cases of the four Asian Tigers, have attributed success in development to education and domestic political institutions. Although the Philippines looked even more promising than the Asian Tigers before they began developing, the country has not become a development success. On the education dimension, by the 1970s the Philippines was comparable to most developed countries with its adult literacy rate of 83% and high enrollment rates in all levels of schools. In terms of political institutions, the Philippines was Asia’s first democracy after declaring independence from Spanish rule in 1898. Instead of furthering development, educational and political advances in the Philippines have led to an enormous exodus of labor. Failing to utilize its highly educated labor force in the domestic economy, the state focused its attention on exporting its workers by creating a set of elaborate institutions to facilitate overseas employment. Why did the Philippine government develop institutions for exporting labor rather than focus its energy on building the domestic economy? This puzzle can be understood in terms of the intimate connection between the capacity of the state to control the educational system, labor export and economic development. This paper argues that one of the major reasons why the Philippine state had to take an active role in exporting its surplus labor is because of the high autonomy given to the private market for higher education that was producing a large educated but unemployable population.

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