In 1920 Wang Guangqi(1892–1936), a founder member of the Young China Association (Shaonian Zhongguo Xuehui) in 1918, wrote that in the past few years a clear division had arisen among Chinese overseas students. Those studying in the United States, having been influenced by the philosophy of “worshipping money” (baijin zhuyi) wanted to build a “capitalist” China on the American model when they returned. The work-study students in France, however, were concerned with practical training and participation in the labouring world. While Chinese students in the United States received regular government scholarships and enjoyed material comforts, Wang continued, those in France spent their time “sweating and working in factories.” Since the former sought their models in the “oil barons” while the latter looked to the workers for inspiration, Wang concluded, it was inevitable that whereas students returning from the United States would be capitalists, work—study students returning from France would promote “labour-ism” (laodong zhuyi) and become part of the labouring classes.

This paper focuses on a pervasive strand of thinking on women's public education during the last years of the Qing and early years of the Republic which sought to reconfigure traditional virtues and skills in the cause of family harmony, social order and national prosperity. A study of this 'modernising conservative' discourse on women's education and its critique of the behaviour and attitudes of female students also provides an insight into how female students themselves responded to the new educational opportunities available to them.

No abstract

No abstract

Professional development for staff in higher education is developing rapidly in response to current national developments. As staff seek support and development to cope with the changes in their students, appropriate teaching, learning and assessment methods and rising use of learning technologies, institutions must be in a position to provide relevant programmes of development. Increasingly staff will be required to give evidence of their own development and institutions should be able to offer suitable and accessible systems which allow them to easily document their progress and gain accreditation. Two case studies are presented: the first uses the outcomes of a graduate teaching assistants course to evaluate the effectiveness of using a computer conferencing system. The second case study uses outcomes to redesign, to a web‐based open learning system, the teaching and learning in a higher education course for teaching staff.