Faculty and Student Research Projects 2001 :

Cheng Li works with students on research in China

What does the rapid development of information technology mean to higher education?  How should college education in developing countries respond to new challenges and opportunities in the era of globalization?   

Government Professor Cheng Li, Zizhu Christy Ma ’02 and Yina Luo ’03 pursued a faculty-student joint research project in China during the summer, aiming to shed light on these important questions.  They examined policy changes and other recent developments in China’s higher education, including case studies in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

While many other parts of the world may also experience similar effects of the electronic age, its impact on China, a country with 1.3 billion people, is truly revolutionary.  By the end of 1999, there were about nine million Internet accounts in China, in contrast to 17 million in Japan and 35 million in the United States.  However, it is estimated that the number of China’s Internet accounts will surpass those in the United States in 2005. 

In the realm of higher education, new developments such as an Internet university, distance learning, on-line study, digital convergence of languages, and virtual education programs have all called for new paradigms in teaching in China, as has happened to many other parts of the world.  These developments have already led to - and will further stimulate - changes in financial resources, political control, school administration, disciplinary distribution, admission policy, curriculum design, graduate replacement, and technologically mediated educational exchanges across national borders.  

Their study suggests that enormous new knowledge resources now available to China not only open new linkages between the Chinese and outside worlds, but also provide tools for critical thinking and new ideas.

Professor Li is currently analyzing the data derived from their fieldwork and planning to publish the findings in a scholarly journal.  He believes that this study of Chinese higher education can shed light on the strength and weaknesses of American undergraduate education in the wake of the technological revolution.  “It can contribute to the broader debate on educational issues in the United States, especially questions concerning the nature of liberal arts education in the 21st century, curriculum reform in the era of cyberculture and globalization, and the impact of the telecommunication revolution,” said Li.  

Meanwhile, this research project is extremely beneficial for the two student participants because during their fieldwork, they constantly made comparisons between China and the United States, between the Chinese educational system and an American liberal arts education, between the realm of education and the “real world.”

Oneida County's working poor face bleak future

During the summer Hamilton College senior, Karen Pogonowski, interviewed Food Bank clients and surveyed welfare recipients at offices in Utica and Rome, using a questionnaire developed by the Children's Defense Fund. She also analyzed data from the Head Start surveys conducted last spring by Erin Reid ‘01. The situation she found was a bleak one.

On November 29 Karen reported to an assembly of students and faculty the results of these surveys which were part of her research as a Levitt Fellow. Sponsored by the Levitt Public Affairs Center, she worked with Associate Director of Community Programs, Judith Owens-Manley.

Karen painted a vivid picture of the hopelessness the people expressed, many breaking down in tears. Most of the Food Bank clients were unable to receive welfare for various reasons. One was sanctioned and dropped from the rolls for a year by her case worker because she received Christmas presents from Operation Sunshine.

Women in particular were unable to find jobs that provided enough income to support their children (average wage was $7.16 per hour), and those jobs they found were often part-time or of short duration. None reported that they did not want a job. "Life is a bitch," said one. Many had to find homes with friends or relatives and some had to cope with disabilities. Even a "Happy Meal" at McDonalds was out of the question.

When asked what she would recommend, Karen said she had little hope to offer and that a solution would not be easy - perhaps requiring a complete reorganization of the welfare system.

Other Research Projects:
2000