Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Implementing sustainability education in higher education: Revisiting the scholarly debate, policymaking, and practices from a Kenyan perspective" "Katrien Van Poeck" "Department of Political Sciences" "The SHEK-project revisits the debate about competencies and employability in education for sustainable development (ESD) from a sub-Saharan African perspective. It conducts a comparative policy analysis of ESD and sustainable higher education policies in Belgium and Kenya, a comparative analysis of ESD implementation in a Belgian and Kenyan university, and action research on curriculum redesign in a Kenyan university." "HEAD - Higher Education for All analyseD: An intersectional analysis of in- and excluding mechanisms in higher education" "Wendelien Vantieghem" "Department of Linguistics" "The main aim of this research project is an intersectional analysis ofin/excluding mechanisms in higher education for ethnic minoritystudents and those from socio-economically vulnerable groups. Whilestudies have identified these groups’ vulnerable position in bothcollege attendance & drop-out, few studies have delved deeper intothe underlying processes at the root of these issues. Consequently,this research project investigates barriers & support-systems withinhigher education in a comprehensive way. To do so, twoperspectives are employed: the agency perspective (i.e., theperspective of the student) and the system perspective (i.e., theperspective of the lecturer and system of higher education). Thisresults in three research objectives: 1) an in-depth analysis of howstudents navigate the possible barriers and supports in highereducation with regard to study activities, interactions with peers andlecturers, and institutional culture; 2) an in-depth analysis of howsystemic barriers in the higher educational context are presented inthe discourse of lecturers, the curriculum and teaching activities; 3)an analysis of social equity issues following the rise in digital andself-regulated learning; evolutions which have gained momentumdue to the corona pandemic and risk exacerbating the vulnerableposition of these groups. Doing so, this project provides a 360° viewof mechanisms for “Higher Education for All” on the individual,interpersonal & institutional level." "The Educational Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Higher Education in Developing Countries" "Adula Bekele Hunde, Katie Goeman" "Information Systems Engineering Research Group (LIRIS) (main work address Brussels), Instructional Psychology and Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology (ESAT), Group T Leuven Campus" "The fast growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education has given rise to the expectation that new technologies would significantly influence the quality of education. In spite of significant development of ICT in education, there is a great concern on ICT use in Higher Education (HE). Several researches have done in the past years on the use of ICT in education and associated factors. However, less is known as to the extent to which educators use ICT in their teaching in HE in general and Engineering Education (EE) in particular in the context of developing countries and conditions for effective ICT use in education. This study therefore, aims at examining the educational use of ICT and factors that affect ICT use in HE in developing countries with special reference to (EE). This study has theoretical significance for it will push the existing knowledge horizon regarding educators use of ICT for teaching purpose and associated factors in higher education in developing countries settings. Practically, the identification of conditions for effective use of ICT by educators will provide valuable information to policy-makers, educational leaders and educators in order to improve the educational use of ICT by educators in higher education in developing countries. The study will employ mixed research design and data will be collected from educators, heads of departments, Deans, ICT directors and Academic Vice presidents in three randomly selected Institutes of Technologies using questionnaires and interview. The quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 20) and NVivo 11computer software respectively." "The social dimension of institutional change: a social network perspective on the implementation of Educational Master’s programs in higher education institutions" "Melissa Tuytens" "Department of Educational Studies" "Universities are a challenging context for institutional innovation. Through a social network perspective on organizational theory, this research project aims to contribute to the knowledge base regarding policy implementation processes and outcomes in universities. The implementation of educational master's programs was selected as the context of analysis, because of the challenging nature of the changes this initiative entails." "Optimizing educational research in higher education (Ecuador)" "This seeds project aims at strengthening - in Ecuadorian universities and teacher training institutions - educational research as a base for the design and development of education. The project upgrades educational research expertise and practices in universities and teacher training institutes. The project brings together the available research experts and available good practices in Ecuador. A growing group of partners from the South will be involved (at minimum 10 partners). The resulut areas are related to expertise of university staff, design of new university curricula, design of new models for teacher education, active internships, and reports. The activities build on design and development workshops, conferences, internships, publications, and a website. Next to a general perspective on educational research, the focus is also on the teaching and learning of mathematics as a particular case of the STEM subjects." "Ready for higher education? A longitudinal study of the influence of study choice process and academic integration process on study succes in first year higher education." "Vincent Donche" EduBROn "Academic integration turns out to be an important predictor of first-year students' study success in higher education. This concept refers to the extent to which students can adjust themselves to fit into the new academic environment. Academic integration can be investigated by looking at different student characteristics. Although academic integration is viewed as an 'evolving' concept, it is mainly investigated from a static viewpoint. Integration of transition theories into longitudinal process models can help resolve this issue. The aim of this research project is to examine changes in first-year students' academic integration by integrating Nicholson's transition model with a longitudinal process model. Nicholson's transition model (1990) generally describes transition as a four-phase process: preparation, encounter, adjustment and stabilization. This implies an expanded conceptual framework including variables related to students' preparation in secondary education (prior achievement, study choice processes) and a refinement of the academic transition into an encounter and an adjustment phase.This conceptual framework will be tested using a longitudinal dataset already collected within another study project on students' transition from secondary to higher education or the labour market (N=3700 students). To examine the relations between study success, changes in academic integration and the preparation in secondary education, this research project will be set up in four research stages: a descriptive, an explorative, a testing and a theoretical stage. The first three stage will each aim at a higher level of analysis and gradually investigate the conceptual model underpinning this project. The last stage will be aimed at theory building by integration of the results of this project with the relevant knowledge bases.This project is innovative in multiple ways. As far as we know, it is the first research project to fully integrate a longitudinal process model with a transition model. Second, the five-wave longitudinal data set allows for in depth examination of causality. Third, the data set contains students from both professional and academic bachelor programs. This will enhance the generalizability of the results of this research project. Finally, this research project will contribute to theory building which is highly needed within this research domain." "Gender differential patterns in the education gradient in health. A cohort study on the impact of the reversed gender gap in higher education." "Piet Bracke" "Department of Sociology" "This research proposal aims (1) to reveal and explain cohort changes in the education gradient in health among women (in the context of the massive growth in female enrollment rates), (2) to explain cohort changes in the gender gap in health at the different levels of the educational structure (in the context of the reversed gender gap in higher education)." "Structured disadvantage in tertiary education opportunities? The role of secondary school composition, structure, and processes in higher education enrollment and success." "Jannick Demanet" "Department of Sociology" "I propose to investigate whether higher education opportunities differ according to the attended secondary school’s social and ethnic composition. Explanations for compositional effects are sought in secondary school’s resources, facilities, and strategy for career counseling, and students’ and teachers’ attitudes, practices, and cultures in secondary education. Moreover, I study the role of higher education processes in inequality in achievement." "Improving gender balance in the transition from STEM secondary education to STEM higher education in Rwanda" "Cecil Meeusen" "Centre for Sociological Research" "STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education in general, and for girls in particular, is prominent in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Empirical research shows that gender imbalances inattitudes towards STEM tend to be smaller in Sub-Sahara Africa, compared to the West; a trend confirmed in our 2021 Global Minds Multistakeholder research project implemented in Kayonza, Rwanda. Our data andstakeholder consultation showed that this encouraging finding had to be qualified at the level of gendered self-confidence gaps, perceived male superiority and gender imbalance in transition to STEM highereducation. With this TEAM project we want to understand the mechanisms behind these observations and strengthen strategies to overcome gender imbalances. Our methodological strategy is threefold: first, we willanalyze the 2021 Kayonza data in depth; second, we will conduct a follow-up longitudinal study to map the transition from secondary school to STEM higher education or professional careers complemented with amixed method research design focusing on gender stereotypes through the student and teacher perspective; third, we will strengthen strategies to reduce gender stereotype threat in STEM education, focusing on theprofessional development of teachers, role modeling of women in STEM and involving girls in coding clubs, together with our project partners RAWISE, VVOB and their government partners. With this project, we hopeto contribute to changing gender norms which encourage male and female students alike to pursue STEM higher education and careers in Rwanda, based on positive interests, self-confidence, and attitudes towardsSTEM." "Capacity building of higher education on climate education" "Thomas Block" "Department of Political Sciences" "geen abstract"