THE RESEARCH AGENDA

1. Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and SciencesDr Keith Burley, John Walton, Dr Elizabeth Uruchurtu MEETING THE LEARNING NEEDS OF POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS FROM THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT - A RESEARCH APPROACH

2. THE RESEARCH AGENDA The research project which is already underway, uses the frameworks of the Organon model of Language, the Boisot Social Learning Cycle and the Schein Model of Culture to establish how the dependant variable (student performance) is affected by the independent variable (academic input). This is mediated by the issues of Vidya, Veda and Varna, (education, religion and caste). We seek to determine how they can be interpreted using appropriate education and epistemological approaches.

3. Indian Subcontinent Masters' Research Project Literature Review - Epistemic Issues 1 Literature Review - Methodological Issues 2 Exploratory Research - India 3 Exploratory Research - UK 4 Generation of Research Tools 5 Methodological Reflexivity & Choices 6 Synthesis & Theory Generation 8 In Depth Research - India 7a In Depth Research - UK 7b Initial Identification of Core Competencies & Superordinate Goals of ACES 9

4. Theory Generation Subject to Crucial Evaluation 10 This is the Cannonical Action Research Cycle Production of Education & Artefacts to Address Step G 11 Deployment of Artefacts 12 Evaluation of Artefacts 13 Diffusion to a Wider Audience 14 Federation to Refine & Relate Core Competencies & Superordinate Goals Production of Programme

5. Historically Indian Higher education goes back to the Gurukul systems some 500 to 700 before Christ [Gupta:2008:576]. This education was not paid for at the time of delivery and as it took place in a highly religious and hierarchical community it was therefore believed that, Lakshmi (the godess of wealth) and Sarawasti, (the godless of learning) could not co exist [Gupta 2008:576]. There is also the caste system of: Brahmins (learned class); Kshatriyas (Warriers); Vaishyas (Commercial Class) Shudras (Manual Workers) The deep cultural significance is that "those involved in the quest for knowledge ought not to aspire for worldly goods and comforts. Learning had no bearing on earnings" [ Gupta 2008:576].

6. Levels of Culture Visible organisational structures and processes (hard to decipher) Artefacts Strategies, goals, philosophies (espoused justifications) Espoused Values Unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings (ultimate source of values and actions) Basic Underlying Assumptions

7. Codified Abstract Uncodified Diffused Concrete Undiffused C Textbook Knowledge B Proprietary Knowledge D Common Sense A Personal Knowledge The Movement of Knowledge in the ISpace

8. 5 6 6 1 4 3 2 1 3 4 5 2 Scanning Diffusion Problem-solving Absorption Abstraction Impacting Codified Abstract Uncodified Diffused Concrete Undiffused The Social Learning Cycle

9. Education Religion and Caste • It will also examine some of the issues ofVidya, Vedaand Varna, (education, religion and caste) and how they can be interpreted using appropriate education and epistemological approaches.

10. Karl Bühler's organon model of language. [Finlayson 2005:33] Objects and Facts cognitive function appeal function Hearer Speaker expressive function

11. CULTURAL WEB OF INDIAN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION RITUALS AND ROUTINES Long hours of lectures and large classes. Students are not expected to interact with academic staff. There is high competition between students and a belief in educational Darwinism that it is right for only the fittest to survive and prosper. STORIES Avoid disgrace, the code of honour amongst students is to bring to the attention of the college administration the behaviour of those students whose behaviour is unacceptable. SYMBOLS The text book, Spartan accommodation, elevation of the lecturer on a dais, addressing the lecturer as ‘sir’ or 'madam'. STYLE Large number of students one (and only one) authoritative lecturer. The university resembles a machine bureaucracy rather than a professional bureaucracy as in the West [Mintzberg 1999:314;348]

12. CULTURAL WEB OF INDIAN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION CONTROL Examinations, rigid submission of essays and assignments that are isomorphic with the core text book. POWER Many universities are privately owned and fees are a considerable expense to the families concerned. To be seen not to be accord with the norms of the institution, and therefore that of the country itself is considered a disgrace. STRUCTURE Very hierarchical with scalar reporting structures [Mintzberg 1979 : 27]. PARADIGM The participation of all stakeholders in the diffusion of codified knowledge that corresponds to a widely published corpus of knowledge in the domain. Standards are guaranteed and not questioned because the assessment of the students accords with this.

13. BA 'In knowledge creation, one cannot be free from context. Social, cultural and historical contexts are important for individuals, as such contexts provide the basis for one to interpret information to create meanings. As Frederick Niche argued, "there are no facts only interpretations". Ba is a place where information is interpreted to become knowledge' Nonaka et al 2000:14

14. The Distinction Between Knowledge and Knowing • Knowledge In Possession • Knowledge in Action • The interplay between the two is the ‘generative dance’. [Cook & Brown 1999:387]

15. The generative dance between knowledge and knowing(Cook and Brown, 1999) The explicit/tacit/group/individual categories refer to what is known (knowledge as possession): ‘Robert knows auto mechanics’ Not all that is known is captured by this: what is part of the practice (knowing as action): ‘Robert is fixing cars’ The generative dance: “(…) the source of new knowledge and knowing lies in the use of knowledge as a tool of knowing within situated interaction with the social and physical world.” (Cook and Brown, 1999) Interaction takes place rather than knowledge transfer

16. Four Forms of Knowledge[Cook and Brown 1999:391] Group Individual Concepts Stories Explicit Skills Tacit Genres

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