NATURE OF LANGUAGE, SPEECH AND COMMUNICATION DISORDERS by Tamador Mohamed Sir Elkhatim, Department of English, College of Administrative & Humanities, Al Jouf University, K.S.A.

NATURE OF LANGUAGE, SPEECH AND COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

Author: Tamador Mohamed Sir Elkhatim

Department of English

College of Administrative & Humanities

Al Jouf University, Sakaka

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Cell: 00 966 50 455 6754

Email: stamador@hotmail.com

Abstract

          Speech, language and communication disorders are most common form of disorder among children in the world. The speech and language disorders are classified as expressive language disorder, phonological disorder, and communication disorder not-otherwise-specified (DSM-IV), mixed receptive-expressive language disorder and stuttering. Each category of speech and language impairment is prevalent among children from 5-15%. These disorders are mainly heritable and thus their genetic factor plays an important role in influencing these disorders. Genetic basis behind this defect is studied thoroughly in this review. Literature findings have showed that the main genes responsible for speech and language disorders are FOXP1 and FOXP2 genes which are identified through genome study linkages and genomic screening. Further research is required to UN reveal the biological pathways behind this deficit and to improve the treatment methods. Though various genetic factors play a vital role, other environmental factors also influences the speech and language disorders. The environmental factors must be considered importantly during childhood who already has genetic risk disorder. The important environmental influences related to children’s success or failures in reading are mainly educational experiences and home environment. Children’s literacy is mainly gained through the effect of home environment and through their oral language skills and reading comprehension ability when compared to accurate reading. Children who have such disorders must receive assistance from the speech-language pathologist. Speech-language pathologists work with children, families and schools to assist a child’s communication. This therapy can be useful to children all through their educational trajectory for the understanding of language, vocabulary and reading which is more complex.  Their transition must be from learning to employment along with the children.

Keywords: Speech and language impairment, Genetic factors, Environmental factors, Treatment.

1.0 Introduction

          Speech, reading and language disorder is the most common form of disorder among children in world. A communication disorder is the state of problems in spelling and reading. These disorders with general academic difficulties may be long lasting (Gierut, 1998). The facts and figures of some of the communication disorders are categorized and discussed here. Articulation disorders indicate the impairment in his ability to express speech sounds. This type of disorders is prevalent among 8-9% of children. Approximately, 5% of children are facing speech and language disorder problem. Fluency disorder is a state of speech flow interruption, which is identified through rhythm, atypical rate and repetitions in syllables, sounds, phrases and words. These disorders are observed through tension, struggle behavior and other secondary characteristics. This type of disorders is prevalent among 4-5% of young children. This type of disorder is more for children between 2- 4 years of age. The voice disorders are the state of abnormal vocal quality, loudness, pitch and resonance based on individual’s age or sex. These types of voice disorders are prevalent among school-aged children with 6 to 23%. A phonological disorder refers to a condition in which the sound system of a language governing is abnormal. Because of this, it is difficult to get expected speech sounds at a particular age. 8-9% of the children are affected through this disorder. A Language disorder is the state of comprehension impairment and spoken and written language usage. Individuals with this disorder have difficulty in semantics, syntax, pragmatics, phonological awareness, reading, spelling and writing. The prevalence of language disorder is among preschool children and early school-age children are 6-8% and 2- 8% respectively. The prevalence of reading disorders among school-age children is 17%. Apraxia is the state of difficulty in initiating and executing the movement pattern which is a basic requirement to speech sounds. This is due to difficulty with motor planning nerves. Dysarthria is a speech disorder due to damage of central or peripheral nerves that leads to weakness, paralysis, or in coordination of speech muscles. Aphasia is a language disorder due to brain damage or some other diseases. This disorder results in the difficulty of formulating, expressing and understanding language. Cleft Palate is a state of speech and language disorder due to birth defect. An Cleft opening is present between the soft palate and bony roof on the mouth, and this part is surgically repaired during infant level. This type of disorder results in hyper nasality and various articulation difficulties. In this paper, we have reviewed the factors involving speech and language impairment and their diagnosis as well as the different treatment methods for using these kinds of impairments.

1.1 Speech, Language and Communication Disorder

1.1.1 Categorizing and diagnosis

Developmental communication disorder is the most common disorder for medical appointments among children (Harel et al., 1996). The speech and language disorders are the indicative of other comprehensive developmental conditions, which includes autistic spectrum disorder, hearing impairment or learning disability. In certain cases, the language and speech deficit takes place due to normal developmental stages, but it has no evident reason (Bishop, 1994). The language and speech disorders are categorized as five different classes: phonological disorder, expressive language disorder, stuttering, mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, and communication disorders (DSM-IV). Speech disorder is mainly due to impairment in fluent and understandable speech making. The main speech disorder is stuttering, where the speech fluency is completely interrupted. Phonological disorder also includes speech and Sound Disorder [SSD], is the impairment in making of speech sounds. Developmental verbal dyspraxia is the impairment in harmonization and motor control of the speech organs. Language disorder may be observable in a lesser way but it is more reflective. The problems in language disorders are inaccurate formation of words or sentences, the use of linguistic context and the derivation of meaning. Developmental dyslexia is also included in this disorder in which receptive or expressive language in the nonverbal language (e.g., reading and writing) is not normal. Specific Language Impairment (SLI) terminology is a shaded version of mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, expressive language disorder, and occasionally for phonological disorder. Though some forms of speech and language disorder is distinguished at clinical level, which is extremely co morbid with each other. Most of the children are not particularly diagnosed during their language development. In some other conditions, they may change between different categories of disorders during growing up. Almost 15% of children have relentless speech disorders and they are also having language disorder. 5% of children have speech-language impairment (Shriberg et al., 1999). More than 60% of stutterers have associated speech and language disorders, which mainly includes articulation disorder (Blood et al., 2003). The diagnostic criteria for SLI is necessitate to checking of other medical conditions. Literature studies have reported that the individuals having SLI are at an increased risk of related developmental conditions such as developmental delays, social problems, cognitive impairment, behavioural difficulties and literacy deficits (Conti-Ramsden & Botting, 1999;; Law et al., 2000; Conti-Ramsden et al., 2001; Wadman et al., 2008). The speech and language deficiency and its developmental problems are related and discussed clearly and must be concluded in a right way to find out the biological pathway mechanism, and also the etiological basis of these overlaps must be clearly understandable.

1.2 Factors influences SLI disorder

1.2.1 Genetic factors influencing SLI disorder

          Literature studies have reported that genetic factors have greatest contribution on speech and language impairment. SLI is heritable (Clark et al., 2007; Barry et al., 2007; Lewis et al 2007; Conti-Ramsden et al., 2007 ;) among different generations.  Genetic mechanisms are more susceptible to speech and language disorders. These genetic factors undergo complex interactions between environmental factors and genetic variants/splices.. Proper genetic risk factors involved in biological pathways should be identified. A neurological mechanism behind the acquisition of speech and language plays an important part in speech and language disorders etiology. In some genetic disorders, a gene behind the particular disorder is sufficient. But in this case, the underlying biological mechanism behind the speech-language disorder is unclear. Thus, the gene responsible for SLC must be identified through unbiased screening approach. This screening of approach is usually in the form of genome-wide linkage or other genomic approaches (Elston & Anne Spence, 2006).

The important gene which is responsible for language and speech disorder is FOXP2 was diagnosed through verbal dyspraxia. Verbal dyspraxia is the state of difficulty in orofacial muscles control which results in fluent speech deficit. The affected family members also had receptive and expressive language deficits. In other cases, there is a problem in writing and also in non verbal cognition along with speech problems (Watkins et al., 2002). Hence, it is confirmed that this type of speech and language impairments has an inheritance pattern of genes (Vargha-Khademet al., 1995). Based on genomic wide linkage analysis, the mutation of FOXP2 gene loci on chromosome 7q (Fisher et al., 1998) was prominent in each family member gene sequences (Lai et al., 2001). From FOX family, FOXP2 gene encodes a DNA-binding protein. After translation, the synthesized protein functions as a transcriptional repressor. There are four is forms in FOXP2 gene (Lai et al., 2001; Schroeder and Myers, 2008; Bruce et al., 2002 ;). FOXP2 gene has been expressed in most of the tissues. The gene and its complex expression pattern have been tightly regulated in all the expressed tissues and their sequences are highly conserved among different species (Schroeder & Myers, 2008; Lu et al., 2002; Ferland et al., 2003;). The FOXP2 gene function in the verbal dyspraxia has demonstrated clearly. FOXP2 gene plays a significant role in certain brain development areas such as motor cortex, cerebellum and striatum for fine motor control. This brain development plays vital role in speech development. FOXP2 transcripts are also involved in the expression of other genes responsible for speech and language deficits. Spiteri et al., (2007) reported that the translated FOXP2 protein is accountable for down regulation of 300 to 400 neural genes, which plays an important role in language and speech disorders. This is researched through gene-targeting screening studies (Vernes et al., 2008; Vernes et al., 2007).

Among FOXP2 regulated genes, CNTNAP2 (OMIM 604569) presents on chromosome loci 7 (Vernes et al., 2008, Vernes et al., 2007) and its complex forms due to genetic involvement plays an important role in impairment of language (Arking et al., 2008). A single base pair change analysis has been done through single nucleotide polymorphism method on CNTNAP2 gene sequence result in the formation of nine genetic invariants. These genetic invariants have significant correlation in reduced linguistic performance and also have coherence in language impairment (Arking et al., 2008). These genetic invariants also have an implication in neuro developmental disorders such as autism (Belloso et al., 2007, Bakkaloglu et al., 2008;), ADHD (Strauss et al., 2006), schizophrenia (O’Dushlaine et al., 2010; Mefford et al., 2010), Gilles de Tourette syndrome (Verkerk et al., 2003; Friedman et al 2008), epilepsy (O’Dushlaine et al., 2010; Mefford et al., 2010), and learning disability (Elia et al., 2010).

CNTNAP2 gene encodes a neurexin protein that has an important role in the localization of potassium channels during neuronal development and axonal-glial interactions (Zweier et al., 2009; Poliak et al., 2003). CNTNAP2 has an important role in neuronal development. Disturbances in gene function might subject to varying neuro developmental psychiatric disorders and also in brain function (Corvin, 2010).

Based on DNA binding domain of FOX gene family in human consists of 40 members which are classified in 19 subfamilies (FOXA to FOXS) (Hannenhalli & Kaestner, 2009). FOXP has four subfamilies (FOXP1-4) have different functions. In particular, FOXP1 and FOXP2 have close relationship in tissue development in a coordinated way. FOXP1 gene and other three genetic transcripts (GPR27, EIF4E3, and PROK2) mutation result in condition of blepharophimosis and arthrogryposis, which is an indicative of delayed speech and language development (Pariani et al., 2009). Few of the literature studies have reported that cause of blepharophimosis and arthrogryposis is due to the deletion of three additional transcripts. FOXP1 disruptions result in delayed motor neuronal development and speech delays.

FOXP1 is associated with host-response to hepatitis vaccines (Davila et al., 2010), skin disorder (Jin et al., 2010), , as well as cancer survival. FOXP1 protein function on the brain is unclear, but some literature has reported its function as motor neuron diversification interacts with Hot proteins interactions, and also in neuronal differentiation, via Pitx3 protein regulation (Konstantoulas et al., 2010). Thus, these results suggest that FOXP2 and FOXP1 genes are involved in neural circuitry conviction and these further develop the speech and language during growing up.

Downstream targets and its binding patterns of FOXP2 play an important role in dyslexia. SSD is the emission or substitution of speech sounds leads to clear speech. SSD is a specific problem with phonological awareness development. Speech and language disorders have etiological overlaps with developmental dyslexia. This condition seems to be a major risk factor for literacy impairments, mainly in speech - relevant loss (Peterson et al., 2009).

Recent researches on dyslexic family members have guided to identify the specific candidate genes for dyslexia linkage loci. A critical step in cortex development is depend on most genes function for neuronal migration. It acts as a significant partin etiology of reading disorders (Galaburda  et al., 1985).

When compared to SSD, SLI is the heterogeneous speech disorder has no obvious motoric etiology, as a result in expressive language deficits (e.g., syntax, grammar, and semantics) and sensitive language ability impairment has occurred. The three primary sites are identified by implementing two whole-genome linkage screening techniques. . It is on chromosome 1 16 (SLI1, OMIM 606711), 3 (SLI3, OMIM 607134),and 19 (SLI2, OMIM 606712). Regression modeling study on ATP2C2 and CMIP genes showed that these genes and effect on phonological memory ability. The function of translated CMIP and ATP2C2 proteins in the brain are yet to be exemplified but both represent reasonable candidates for speech and language disorder. ATP2C2 is the gene responsible for encoding calcium ATP as which is liable for cellular calcium and manganese level regulation. CMIP was identified from the screening of large proteins translated in the brain. The translated protein mainly encodes the part of cytoskeleton structure (Grimbert et al., 2003). Cytoskeleton re-modeling remains play a vital role in neuronal migration and synaptic formation.

1.2.2 Environmental factors influencing SLI disorder

          Environmental factors play a vital role in influencing SLI disorders. During language development, the main targeted works include parents provide verbal stimulation to children, perinatal problems is mainly comes under neurological impairments, and middle ear disease is mainly linked with fluctuating hearing loss (Bishop, 1997). The above conditions have no impact on development but its mild conditions such as verbal deficit effect, minor-to-major hearing loss, and local brain injury are not particular to verbal skills, and thus it does not show a clinical picture resembling SLI. Though, the preference for such environmental factors must be considered importantly during childhood who already has genetic risk disorder. The gene responsible for disorder and environmental interaction has yet to be demonstrated to know exact principle behind this. The main environmental influence associated with children’s failure or success in reading is mainly depending on home environment and educational experiences. The dyslexia definitions clearly indicate the cause of reading failure is mainly due to scarce opportunity to learn. Based on schooling of children in  same area, there must be a substantial difference in the achievement of reading (Rutter & Maughan, 2002). Children’s literacy is mainly gained through the effect of home environment and their oral language skills and reading comprehension ability than accurate reading (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998).

1.3 Treatment and Management

          The knowledge on SLI genetic factors will be helpful in diagnosis methods and can identify the risk of this disorder at an early age. This will be further helpful to improve environmental involvement (Fisher & DeFries, 2002). Communication disorders must be identified earlier for the advancement of social and educational isolation (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, 2004). At age 5, communication and language skills must be learned properly. The initial speech or language difficulties in the stage of baby talk must be characterized or else the expected speech patterns could not be obtained results in obstruction of learning (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, 2004). Speech- language pathologist aids the Children, who have these disorders. . These pathologists are worked along with schools, children, and families and may helpful in child’s communication. It can be done through special therapy. The goals and techniques have been developed and used at home and the classroom (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, 2004). This type of therapy is useful for children all through their educational path for fine understanding of language, vocabulary and reading. Along with that, speech-language pathologists should furnish long term guidance provided to children from school to employment transition. Literature studies have reported that the early intervention with speech-language pathologists has a good effect on communication of children with speech sound disorders (Gierut, 1998). Based on treatment, children must have received better outcomes. This type of treatment is more significant than untreated, communication disorders, which may results in deficits in reading, writing and spelling (Fisher & DeFries, 2002). More efforts are required to ensure that children receive intervention at an appropriate time.

1.4 Future studies

Researchers and clinicians must work out for increasing understanding of inheritance of SLI and genetic and biological pathways of communication disorders. These ideas can authorize existing diagnostic techniques and/or develop the new diagnoses methods. Genetic linkage studies and whole genome wide screening methods can also enlighten the unidentified treatment for communication disorders. The co-occurrence of language, reading, and spelling disorders should be clearly described by new findings through gene sequence analysis in these types of disorders. Identifying the genetic factors can also useful to bridge the gap between different disciplines and also helpful in understanding the more comprehensive communication disorders.

1.5 Conclusion

In this review, SLI, its types and the genetic factors influencing the SLI disorders have been thoroughly studied. In this study by using FOXP2 gene exemplify higher competitor genes and elemental mechanisms of language and speech disorders. . Recent research in this area is improved among all developmental disorders, but studies on speech and language disorders will be required further to know the biological pathway, and the underlying genes involved in it. The recent study related to speech and language disorders has resulted in combination of higher throughput studies.

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DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING HIGHER EDUCATION ACCESS by Dr. Mohammed A. Al Saleh Asst. Professor Department of Higher Education & President of the Department of Curriculam & Teaching Methods, College of Education Al Jouf University, KSA.

DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING HIGHER EDUCATION ACCESS

Dr. Mohammed A. Al Saleh

Asst. Professor Department of Higher Education & President of the Department of Curriculam & Teaching Methods, College of Education Al Jouf University, KSA.

Box3085@gmail.com

Introduction

Morley, Leach and Lugg (2009) argued that value to the society is added by higher education as they both serve as ‘‘both a public and private good – public because it contributes to society and private because it has potential to benefit the individual.” The importance of higher education with respect to the society cannot be assumed as it acts as an economically developed feature for the community and provides the individual with personal benefits. Higher education is needed in order to generate and produce productive citizens (Giroux, 2002). Higher education enables individual and communal development and provides an individual awareness of social issues and is considered to be an effective source in order to address the related issues of nation-states.

There is an article related to the enhancement of higher studies in the 24^th Report of the Investment Climate in Arab Countries (2008), which explains the significance of higher studies of Arab citizens. It identifies that there were only two hundred and thirty three universities in 2003 which have been raised to three hundred eighty five in 2008. This figure includes one hundred and fifteen private universities which is 4. 4 times greater than the number of private institutions in 1993. It is understood that the private institutions have been developed and their figure is equivalent to that of government institutions. But this growth can’t represent their facilities, as most of these institutions have low facilities. The report suggested that the enhancement of employment in the private institutions will increase the number of pupil in the private higher institutions equivalent to that of government institutes. This decision is based on the idea of many Arab countries, which would like to reduce the expenditure on higher studies and to reduce the number of pupil enrolled in government institutes.

This paper delves into aspects which identify possible measures associated with provision of strategic access to higher education in Arab countries in general and Saudi Arabia in particular.

Need for better strategies in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is a nation which was established in 1932 by King Abdul Aziz. It has an area of 900,000 square miles. The country is inhabited by 26 million people and is today sending more than 80,000 students to different countries like Australia, Europe and United States in order to pursue their higher education. They are investing more than 50 billion in order to completely revamp their higher education system and their currently existing 25 universities.

Saudi Arabia has invested more than one fourth of its budget during 2009 for education and training. This was done in order to highlight the investment made on the human resource development to be a key aspect for the knowledge based development in the country. Saudi Arabia has been estimated to be investing rapidly on higher education for past few years under the control of King Abdullah. From the yearly budget one fourth of the investment are made for education and training. In 2010 the investment was estimated to be increased to 36.5 billion USD which represents a 12.4% increase when compared to that of 2009.  Under the influence of King Abdullah Scholarship Program, more than 90,000 Saudis were presented with opportunities to pursue their graduate studies abroad.

The main objective of the development plan is to increase the number of university students from 860,000 to 1.7 million within 2014. The king and his fellowmen provide high importance to the higher education to be provided to the students of Saudi Arabia. Most of the students of Saudi universities pursue their graduate studies in various fields like social studies, religious, history, and literature regardless of the labor market being saturated with social science and humanities majors.

Importance Of Identifying Strategies For Higher Education

In recent years, the stratification researchers are attracted towards understanding the impact of structural characteristics of educational system on outcomes and results of students (Kerckhoff, 1995; Treiman & Ganzeboom, 2000). Most of the studies and research consider for the cross-national studies that deals with relation between educational system and labor market. There are studies that compare the educational system of Japan and America that reveals that students’ job attainment and obtaining features are influenced by separate relationship with respect to labor market (Rosenbaum & Kariya, 1989; Rosenbaum, Kariya, Settersten, & Maier, 1990).

From the comparative research conducted by Shavit and Muller (1998) it is evident that there is variation in educational qualification based on occupational outcomes based on countries. The variation is detailed by the characteristics features of educational system. For instance, the magnitude of educational effects on occupational outcomes is influenced by stratification and vocational specificity of educational system in Arab countries. At the same time these effects are overcome by the number of students in tertiary education. Shavit and Blossfeld (1993) made an analysis in 13 different countries in order to determine if the expansion of educational system reduces the gap in educational achievement of students from different socioeconomic context. The study of Shavit, Arumand Gamoran (2007) analyzed the impact of characteristics of educational system on higher education entrance and particular types of institutions in it. By analyzing 15 countries Arum, Gamoran and Shavit (2007) concluded variation in distinct educational structures based on access to higher education that is determined as binary, stratified and unitary. The study also emphasizes the importance of differentiation and privatization in structuring access to higher education.  Thus it can be established that there is a definitive gap in access to higher education. The following sections detail the main challenges which Saudi Arabia currently face in order to implement strategies which improve access to higher education.

Relevance of the study

Education has been represented as a drive to speed up the alterations, improvement and advancement and it is responsible for ‘‘a radical revision of education systems in Arab countries” (United Nations Development Program’s Arab Human Development Report, 2002). This report represents the deprived value as ‘‘the Achilles heel of education in the Arab world”. This article also insists to implement the remedies like ‘‘enhancing human capabilities, creating strong synergy between education and the socio-economic system, and formulating a programme for education reform at the pan-Arab level.” Though there is an elevated proportion of spending on education, many of the higher education institutes are running out of money. There is a relationship between the inadequate facilities in the higher education institutes of Saudi Arabia and restricted expenditures of government. As the country is found to have one of the largest youth population and because of the enduring technical rebellion around the globe the problems in higher education are becoming worse. As the number of youngsters is high, the necessity to focus on higher studies is also high.

Challenges faced in identifying access to higher education Quality

Over the years it is observed that a large number of students who have identified the need to enter the higher education system have faced a large amount of pressure. This is because the system is absorbing a large number of students into their folds when compared to the previous decade. This has therefore resulted in increasing pressure across all universities across the country to focus on improving the number of seats available. However this had strained the availability of resources for focusing on measures related to promotion of quality. There has been effort made which help in improving the overall rates of higher education enrollment there is a big gap in the development of life skills among personnel. Hence one big challenge which needs to be acknowledged and dealt with in terms of promotion of strategies is to identify measures which help in increasing the quality of education which when compared to standards at an international level are not up to the mark.

The large number of students who have sought entry into the tertiary system in the last decade has put incredible pressure on higher education systems across the region. Efforts to absorb these students and to widen overall access have strained government resources and led to a focus on expanding quantity rather than quality. Despite successful efforts to increase higher education enrollment, enrollment ratios are still low in Saudi, and the regional average is still low by international standards.

There is a great deal of need for better information with regards to the actual process which happens in education. This involves identifying possible methods of data collection by which information from different institutions across the country is collected. This involves starting and identifying possible profiles of students who are graduating in a manner that progress can be assessed. There should also be measures implemented in order to benchmark the results which are arrived at. These results should be taken into account when future education strategies are implemented and arrived while promoting higher education.

The second aspect which needs to be concentrated on is identifying strategic measures to improve the method of evaluation among universities. When higher education is considered it can be seen that monitoring and evaluation of higher education should be presented in a manner that outcome measures can be identified. It is important for faculty to be evaluated by peers as well as students.

The most important challenge which institutions would face is to identify the possible impact quality would have on cost. If the higher education providing institutions are public institutions then governmental funding becomes vital to promote internal quality assurance.

Governance

One challenge which prevents access to higher education is related to structures of governance. The higher education institutions in this country are run as extensions of governmental organizations. There is lack of autonomy and transparency in educational institutions in the country. The governance measures associated with regulation of public sector institutions is found to highly rigid in nature. This makes it difficult for universities to present measures which respond to the needs of students, faculties as well as those desiring access to higher education.

Another problem associated with implementing better access to higher education is related to lack of measures to implement changes. The government run bureaucracies are in control of instructional and curriculum design, increasing the availability of seats, teacher certification, examination patterns and approving new degrees.

Opportunities in the job market:

Perhaps the biggest challenge any country faces identifies with possible outcomes of the higher education. It is well established that the linkage between higher education access and the subsequent availability of possible employment in the local employment market is very important. Despite the growing attention given in Arab higher education system on importance of relevance of education in improving real life skills and knowledge and research to be implemented in labour market, there is still a gap. If this challenge is addressed then it becomes possible to ensure access to more students who are willing to wait to get into better jobs.

Strategies to improve access to higher education:

Strategies to improve faculty:

Traditional faculty roles are shifting or ‘‘unbundling’’

There is huge variation in the task completed by the faculty of modern world and professors of past years. Instead of assigning the task to particular person or employee, the universities are attempting to segment the task to certain specialized groups or team (Paulson, 2002). The process of segmentation of employees or labor makes use of non tenure track in order to determine the positions in different methods. Generally graduates are determined to occupy the position and in some cases undergraduate assistants enabling the highly trained faculty to increase their focus on areas of research (Paulson, 2002). In order to satisfy the responsibility of their roles, distance education faculty are considered to be involved with instructional designers, assistants, technologists, graphic and media artists, and other faculty (Miller, 2001). Hence the professors should be able to adapt to a more industrialized, educational model. If this happens there is availability of greater number of qualified personnel to teach making it easier for universities to increase the number of seats available.

The need for faculty development, support, and training is growing

In order to promote access to higher education there is a need for faculty development, support and training. The adaptation from a traditional to a modernized instructional method would definitely promote ease of access. Therefore it is vital for faculty to identify and develop new competencies. This can be carried out by ensuring that there is extensive and continuous training. One effective measure in this regard would be the integration of technology with the instructions presented. Green (2002) identified that the promotion of strategic education access to students is strongly dependent on the integration of technology into instructional design. He further adds that this is the largest disadvantage which is currently faced by different universities.

Another study by the Educause Current Issues Committee (2003) identified that to improve the degree of education and the accessibility of students faculty support is vital. The support and training of faculty in IT related issues was found to be one of the highest strategic concerns for universities. There has been reluctance among faculty in a number of regions across the world with regards to use of these modern tools. Dasher-Alston and Patton (1998) identified that most faculty in developing and developed regions across the world preferred methods of teaching involving traditional face to face measures. This has made a number of them feel distance education training is unnecessary. This is not true. Today if better access needs to be provided to more number of students for higher education modern day tools and technologies need to promote in order to reach students in remote corners of the country.

Campus strategies

The following strategies can be adopted to promote better access to higher education:

     •      Academic/Instructional strategies: A number of academic strategies can be promoted by using measures promoting peer tutoring and mentoring. Apart from this the colleges can make an effort to present educational coaching by promoting implementation of universal design for learning. It is also important to provide support in the form of advisory functions related to the product. It is also vital to present measures to share information using databases which would help promote better professional development (Hart & Grigal, 2010).

     •      Employment/Career strategies: This is an important strategic maneuver to be adopted. When students are aware that practicum and internships are available it would raise awareness of available career options and will also ensure that students are willing to present better efforts towards improving their grades. There should be a system maintained which presents access and roles for employers, business leaders and others in the business arena (Hart & Grigal, 2010).

     •      Social Strategies: This revolves around identification of measures to inform existing students and potential students about information on campus clubs and social activities. This will motivate students to join universities to gain the experience (Rose & Meyer, 2002). There should also be promotion of students to serve in leadership positions in clubs and organizations. These students can then make academic outreach programs and arrive at possible measures to invite diverse range of students to participate in academic programs.

     •      Transitional program related strategies: For academically challenged students who enter the university there should be promotion of transitional programs. These programs will ensure that the students do not feel out of place at universities. This should be presented in a social and academically integrated manner (Zeff, 2007). It should also be done by providing students with possible choice of enrollment in classes which are organized at time which enables them to work. The presence of possible methods like presentation of educational support by including universal course design, academic and social mentoring and peer tutoring will help in facilitation of student retention and advancement (Thoma et al.، 2009).

Conclusion

Hence from the discussion one can arrive at the conclusion that there is a need for greater autonomy and independence among institutions to react more rapidly and effectively to demands of the market and enhance new and strategic thinking that are important to high quality institutions. Limited public policies and management practices suppress autonomous thinking and limit the significant involvement of higher education to the public. Systematic factors involve public policy and governance issues. When these are considered together with assessment, accreditation and regulation, and facilitation of quality and access to higher education reform efforts can be increased or obstructed by how governments support policies to present better access.

  

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