Fostering agency as a core component of professionalism is seen as a critical task of higher education. However, the tools for assessing university students' agency, and the pedagogical and relational resources needed for its development, are lacking. The present study describes the theoretical foundations and factor structure of the newly developed Agency of University Students (AUS) Scale, which assesses students' course-specific agency. In the factor analysis, ten factors emerged. Four of these -Interest and motivation, Self-efficacy, Competence beliefs and Participation activity -are seen to represent individual resources of agency. The other four factors -Equal treatment, Teacher support, Peer support and Trust -represent relational sources of agency. Finally, Opportunities to influence, and Opportunities to make choices represent contextual sources of agency. The psychometric properties and uses of the scale are discussed.

No abstract

No abstract

This article examines how universities and other higher education institutes have responded to the challenges posed by rapid changes in the world of work and society, particularly with reference to the development of generic skills. The data were collected by means of individual and group interviews at three Finnish higher education institutes, including two universities and one university of applied sciences. The interviews involved 63 persons in charge of management, development, and teaching at these institutes. As a result of the qualitative data analysis, we distinguished four models to represent the development of generic skills, which we named (1) Specialist Model, (2) Science-Based Renewal Model, (3) Project-Based Integrative Model, and (4) Model of Networked Culture. These models serve as analytical tools that help higher education institutes to examine their existing practices and to develop new ones.