Higher education in Kiravia

Higher education in Kiravia is provided by a rich ecosystem of public, quasi-public, religious, and independent institutions following a variety of academic models and educational philosophies, and serving a wide range of subject-matter specialties and workforce needs. Most Kiravian adults born after the Restoration have completed some higher education, and rates of participation in post-secondary education continue to rise in tandem with economic development. The theory and practice of higher education in Kiravia are different from that of the Occident, being built on foundations of Shaftonist philosophy and centuries of native Coscivian developments, and later pervasively influenced by the academic traditions of the Catholic Church and Insular Apostolic Church.

Higher education is largely unregulated at the national level, which has been credited with allowing a high degree of innovation, flexibility, and diversity in the sector, but also faulted for producing inconsistency in expectations and outcomes. Most regulation is legislated at the provincial level or takes the form of self-regulation by interstate associations of institutions, independent accreditation bodies, and sponsoring institutions (e.g. religious denominations).

Institutional Typology

By Governance

Like hospitals, Kiravian tertiary schools are commonly classified as public (vondix, ārkax), ecclesiastical (æglastax), or independent (víutix).

Public universities organised by, funded by, and accountable to the provincial governments, and are overseen by elected or politically appointed regency boards. Public universities offer subsidised tuition to residents of their province, and may be used as instruments for other public policy goals. Public universities vary in size, but the 20-30 largest Kiravian universities by enrollment are consistently public. Every inhabited federal subject except Daridia operates at least one public university or college, but most operate multiple institutions, sorted into two or three tiers of [Degree 1] institutions based on admissions selectivity and research output, above the network of [Degree 0] junior colleges, usually referred to as "countyship colleges", which are also public. A smaller number of universities, including most of the venerable "ancient" ones, are best classified as quasi-public (χūthovondix), often having relationships with the civil authorities rooted in a pre-modern context where distinctions between the public and private spheres were not as clearly defined.

Most non-public universities are organised by a religious denomination or religious order. The Catholic Church oversees the largest number of universities, colleges, and seminaries (and also serves the largest number of students), followed by the Insular Apostolic Church, Coscivian Orthodox Church, various Iduan orders, the Archepiscopal Church, and Rurican scholarly confraternities and temple associations.

Independent universities and colleges are stand-alone private organisations not accountable to another sponsoring organisation. Most are nonsectarian, but many claim affiliation with a particular faith tradition or have an ecumenical ethos.

By Rule

[What this means] Kiravian colleges are regarded and regard themselves as following a particular "rule" or "régime" (régula, from the Latin regula). A college's rule is a prescriptive, holistic model of its institutional praxis, rooted in its educational philosophy and manifested in its curriculum, teaching methods, and organisational structures. The rule also extends to the discipline, lifestyle, and customs expected of students and faculty.

Notions of rule are attested as far back as the Second Empire, usually referred to as isér ("order") or agar ("custom"); the concept was reified after the arrival of Christianity by analogy to monastic rules.

[Ancient Dialectic vs. Monastic traditions] [Examples]

Admissions

For most of Kiravian history, universities were open to anyone able to read High Coscivian and pay tuition. Only in Early Modernity did universities - and even then, only the most prestigious ones - establish formal admissions requirements. Entrance exams began appearing during the late 19th century AD. Each school wrote and administered its own exam on its own campus, and as such most students only applied to one or two colleges. The first standardised entrance exams were used by regional associations of Catholic colleges in the early 1900s. The first 'nationwide' exams were adopted separately in the Kiravian Union (the NEE, which was overhauled into the modern CAPE) and Kiravian Remnant (the ARSE).

In several heavily populated provinces, such as Kaviska, Etivéra, Devahoma, Sydona, and Sixua, the undergraduate admissions process for public universities is consolidated: Students apply to the university system, sorted by merit, and then admitted to a tier of colleges in which they may enroll.

Some colleges today continue the tradition of admitting anyone (with a secondary diploma or equivalent, for accreditation compliance) who can read and write High Coscivian, as demonstrated on the Collegiate Literacy Assessment.

Examinations

The two most commonly completed standardised university admissions exams are:

Common Aptitude Proficiency Exam (CAPE) - Developed as the common entrance examination used by the public university systems of the Kiravic-speaking states, the CAPE is now administered nationwide and considered by both public and private universities outside its original geographic scope. The CAPE is written in Kiravic Coscivian only, and tests Literary Kiravic, Mathematics, Analogical Reasoning, and [three other things I forgot].

Collegiate Literacy Assessment (CLA) - Tests students’ proficiency in High Coscivian vocabulary and grammar, as well as their ability to understand and engage with sample academic texts. The CLA comprises two sections taken in separate sittings. These two sections are officially known as the First Paper and Second Paper, but more commonly referred to as the “Classical”/”Traditional” and “Modern” Papers. The First Paper is based mainly on cultural classics and other premodern works written in more conservative registers of High Coscivian, and tests students on grammar, etymological/morphological analysis, “philological” vocabulary, and relevant elements of history and Coscivian philosophy. The Second Paper is based mostly on academic texts from the Sunderance or later written in the Modern or (less commonly) Reformed registers of High Coscivian, and tests students on textual analysis, information literacy, modern scientific-technical-systematic vocabulary, and elements of style. The two sections are scored separately, as different universities and departments weigh the importance of the two sections differently, with many technical and business programmes only considering the Second Paper.

Other major exam batteries include:

Academic Readiness Standardised Examination (ARSE) - Developed in the Kiravian Remnant during the Sunderance, the ARSE is the common entrance examination used by the public university systems of Æonara, Sarolasta, the Melian Isles, and the Overseas Regions, though it is now widely administered on the Mainland as an alternative and competitor to the CAPE and considered by many universities as a substitute or supplement to the CAPE or comparable regional exams. Texts in the literacy section are all Modern High Coscivian, but the rest of the test is available in multiple languages.

Quantitative Thinking & Information Proficiency (QTIP) - Tests mathematical aptitude at a higher level and greater length than the CAPE, ARSE, or regional exams, has been expanded over the last 10 years to cover topics from computer science and formal grammar/programming. Required by a growing number of polytechnics and STEM departments.

Western Universities Examination Yuan - Developed as the common entrance examination used by the public university systems of the West Coast states and Lataskia after the Restoration, later joined by several Western Highlands states and territories to encourage out-of-province students to apply there. The WUEY exam is accepted on equal footing with the ARSE in Atrassica and on equal footing with the CAPE in the Northwest Territory. The exam is made available in West Coast Marine Coscivian, Serradan Coscivian, and Standard Kiravic.

South Kirav’s Big Damn Test - Common entrance examination used by the public university systems of South Kirav. Notably tests students on the basic rules of common collegiate sports.

Tristate Educational Suitability Test (TEST) - Developed as the common entrance examination used by the public university systems of Hanoram, Ventarya, and Trinatria. Widely taken and considered across the Middle Belt and Southwest, the Coscivian Catholic College of Ardmore, and [other Kalvertan-speaking regions].

Qualifications

Academic degrees

• [Degree 0] - 16-24 months of study. Awarded by countyship colleges/protocolleges and university extension programmes.
• [Degree 1] - 3-4 years of study
• [Degree 1½] - "Specialty" - Usually six straight months to one year following [Degree 1]. Usually offered by [Degree 1] schools or specialised institutions, [Degree 1½] courses are very high-level and intensive, with a 25-55% dropout rate for most programmes.
• [Degree 2] - You know what it is.
• [Degree 1+2] - Combined [Degree 1] and [Degree 2] for certain fields of study, such as Theology or Engineering.
• [Degree 3] - Equivalent to the Western doctorate
• [Degree 4] - Highly advanced degrees awarded to [Degree 3] and [Degree 1+2] holders after ~1-2 years of intensive study and a a solid record of professional research and publishing. [Degree 4] courses focus on a specialised topic within a discipline (e.g. organometallic chemistry within chemistry, third-generation Shaftonist music theory within musicology) and are regarded as conferring a right to "speak with authority" (arda akrovirdas) on that topic within the scholarly community. [Degrees 4] are most common in field regarded as humanities in the Occident, but are also awarded in the natural sciences and juristics. Most [Degree 4] holders are full-time academics or clergy; those who are not are overwhelmingly surgeons, as the [Degree 4] is an important and lucrative qualification among the Kiravian surgical profession and a requirement to teach surgery in most provinces.

Degrees other than [Degree 1½] are not tagged with the holder's course of study. Rather, they are noted on CVs and such with the title of the monstration (see below) for which they were granted, which is taken as an indication of the holder's academic focus. However, in recent decades it has become more common (mostly for postgraduate degrees) to interpolate the field of study between the degree and monstration title, e.g. " [Degree 2] - Proteomics - Induction of IgG1 and IgG3 Secretion in Naïve Surface Immunoglobulin D+ (sIgD+) B-cells by Kikpari Interleukin 10 ".

Monstrations

Kiravian degrees are not granted on the basis of satisfactory completion of ordinary coursework or credit-hours (though this is most often a prerequisite). Rather, they are awarded for a trua (rendered in Ænglish as "monstration") showing their mastery of the subject matter. A trua may take the form of an ōrstava ("review"), an amderen ("submission"), or both ōrstava amderesk ("review of submission"). A review is an oral examination by ranking faculty, which was the standard mode of undergraduate trua from antiquity until the mid-19th century anno Domini. A submission is some form of deliverable - normally a paper - submitted to ranking faculty for approval, which accounts for the majority of undergraduate trua today. A submission review entails delivering a submission to senior faculty for their perusal and subsequently responding to their questions and challenges thereto, usually orally, not unlike an Occidental dissertation defence. The title of one's trua appears on one's diploma (as it is notionally awarded to the monstration rather than its author), and is cited on one's CV.

At the undergraduate level, the ōrstava has been largely supplanted by the amderen, though it remains the norm in the Northeast and at historically Eshavian, Kandan, and Kaltan colleges, some more traditionalist private universities, and elite schools in South Kirav, and for pre-professional programmes. It is more widely employed for [Degree 1½] and at the graduate level (indeed, it is standard for medical and legal degrees). The ōrstava amderesk is the most common form of trua given for [Degree 2] and [Degree 3].

The amderen is normally a paper, but may also take the form of a project or performance, commonly expected in arts, culinary, and architectural programmes, and increasingly common at business and engineering schools. At the [Degree 4] level, the standards for evaluating an amderen or ōrstava amderesk have converged with the standards for the Occidental doctorate dissertation - that is, they are expected to represent original research that meaningfully advances the state of knowledge in the field. At the [Degree 2] level and below, this is not so, and [Degree 2] amderen may represent fieldwork, case studies, etc. rather than a thesis. At the [Degree 1] level, insofar as amderen are subject to substantive evaluation at all (see below), they more often take the form of a literature review than a thesis, especially at universities under a Didactic rule. In former times, universities printed and bound all amderen to which they awarded degrees for retention in their campus library. Today, this form of archiving is limited to graduate amderen; undergraduate submissions are usually preserved on microfilm or as digital scans only.

In modern times, completion of coursework is normally a prerequisite for the consideration of a monstration. However, historically this was not the case, and even today it is not a hard-and-fast rule at institutions and faculties that practice substantive review of monstrations. Students in such programmes may opt to make their monstration ahead of schedule, which was formerly quite common. Faculties may (for a fee) entertain monstrations from students who have studied at a different university without requiring a transfer. This is rare (though not unheard of) at the undergraduate level, but more frequent further up the degree hierarchy, especially for [Degree 3], for which applicants have been known to "shop around" after an initial rejection. Many non-surgical [Degree 4] programmes are intended for full-time academics from other institutions and some are entirely monstration-based. In extremely rare cases, some accredited universities have awarded degrees for monstrations from independent scholars who have undertaken no coursework anywhere.

Current State of Undergraduate Monstrations

Changing conditions in Kiravian higher education during the post-Kirosocialist era have altered the role of the monstration at the [Degree 1] and [Degree 0] level. Enrollment at degree-granting institutions, particularly public ones, saw massive growth after post-liberalisation economic growth set in, with much of this enrollment in new disciplines such as business management, for which there were not yet settled standards for evaluating monstrations, and for which some faculty questioned the relevance of the practice. Moreover, under the Kiravian Union, amderen in most disciplines had been judged according to a fairly standardised set of rubrics heavy with Kiro-Marxian ideological strictures, and so the displacement of Kirosocialist and Analytical Shaftonist ideological orthodoxy from the academy left the standards used to evaluate theses in economics, political studies, history, philosophy, and the humanities deprecated. Under the deluge of submissions from an enlarged candidate pool and a lack of consensus as to how to evaluate amderen, most public universities quietly discontinued substantive examination of undergraduate theses, granting [Degree 1] after cursory or formalities-only review, though they would not begin to publicly confirm this change until the [DECADE]s.

Today, the evaluation of amderen varies by rule and from institution to institution. While a few flagship (University of Ykraine) state universities (mostly in Eshavian-speaking states) or individual departments perform cursory examinations as a matter of course, most flagship and all second-tier (Ykraine State University) public universities no longer examine undergraduate monstrations on the merits by default. Students seeking consideration for honours must specially request substantive examination and pass a cursory review before proceeding further.

At other types of institutions, especially private ones, amderen are still examined on the merits. Some such institutions (or departments) require an oral defence, or an epistolary defence involving two or three rounds of written responses to challenges from the examining faculty.

The pro forma nature of the undergraduate monstration for a sizeable minority of students and the understanding that most will never be read have encouraged the submission of millions of amderen that are brazenly low-effort (example: ), patently spurious (example: ), humorous (Kantian Critique of the Noumenal versus the Personal Marius), unrelated to the author’s field of study (example: ), or wholly unreadable (example: ). Unabashed plagiarism was rampant in the intervening decades between the official end of substantive examination at public universities and the digitisation of academic databases. In 21208, D.F.W. Érigorivan, a professor of Kalvertan literature at Hanoram’s third-tier Spuirdun State College and a defender of substantive examination, found that between 80% and 90% of amderen submitted to his institution during the three preceding years were computer-generated, with widely varying levels of sophistication and believability. Further, a full 20% of these were duplicates or near-duplicates (most often with the title being the only point of difference).

A growing number of schools make published amderen accessible online, which has led to IxTwitter accounts that highlight especially humorous, implausible, or unusual monstration titles and abstracts.

Despite this, there remain incentives for undergraduates to produce serious and high-quality amderen even at universities where they are not evaluated on the merits. These include graduate admissions, consideration for honours, use of the monstration as a writing sample when seeking employment, personal pride, and its twin sibling parental pressure.

Selected List of Institutions

• University of Belarus - Belarus, Kastera
• Universitas Codicis - Tandhurin, Valēka - Literary and scientific academy established by the Oligarchia Grammaticorum.
• Coscivian Culture University - Sviathasar, North Æonara
• Saint Crunathan's Subterranean Confraternity of Esoteric Erudition - County Clúr, Kiorgia - Almost certainly the largest institution of higher learning located completely underground.
• Devahoma Agronomic & Mineral University Kōstrinver, Devahoma - Formerly Carlos Marx University
• University of Duniver - Duniver, Kaviska
• Founding Fathers' University - Élite independent university in the nation's capital, reviled nationwide for the army of lawyers and politicians it has spawned.
• Fāstervon Jesuit University - Xarbasar, Valēka - Jesuit school, alma mater of Andrus Candrin.
• University of the Holy Cross - Bérasar, Fariva
• Kastera State University - Largest Kiravian university by number of undergraduates for 11 years in a row.
• Kiravian Military University - Ēsvelter, Kaviska - Military academy preparing cadets for service as commissioned officers in the in the Kiravian Army, Kiravian Marine Corps, and Kiravian Territorial Defence.
• Cascada Management University - Saar-Hūriviln, Cascada - Autonomous, publicly-funded university specialising in business management, economics, and allied fields.
• Southern Islamic University - Avisinna, Issyria
• Pontifical University Nív-Tomáus - Tharaka, Hanoram
• Kirav Methodist University - West Valēka, Valēka - Most prominent Protestant university in Kiravia, with its largest non-Islamic dry campus.
• State University of Subtropical Agriculture - County Terlora, Eastion