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This paper begins by considering the state of higher education in Australia, following structural changes facilitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We consider the longer-term effects of neoliberal ideology on the sector, charting the way that ongoing crises of/in higher education work to co-opt university workers and students into a position in which they are required to defend the idea of the university as a site of enlightenment. We then discuss the erosion of funding in the arts and argue that in concert with the diminished resourcing of the university, ad hoc social spaces within contemporary art have become temporary communities for study. We analyse a project of our own – Endless Study, Infinite Debt – which seeks to engage in the collective study of infrastructure, settlement, and racial capitalism. We consider how the university and art might be ambivalently engaged to practise forms of care and study against privatisation/professionalisation and towards solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I take a simple game-theoretic view of educational production within universities to frame a discussion of pedagogical power, effort, and influence in Australian higher education. After introducing the stylised game structure, I first compare the role of teachers in Australian universities to that of university teachers elsewhere in the world, in terms of Australian academics' power in pedagogical affairs relative to the power of the higher-education institutions within which they operate. I then review some existing empirical evidence using Australian data that sheds light on the role of both teacher inputs and student inputs in creating educational outcomes, and discuss some new evidence on students' perceptions of teacher influence. The paper concludes with some recommendations for changes to the current system designed to improve student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widening participation has been a vehicle to facilitate access and support towards the successful completion of university studies for underrepresented groups who are less likely to pursue higher education. Yet, despite its widely accepted importance and adoption across countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, studies to date remain largely fragmented -- often employed through the lens of a single institution, or a particular priority group. Amidst this backdrop, universities and other higher education providers are increasingly probed as to their role in supporting social capital mobility, of which widening participation plays a vital component in delivering wider societal imperatives. In addition, the COVID-19 effect has worsened university participation and completion rates, as the global pandemic has placed vulnerable students (often those involved in widening participation initiatives) in more precocious conditions than ever before. Nevertheless, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic literature review comprising 102 journal articles that derive 15 meta-themes to provide a timely introspection of widening participation, show key trends over time, and chart future areas of investigation for scholars and practitioners in this space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Federal Government is introducing a new funding model for research in Australian higher education institutions, the Research Quality Framework (RQF). This paper provides an overview of the RQF and looks at possible impacts of the RQF on academic libraries in Australia. These impacts are drawn from experience at one Australian university, RQF-related activities, and commentary and research from the UK, where a similar funding model, the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), has been operating for a decade. The paper concludes by bringing these issues together with suggestions for academic libraries preparing for the 2008 RQF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss ongoing challenges in defining and assessing generic competencies in Australian universities. The paper begins with a discussion of factors that led to, and later fuelled, the focus on generic competencies in Australian higher education. Broad constructs that have underpinned research and practice in the field are then discussed. We next consider obstacles that have been confronted in efforts to identify the particular competencies that are most important both within and across given discipline areas. The paper concludes with a consideration of the practical issues that emerge in designing tasks to assess generic competencies within specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a project that investigated uses of electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) in the creative and performing arts at four Australian universities and raises four significant areas for discussion: engaging technologies as an ongoing requirement of planning, delivery and evaluation of teaching and learning in higher education; ePortfolios and their implications for curriculum planning; the influence of ePortfolios on learning, self-awareness and reflection; and differences in ePortfolio expectations and uses between the varying specializations of music study in higher education. Identifying marked differences between the four higher education institutions in this project and their applications of ePortfolio work, our discussion supports the hypothesis that ePortfolios cannot be applied generically across the arts; rather the ePortfolio requires qualification in expectations, roles, applications and theorisations. The paper makes recommendations for higher arts educators and highlights some of the strategies that heighten the development of professional practice and related learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides insight into the nature of research workload allocation for Australian academics. It explores the distinction between research perfonnance and research workload allocation. Research performance can be judged at an institutional level, a work group level or an individual level. The process by which an institution's research performance is judged is not necessarily suitable at the level of the individual academic. The research performance of individual academics is based on their 'research output', in the form of publications, grants or supervision of research students, but historically, little attention has been paid to the 'input' or the time required to achieve these outputs. To determine the real costs of research, and to examine academic working conditions, this paper argues the clear distinction must be made that 'output' is about research performance; whereas 'input' is about research workload allocation. Therefore, what is needed is a suite of reasonable time allocations which can be associated with research activities, as is the case for teaching related activities. The paper analyses data from an online survey, circulated to academics across Australia in 2016, in which staff estimated the typical time spent on a wide range of research related tasks. The findings from the 2059 respondents show staff strongly support a transparent and holistic approach to workload planning which acknowledges the full range of activities they undertake. Analysis of the times associated with the research tasks led to the development of a table of suggested time estimates, based on the median values, for many common research activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines factors linked to first year attrition within the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree at an Australian university. Drawing on a broad range of institutional data, the authors considered correlations between attrition and several variables. Our research revealed the need to move beyond analysis of geo-demographic factors towards indicators of student choice and educational achievement. While few demographic factors were found to be strong indicators of attrition, two other factors were clearly correlated. These factors - course preference, and first year educational performance - were significant predictors of attrition. Because subject failure is the single strongest predictor of attrition, and because the BA offers a wide range of subjects, developing strategies to ensure consistency and quality across those subjects is imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines what it means to be an activist and to do activist work in the Australian contemporary university. In a context of globalisation, massification and marketisation, what does academic or scholar activism look like? In a time of political uncertainty about fee deregulation, further cuts to public funding and changes to the income-contingent loans scheme, what does it mean to be an activist or to do activist work? And what happens when activist attention turns to the higher education sector and the operations of the university? This paper examines these broad questions at an intimate level, presenting a reflective narrative of an individual career in academic activism marked by a long-standing scholarly interest in the nature and work of universities, academic and professional roles, teaching experience in multiple disciplines and involvement in union representation. In this paper, the reflections of an individual academic activist, Rosie, are embedded in a contextual discussion of university governance, regulatory and auditing frameworks, the academic workforce, gender inequality, and learning and teaching in higher education in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian universities are increasingly engaged in transnational education, which is the off-shore provision of higher education. Providing courses entirely off-shore is a challenge to both students and instructors. This paper reflects on seven years of experience providing a MEd TESOL (Master of Education in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages) in China. Reflecting on practice is becoming recognised as a valid approach to research as it is can accommodate the unpredictability of classroom teaching. In this programme, issues were identified, solutions implemented and then evaluated in a cyclical manner. Three main challenges were identified relating to teaching and learning on this programme: intercultural awareness, assignment writing and maintaining student engagement. After trialling possible solutions to these challenges, a unit for credit was provided focussing on academic writing and academic expectations. This unit is informed by theorising in academic literacies and the socio-cultural perspective on academic writing. The unit was supported by a web interface and students kept reflective dialogic journals for 10 weeks after the face-to face delivery of the unit. Through the unit of study and the web support problems with academic assignments such as plagiarism and the need for resubmission were. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been considerable interest in generic attributes in higher education for over a decade and yet while generic skills or attributes are an important aspect of policy, there is often a lack of consistency between beliefs about the importance of these skills and attributes and the degree to which exist in teaching practice. There has been an assumption that these attributes exist outside of the disciplinary context, yet the findings of this study suggest that they are strongly influenced by the disciplinary culture in which they are taught. The study reported in this paper examines the apparent gap between ideal notions of generic attributes and their enactment in teaching practice. This qualitative study examined the teaching of generic attributes in five disciplines (physics, history, economics, medicine and law) in two Australian universities. It found that the notion of generic attributes is highly complex and while attributes such as critical thinking, problem solving and communication are valued by teaching staff they are often implicit in teaching. This gap between what is valued and what is actually taught is a result of variation in interpretation of generic attributes, the difficulties of reducing complex attributes to definable learning outcomes and practical constraints on teaching caused by factors such as large classes. Furthermore, it can be explained by the finding that generic attributes are part of the epistemic culture of the disciplines and often remain tacit. The findings of this study have significant implications for scholarship, policy and pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article questions the assumption that increasing competition among higher education institutions is the best method of achieving a strong higher education sector in developing countries. It notes that there has been increasing emphasis on the importance of higher education institutions for sustainable development, particularly because of their importance to the global knowledge economy. For the same reason, the appropriate management of the relationship between the state and higher education institutions is vital to a strong and dynamic future for these institutions. This paper proposes a menu of options for higher education governance, grouped around ‘state-centric’ and ‘neo-liberal’ models of development. The ‘state-centric’ model proposed is based on a variety of examples of high performing Asian economies, in particular, while the ‘neo-liberal’ model is based on emerging trends in higher education management in countries such as Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The paper suggests that despite pressure across the globe to encourage a market among universities, this may not always be the most efficient use of resources, or the best way to integrate universities in a country’s drive for economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reforms to higher education in Australia over the past twenty-five years have followed the worldwide trend towards greater use of market mechanisms accompanied by greater accountability for public funds. In this paper we evaluate the opportunities and limitations of the current system of funding higher education in Australia. Three important tensions are highlighted: (i) the variety of prices paid by different students; (ii) the strong incentives for institutions to expand in size; and (iii) the strict regulation of the discipline mixes of universities. We put forward a number of proposals which collectively would deal with the current tensions and create a more level playing field for universities and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the dynamics of competition in higher education. National competition and global competition are distinct, but feed into each other. Higher education produces ‘positional goods’ (Hirsch 1976) that provide access to social prestige and income-earning. Research universities aim to maximise their status as producers of positional goods. This status is a function of student selectivity plus research performance. At system-level competition bifurcates between exclusivist elite institutions that produce highly value positional goods, where demand always exceeds supply and expansion is constrained to maximise status; and mass institutions (profit and non-profit) characterised by place-filling and expansion. Intermediate universities are differentiated between these poles. In global competition, the networked open information environment has facilitated (1) the emergence of a world-wide positional market of elite US/UK universities; and (2) the rapid development of a commercial mass market led by UK and Australian universities. Global competition is vectored by research capacity. This is dominated by English language, especially US universities, contributing to the pattern of asymmetrical resources and one-way global flows. The paper uses Australia as its example of system segmentation and global/national interface. It closes by reflecting on a more balanced global distribution of capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities in Australia have undergone profound changes over the past fifteen years, primarily as a result of changes in Federal Government policies and the growth in overseas student enrolments. Debate has ensued regarding the effects of these changes upon the productive efficiency of universities, and upon the quality of their outcomes. However, given the non-priced nature of many university outputs, traditional measures of productivity growth (involving revenue weighted outputs) have been unavailable. In this study we obtain measures of productivity growth by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods to annual data relating to thirty-five universities over the 1996 to 2000 period. Discussion in the paper focuses on the conceptual challenges involved in developing measures of university performance that account for both the quantity and quality of the services provided. The empirical results suggest that the sector is relatively efficient and that productivity growth was superior to most sectors of the economy. However, concerns with data quality and availability are noted, and the need for further empirical work is emphasised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During 2002, the Australian Education Minister conducted a year-long review of tertiary education under the title Higher Education at the Crossroads . The policy statement arising from that review was released on 13 May 2003. It incorporates a combination of new financial incentives on students and universities, potential expansion of full-fee places, and increased intrusion into university priority setting. The policy statement promised a $A1.5b expansion in funding over four years, with more fully-funded university places, and an emphasis on improving the quality of teaching and learning. The strategy is market-driven and could create a `fee-culture' in Australian universities. Implementation of the new policy is not assured as it has to pass a hostile Senate. The implementation process also carries risks for government and universities. This paper describes the government's proposals and analyses their premises and effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much is made of the potential of lifelong learning for individuals and organisations. In this article we tend to make much less of it, certainly with respect to its use in universities to discipline academics. Nevertheless, we argue that academics now need to re-learn the positions they occupy and the stances they take in response to the marketisation of Australian universities. In particular, we suggest that the position of (pure) critique no longer commands attention in Australian contexts of higher education, although the paper does not suggest a disregard for a critical stance purely for the sake of participation. It is in understanding the interconnections between position and stance , and how they might be strategically performed during the everyday practices of academics, that a more promising way of engaging with the venalities of the market is envisaged; a strategy that could be described as 'sailing into the wind'. In discussing these matters, the paper draws on semi-structured interviews with academics located in university faculties/departments/schools of education along Australia's eastern seaboard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, the Australian Government's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment of research quality declined to rate 1.5 per cent of submissions from universities. The public debate focused on practices of gaming or 'coding errors' within university submissions as the reason for this outcome. The issue was about the in/appropriate allocation of research activities to Fields of Research. This paper argues that such practices are only part of the explanation. With the support of statistical modelling, unrated outcomes are shown to laave also arisen from particular evaluation practices within the discipline of Psychology and the associated Medical and Health Sciences Research Evaluation Committee. Given the high stakes nature of unrated outcomes and that the evaluation process breaches public administration principles by being not appealable nor appropriately transparent, the paper concludes with recommendations for the strengthening ERA policy and procedures to enhance trust in future ERA processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makerspaces are more than just places to make things; a makerspace is ‘a physical location where people gather to share resources and knowledge, work on projects, network, and build’. TheNMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Editionlists the time-to-adoption of makerspaces within the higher education context, as two to three years. While there is a push to include makerspaces in universities, little is known about the experience of establishing makerspaces on academic campuses. This paper provides an exploratory look at makerspaces within universities and aims to specifically address the research question: What are the experiences of Australian universities with makerspaces? A qualitative approach to data collection was undertaken by reviewing Australian university websites. Makerspaces are noted in 12 of 43 Australian universities websites (October 2015). Typically, these makerspaces employ specialist staff, contain 3D printers and laser cutters, and offer facilities to conduct coursework, personal and collaborative projects. Finally, pop-up makerspaces have been employed by some universities as an exploratory stage to gauge interest in makerspaces before implementing a permanent space. Surveying key stakeholders associated with Australian academic makerspaces is recommended as a next step. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using data gathered as part of a study of young people's early career attainments, this paper examines factors that influence Australian high school seniors' plans to attend college and their actual entry into college. The paper applies the Fishbein-Ajzen (1975) model of attitude-behavior relations to the particular issue of the link between intentions to continue school and the realization of those intentions. Results show that the Fishbein-Ajzen model provides a useful, but incomplete, representation of the educational attainment process. In accord with the Fishbein-Ajzen model, favorable attitudes toward higher education, parental encouragement, and Friends' college plans all lead to the formation of intentions to enter college. Intentions, in turn, predict actual college attendance. Other results, however, suggest revisions in the Fishbein-Ajzen model. In particular, college entry was affected by attitudes toward college, academic achievement, and parental encouragement, over and above the effect of intentions. Moreover, behavioral intentions were shaped by academic achievement and by perceived academic ability, in addition to attitudes and perceived social norms. Finally, evidence was obtained that several variables in the model, such as gender and perceived parental encouragement, have interactive effects on college plans and college attendance. The results lend support to Liska's (1984) argument that social-structural opportunities and resources must be considered when applying the Fishbein-Ajzen model to behaviors such as entry into higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a first year transition program first implemented in 2011 and designed for students commencing higher education at the regional campuses of an Australian university. A significant proportion of students attending these campuses are mature age, the first in family to attempt university study, Indigenous, and/or from low socio-economic backgrounds. Our project aims were to facilitate academic participation and hence retention in a higher education environment that relies on various multimedia technologies and blended learning models. Ongoing evaluations of the project clearly indicate its efficacy. Even so, longitudinal analyses raise questions about how current social inclusion policy shapes praxis; indeed, about how we do social inclusion and transition in higher education. The following discussion grapples with some of the unresolved tensions between transition as institutional policy and the complex, differentiated and sometimes messy transitional experiences of first year regional campus undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional universities are common around the world, and important to the higher education system. This paper mainly analyzes the features of performance framework for regional universities in Australia, and discusses how the framework inspires the performance evaluation of regional universities in China. Firstly, the main features of Australian regional universities were summarized as the diversity of students, the strong local features, and the important social influence. Then, the key components of the performance framework, namely, core, optional, and institution-specific measures, were introduced in great details. Drawing on the framework and the local conditions, several suggestions were put forward to promote the performance evaluation of regional universities in China: develop high-level universities, serve local development, and diversify evaluation standards. The research results help to promote higher education in China and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on staff perceptions arising from a review process designed to assist staff in making informed decisions regarding educational design, approaches to engage students in learning, and the technology to support engagement in the classroom and across multiple locations and delivery modes. The aim of the review process was to transform the level of student engagement in the business faculty of an Australian university. The process took a collaborative approach through consultation with academic staff involved in the design and delivery of the units under review, and included targeted professional development as necessary. An institutional framework that characterises engagement indicator contexts and their attributes facilitated dialog during the review process. This paper reports on a mixed method study that included a survey of participants, and purposeful interviews to evaluate the effectiveness of the process. Although the study identified factors that hindered implementation and operationalization of review recommendations in some instances, study participants were generally of the view that recommendations would enhance student engagement. It is demonstrated that the bottom-up approach described in this paper is consistent with theoretical frameworks for transformational change in teaching and learning and the adoption of innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student pre-departure preparation has been identified as essential if study abroad programs involving workintegrated learning are to deliver the numerous benefits they intend, while mitigating the many risks they involve. However, little is known about what preparation is provided to the academic and professional staff who implement these programs, and the community members who host the students. Interviews with 16 academic and professional staff involved in preparing students, staff, and host communities for Australian study abroad programs reveal inconsistencies in the preparation provided to students, and very limited preparation to staff and host communities. The limited preparation that is offered, is designed and developed in an organic (not structured) and inconsistent manner. Our findings suggest that institutions should consider implementing a more structured, consistent and institutionally driven approach to preparation for students, staff, and host communities to reduce the substantial risks associated with these programs while maximizing the benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government policy and institutional initiatives have influenced increases in enrolment of non-traditional students to Australian universities. For these students, university culture is often incongruent with their own, making it difficult to understand the tacit requirements for participation and success. Academic teaching staff are important in creating socially inclusive learning experiences, particularly in first year subjects. This paper presents an institution-wide approach to enhancing socially inclusive teaching at one Australian university. Underpinned by a framework of "bridging social-incongruity" the initiative was guided by six principles of socially inclusive teaching to support practice as proposed in the 2012 "Effective support of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in higher education" report commissioned by the Australian Office of Learning and Teaching. Feedback from 150 academic teaching staff from various disciplines and campus locations, suggests this initiative was effective in increasing understanding of socially inclusive teaching practices with many participants indicating the teaching enhancements were applicable for their teaching context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One key manifestation of educational diversity is low socioeconomic status students and those who are otherwise marginalised from accessing higher education. This exploratory case study outlines and evaluates a long-running Australian pre-undergraduate preparatory program directed at providing maximum life and learning support to students by means that engage with and build on their diversities. Data are drawn from semi-structured focus groups with successive cohorts of students and theoretically-informed reflections by program staff members. The analysis of these data is framed by the conceptual blending of current theorising about transformative learning and capacity-building, which in combination constitute a powerful lens for illuminating student diversity in higher education. Based on that analysis, despite some inevitable limitations, the program is largely successful in its strategies to maximise life and learning support in order to mobilise the students' diversities in ways that enhance their current and prospective learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines perceptions by academics of their work in the Australian state of Victoria, and places such perceptions within the context of international and Australian debates on the academic profession. A 2010 survey conducted by the National Tertiary Education Union in Victoria was analysed in light of the literature on academic work satisfaction and on corporatised managerial practice ('managerialism'). The analysis is also placed in the context of neo-liberalism, defined as a more marketised provision combined with increased pro-market state regulation. Factor analysis was used to reduce 18 items we hypothesised as drivers of work satisfaction to four factors: managerial culture, workloads, work status and self-perceived productivity. Regression models show the relative effects of these factors on two items measuring work satisfaction. This analysis is complemented by discursive analysis of open-ended responses. We found that satisfaction among academics was low and decreasing compared to a previous survey, and that management culture was the most important driver. Concern with workloads also drove dissatisfaction, although academics seem happy to be more productive if they have control over their work and develop in their jobs. Work status had little effect. In the open-ended responses the more dissatisfied academics tended to contrast a marketised present to a collegial past. While respondents seem to conflate all recent managerial change with marketisation, we pose a crucial question: whether the need for more professional management needs to be congruent with marketising policy directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the use of Web 2.0 technologies for collaborative learning in a higher education context. A review of the literature exploring the strengths and weaknesses of Web 2.0 technology is presented, and a conceptual model of a Web 2.0 community of inquiry is introduced. Two Australian case studies are described, with an ex-poste evaluation of the use of Web 2.0 tools. Conclusions are drawn as to the potential for the use of Web 2.0 tools for collaborative e-learning in higher education. In particular, design and integration of Web 2.0 tools should be closely related to curriculum intent and pedagogical requirements, care must be taken to provide clear guidance on both expected student activity and learning expectations, and there is a clear need to develop, support and encourage strong interaction both between teachers and students, and amongst the students themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on one important aspect of the preliminary findings from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project, Academic integrity standards: Aligning policy and practice in Australian universities (Bretag et al., 2010) Our project aims to identify approaches to the complex issues of academic integrity, and then to build on these approaches to develop exemplars for adaptation across the higher education sector. Based on analysis of publicly available online academic integrity policies at each of the 39 Australian universities, we have identified five core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy. These have been grouped under the headings, Access, Approach, Responsibility, Detail and Support, with no element given priority over another. In this paper we compare the five core elements identified in our research with best practice guidelines recommended by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in the UK. We conclude that an exemplar policy needs to provide an upfront, consistent message, reiterated throughout the entire policy, which indicates a systemic and sustained commitment to the values of academic integrity and the practices that ensure it. Whereas the HEA created two discrete resources, the key aim and challenge of this project will be to develop exemplars that demonstrate a strong alignment between policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uptake of web-based lecture technologies for recording and delivering live lectures has increased markedly in recent years. Students have responded positively, and for many their use has transformed learning - freeing them up from rigid timetables by providing choice in lecture attendance and supporting learning by extending the lecture experience and enabling them to revisit key concepts and ideas in their own time. Less transformational has been the impact on teaching. Although changing attendance patterns and disquiet about the quality of learning are of concern to many, lecturers have largely responded by simply modifying lectures. For most, the challenges of catering for the learning needs of a cohort with variable lecture attendance have not been addressed at a whole of the curriculum level. The technologies have been added on, rather than integrated into the curriculum. This paper will review the changes taking place in learning and teaching, explore the reluctance to embrace more wholesale change to the curriculum, and discuss the implications for institutions in the face of ongoing change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a growing body of research has been conducted on student misconduct in universities, quantitative data on disciplinary action undertaken by institutions against student transgressions are largely absent from the literature. This paper provides baseline quantitative data on disciplinary action against students in the universities. It is concluded that those rates are not insignificant given the effort and resources dedicated to dealing with misconduct and the numbers of students affected. The paper includes limited discussion of reforms to rules and/or practices implied by, or arising from, these figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes some of the drivers for 'education for sustainability' that exist in universities and also explores some of the rationales that underpin higher education's reluctance to engage more formally in education for sustainability. It attempts to provide a balanced commentary on the role and capability of higher education in promoting environmental sustainability to students. Because the paper is grounded in higher education learning and teaching discourse it starts by interpreting the term 'education for sustainability' for a broad higher education audience and situates concepts of sustainability within domains of higher education learning and teaching. The paper focuses on Australian and New Zealand universities but introduces developments from around the world for comparative purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the way that learning technologies frame teaching practice in higher education using both autoethnography and discourse analysis (interpretative repertoires). The analysis juxtaposes our own experience in the form of data from two interviews, with teaching and learning policy documents from the group of five Australian Technology Network universities, as a means of investigating the centrality of these technologies in the reconfiguring of teaching practice in higher education for the networked university. The data yielded three distinct discourses: technology as a bridge to globalised opportunity; technology as delivery of learning; and technology as communication and building relationships for learning. The first repertoire provides a utopian vision which glosses over the complex practice of implementation. The second repertoire also omits details of implementation, presenting learning technology unproblematically. The third repertoire, not present in the policy documents, but central to the autoethnographic accounts, focusses on both the possibilities and challenges of learning technologies in practice, and points to the potential for a complementary approach which foregrounds the student-teacher relationship. How these discourses can be reconciled is a central issue for academic teaching practice in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the findings of a study employing a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation methodology to test a customer satisfaction model of the drivers of student satisfaction and loyalty in higher education settings. Drawing upon a moderately large sample of students enrolled in four ‘types’ of Australian universities, the findings suggest that student loyalty is predicted by student satisfaction, which is in turn predicted by the perceived image of the host university. While the perceived quality of “humanware” (e.g., people and process) and “hardware” (e.g., infrastructure and tangible service elements) has an impact on perceived value, this was found to be weak and indeterminate. Of most importance was the impact of the institution’s institutional image, which strongly predicted perceived value, and to a lesser extent student satisfaction. The findings have implications for newer, less prestigious universities seeking to compete in a more deregulated, market driven environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With particular regard to gender, this paper considers the rise and fall of EEO in Australian universities over the last 30 years. The paper argues that EEO, a product of social liberalism, had barely been introduced before it became a casualty of the Dawkins reforms and the transformation of the university. Corporatisation resulted in top-down managerialism and the production of academics as neoliberal subjects. Within this context, identity politics either moved to the periphery or disappeared altogether, so far as staff were concerned. The discourse of equality was quickly displaced by new discourses, such as that of diversity, which better suited the market metanarrative. The market has also induced a shift away from staff to students, inviting the question as to whether EEO is now passé. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many higher education institutions have implemented a learning management system (LMS) to manage online learning and teaching, with varying levels of support provided to staff and students, but often there is little subsequent investigation into the quality of the online sites or the use made of the support structures provided. This paper presents findings from an institutional survey investigating the use of WebCT by academic staff and students in their learning and teaching at a large Australian university. It was expected that student feedback would relate to technical and infrastructure issues, but instead, the survey elicited responses primarily on how WebCT was used in teaching and learning, indicating that quality control is a major issue for the University. Student opinions appear to reflect more the use of the technology made by teaching staff -- students who have experienced a well-designed unit rich with resources, timely feedback and good interaction with staff reported a positive experience with the technology. Staff responses are more focused on the technical and administrative aspects of using WebCT rather than teaching issues. The findings in this paper have implications for quality teaching and learning with technology, and the way in which tertiary institutions support academic staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changed funding arrangements and views of education have resulted in a re-prioritization of activities and practices in Australian universities. While considerable research attention has been given to the consequences of these changes for university policies and the activities of academic staff, less attention has been given to how students perceive these changes. In this paper, undergraduate students’ experience of the commodification of higher education sector are explored. The evidence suggests that the changed context is beginning to affect how students perceive university priorities and their effects on teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tertiary institutions in Australia, and no doubt elsewhere, there is increasing pressure for accountability. No longer are academics assumed a priori to be responsible and capable of self management in teaching and assessing the subjects they run. Procedures are being dictated more from the 'top down'. Although academics may not always appreciate 'top down' policies on teaching and learning, they should at least be open to the possibility that the policies may indeed have merit. On the other hand, academics should never be expected to blindly accept policies dictated from elsewhere. Responsible academics generally also need to evaluate for themselves the validity and legitimacy of externally introduced new policies and procedures. At one Australian tertiary institution, the Academic Board recently endorsed a new assessment policy, to implement criterion referenced assessment (CRA) throughout the university. This new policy is being promoted by the university's teaching and learning support services and is to be implemented gradually throughout the university. As stated in the university's manual of policies and procedures (MOPP) the 'fundamental approach' to the assessment of students was to be one based on 'criterion referencing'. Such Assessment was to be free of any notion of awarding grades dependent on a bell curve, and the criteria against which a student's work was to be assessed would have to be communicated in a detailed and clear way in advance of the actual assessment. Thus, for each piece of assessment, criteria must be given to students, with performance standards for each criteria detailing clearly what standard must be reached on each criterion to achieve a certain result. It is stated in the MOPP that CRA will give the assessment process 'a great deal of objectivity' and will contribute to the 'reliability and validity of the assessment task'. Moreover, it is stated that high, but attainable, standards will 'motivate students and focus their energy on learning rather than on competition with peers'. The teaching team of the final year Information Technology Project Management subject had a strong commitment to continuous improvement processes in the presentation and running of the subject. Given that the university had endorsed a new assessment policy that would soon relate to third year courses, the team decided to apply for, and were subsequently awarded, a faculty grant to implement and test the possible benefits of the endorsed CRA policy. An independent project, funded at faculty level, was undertaken to evaluate the effect of the new assessment policy on a final year unit. The project took a team-based approach to studying the use and effectiveness of criterion referenced assessment. All seven members of the unit's teaching and marking groups were included in the decision making surrounding the design, development, and implementation of CRA and an environment was created in which the team members could openly communicate their experience of CRA. Members of the group initially held a variety of beliefs about CRA that ranged from a dismissal of CRA as merely the latest teaching and learning fad, to keen interest in how it might practically operate in the unit. This diversity of thought was regarded as valuable and in keeping with the attempt to take an impartial 'warts and all' view of the CRA implementation, noting equally its positive and negative impacts. It was found that many of the purported advantages attributed in the literature to CRA were not forthcoming. Moreover, some unexpected results were uncovered. While prior research suggests that CRA's failures are due to implementation errors, our work suggests that the real problem is that the assumptions behind CRA are flawed. This paper discusses the outcomes of the project for the students, for the academics, and for the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One way in which universities have sought to articulate the outcomes of a university education is through a description of the attributes of their graduates. Recent calls for universities to demonstrate the quality of their outcomes and processes have prompted a re-examination of the generic graduate attribute outcomes many Australian universities have espoused for the past decade. As university communities struggle to identify what combination of skills, attributes and knowledge to include in these statements of graduate outcomes, and begin to come to terms with how to develop curricula to effectively achieve such outcomes, the fundamental nature of these is a vital preliminary question to address. What are these things that universities call generic graduate attributes? This is a more fundamental question than what combination of skills, attributes and knowledge should be included on the graduate ‘shopping-list’, it is about the nature of the things on the list, and the nature of the list itself. In seeking to further our understanding of the meaning of generic graduate attributes, the research described in this paper used phenomenographic analysis to explore academics’ conceptions of generic graduate attributes in the context of contemporary teaching and learning practices at one Australian university. A way of describing the key aspects of the variation in academics’ understandings of the concept of graduate attributes is presented. The contribution of discipline background to conceptions of generic attributes is considered and the implications of the observed variation for universities’ current curriculum reform initiatives discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe a study of learning outcomes at a research-intensive Australian university. Three graduate outcome variables (discipline knowledge and skills, communication and problem solving, and ethical and social sensitivity) are analysed separately using OLS regression and comparisons are made of the patterns of unique contributions from four independent variables (the CEQ Good Teaching and Learning Communities Scales, and two new, independent, scales for measuring Teaching and Program Quality). Further comparisons of these patterns are made across the Schools of the university. Results support the view that teaching and program quality are not the only important determinants of students’ learning outcomes. It is concluded that, whilst it continues to be appropriate for universities to be concerned with the quality of their teaching and programs, the interactive, social and collaborative aspects of students’ learning experiences, captured in the notion of the Learning Community, are also very important determinants of graduate outcomes, and so should be included in the focus of attempts at enhancing the quality of student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education sector is increasingly reliant upon casual (‘sessional’) staff for teaching and marking purposes. While this practice has been little examined in the past, over the last few years increasing attention has been paid to the quality of marking, mainly because students and academic staff alike are becoming increasingly likely to question examples of poor practice. Hence, many universities in Australia are now attempting to introduce stricter procedures relating to marking. Despite current concerns, there is little published research on marking practices in Australian universities. This paper adds to the body of knowledge by reporting on two pieces of empirical research into the use of casual markers. A project at Charles Sturt University comprised focus groups of, respectively, students, lecturers and markers, and a survey of distance education students. Research at the University of South Australia focused on pedagogical issues relating to marking, comparing the approaches of permanent lecturing staff with those of sessional markers. The results of these projects provide a useful insight into areas of current concern to university staff and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most intractable crime problems that has arisen in the twenty-first century concerns the criminal misuse of identity - popularly known as identity fraud or identity theft. Computer technologies have enabled documents used to verify an individual's identity to be altered or counterfeited with ease, leading to a problem which, in 2001-02, was estimated to cost $1.1 billion in Australia alone (Cuganesan & Lacey 2003). The higher education sector is not immune from risks of identity-related fraud and other kinds of dishonest practices, and, as this paper demonstrates, risks are present throughout the sector - from enrolment of students, through the examination process, upon qualification, and during subsequent employment. Reducing the risks associated with identification of students and staff alike entails the employment of a wide range of strategies that need to be implemented uniformly across the entire sector. This paper analyses the nature of the problem and how government, business and individuals can share in the task of preventing identity thieves from enrolling and graduating dishonestly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the regulatory differences between Australia and New Zealand in higher education are examined to determine if they have encouraged the entry of Australian universities into the New Zealand education market. Some general observations are also made about the nature of regulatory competition and the manner in which it influences the development of the international education export industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional wisdom in Australia is that policy aimed at reducing imbalances in the representation of different socioeconomic classes in the tertiary sector should be aimed at encouraging completion of high school. The analyses in this paper suggest, however, that most of the differences in the socioeconomic mix of tertiary students are due to different propensities of high school graduates to pursue tertiary studies. The relatively low rate of university participation among rural students, however, needs to be addressed by encouraging the completion of high school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1980s, Australian higher education has undergone significant reforms and policy changes based on economic rationalism and modernisation of management. This paper examines the outcomes of the reform processes based on the career attributes, status and perceptions of work environment of academic accountants in Australian universities. Similarities and differences between academic accountants are explored from cross-institutional and gender perspectives. The data provide insight into a number of systemic inequalities between the older and more established universities and the newer universities. In specific, a cross-institutional analysis based on four university types: Sandstones/Redbricks, Gumtrees, Unitechs and New (Marginson 1999) indicates that academic accountants in New universities employ a much lower proportion of staff with PhD qualification, a weaker publication profile, and perceive greater barriers for conducting research in terms of a shortage of research mentors, colleagues with research experience, and post-graduate students. Further, the commitment to flexible learning and delivery strategies is comparatively stronger in Unitechs, and poses additional demands on accounting academics' overall workload. Perceptions of gender-based discrimination by female academic accountants are generally stronger than their male counterparts, particularly, in New universities. These results raise several issues for academic accountants at both the institutional and individual level in terms of equal employment opportunities, management of research programmes, development of teaching strategies and individual time management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the determinants and consequences of student satisfaction, measured by satisfaction scores reported in the QILT surveys from 2012 to 2017. We find that university‐level profitability determines overall student satisfaction, where a positive relationship exists between student satisfaction and university performance. This association is more pronounced for Group of Eight (Go8) universities and those with higher academic expenditure. These findings have important implications for higher education providers as the Australian Government is contemplating the use of QILT student satisfaction in allocating public funding for higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology is recognised as playing a part in the changing landscape in higher education; altering delivery modes and providing flexible opportunities for learning. Research into the use of wikis has shown that they provide many opportunities for student learning and the development of twenty-first century skills, however, there has been limited success in their use for collaboration. In this exploratory research, we report on a group wiki project in an engineering management unit at an Australian university. A wiki was introduced to replace the existing group report assessment to add transparency to the task. Each group had their own wiki and students were required to provide feedback to other group wikis which enabled transparency of students' report development and group progress. The research aim was to investigate student perceptions of using a wiki. Students found the wikis helpful for benchmarking their activity against their peers. Students stated that peer feedback had improved their work; however, much of the feedback given by peers was too brief to be constructive, and provided too late to be useful in guiding their work. This paper will be of interest to academics interested in using wikis in their teaching to develop feedback, transparency, and benchmarking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1985, the Higher Education Equity Program was introduced by the Australian Government to improve the participation of those persons from social groups traditionally under-represented within higher education. In 1990, the program was incorporated within A Fair Chance For All which provided more specific details of the government's desire for a system-wide approach to equity issues. One result has been the proliferation of access and equity programs conducted by universities around the country and aimed at redressing the disadvantage of potential students. The alleged success of these programs is based on greater participation in and graduation from Australian universities by individuals from targeted disadvantaged groups. The research reported here, however, would suggest that such programs are prone to co-opt the language of equity and social justice, dependent as they are on satisfying statistically-orientated program performance indicators in order to receive recurrent government funding. Further, the paper argues that success in achieving equity within Australian higher education will remain limited unless the structural arrangements that work to construct social inequalities in mainstream higher education are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]