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While the context is shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the major themes of the Special Issue link directly to fundamental moral questions of the purpose and goals of tertiary education. In presenting the Special Issue, we emphasise the diversity of the world's higher education systems, cultures and practices, to expand our collective imagination of what tertiary education is and could be. How nations assert their national and regional cultures in adapting introduced models of higher education is an emerging topic of some urgency, given the continuing role of Western higher education in neo-colonialism. [Extracted from the article]

This paper revisits the issue of institutional diversity in Australian higher education, taking account of international trends and research on the subject. Drawing on empirical studies over the last three decades, I adopt a within-country case study approach to analysing institutional diversity in the Australian higher education policy context and consider post-COVID systemic implications. Catalysts for this analysis include revisions to the Australian provider category standards, government policy shifts influencing the undergraduate curriculum, and the systemic impact of a global pandemic. The paper concludes with three propositions, arguing that institutional diversity will be more important than ever to meet the diverse needs of students and the labour market; an ecosystemic approach to post-secondary education will be a key enabler of sector diversity; and a paradigm shift, enabled by such drivers as government policy and proactive institutional leadership, will be essential to achieve enhanced institutional diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on a study that examined the experiences of four high-achieving Pasifika physiotherapy degree level students to identify factors contributing to their success. As peer students, they identified five approaches that assisted them to become high achievers within the tertiary environment. This paper refers specifically to these approaches as peer-based Pasifika pedagogies (PbPP) and broadly as culturally responsive practices. The aim of this paper is to examine how Pasifika pedagogies, such as PbPP provide culturally responsive practices that can address the 'culture of silence' while promoting the vā relationality, the cultural nuances and norms of their worldview as well as aligning it with modern pedagogies or tools to enhance success among Pasifika students in the New Zealand tertiary education context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented which discusses articles on topics including a government review of New Zealand's tertiary education, the rising profile of non-academic research impact, and the impact of performance-based funding on continuing education.

In 2019, the Australian Government introduced a new post-study work rights policy as a lever to attract international students to study and work in regional Australia. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential implications of the new policy and consider factors which may impact it from realising the intended benefits. An analysis of historical international student enrolment and post-study work rights data for three regions in Australia was conducted to make assumptions about potential growth in those three regions brought by the new policy. This illustrated that while regions are regularly homogenised in policy discourse, there are a variety of complex place-based factors that may impact the success of the policy such as local employment industries, institutional growth profile and community engagement. It recommends that tertiary education leaders undertake comprehensive place-based planning to support the intended outcomes of the policy change to be realised and sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a gradual shift towards vocational type courses in tertiary education, and subsequently an increasing trend in the employment of those experienced in their profession into academic positions. This paper will focus on the case study of allied health professionals employed under the assumption that people with clinical skills and experience will be able to transfer into academia. Yet the skills required in academia are different from clinical practice. Despite there being a paucity of research exploring this phenomenon, that which does exist suggests that academics transitioning from clinical practice may feel stressed, confused and disillusioned. They can also take many years to establish their academic career. A greater understanding of the transition process is needed, and support strategies for developing academics must be prioritised. These strategies need to be implemented at a systemic level in tertiary education institutions, but also at the individual level by the academics themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on research conducted to understand key factors impacting the recruitment and selection of senior academic leaders in Australian universities. A key finding emerging from this research was an increasing reliance on executive search firms when recruiting senior academic leaders. This reliance is driven by a range of factors including an ageing and contracting pool of potential academic leaders, growing competition domestically and internationally and the declining attractiveness of academia as a sustainable career in the context of increased casualisation of the academic workforce. Concurrently, workforce planning and succession planning have not been a high priority for many universities. As a result, Australian universities are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit senior academic leaders without the use of executive search firms. These findings have signifi- cant implications for the higher education sector in Australia and warrant further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on recent studies of institutional diversity in Australian tertiary education by modifying this model and using it to profile Australian pathway providers. The results offer insight into the role and work of this under-represented part of Australian tertiary education, as well as highlighting key strategic issues for these institutions and encourages a self-reflexive stance towards profiling methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic integrity lies 'at the core of the reputation of Australia's world class higher education sector' (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), 2020). This pilot study analyses the dominant approach (punitive or educative) of academic integrity policies by selected institutions within the Australian state of Victoria who offer a Foundation Studies Programme (FSP). This pilot study indicates a punitive approach is most commonly adopted. There is a scarcity of research within this field. An increasing prevalence of academic integrity breaches has been reported in the Australian and global education sector. It is therefore of paramount importance that we focus on supporting learners to understand and act with academic integrity. A literature review of qualitative data enabled patterns, or 'themes', to be identified. A deductive thematic analysis was conducted at the semantic (explicit) level to compare the approach taken at different institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nigerian tertiary educational system has been ravaged by incessant strike action, which appears to defy all attempts to find solutions. This paper reports on a study that examines the impact of job satisfaction and burnout on attitudes towards strike actions among employees of a Nigerian university. A total of 576 employees participated in the study, 263 men and 313 women, with a mean age of 38.49 years. The Attitude to Strike Scale, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form, and Teacher’s Burnout Scale were used to collect data. Findings showed that employees with low job satisfaction and high burnout reported significantly a more positive attitude towards strike action than those with higher job satisfaction and lower burnout. It was suggested that governments and administrators of Nigerian tertiary institutions should device strategies to improve workers’ job satisfaction and reduce burnout as ways of reducing the workers’ likelihood to embark on strike actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general inductive analysis was applied to 98 submissions made to a recent review of New Zealand’s tertiary education system, primarily to enable those interested to engage with multiple viewpoints about this highly complex educational system. The analysis yielded three substantial themes that reoccur throughout the submissions and that may warrant further research. The three themes relate to: competition, incorporating willingness and ability to compete at different levels in the sector; trust, incorporating expectations of being trusted to provide high-quality educational support for all learners as well as, to varying degrees, an expectation that the broad outcomes of this high-quality educational support should be trusted, rather than measured, by all stakeholders; and the purpose of the educational endeavour being considered and whether or not different parts of the sector do, or should, emphasise different purposes. The analysis yielded a model or theory about the underlying structure of the experiences illustrated by the 98 submissions that may assist those interested in tertiary education to address the new models of tertiary education being considered by the review. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For the last 15 years and across Fiji's three universities, over 40,000 students have completed mandatory courses in Ethics and Governance. Emerging from growing perceptions of graduate misconduct, Fiji's 2006 'clean-up' military coup and corporate scandals from Enron to the Fiji National Bank, these courses explore personal, political and corporate governance and topics ranging from religion, human rights, cultural relativism and gender, to the environment, business ethics, personal integrity and the meaning of work. This article reports on intra-university contests regarding the merits, costs, values and efficacy of these courses. Frequently mischaracterised as moral instruction, and ineffective at producing the 'good employee', some courses have been replaced with program-specific professional ethics courses. The andragogic philosophy of these courses, however, targets moral autonomy and ethical literacy, skills aimed more for the 'good citizen'. Whether the remaining mandatory, holistic Ethics courses continue may depend on what student outcomes Fiji's universities prioritise most. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accountability of colleges and universities is a high priority for those making policy decisions. The purpose of this study was to determine institutional characteristics predicting retention rates, graduation rates and transfer-out rates using publicly available data from the US Department of Education. Using regression analysis, it was determined there are 14 predictors of the full-time retention rate, 7 predictors of the part-time retention rate, 15 predictors of the graduation rate and 12 predictors of transfer-out rates. Institutions and policymakers could use the results of this analysis to determine the policies that would be beneficial to improving the analysed outcomes. All four analyses indicate good fit withR2ranging from .273 to .828. Some possible policy implications include addressing selectivity if institutions want to improve retention rates and addressing affordability to improve retention and graduation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reflective essay presents a personal account of experiences and models that have shaped the development of the author as a leader in tertiary education. It is presented from the perspective of a practitioner whose career has led her through academic and administrative roles in Australian and UK institutions into her current position as academic registrar of a large, global university. The author concludes that, in learning to lead, the ideas that have been influential and which she has integrated into her practice are those that resonate with her own understanding of leadership and which are consistent with her values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 20 years, the tertiary education sector has adopted new administrative management approaches, with the aim of improving accountable and strategic focus. Over the same period, the question of how to build leadership capacity to improve learning and teaching and research outcomes has led to discussion on what constitutes academic leadership. While both these advances are needed, what is missing is integration between the two such that academics and professional staff are engaged collaboratively to achieve learning and teaching and research outcomes that are accountable within a strategic focus. This article builds on research into the use of distributed leadership to build leadership for learning and teaching that resulted in the design of a conceptual framework for distributed leadership. Based on this conceptual framework, it proposes a conceptual blended leadership approach to engage academics and professional staff working in collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]