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Within the higher education sector in Australia regionality is not well defined, which is a significant issue for regional universities, given the opportunities for development and growth stemming from the Australian Government's focus on regional higher education. This paper contends that if regional universities are to operate successfully in an increasingly competitive sector, they need to centre their operations around a clear definition of regionality. Based on a review of definitions of regionality in international higher education contexts, and an analysis of how regionality is defined outside of higher education, this paper provides a definition of regionality for Australian higher education. Whilst acknowledging the differences in potential contexts and applications, this definition seeks to provide a basis upon which regional universities in Australia can determine the ways in which they may create a strong identity, achieve the Australian Government's objectives for regional higher education, and reap the associated benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptualising the quality of higher education as fitness for purpose begs the question of whose purpose? Thus, understanding who has dominance over Australia's higher education system, and what purpose it is seen to fulfil, is important for ensuring that current quality assurance methods are effective. This paper presents the findings of a discourse analysis conducted to explore the unspoken purpose contained in the documents published by the Australian higher education regulator and quality assurance agency. Through the analysis of the Act, newsletter articles published by the agency, and selected relevant documents, the paper shows that the national system is positioned as an export service industry. The paper highlights some of the implications this has on the methods employed to assure the quality of the national system, including the risk posed to the system by a singularity of purpose, and discusses some of the current conditions which may have led to this state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education has existed in Australia for 170 years, yet Indigenous Australians have participated for only half a century. One key change the Australian higher education sector has witnessed over the last decade is the steady increase of people occupying senior Indigenous leadership roles. These positions are indeed relatively new and have not been empirically investigated until now. Reporting on findings from an Australian Research Council funded study on Indigenous leadership in higher education, this paper highlights some of the discrepancies in how the skills of Indigenous leaders are interpreted by the academy, with a hope to challenge the sector's next senior non-identified appointments to ensure that Indigenous people become integral architects in designing the future Australian higher education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of academic appointments in Australia has changed. Given the recent emergence and growth of teaching focused academics roles across countries and contexts, in this conceptual paper we begin by parsing the language and role descriptions used for these academic appointments. Then, we consider what we know about teaching focused academics roles, and the research approaches used in these studies. We identify that teaching focused academics s struggle to understand, capture, and represent the knowledge creation component of their academic workload. We argue there is a need for research that builds a richer and holistic understanding of teaching focused roles and their workloads. We offer a solution: a learning-practice conceptual framework – combining Ann Webster-Wright's authentic professional learning and Trowler's practice sensibility with Goodyear's framework for design – to open new vistas of research and policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are promoted by the Australian government as pivotal for Australia's economic prosperity. Research on equity groups suggests that group membership is associated with several factors linked to 'leakage' from the STEM pipeline of school, university and transition to work. In this paper we draw on longitudinal Australian data to understand what factors influence the participation of equity group students in university STEM courses, and to explore how the STEM pathways of those groups differ from those of non-equity students. We identified several important factors which influence participation at two critical points of the STEM pipeline; transition from school into university, and transition from university into the STEM workforce. Our results indicated that higher levels of mathematics self-concept and instrumental valuing of mathematics in early adolescence predict continuation in the STEM pathway for all students and particularly those from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including the plagiarism in academics, the role of intellectualism in higher education and increment in the tuition fees in many countries such as Australia.

Leadership matters for the success of large enterprises and this is also the case for higher education institutions and universities. Yet, the public nature of universities and of academia means these institutions are usually highly dependent on external actors, in particular government. Viewed through a lens of distributed leadership, this paper explores how leaders in universities, national academies and government view and rate key changes associated with this pervasive reorientation and reorganisation of public higher education. It asks where do the views of leaders within universities and those outside universities converge and diverge and what patterns are evident in the differences between leaders? Drawing on 116 in-depth interviews and 114 follow-up surveys with senior higher education leaders in Australia, of which just over half were university senior executives, this paper concludes that all leaders surveyed are largely aligned in their views of most issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational stress has increased in higher education academic staff over several decades, and this has been particularly acute in Australia and New Zealand. This scoping review sought to understand the causes and impacts of occupational stress among Australian and New Zealand academics. Eight EBSCO databases were searched for key terms: academic and occupational stress and Australia and New Zealand. Twenty relevant papers were sourced, from which five common themes were extracted: (i) balancing an academic workload, (ii) casualisation of the workforce, (iii) the managerialism phenomenon, (iv) transition from field of practice to academia, and (v) academic and other staff. Further research in the Australian and New Zealand context is required to identify the nature of specific stressors and how these impact health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benchmarking is a formalised evaluation process by which a university can measure the standard of their policies, processes, programmes or strategies through comparison with other universities. Currently, there is a paucity of research that focuses on the documentation associated with external benchmarking undertaken by Australian universities. Given that Australia's higher education regulatory body requires universities to reflect the purposes of external benchmarking within policy frameworks and for external referencing to be overseen by peak academic governance bodies such limited research is of significance. This paper contributes to the literature by investigating whether documented structures, policies and guidelines are in place to inform learning and teaching external referencing processes. Using a qualitative documentary thematic analysis, policies, procedures and guidelines found on university governance websites were investigated and analysed. The findings indicate that many Australian universities are at risk of not meeting mandatory regulatory requirements. [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]

Most Australian universities have among their goals to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at their institutions. In the Australian higher education context, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are seriously under-represented, particularly in business education compared to other disciplines. An understanding of why a larger proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students do not choose to study a discipline that provides promising employment opportunities, is fundamental to improving the status quo. This paper reviews the literature to identify key barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ participation and engagement in business education. Apart from multiple general barriers to participation in higher education, factors specific to business as a profession and as an academic discipline are also considered. The paper then discusses a number of strategies Australian educational institutions could pursue when seeking to increase participation and engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in business. Drawing on the review, the paper concludes with recommendations for higher education institutional policy to further improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student participation and engagement in business studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The much-discussed potential of ‘technology-enhanced learning’ is not always apparent in the day-to-day use of digital technology throughout higher education. Against this background, the present paper considers the digital devices and resources that students engage most frequently with during their university studies, what these technologies are being used for, and perceptions of ‘usefulness’ attached to these uses. The paper draws upon data gathered from a survey of undergraduate students (n = 1658) from two Australian universities. Having explored a variety of factors shaping student engagement with digital technology within these university settings, the paper considers how ongoing discussions about digital technology and higher education might better balance enthusiasms for the ‘state of the art’ (i.e. what we knowmightbe achieved through technology-enabled learning) with an acknowledgement of the ‘state of the actual’ (i.e. the realities of technology use within contemporary university contexts). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2010, the Australian government established the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme – a funding agenda to promote programmes that respond to the under-representation in higher education of people from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Many government-funded programmes and projects have since emerged that respond to theproblemof low SES under-representation, based on partnerships between higher education providers and other organisations. The arguments made in this paper draw on one such project: a mentoring programme implemented from 2011 to 2013 that targeted theaspirationsof Year 9 regional secondary students. We discuss data and documentation that provide insights into the conception and design of the mentoring programme, and the strategies used to evaluate it, in order to discuss how funding and policy contexts influence the possiblesolutionsthat might be implemented in response to the under-representation in higher education of people from low SES backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education policy of the previous Australian government aimed to achieve an internationally competitive higher education sector while expanding access opportunities to all Australians. This policy agenda closely reflects global trends that focus on achieving both quality and equity objectives. In this paper, the formulation and implementation of the policy are examined according to the policy cycle approach, drawing on additional theories and analytic frameworks as applicable. The analysis explores why such an ambitious policy approach was taken, how it was implemented and factors affecting its achievability. Indicators suggest the policy was not delivered successfully within the term of the Labor administration. It also highlights an ongoing policy trend to unify the higher education sector, despite evident divisions within the sector and between levels of government administration. The paper concludes with recommendations to diversify the system so that the equity and quality policy agendas can be implemented concurrently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning was introduced to Australian universities as part of the Commonwealth Government higher education reforms of 1988. The 'Dawkins Reforms' implemented extensive structural reform, changed executive leadership roles and responsibilities, commenced the 'managerialisation' of the Australian university sector, introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme and facilitated the transformation of Australian universities from collegial academies to modern, 'enterprise' universities. There is an abundance of published marketing material celebrating 'effective' strategic planning outcomes in the myriad of strategic plans published by Australian universities. Yet, a recent study indicates that strategic planning remains a contested internal leadership function in Australian universities almost 30 years after traditional academic planning was replaced with commercially-focused strategic planning. This paper will review the effectiveness of strategic planning practices in Australian universities guided by the rhetorical question: 'how good are we and how do we know?' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University student volunteering is prevalent in Western countries, but has rarely been critically evaluated by researchers. Little is known about the different ways in which student volunteer programmes are organised. Using a matrix constructed from the publicly available websites of all Australian universities, and 60 interviews with key stakeholders at six universities, this paper identifies nine different models of student volunteer programmes. The models show the different ways in which universities, faculty and students are involved in organising student volunteer programmes. These nine models are presented in a continuum of increasing direct management by universities. In addition to identifying the models, the analysis revealed trends in student volunteering, particularly the way that Australian universities are packaging student volunteering as part of their service learning, leadership or employability agendas. The continuum facilitates a common language and understanding of university student volunteering, leading to cross-disciplinary recognition of the different models available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common theme in higher education research is the factors that affect university funding. Studies frequently examine how universities cope with funding cuts and the changes that have stemmed from operating in a neoliberal age, a period that now sees institutions commonly functioning on a cost/benefit basis. This paper offers an original contribution by using the Australian Federal Government Department of Education and Training’s document,Finance 2015: Financial Reports of Higher Education Providers, to problematise the financial assistance individual Australian public universities received from the federal government. The paper acknowledges the factors that can account for some institutions receiving more funding than others but nonetheless highlights the substantial discrepancies concerning government financial contributions that exist between Australia’s highest and lowest funded universities. At a time when a performative culture has increasingly become part of higher education, and an institution’s research performance is calculable and rankable, it is crucial to Australia’s long-term research success that all its universities remain competitive in the race for research and government funding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One focus of gender equity policies in universities has been the creation of ‘retention’ part-time work for professional staff, which allows employees to move between full-time and part-time hours at their request. This paper examines whether such ‘good’ part-time jobs can contribute to or at least not impede women’s career advancement. The paper examines the correlation between job classification and part-time work, and whether a period of part-time work acts as a significant ‘brake’ on a woman’s career trajectory. This study uses data from the 2011 Work and Careers in Australian Universities survey. Part-time work is used extensively by lower-classified women, but rarely by those in higher classifications. Part-time work stalls career advancement compared to working full-time, but this brake is reduced if a woman transitions back to full-time work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher education is under pressure to advance from a singular focus on assessment of outputs (measurements) to encompass the impact (influence) of initiatives across all aspects of academic endeavour (research, learning and teaching, and leadership). This paper focuses on the implications of this shift for leadership in higher education. Demonstrating the impact of leadership in higher education requires taking a step beyond measuring the skills, behaviours, and achievements of individual leaders to demonstrating how universities can evaluate the impact of actions taken to build leadership capacity across the institution. The authors extend the outcome of empirical research into how a distributed leadership approach can be enabled and evaluated in Australian higher education – to analyse the effectiveness of these processes for both measuring output and assessing the impact and influence of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper critically explores the opportunity for leadership development in higher education within an interpretative inquiry paradigm from the perspective of middle-level academics transitioning into leadership/management roles in Australian universities. Middle-level academics are described as being at a mid-point in their careers and universally appear to represent a substantial percentage of academic personnel in tertiary institutions. Much has been written about the rapid and seemingly unstoppable changes occurring in the higher education climate as a result of global reform and with it the effect that change is having within the realm of academic leadership. Of some interest particularly is the effect that change is having at the level of middle-level academics in leadership roles. Many universities throughout Australia have established various 'leadership capability frameworks' to meet the need of leadership and management development. However, consideration needs to be given to how well these programs prepare middle-level academics for their leadership roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the fourth decade of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, including author analyses and thematic insights from articles published from 2009 to 2018. In addition to an increase in the number of articles published, the Journal now publishes more articles by authors from outside Australia, female authors and co-authored articles. Institutional management and leadership is the most common theme, responsible for just over one quarter of articles. By methodology and level of analysis, roughly half of all articles utilise survey or multivariate approaches and target national-level insights. Due to the practical orientation of the journal, many articles integrate management, leadership and policy with other common higher education themes, such as student experience and quality assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many universities divide their academic workloads according to a model of 40 per cent teaching, 40 per cent research, and 20 per cent administration and service. Increasing demands on academic time, however, make this balance hard to achieve, since teaching and administration frequently impinge on research time. Moreover, regular academic activities may not fit into the workloaded time available. This paper presents evidence from a 3 month case study of a single academic in an Arts department at a research-intensive Australian university who has a 40:40:20 workload and is encouraged to publish an average of two high quality journal articles a year. Based on the study's findings, a more realistic workload model would be 40 per cent teaching, 25 per cent research and 35 per cent administration, with an adjustment in the amount of quality research outputs expected. A new model should also balance face-to-face teaching time with teaching-related activities. [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]

Despite the current broad agreement amongst Australian universities that engagement is now a core activity, the implications of that commitment are yet to be fully realised. The difficulties many universities face in articulating engagement as a strategic priority begin with the conceptual and definitional issues around the third mission and its shifting nomenclature. Government policy has provided little support and guidance around the definition and scope of engagement, while the lack of mandatory formal reporting on engagement outcomes and of dedicated base funding for engagement has hampered the development of benchmarks that could provide a sector-wide framework for engagement practices between universities and communities. This weak policy environment has contributed to the peripheralisation of engagement at the institutional level despite efforts within universities to make it a strategic priority. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2012, government changes to higher education shifted Australia to a demand driven funding model. The consequential increase in student numbers, along with greater focus on retention and student satisfaction, resulted in rising customer expectations. There are now strategic imperatives to change administrative cultures to focus on delivering service excellence. This study analyses customer service behaviours of student administration staff at one Australian university. Using a conceptual framework of motivations, attitudes, perceptions and skills towards customer service, this small-scale study suggests that staff are intrinsically motivated and have largely positive attitudes towards their student customers. A gap was identified between individuals' perceptions of their customer service delivery compared with that of colleagues, while staff learn informally from their supervisors and colleagues. Finally, this paper explores how universities might develop and embed a workforce that is student-centric, delivering outstanding customer service, while at the same time upholding governance and compliance requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Australian universities have prioritised improving discipline performance on the national research assessment – Excellence for Research in Australia. However,a culture of secrecypervadesExcellence in Research for Australia(ERA). There are no specified criteria for the assignment of ratings on a 5-point scale ranging from ‘well above world standard’ (5) to ‘well below world standard’ (1). No rationale is provided to institutions for their discipline ratings and university staff on the ERA panels sign confidentiality agreements. However, what is available to universities are the research strategies that each university documents to improve its ERA performance in its Mission-based Compact, a government funding agreement. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the similarities and differences in the research strategies that universities with different performance profiles employ. Following an analysis of the strategies, substantial commonality was identified in strategy use. However, what was different was how universities employed these strategies and the associated contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student attrition remains a persistent problem within the Australian higher education sector. Contributing factors include financial, reputational and quality issues, which can pose significant risks for a university’s sustainability. Institutional culture is fundamental to decisions student make about withdrawing or remaining in higher education. Therefore, student retention requires a sustained, deeply embedded commitment from all parts of the institution, placing student experience at the forefront of all activities in the student lifecycle. Applying a lifecycle approach to the way in which institutions think about student retention benefits students by providing comprehensive and consistent support. Given that less is known about how professional staff contribute to student academic learning journeys as part of whole of institution responses to student retention, this paper focusses on the contributions that professional staff make within the student lifecycle and how they can most readily map their contributions to student retention and success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer science, like technology in general, is seen as a masculine field and the under-representation of women an intransigent problem. In this paper, we argue that the cultural belief in Australia that computer science is a domain for men results in many girls and women being chased away from that field as part of a border protection campaign by some males – secondary school teachers, boys and men playing games online and young men on campus at university. We draw on American feminist philosopher, Iris Marion Young’s analysis of the ‘five faces’ of oppression to suggest strategies whereby Australian universities could support women in computer science and educate men about respectful behaviour and gender equity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The higher education sector operates in an increasingly complex global environment that is placing it under considerable stress and resulting in widespread change to the operating context and leadership of higher education institutions. The outcome has been the increased likelihood of conflict between academics and senior leaders, presaging the need for more engaged and broader approach to leadership. Based on empirical research into the Australian university sector, this paper contends that a distributed leadership (DL) approach is appropriate for the higher education sector and offers value for supporting effective change. In acknowledging the paradigm change needed to implement a DL approach successfully, the authors present a process model to underpin the shift from a leader-centric to a DL approach. The Sustainable Enabling and Evaluating Reflective DL change process model presents a synthesis of how a systemic change to DL in higher education can occur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gender equality in academia has been monitored in Australia for the past three decades so it is timely to reflect on what progress has been made, what works, and what challenges remain. When data were first published on the gender composition of staff in Australian universities in the mid-1980s women comprised 20 per cent of academic staff and held 6 per cent of senior positions. Since the early 1990s many Australian universities have had policies in place to remove sex discrimination and initiatives to increase women’s representation in academia. Two decades on, women comprise 44 per cent of academic staff and hold 31 per cent of senior positions. How did this happen? What worked? Are there still challenges to be addressed? This paper provides a critical reflection on what has worked, the practical impacts on gender in academia in Australia and what challenges remain for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Striking a balance between being a parent and being a student can place heavy demands on time and energy. Many students who are parents have employment obligations and financial concerns which create additional barriers to success. Despite these difficulties, institutional support for students who are parents is often limited. Common challenges include accessing adequate on-campus childcare and parenting rooms, and scheduling study around care commitments. A distinct recognition of student parents has been largely missing from the Australian student equity space. To address this gap, we captured the first-hand accounts of 578 student parents through a national survey of their motivations, challenges, and strengths. Findings are analysed within the four stages of the Critical Interventions Framework – pre-access, access, participation, and attainment/transition out. Our article recommends new avenues of intervention to foster the success of student parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, an increasing number of students from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds (SRABs) entering universities in settlement countries such as Australia and Germany have necessitated the establishment of a variety of supports, both as formal programs and informal ad-hoc networks. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the organisational conditions surrounding such supports. This study thus examined these conditions through the conceptual lens of organisational memory loss. Based on the two illustrative cases of Australia and Germany, it was described how building durable and responsive supports for SRABs is undermined by structural, ideological, and temporal imperatives that erode the possibilities for a sharable organisational memory. Furthermore, it was argued that similar to global arguments for durable pathways to settlement, universities need to develop and deliver lasting expertise and durable student supports by focusing on preserving organisational memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work integrated learning (WIL) is in growing demand by multiple stakeholders within the higher education sector in Australia. There are significant and distinct legal risks to universities associated with WIL programmes. University lawyers, along with WIL administrators and university management, are responsible for managing legal risk. This quantitative study of 41 Australian university lawyers offers awareness and insight into their role, the legal risks and their risk management practices with respect to WIL programmes. The results furnish university management, WIL administrators and university lawyers in all jurisdictions with a series of issues related to risk management that warrant further consideration. In particular the authors suggest that the appointment of a dedicated WIL lawyer, a clear delineation of risk management responsibilities through university policy and education and greater collaboration between university lawyers and WIL administrators has the potential to improve institutional risk management in the specific context of WIL programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

University degree completions by equity groups in Australia have grown. It is, however, unknown whether graduates from equity backgrounds have equitable work and study outcomes. This study uses national graduate survey data linked to student administrative records from 19 participating Australian universities to examine post-degree study and employment outcomes of domestic undergraduates around six months after graduation. The results indicate that graduates from low socioeconomic status background, with disability, or from a non-English speaking background were less likely to be employed after degree completion. However, graduates from nearly all equity groups were more likely to be in further study after undergraduate degree completion relative to graduates from non-equity backgrounds. Academic performance was found to be influential on the graduates' propensity to be in further study or employment. Participation in further study appears accessible for graduates from equity backgrounds, however, action to address their poorer labour market outcomes is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous research leadership can enhance research benefits to Indigenous communities. Our research investigates how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (henceforth Indigenous) leadership is expressed in the context of academic research, and how Indigenous leadership is supported or constrained in such context. This exploratory study includes semi-structured interviews with 20 Indigenous Australian researchers and document analysis. The thematic content analysis suggests that 'Indigenous leadership in research' refers to features, qualities or processes that enable certain outcomes, rather than formal ranking. Our research proposes a model connecting Indigenous leadership features in research with the achievement of (social) research impacts. The performance measures valued in academic research reflect a limited part of leadership as expressed by interviewees, hindering the achievement of higher hierarchical positions by those who holistically pursue such a leadership model. We suggest changes in the incentive structure and performance measures to better support Indigenous leadership in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional league tables, such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities, have become part of the global higher education landscape. This article discusses findings from a longitudinal study examining four Australian universities over a fifteen year period which traces how international rankings have come to be articulated in university strategy. Through an analysis of annual reports and strategic plans, this inquiry highlights the impact of rankings on the institutions, with a particular focus on their research strategy. The selected universities demonstrate that they act strategically in how they seek to both influence and respond to annual ranking releases. The results show that specific changes in strategic direction not only improve a university's market position but can also contribute to a significant rise in their rank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing access to higher education enrolment for disadvantaged individuals following the Bradley Review of Australian higher education. While progress has been made, students from equity groups are still found to lag behind their privileged counterparts in completing higher education. This study examines higher education academic outcomes for equity groups in Australia, specifically, students considering dropout, actual dropout, and marks. The influence of student satisfaction on those academic outcomes are also examined. Students from equity groups tend to have poorer academic marks and are more likely to consider dropout, with health and financial reasons found to be important determinants. These findings support the need for multi-faceted initiatives to support higher education students from equity backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is embraced in Australian higher education (HE) and is a feature of most Australian HE 'entry to profession' engineering education programs accredited by Engineers Australia. Accreditation guidelines articulate the need for curriculum-integrated engagement with professional practice (EPP) and encourage EPP in a separate workplace environment, e.g. WIL. This article reports on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with staff and student engineers from four Australian HE institutions with mandatory engineering WIL. Framed by a Bourdieusian theoretical perspective, the influence of capitals on student access to engineering WIL placements was investigated. The research found that students' capitals influenced access to engineering WIL placements. Policy and educational practice recommendations are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As university graduates face increasingly changing and challenging labour markets and work environments, universities are prioritising the work of helping students develop their graduate employability. As a result, university Career Services and career development practitioners are subject to changing strategic and operational approaches to the provision of careers and employability learning opportunities at institution-wide scale. In this study, we examine current conceptualisations of careers and employability practice through the analysis of three sources of data: program descriptions of postgraduate career development qualifications, position descriptions for careers and employability jobs advertised in Australia over the past four years, and focus groups with career development practitioners. We evaluate how well existing career development qualifications align with the work of contemporary university career development practitioners, and identify opportunities to continue evolving the profession, to better help our students meet the demands of future life and work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A public university was established in 2014 as a cornerstone of Ecuador’s sweeping higher education reforms. Four years later, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam had developed internationally benchmarked teaching, research and community service missions within the Ecuadorian Amazon. The creation of Ikiam occurred during a period of broad international discourse on the importance to universities of academic excellence, innovation system impact, and regional relevance. This case study tests whether a top-down state-driven development model can establish a university on principles of excellence, impact and relevance. The creation of Ikiam is analysed qualitatively and the results are discussed in context with national and international policy settings for higher education and innovation. This study provides insights for low and middle-income countries to strengthen higher education and innovation systems through university creation. Internationally it provides practical insights for university master planning taskforces to build organisational strength and distinctiveness through excellence, impact and relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increasing interest within the academic literature on the role played by Higher Education Institutions in the social and economic development of their communities. The Australia Government has recently released its National Science and Innovation Agenda (NISA) which is designed to incentivise university-community research partnerships. In this article, the identified lack of Australian university-community engagement will be problematised through the experience of academics who undertook such an engagement in a regional university setting. A completed research project is used as a lens through which institutional factors impacting on collaborative projects between universities and their communities are identified. The difficulties of university-community engagement are unpacked and problematised so that the various forces contributing to the shortage of university-community partnerships can be better identified and understood. The unitary manner in which university-community research is to be reported under NISA is highlighted as a key barrier to regional research partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the majority of undergraduate teaching in Australian higher education being undertaken by casual academics, ensuring adequate support for these staff to access support and professional development relating to teaching and learning is imperative. In this article, we profile the development and implementation of a university-wide strategic framework for training, support and recognition of the contributions of sessional teachers. The design of this framework was informed through an iterative process of research and consultation with key institutional stakeholders and has resulted in changes at a policy level as well as in the delivery of professional development programs for sessional teaching staff. The opportunities and challenges of this approach are discussed, as well as future directions and broader considerations for the support of sessional teachers in the Australian higher education context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service transformation is an increasingly common pursuit in the higher education sector, with university strategic plans frequently featuring aservice excellenceobjective and the adoption of leaner and more sustainable service models. Previous studies agree that service excellence is intentional not incidental, and systematic not ad-hoc in nature, requiring a planned and structured approach with consistent and repeatable experiences. This study analysed public documents to discover the universities engaged in service excellence and efficiency endeavours and the prevalence of business process improvement (BPI) methodologies as a tool for this purpose. It is concluded that universities are increasingly focused on service excellence, institutional sustainability and BPI methodologies to enable institutional strategic objectives. The study suggests that future studies could focus on investigating and gaining primary evidence on the progress and success of universities in the service excellence and BPI space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of higher education participation in Australia has increased over the past decade for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study contributes to the knowledge on the outcomes of disadvantaged individuals who complete higher education by looking at the labour market outcomes of university graduates from equity groups. The number of Indigenous graduates and graduates with disabilities was found to be very low, suggesting that more needs to be done to improve higher education completion for these two groups. The labour market outcomes for other equity groups are mixed, with those from low socio-economic status backgrounds and regional and remote Australia performing well in the labour market, while graduates from non-English-speaking backgrounds and female graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields experience substantial disadvantage in the labour market. The findings suggest that selection processes prior to the graduates’ entry into the labour market are important. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the influence of major institutional components, academic support mechanisms and organisational climate on scholarly productivity in high-ranked universities. Qualitative data were collected from senior academics working in high-ranked Australian universities. The data were examined using thematic descriptive and content analysis techniques. The results indicate that academic support practices help save time by providing excelled knowledge related to new pedagogies and research preparation and by offering project management support. Results also show that a participatory work environment and fair institutional policies and practices generate intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to enhance academic role performance. Accordingly, to promote their institutional prestige, university managers should operate selective financial and human resource investment strategies. To elevate the ranking of their institutions, they need to establish essential academic support structures and institute multi-directional communication networks with less bureaucracy, simplified hierarchical structures, effective reward systems, well-designed career planning and informative performance reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on stories of success in higher education by mature-age students of diverse backgrounds to highlight some key implications for institutional support. We begin by reviewing the post-World War II background of mature-age study in Australian higher education to provide a context for presenting some major findings from a small, in-depth research project. We examine these findings to focus on the role of institutional support in the success of mature-age students, particularly given recent sectoral factors affecting their access and support. The study findings show students’ primary supports were families and friends. Participants all belonged to equity categories as designated by the Australian government, but many did not use institutional supports. Some lacked the confidence to approach staff; others were unaware support services existed or lacked the time to access them. The participants’ stories demonstrate the complex disadvantages experienced by mature-age students. They highlight universities’ need to ensure support services are ‘student-centred’ in order to ensure improved educational and equity outcomes for their mature-age student populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a great deal of literature surrounding the needs of regional Australia. This integrative review of the literature focuses on the experience of nursing academics teaching on a satellite campus, many of which are located in regional Australia. Four themes were identified: (1) challenges specific to regional satellite campuses, (2) student characteristics, (3) student experiences and (4) the academics’ experiences. These themes identified not only significant benefits but also considerable challenges to the provision of higher education on regional university campuses. The experience of nursing academics and indeed their students is remarkably different from the experience of their metropolitan counterparts, and therefore the local context needs to be considered in regional education provision. Australian regional nursing academics need to be multi-skilled to address the workload and social inequity in support service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the last decade there has been a shift in the discourses around professional staff in higher education that has been influenced by neoliberal agenda that focused on driving education reforms. Earlier discussions centring around nomenclature variations have progressed to those about creating and developing borderless professionals operating in the third space – a notional space where professional staff and academic staff with diverse and valuable skills work as equal professional partners on complex and multifaceted projects. This article looks at the evolution of the debates around professional staff. It considers how the notions of professionalism and professionalisation are being reconceptualised in the third space. Discussion progresses towards capability building and developmental opportunities of aspiring third space professional staff in higher education settings. Possible pathways of engaging with and empowering professional staff in designing their future careers and professional identities are considered. Building a community of research practices under the auspices of the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) and engaging postgraduate students in the university third space project work are proposed as potential areas for further research in the field of professional staff capability building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender implications of nationally competitive teaching awards were examined to determine whether women receive sufficient accolades, given their dominant position in university teaching. Quantitative methods and secondary data provided objective analysis of teaching awards for Australian universities, for an 18-year data set with 2046 units of analysis. Results indicate that women were over-represented in lower-level citations and under-represented in higher-level awards. Women did not dominate, particularly the highly prestigious Prime Minister’s award, where men constituted 65%. Policy and management implications include that universities could review the gender balance in their teaching award processes and set goals as internal support is a springboard to national awards. Groups of the same gender could be encouraged to work together at the highest levels to overcome individualistic, competitive barriers. National teaching award applications could be gender blind, at least for the higher levels. There are no clear trends towards a better gender balance, possibly because there has been a very limited gender spotlight on the awards at any level of policy and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]