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The paper examines 2 recent Australian government issues papers on higher education and research policy, indicating areas both of concern and opportunity for Australian higher education providers in theology and their research efforts. The paper then offers suggestions as to how providers of theological education might position themselves as research institutions in the emerging higher education environment in Australia, and how educational policymakers might regard research in the theological sector of Australian higher education. This paper is directed, within the new research environment in Australia, to 2 groups of readers: those concerned with the administration of theological institutions, and those whose responsibility it is to draft policy with regard to research funding. To the theological institutions I want to say: (1) become more familiar with the emerging higher education culture, especially as it affects research, and pay attention to ensuring your institution's own quality assurance controls; (2) avoid being sidelined in the new environment, seek strategic partnerships with other institutions with a similar vision and mission to your own; and (3) attempt to state clearly the role and value of your own discipline in the Australia of the 21st Century. To the policymakers I say: recognise the value of research done, often in small private but not‐for‐profit institutions, in the theological and biblical disciplines. Recognise it as genuine research. Listen to the particular needs of these institutions, which may be quite different from larger institutions with more attention‐grabbing research profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis into the global phenomenon known as credential/qualification fraud, a $US 1 billion dollar ‘cottage’ industry which has tainted higher education in Australia, and does not appear to be abating. The study is developed through a conceptual framework of credentialism, degree creep and screening theory, which the author theorises spawns the demand for degree qualifications, both legitimate and ‘less‐than‐wonderful’ along continuums of legitimacy and acceptability. The paper suggests several key resources and tools that can be used by administrators of universities, non‐self accrediting higher education providers and industry human resource managers. The paper concludes by reviewing key‐global practices currently employed as proactive measures to minimise credential fraud, moving towards a best practice framework for Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing student expectations of higher education is an increasing challenge to the university sector. How one institution responds to those changing expectations is examined close up. While student non‐completion is a feature of the contemporary higher education landscape, little analysis of the role played by higher education institutions in stabilising retention rates has entered the public domain. The paper acknowledges the influence by state policies and of student disposition towards higher education as factors that may affect non‐completion rates but questions the role played by higher education institutions themselves in reducing the rate of non‐completion. From a theoretical perspective, barriers are identified which, coupled with institutional data, provide a first‐cut analysis of possible strategies that could work to limit poor retention rate trends. An underlying question embedded within the paper is: should universities faced with high first‐year non‐completion rates expect students to accommodate to university life, or should they seek to adjust institutional culture to adapt to changing student demands and expectations? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a study of research partnerships with industry across the higher education sector in three high technology fields in South Africa, the paper identifies five key tensions, the resolution of which shapes the way partnerships are facilitated and constrained in distinct institutional contexts. The paper highlights the significance of policy coherence between organizational levels within an institution, the importance of seeking a balance between financial and intellectual research imperatives, the necessity of promoting a strategic balance between the forms of partnership that are allowed and encouraged to develop, and the need for flexible regulation within institutions to provide levers and incentives without being heavy‐handed or constricting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been many changes to the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) since its introduction in 1989. The most significant of these is possibly the reforms announced in the 2003 Federal Budget, which allow universities to increase the contributions required of students by up to 25%. This paper considers the distribution of deferred HECS liabilities according to the socioeconomic status of students. An algorithm is presented for converting area‐level data to its individual‐level equivalent. It is found that students of lower socioeconomic status defer a much larger proportion of their HECS than students of higher socioeconomic status. The adverse side effects of HECS identified in the literature will therefore be more acute for low socioeconomic status background students than for their wealthier counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A university's key resource is its staff, both academic and general. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the work of general staff. Yet general staff comprise more than half the workforce in Australian universities and a more rigorous understanding of the contribution of general staff towards the strategic goals of their institutions has the potential to enhance their institutions' organisational sustainability. Universities have multiple and diverse stakeholders, but students are the key stakeholders in universities' core business of learning and teaching. Consequently, the interaction of general staff with students has potential to have an impact on the sustainability of an institution. This paper describes a preliminary study into how general staff contribute to student outcomes. A meta-study by Prebble et al. derived 13 propositions for support of student outcomes that focused on the contribution by academic staff and Middleton subsequently surmised that general staff are also central to those outcomes. This study uses the Delphi method to test Middleton's assertion by engaging general staff in ranking the propositions in terms of their contribution to student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary universities, serving mass higher education markets, find themselves delivering complex, broadly based projects such as student support and welfare, human resource development, and business enterprise. Established concepts of academic administration and devolved management have been overlaid by more fluid institutional structures and cultures, with a softening of internal and external boundaries (Whitchurch, 2004, 2005). These developments have caused major shifts in the identities of professional administrators and managers as they adopt more project‐oriented roles crossing functional and organisational boundaries. This paper considers the dynamics of these changes, in terms that move beyond conventional assumptions about administration and management. While identities have been defined traditionally via structured domains such as professional knowledges, institutional boundaries, and the policy requirements of the higher education sector, an emergent project domain has fostered the development of an increasingly multi‐professional grouping of staff, with implications for career futures. [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]

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 past few decades universities and colleges have undergone changes that have increased the complexity of academic managers' roles. There is some evidence now that these managers have come to experience significant role ambiguity, conflict, stress, and other negative effects - and that their wellbeing has been compromised. However, the literature about such matters is incomplete and sometimes contradictory. The study reported here was undertaken to contribute to existing understandings about the condition of academic managers in tertiary education by profiling a previously unstudied population - Greek and Cypriot department chairs. The specific focus here is on stressors in the workplace, and we present findings from an exploratory study and compare them to findings from a recent parallel Canadian investigation. The cross-cultural insights gained help to enrich current understandings about the stressors that managers experience in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Awareness of factors associated with academic performance in tertiary accounting education courses is useful for selection officers, educators, administrators and students. Yet research shows findings relating to this topic area to be inconclusive. Also, investigations are typically cross-sectional rather than longitudinal, and as such can have limited application. Furthermore, issues concerning the effect on academic performance of transferring between institutions appear not to have been investigated in relation to TAFE-to-university accounting students. This investigation evaluates the effects of a range of demographic, behavioural and educational variables on the Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 academic performance of Year 12-to-university, and TAFE-to-university accounting students at one Australian university. Findings reveal that the best predictor of academic performance in any one year is the performance in the same discipline in the previous year. Notably, successful Year 12 Accounting completion had an enduring positive effect for all university accounting grades. Type of secondary school attended, previous year's academic grades, and level of interest in accounting as a discipline and profession also proved to be significant influences on academic performance. In addition, findings suggest that transfer shock is apparent for TAFE-to-university transferees. Recommendations include consideration to be given to applicants' prior performance in that discipline when universities make offers, closer liaison between university and TAFE accounting departments when accepting TAFE-transfer students, and dedicated university-orientation programs for transfer students. Possibilities for further research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploratory focus group research with undergraduate students reveals a series of related tensions that students experience about vocational marketing and communication degrees that have been promoted to them primarily on the basis of job prospects and university location. We summarise these tensions in six themes: short versus long-term goals; academic/social life balance; time to study/work; importance of theory versus practical skills; intrinsic motivations to study versus assessment orientation; and the differing requirements of a tutor. We argue that the often intuitive choices that students make as a result of these tensions may result in their failing to engage with much of what constitutes a degree, especially scholarly activity. Although these tensions may be common to all students, we question whether some approaches to promoting vocational degrees, and the curriculum priorities sometimes given to these types of degree may influence the resolution of tensions in ways that do not encourage effective learning. Does the presence of practical aspects in the curriculum encourage or excuse the rejection of theory that is not immediately applicable to practice? Does the marketing of universities as “fun”, and of degrees leading directly to employment, undermine intrinsic motivations to engage with study? We conclude by suggesting the need for reflection and responsibility in the higher education sector's promotional activities and in the teaching of vocational degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]