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An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including international students, university funding and data and quality. quality.

Utilising Bacchi's framework 'What's the problem represented to be?' the literature on managing academic workloads was analysed to explore why workload allocation models are deemed essential in the contemporary university and the assumptions which underpin workload allocations. Whether due to the need for efficient use of scarce resources or ensuring equity for staff, workload allocation models are promoted as an accurate measure of each individual's workload and as a measure of accountability. The literature privileges the views of staff whose workloads are 'managed' but unable to do their work within their contracted hours. Universities justify long hours of unpaid overtime as a norm of professionalism. Critical issues for managers are identified, and suggestions to enable them to be more effective in the process of workload allocation are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decision-making around resource allocation in universities is complex. It plays out through the structures of governance and bureaucracy, through interactions with colleagues, workplace cultures and through day-to-day individual work practices. To survive and succeed within this complex environment, teaching support staff need to be sensitive to the cues provided by their institution. This paper focuses on the cues available to teaching support staff within university strategic plans and considers the effects these cues may have on their day-to-day decision-making. The results provide a sample of the competing cues that have an impact on teaching support staff and provide a foundation for a reconsidered approach to university strategic planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Branding has become an important issue within higher education. The use of core value statements and visions are expressions of this. To be a successful brand, organisations must also make sure they are different from others. However, in both the scholarly discourse and in political rhetoric, the Nordic model highlights equal access to education and opportunities for all. Values such as egalitarianism and diversity may be difficult to fit into a frame of reference where excellence is at the centre. Historically higher education has also been an important part of nation branding initiatives. This paper asks how different branding perspectives (corporate branding and nation branding) are matched and harmonised with respect to higher education in two Nordic countries. The study shows that there is a lack of harmonisation between nation branding and corporate branding, and that the discourse on excellence is not conducive to differentiation at the organisational level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The starting point of this paper is the question: Which issues do students think are important when choosing a higher education institution, and how are they related to the factors taken into consideration in ranking institutions? The aim is to identify and rank the parameters students perceive as important when choosing their place of education. The paper is based on a qualitative pre-study and a quantitative main study in which the authors examine what students perceive as important in business school rankings. Our findings show that, by taking the students’ perspective into account, one can see that some of the parameters used in rankings are of less importance to the students: for example, rankings that over-emphasise research. Second, we identify the parameters that could be included in business school rankings to make them more relevant to students: for example, paying more attention to learning outputs in rankings. Our findings highlight the importance of taking individual stakeholders into account in the rankings and understanding how rankings could be made more relevant and valuable for the range of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT Universities and other institutions of higher learning now encounter far more challenge, and are subjected to an unprecedented level of external scrutiny. All providers of higher education today inhabit a more competitive world where resources are becoming scarcer, but at the same time they have to accommodate increasing demands from the local community as well as changing expectations from parents and employers. In order to be more responsive to all these competing needs an emphasis on `strong management' is introduced in the educational realm, with a fundamental paradigm shift to the notion of `economic rationalism' in running educational services. In such a policy context this paper sets out to examine how higher education in Hong Kong has gone through a similar process of marketisation, with particular re, fence to the strategies and approaches adopted by the University Grants Committee (UGC), the central funding body of higher educational institutions in Hong Kong, to assure a quality and `value for-money' higher education in the territory. This paper will end with a discussion of the implications of the adoption of a `management-oriented' approach in delivering educational services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper offers ideas for those seeking to improve research and publications performance in university faculties, and may be especially relevant for younger faculties that have been recently upgraded to university status. A case study of the School of Management Studies at the University of Waikato is used to identify the important managerial decisions made to transform a faculty from being undergraduate teaching dominated in the late 1980s to one with a strong research profile by the mid-1990s. The paper draws on management theory to show the links between changes in beliefs, attitudes and values in bringing about a change in the organisational culture. The case study identifies the decentralised university management structure and strong leadership at the dean level as critical elements in developing the research culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the Australian higher education system in the past ten years has moved from a relatively regulated to a largely unregulated model. This change has resulted in a reduction in diversity as each new university has been able to develop a mission more like its older counterparts, by acquiring a broad educational, doctoral and research profile. The advent of external quality assurance processes which appeared to reward the traditional notion of universities has served to further homogenise the system and to dilute diversity. The paper explores these changes and asks whether we are asking quality assessment to carry a greater load than it was meant to bear. It then suggests quality assurance processes which might be conducive to the development of diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

Increasing emphasis is being placed upon employer expectations in research on graduate employability, in response to the widely claimed gap between employer expectations and graduates' understanding of these expectations. For graduates, being uncertain of their employer's expectations may threaten the ease of their transition into the workplace and their job satisfaction, even leading to issues around graduate retention for employers. External influences on the graduate labour market such as differences in industry/sector level expectations and economic/political factors, can pose further complications. This paper presents a cross-industry analysis of employer expectations of graduates, drawing from four selected case study vignettes aimed at uncovering insights into these variances. Findings offer implications for policy makers and higher education providers around the design and delivery of a curriculum that appropriately prepares students for the graduate labour market, whilst also catering for industry-level expectations particularly in light of the UK's forthcoming departure from the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unbundling of the higher education sector has led to an increase in the number of academic tribes. One such tribe is that of the 'instructor'. This paper examines how instructors at a university in Trinidad and Tobago are conceptualised at the institutional and individual level. Three data sources were examined: a document review of role descriptions as found in job adverts; quantitative self-perception data and qualitative data on perceptions of job roles. Analysis of the data shows that instructors undertake many of the same roles as lecturers but that this is not recognised in institutional documentation. This local analysis finds that instructors form an academic tribe whose activities appear to be hidden in plain sight. Such a position is likely to have managerial and/or policy implications leading to a re-examination of 'teaching-only' positions which may, in turn, result in a move back towards a re-bundled academic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 15 years, Vietnam has worked to develop a quality assurance (QA) system as part of its effort to reform higher education. The government's effort seeks to respond to widespread criticism over the quality of training in higher education. The appropriation of western QA mechanisms and the effectiveness of the QA system as it has been implemented, however, is still viewed with scepticism. This paper reports on a study of academics and QA practitioners' perceptions of quality assurance. Documentation and in-depth interviews were used in the study. The findings show that QA remains a new concept in the country, which appears to have promoted a compliance-driven approach to mandated policies rather than a system that promotes academics' engagement in continuous improvement. Moreover, the appropriated mechanism may be seen as contradictory to the values respected by academics and rooted in a Confucian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present affiliation policy regime of Ghana's higher education system has existed for more than two decades. However, empirical studies to examine the policy rhetoric and reality with regard to building quality assurance capacity in mentored institutions appear non-existent. This paper is based on an illustrative qualitative case study undertaken to examine the achievements and challenges of implementing the policy to build internal quality assurance capacities in mentored institutions. The study was guided by Institutional Theory using 12 key informant in-depth interviews and document reviews as data collection sources. The findings indicate a minimal achievement of the policy intent on internal quality assurance capacity building due to key implementation challenges such as a tripartite relationship structure; increasing cost on mentored institutions and increasing workload on mentor institutions. The study concludes that the gap between the policy rhetoric and reality in the studied mentored institutions appears undesirable and requires stakeholders' attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a framework analysis to explore the opinions a cohort of Australian academic staff hold towards professional staff. Five indicative themes were identified from the extant literature on university professional staff: the professional other; managerialism; an expensive bureaucracy; complementary agendas; and the third space and beyond. These five themes formed the basis of an online survey and semi-structured interviews that gathered data on academics’ opinions towards professional staff at both the local, departmental level and of those in central, divisional units. The interview and survey results revealed that the academics involved in this project held departmental professional staff in high esteem but that there was ambivalence directed to those in central units. The second part of this paper uses Sharrock’sFour Agendasmodel to consider ways in which institutional leaders can capitalise on the existing strengths in the academic–professional working relationship towards fulfilling their strategic goals in a rapidly changing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Casual and sessional academic staff have traditionally been on the margins of institutional life despite the expansion of this cohort across the university sector. This paper details a project to address this lack of recognition through a workforce strategy to engage, support and effectively manage this often neglected cohort of the academic workforce. We discuss the learnings from the project and its potential application for other universities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

Early career academics around the world frequently see themselves as being in need of targeted career support to navigate the years directly following PhD graduation. The growth of discussion groups on Twitter that target these users raises questions about their potential usefulness to address career development support needs. This paper reflects on the authors’ experiences of starting a career development discussion group via Twitter for early career academics. Drawing on the group’s tweets during its first year, we explore its role as a peer-mentoring forum that provides opportunities for support and knowledge sharing. We conclude that online communities like #ECRchat can be an important source of support, but that the norms developed within them may also individualise struggles and impose additional kinds of work on participants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We begin this paper by outlining the ‘classical’ debate on the idea of a university. We then proceed to show how this intellectual ideal has been compromised by successive processes of reform privileging paradigms of managerialism and commodification at the expense of intellectualism in shaping and defining UK higher education, with equivalent processes at work in other countries. This serves to set the context for our central premise that an intellectual discourse needs to be repositioned and reinstated in higher education. Finally, we consider the relationship between three competing paradigms – the intellectual model, the managerial model and the consumerist model – with a view to highlighting the contradictions and incompatibilities between all the three. We conclude by outlining a tentative proposal for a new, three-way conversation about the future of higher education, a process we term a ‘trialogue’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the "Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management for 2004." The Journal continues to enjoy a pleasing glut of material. This happy situation means that as editors, one have no problem in providing a wide range of material, from higher education sectors all over the globe. The author would like to thank the many reviewers who, throughout the past eighteen months, have meticulously labored reading and commenting on the material readers have been reading. The reviewing process is indeed at the very heart of academic publishing and one often say to authors that one at the mercy of reviewers.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including higher education in Kenya, customer relationship management in Queensland, and issues related to the progress reporting that doctoral students have to undergo.

Most universities around the world put in place administrative processes and systems to manage student progress. These processes usually involve filling out standardised forms and instruments: managerial tools intended to increase transparency, promote efficiency and ensure fairness by applying the same standards to all. The progress report is a widely used management tool in doctoral candidature in Australia and in other countries which look to the United Kingdom for degree structure and format. This reporting mechanism requires students and supervisors to make a retrospective account of the research done in a given period. The intention of the progress report is to provide a mechanism for recording feedback and an opportunity to clarify communication between supervisors, students and the institution itself on the progress of the research. However, whether these managerial tools achieve these aims in doctoral candidature is questionable. In this paper, we report on findings from a study of progress reporting in doctoral studies in one middle-band university in Australia. We found that men and women reported qualitative differences in their encounters with the progress reporting mechanisms, which called into question the idea that these management tools are gender neutral and fair in their effects or application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the rhetoric opposing managerialism in higher education can be ascribed to philosophical and political objections to the neo-liberal ideology which is alleged to underlie the phenomenon. This paper approaches managerialism from a different direction, addressing it within a neo-liberal framework. The paper argues that there is no intrinsic reason why support for a neo-liberal philosophy should equate with a belief in the need for managerialism in higher education. In particular, the author argues that neo-liberalism values freedom above other principles and that managerialism curtails academic freedom through control, instrumentalism and ideology and that, in all of these respects, it is counter-liberal. The paper concludes by suggesting an alternative approach to higher education which would enhance the importance of academic freedom within a neo-liberal policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how, in the light of global economic downturn and rising student populations, new academic–industrial models for research collaboration based upon specific technological expertise and knowledge can be developed as potential mechanisms for preserving and extending central university research infrastructure. The paper explores two case studies that focus upon the new serious games sector: the UK-based Coventry University’s Serious Games Institute – a hybrid model of applied research and business, and the Netherlands-based TU-Delft University’s Serious Game Center – a networked model of semi-commercial funding and public–private co-operation between industry, public sector and research partners. To facilitate these kinds of academic–industrial collaborations, the paper introduces the Innovation Diffusion Model (IDM) which promotes innovation diffusion by bringing academic and industrial experts into close proximity. Overall, the benefits include: sustained intellectual property development and publication opportunities for academics, employment creation, accelerated development and real commercial benefits for industrial partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to identify the impact of current national policies and emerging curricular practices on master’s by coursework students in Australia. It is argued that the rate of top-down policy change, together with bottom-up innovation, is resulting in a high level of complexity that is challenging providers, staff and student alike. Findings from a national study that elicited the views of key stakeholders on aspects of the master’s by coursework degree including its adequacy as a preparation for doctoral study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The sociologist, Max Weber (1864-1920), suggested that few could withstand the frustrations of academic life. As the strategic management of human resources begins to differentiate higher education institutions (HEIs) in league tables, the costs of voluntary staff turnover (attrition) become more significant. In this paper, we consider links between induction (orientation) and retention for academic staff. We report on a qualitative study of thirty academic staff in five United Kingdom HEIs who were recruited on the basis of their professional experience. Their practice-based knowledge lends our participants particular insight into their HEI induction experience which, where found wanting, led in several cases to resignation. We analyse the induction experiences of our participants to glean explanations for these perceived shortcomings. Since induction interventions are thought to lead to improved retention, we recommend policy and practice changes to induction, which may benefit all academic staff. [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]

Change initiatives in higher education are frequently guided by an institutional change management program which provides employees with a framework and set of skills to better understand problems and facilitate change at the organisational level. In this paper, we explore employee perceptions of Six Sigma as a tool for facilitating change at one public institution of higher education in the southeast United States. Unlike previous research studies that focused on specific results of change initiatives using Six Sigma, our research team considered how individuals, trained in the implementation of Six Sigma techniques and strategies, viewed the potential of the Six Sigma model to enact and sustain change initiatives in a higher education setting. In this case study, we describe Six Sigma as a change management program in higher education based on Lewin’s Three-Phase Model of Change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In a changing landscape of higher education, universities have been moving towards a market-led approach to strategic management. This paper examines the case of a UK private sector education provider that gained degree-awarding powers following changes made in 2004 by the UK Government to the accreditation criteria for recognised degree-awarding bodies. The management team, driven by the need to be seen as a legitimate organisation within the sector, made changes to the academic infrastructure to align more closely with those of the existing players in the market. This isomorphic pressure to become similar for reasons of legitimacy created tensions between maintaining academic standards and business objectives. The management of these tensions resulted in a reconciliation of the dual objectives – not a rationalisation or satisficing, but a realisation in action that the academic and business aims were in fact compatible rather than competing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While several studies have examined the impact of expenditures on graduation rates in higher education institutions, historically Black colleges and universities have strong government dependencies that suggest that these links might be different than for other universities. This paper investigates these links by estimating the production function of a subset of a large panel of 4-year institutions and uses a Chow test to find structural differences in production functions of Black universities and other universities. The analysis finds significant structural differences, notably that administrative expenditures have a significantly negative impact on graduation rates at Black universities. The findings suggest that the need to examine administrative frameworks and to diversify resource streams at Black universities is pressing. Using resource dependence theory, this paper concludes with a discussion about how these universities might mitigate the negative effects of government resource dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides insight into distributed leadership by contrasting the oppositional messages found in the literature, and by examining differences in the rhetoric and reality associated with its application. Specifically, the treatment of power and accountability within the distributed leadership theoretical framework is difficult to reconcile. Given the problems associated with the theory and practice of distributed leadership, this paper asks why it is enjoying resurgence at this time? This paper will be of interest to researchers, educators and administrators who are interested in the study and practice of educational leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is based on interviews with 25 programme leaders at two universities in England. Programme leadership is ubiquitous and essential to effective university operations, yet there is surprisingly little research on the role. It is an ambiguous and complex form of leadership, existing as it does in the space between standard academic and manager profiles. Existing literature on other leadership roles highlights such ambiguity as a major source of stress and cause of inefficiency. Drawing from the perspectives of current programme leaders, four main areas of difficulty are identified: role confusion, the management of others, the status and demands of leadership, and bureaucratic burdens. The paper suggests that the role of programme leader should be taken more seriously at both a research and institutional level, and that sufficient support should be implemented in relation to the four challenges mentioned above. Any real engagement with leadership at programme level, however, should also take into account the micro-politics of institutional management, a politics that combines issues of values, status and identity with more prosaic concerns over role definition, workload and student support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including benchmarking of schools, higher education internationalisation and transformation of regional technical institutions in China.

One aspect of the internationalisation of higher education in Australia has been a large growth in the number of international students enrolled in universities. While this has brought a number of benefits to the institutions, the students themselves report varying levels of satisfaction with their experience. One area which can contribute to satisfaction levels is provision of student support services. This paper describes a study which found that international students and support service providers, while sharing perspectives in some respects, had differing views about student service delivery. The paper argues that providers of services for international students need to be more aligned to students' expectations of service provision, and more centred on students' actual needs, if they are to increase students' levels of satisfaction with their international experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research that is conducted across divergent contexts and communities presents challenges. This paper explores the importance of building trusting relationships between researchers and participants to overcome some of these challenges. Using a postmodern perspective it describes practices that merged to form a comprehensive strategy for working across cultures. The subject matter for this paper was derived from qualitative research that investigated the repatriation experiences of Saudi Arabian female postgraduate students. Throughout this paper it is argued that long-term, in-depth, trusting relationships between researchers and participants assist in the establishment of common ground that transcends cultural differences while demonstrating respect for individuals' stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staff are a university's key resource. Typically, research has concentrated on the contribution of academic staff, and has largely overlooked the crucial role of professional staff. However, recently there has been an increase in research by professional staff, about professional staff. In Australia, professional staff comprise more than half the higher education workforce, and a more rigorous understanding is needed of the contribution that professional staff make towards the strategic goals of their institutions. This paper explores the work of professional staff, focusing on the contributions that this group of staff makes to the design, development and maintenance of learning spaces, both physical and virtual. This research is part of ongoing doctoral research into the work of professional staff at one Australian university. Following a preliminary framing study, a case study was undertaken using semi-structured interviews with a range of professional staff. Emerging from these interviews is a conceptualisation of the work of professional staff in relation to student outcomes, from the perspective of professional staff themselves. This research is illuminating the working lives of professional staff, the changing and increasing complexity of their roles, and the contributions professional staff make to their institution's student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Students who travel abroad for study bring with them a wealth of cultural resources and expectations that influence their ability to adapt and acculturate into their new environment. While the ability to fit into their new context is a largely personal endeavour, for students from Confucian heritage societies, the cultural expectations of family can have a significant impact on these students. Building on research into the influence of culture and parents on the decision to study abroad, this paper highlights the need for and benefits of developing internationalisation policy and management procedures that reflect and support an understanding of the embedded cultural needs and expectations of Chinese students and their families. This paper offers theoretical insight into the situations of the people involved, practical suggestions for higher education administrators wanting to develop a more effective internationalisation policy and meaningful intercultural strategies and support for international students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The focus of this paper is the coalition United Kingdom government policy on university funding in England as a political economy. It depicts higher education as a public and private good in the context of international trends in ‘cost sharing’ and it addresses the centrality of economic drivers for the profile and orientation of higher education, particularly in England. On the basis of an examination of documents available in the public domain, it also assesses how new funding arrangements might embody a distinctive attribution of value to higher education in general and disciplinary practice in particular. This domain of inquiry is termed the political economy of funding because it seeks to examine the social and political meaning of these economic decisions and their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews and examines approaches to determining the financial viability of academic programmes as a critical component of assessing a programme's overall sustainability. Key to assessing the financial viability of a programme is understanding the teaching activities required to deliver the programme and the cost of those activities. A review of the literature has revealed a range of approaches that can be taken in these respects and the issues which need to be addressed. Building on a literature review and applying a chosen approach to a case study, the paper draws conclusions on the suitability of the overall approach both to the specific case study and in general. The analysis was unable to produce a single, accurate number that captured the financial viability of a programme. This was in part because of the lack of available detailed information on some elements of the costing; but more importantly it reflected uncertainty in how an academic's time spent in research should be treated. Recommendations are made for further work highlighting possible criteria for prioritising data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although middle-level academic managers really need training in order to perform their roles adequately in the very changing context of higher education, little formal training is provided, particularly in less developed countries. This paper identifies the training needs of Heads of Department in a newly established university in Vietnam as a first step in preparing a professional development program for them that might fill this gap. Through document analysis and interviews with 24 participants, the study finds that the Heads of Department have the most critical training needs in generic management knowledge and skills, the roles of the Heads of Department, English language proficiency, research methods skills and practice. They also have a need to improve their communication and planning skills. These results both confirm and contradict previous studies on Department Heads' training needs from developed Western universities. The paper concludes that the Department Heads' training needs are both context-based and competencies-biased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, UK universities have become increasingly concerned with performance management. This trend reflects both growing competition and marketisation within higher education, and the increasing requirements for accountability. In response, institutions have begun to explore the application of formal methodologies for performance management, initially developed in business and industry. One such approach is the Balanced Scorecard. Based on a qualitative study of the application of the Balanced Scorecard in four UK universities and interviews with senior managers, the paper looks at the impact of this technique on the formation, monitoring and evaluation of strategy and policy; issues of motivation, implementation and format are also considered. The paper provides an insight into the application of new management techniques within higher education and identifies key issues to be addressed within the process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reports on a research project that investigated the aspirations of primary and secondary school students about access to, and participation in higher education. The research was undertaken at schools in low socio-economic status regional and rural areas of north-eastern New South Wales. The paper discusses the background to the research and the methodologies used. It reports findings on the impact and intersections of demographics, financial factors, geographic location, and cultural and social capital in relation to the formation of students' perceptions, choices and decisions about participation in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New models of leadership are needed for the higher education sector to continue to graduate students with leading edge capabilities. While multiple theories of leadership exist, the higher education sector requires a less hierarchical approach that takes account of its specialised and professional context. Over the last decade the sector has explored new leadership approaches based on public and private sector models accompanied by an increase in managerial control, market competition, government scrutiny and organisational restructuring. These changes have increased the gap between academics and ‘other’ staff as academic autonomy has been reduced. This paper presents a distributive leadership approach that places emphasis on collective collaboration rather than individual power and control. It describes a self-enabling tool developed from the experience of four Australian universities that used a distributed leadership approach to build leadership capacity in learning and teaching. The authors identify that while the intent of the original project did not include building collaboration between academics and executive and professional staff, the outcome was recognition of the importance of both a multi-level and cross-functional approach to leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within an increasingly dynamic and volatile external environment, university managers are charged with implementing strategies including models that attempt to distribute complex academic workloads fairly and transparently in order to meet institutional goals. However, the impact of such models on individual academic behaviour is often unexpected. This paper explores a theoretical approach based on perceptions of fairness, to explain the unintended consequences arising from the use of a workload allocation model. Using results from a case study to illustrate theoretical constructs, we identify the reasons behind academic resistance in response to such models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one about university rakings and other about the storage of science teacher.

Studies documenting the harm associated with excessive drinking amongst university students are numerous. Fewer studies have explored the experience of non-drinkers in the university setting. In 2008, 826 students aged 18–29 years responded to an online survey aiming to investigate alcohol use and alcohol related harm at an Australian university. In addition, focus groups were conducted with drinkers and non-drinkers exploring their experience of alcohol exposure at university. This paper reports on the reasons students choose not to drink alcohol and on alcohol related harm witnessed or experienced by non-drinkers and drinkers. The results indicated that most non-drinkers reported health concerns as the main reason for not drinking and reported witnessing a range of alcohol related harm including disturbances to sleep, property damage, verbal abuse, driving after drinking and intimidation of international students. The paper discusses the duty of care implications for university administrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of failures in learning reforms at Asian universities have been documented recently in the literature. The main reason is that reformers often import Western-developed practices to Asian classrooms without a careful examination of their appropriateness within the socio-cultural context of these countries. This approach faces a high risk of failure because Western-developed practices are often supported by structural conditions and cultural values that are not always found in Asia. To ensure the success of student-centred learning reforms in Asian classrooms, this paper claims that reformers should not simply borrow and impose student-centred practices on Asian students. Rather, Asian educators need to be assisted to bring about change in their teaching practices and instructed how to design assessment that promotes student-centred learning practices. Moreover, some principles of student-centred theories need to be modified to become culturally appropriate in the Asian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a conceptual and operational framework for business process reengineering in higher education is proposed. The outline of a sequential and non-linear four-step framework designed to reengineer higher education administrative and academic processes is presented. The first two steps, initiating and analysing, are used to examine, document, and flowchart the process targeted for reengineering; the last two steps, reengineering/implementing and evaluating, are intended to prototype, put into operation, and assess the effectiveness of the reengineered process. Early involvement of stakeholders, an in-depth understanding of the organisational and socio-cultural context, sustained support from senior leadership, and planned leveraging of information technology are critical to successful implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the calm waters metaphor might explain the changes navigated by Australian agricultural education through most of its history, the last 20 or so years have been very turbulent. Now, the new millennium sees agricultural education in both Australia and the Western world facing a different and less certain future. This paper analyses some of the structural changes to occur in the provision of agricultural higher education and revisits some of the key themes addressed in the McColl Report, the last substantive review of Australian agricultural and related education. While this report foreshadowed a weakening demand for education places, it did not foresee the extent of the decline in agricultural enrolments nor the profound changes to the provider landscape, particularly in the State of Victoria. Curriculum trends are also having an impact on upon the visibility of agriculture within higher education and this has implications for education-to-career transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]