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Background: The emergence of the COVID‐19 and the resulting global pandemic has ushered in far‐reaching changes for countries across the world, not least of which are changes to their education systems. With traditional location‐based exams no longer possible at universities, the uptake of online proctored exams (OPE) has occurred at a pace not seen prior to the pandemic. Students' experiences of online proctored exams during the pandemic are reasonably well‐understood in terms of digital access and ease of use of the technology. However, less is known about students' perceptions of digital confidence and competence to complete an online exam, both of which are important digital equity considerations. Objectives: This study investigates students' digital confidence and competence to undertake online proctored exams to determine whether issues of equity exist for students. Methods: This study reports the results of a survey (N = 761) of one university's students' experiences of end‐of‐semester online proctored exams in New Zealand. Results: Most students were positive about online exams, felt reasonably confident to complete an exam, and had the necessary digital access (i.e., devices, internet) and competence to succeed. However, digital inequalities were found between students' perceptions of digital competence based on ethnicity. While more time learning online equated to increasing self‐reported digital competence for most ethnic groups, this was not the case for Pacific learners. Takeaways: Perceptions of low digital competence can contribute to digital inequalities. Educators can support learners to develop positive perceptions of digital competence by teaching digital literacy skills. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Online proctored exams (OPE) have replaced many traditional exams because of the pandemic.Research on the use of online proctored exams during the pandemic suggests some acceptance among students.Apart from access related issues, little is known about digital inequalities associated with online exams. What this paper adds: Most participants were positive about OPE and felt reasonably confident to successfully complete them.Confident students were more likely to report that the exam software was easy to use.Perceptions of digital competence differed based on ethnicity.Marginalized groups were more likely to experience digital inequalities than other groups. Implications for practice and/or policy: Digital inequality is about more than issues of digital access (i.e., devices, internet).Provide differentiated technical support for students who express low digital competence.Teaching online exam digital literacy skills might increase perceptions of digital competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses some implications of working supportively with art and design students who manage mental health conditions in a postgraduate environment in a New Zealand University. The paper begins with a discussion of contesting research that considers relationships between highly creative thinkers and certain mental health conditions. It then proposes that, irrespective of arguments around correlations, supervisors are able to make a significant contribution to supporting candidates who combine autobiographically sourced knowledge with artistic inquiries into the experience of living with a mental health condition. In considering this proposition, the paper employs two case studies that illustrate certain strategies that proved useful when seeking to maximise the chances of successful and productive thesis completions. Working in tandem with wider institutional and therapeutic support, these strategies functioned alongside each candidate's research journey. Eight of these approaches are discussed in relation to a pedagogically responsive, informed and creatively supportive environment in which the students were able to develop complex and insightful research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we follow a hypothetical mathematician who is working on a problem that is eventually solved. We treat this problem as if it were difficult for the mathematician. In following the mathematician's work, we note both what she does and what she doesn't do in the process. By the latter, we consider the times when progress is not being made and how this lack of progress is resolved. The purpose here is to give some idea of how a research mathematician might approach a research level problem. We also propose that the problem under discussion is one of many problems that tertiary students can valuably tackle using a discovery-based approach as a means of using their mathematical content knowledge as well as learning to be creative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of managerial university reforms, collegiality emerges as an idea that unites academics, and that both symbolises and legitimises the collective aspirations of the academy. Typically, collegiality is positioned as an unquestionably "good thing"—an unproblematic academic ideal or an academic structure—obscuring the contingency of social arrangements in universities. This paper investigates the plurality of collegial practices that unfold "on the ground" in the context of university reforms and the diversification of the academic workforce over recent decades. The paper presents a qualitative and exploratory study of collegial practices in seven contemporary Australian and New Zealand/Aotearoa universities, employing a social cartographic analysis. Eleven types of logics underpinning collegial practices are identified and described in detail, by drawing on examples of collegial practices offered by fifteen research participants. A reconfigured picture of academic relations is presented, revealing the range of collegial practices that tend to be subsumed under a generic notion of collegiality. The effects of different types of collegial practices are examined, contesting exclusionary collegial relations and highlighting practices that have the potential to produce a more inclusive and socially just academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University teachers' practices of resistance against dominant epistemological norms have been described in recent critical higher education literature, but comparatively little work has explored students' practices of intellectual resistance and negotiation within the university. As part of a larger study on students' experiences of study-life overlap in health professional education, this paper examines students' responses when their knowledge arising from life experience was marginalised. Students used five epistemological strategies to respond to this side-lining of lived knowledge, i.e. building the case that lived knowledge is 'academic', switching to institutionally recognisable language, considering epistemological framing when responding to discrimination or assumptions, sustaining friendships as epistemological work and seeking out settings where their lived experience was valued. This paper argues for the need to understand students as active epistemological agents within the university. It adds to existing critical scholarship on staff practices of intellectual resistance by considering students' practices as part of the academic community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viva voce or oral examinations are an intrinsic part of the examination of many doctoral theses. There is some ambiguity about their purpose; however, they are generally perceived to be an opportunity for the candidate to respond to the examiners' comments and questions. They also allow examiners to assure themselves of the candidate's grasp of the topic and research process. In most cases, the examinations are conducted in the institution's language of instruction. However, it is possible for an examination to be held in another language, for example in bicultural countries with more than one official language or to make use of the expertise of an examiner who does not speak or read the language that the student has been supervised in. If the examination is conducted a language that is not common to all the participants – candidate, examiners and examination convenor – then there needs to be a clear process for accurate translation to ensure the examination is valid. This paper contributes to an acceptance of the importance of validating a student's ability to be assessed in their own language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University of Canterbury, as an institution, had developed strong educational resilience during and after the 2010–11 earthquakes. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand shut down all university educational facilities in March 2020, with education migrated online. Within this unique context, this research aims to (1) investigate civil engineering students' perceptions about the benefits and challenges of online learning during the lockdown period, (2) identify significant factors that contribute to effective online teaching and learning, and (3) provide the implications of this research for future emergency remote teaching (ERT). A survey was designed and administered to measure students' perceptions of online learning during the lockdown. A total of 192 completed responses were collected from both undergraduate and Master civil engineering students. In addition to typical online learning challenges, students also experienced unique challenges, such as social and emotional isolation, anxiety, depression, and uncertainty. This paper suggests that teaching presence be brought to the forefront of ERT. Future research directions were recommended to better understand ERT by linking it to the Community of Inquiry framework and enhance tertiary education institutions' resilience to handle a future crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim/Purpose This paper identifies and examines cross-cutting experiences from the perspective of two doctoral students, whose research was affected by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Background The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be challenging for higher education scholars in terms of proceeding with their research and how the pandemic sets the scene for changes in higher education's future. Due to increased anxiety levels because of uncertainties, the paper provides a reflection of doctoral experiences from two students - one in Russia at the data collection stage, and one in China (enrolled in New Zealand) at the proposal stage. Methodology Through collaborative autoethnography and joint-reflection, we analyze our experiences as doctoral students focusing on methodological adjustments, ethical dilemmas, adaptation strategies and supervisor-supervisee relationships. Conducting a collaborative autoethnography provides a richer analysis of the interplay between perspectives, compared to a traditional autoethnography. Collaborative autoethnography also provides conditions for a collective exploration of subjectivities of doctoral students through an iterative process. After providing separate individual accounts, we discussed our experiences, analyzed them, and engaged in a joint-reflection from our consensual interpretations. Contribution Our work aims to contribute to existing discussions on how COVID-19 impacted on doctoral students' coping strategies during the pandemic. The paper encourages doctoral students to further discuss how they navigate their doctoral experiences through autoethnography and joint-reflections. Findings Three main themes transpired in our analysis. First, we encountered roadblocks such as interruptions, frustrations and resistance to adapt our doctoral studies in the pandemic context, which align with the recent literature regarding education during the coronavirus pandemic. Second, we faced a diversity of burdens and privileges in the pandemic, which provided us with both pleasant (opportunity to create change) and unpleasant (unknown threats) situations, thereby enabling us to construct and reconstruct our stories through reflection. Third, we experienced a shared unfamiliarity of doing doctoral studies during the pandemic, to which the role of the academic community including our supervisors and doctoral colleagues contributed to how we managed our circumstances. Recommendations for Practitioners We speak to our fellow doctoral students to dare navigate their doctoral experiences through collaborative reflections. In practice, by reflecting on our experience, we recommend that new doctoral students remain flexible and mindful of their doctoral journeys and recognize their agency to deal with the unexpected. We thus encourage the view of doctoral studies as a process rather than outcome-oriented, as we gain experience from processes. Recommendations for Researchers We recommend using both collaborative autoethnography and joint-reflection as an instructive tool for qualitative research. Such engagements offer important discussions towards further communications and exchange of ideas among doctoral students from various backgrounds. Impact on Society More broadly, this work is an invitation to reflect and provoke further thoughts to articulate reflections on the impact and various ways of thinking that the pandemic might bring to the fore. Future Research Doctoral students are welcome to contribute to a collectivity of narratives that thicken the data and analyses of their pandemic experiences in higher education to reinforce the role of doctoral researchers as agents of history in the trying times of a pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationalisation and forced migration are rarely thought about as related phenomena in higher education (HE) literature. Internationalisation is associated with movement, choice and brand recognition, and used in international rankings methodologies as a proxy for quality. Forced migration is associated not only with movement, but also with lack of choice, containment, or 'stuckness'. Some scholars have called for a rethinking of 'the international' through attention to students as mobile agents, and international study as situated within broader mobile lives. Our study responded to these calls through exploring the educational biographies of 37 international and refugee-background women students based in two universities: 21 in New Zealand and 16 in Bangladesh. Ten of the women were from refugee or refugee-like backgrounds, while the remainder were international students. The women's accounts revealed the complex ways in which circumstances shaped their educational journeys similarly and differently. One woman represented mobility in relation to autonomy and choice; but most emphasised relational webs as shaping their access to and experiences of international study, and post-study aspirations. In this paper, we draw on selected narratives to illustrate the range of ways in which family and/or community members appeared in women's accounts of their education journeys: as a source of (1) sustenance and support; (2) inspiration and motivation; and (3) obligation, and sometimes regulation. We conclude by suggesting that attention to the affective and embodied entanglements that shape students' international study journeys might inform new ways of thinking about both 'the international' and higher education more broadly. [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]

The oral examination, or the viva voce, is the culmination of the doctoral examination process in many traditions. In these traditions, the chair or convenor facilitates the viva. The idea of convenors is one that has not been discussed at length within the literature of higher education. In this paper, we explore the findings of a qualitative survey that aimed to gain insights into the role of convenors in an oral examination and their views of the oral examination process at a research-intensive university in New Zealand. 55 convenors responded to the survey. The key findings of the survey indicate that convenors' practices are embedded with ideas of pastoral care for the candidates through four key strategies: 1) preparing candidates by setting expectations, 2) making the candidate feel at ease, 3) inviting a support person to attend and 4) building the candidate's confidence. These strategies have rarely been discussed in studies about vivas, and this study provides key insight for candidates, doctoral examiners, supervisors and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how university students taking fully online language-learning configure their learning environments to enhance opportunities for learning and meet broader academic and social-emotional needs. The study adopts a view of learning as both physically and socially situated, acknowledging that the physical (material, digital and hybrid) resources available in each student's learning environment, as well as the opportunities they have to interact with other people, can play very significant roles in shaping learning activities and outcomes. The paper focuses on how students reconfigure the learning environments designed/provided for them by their teachers and the university. Through interviews with 26 students, a mixture of deliberate, creative and spontaneous actions they took were revealed. Students not only reconfigured the physical environments in which their learning activities were situated, but also the tasks they were set and ways of working with other people. There has been a growing interest in student contributions in task, task engagement and processes in CALL research. This paper extends this research into the physical and social domains, with a focus on students' contributions to 'place-making'. It argues that design for CALL is best seen as a process in which learning situations are co-configured by teacher-designers and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'FeminEast' is a feminist club that was founded by students at Wellington East Girls' College in 2013. At the time of writing, the club's popularity is growing and has attracted attention from national media. This paper reports on a pilot study based on conversations with FeminEast co-founder Jess Dellabarca and analysis of media texts by and about the club. The author contextualises FeminEast in a neoliberal climate, focussing on the neoliberal discourse usually called 'postfeminism', the widespread belief that feminism is no longer needed because we have achieved gender equality. This paper foregrounds efforts by FeminEast's leaders to mobilise feminist anger and contend with contemporary gender norms and postfeminist discourse. These efforts are discussed particularly in relation to the 2013-2014 'Roast Busters' scandal. FeminEast members adeptly navigate postfeminist social dynamics; ultimately, they succeed in developing and disseminating their view that the Roast Busters are a product of persistent and pernicious rape culture, a key weapon of contemporary patriarchy. This paper shows that girls can and do engage activistic practices that are more worthy of scholarly attention than the dearth of recent research on girls' activism would suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bicultural educational policy is part of a much broader ensemble of bicultural policies that were first developed by the Fourth Labour Government elected in 1984. These policies were an acknowledgement of, and response to, the historical injustices suffered by Māori people as a consequence of colonisation. Bicultural education policy is thought to be a means of addressing the ongoing challenge of educational underachievement of Māori students in the compulsory schooling sector. At present, the dominant discourse in New Zealand education frames the educational underachievement of Māori as a problem associated with cultural differences; however, this tends to obscure explanations that focus on socio-economic disparities. This paper shows how the dominant discourse relating to the underachievement of Māori students is established in policy and maintained through various auditing systems, and how this leaves little space for other explanations or solutions. The paper advocates a move away from an either/or approach to the problem of the educational underachievement of Māori and argues for greater critical engagement with bicultural education policy in order to open up space for conversations that address both the cultural and the socio-economic factors which may affect achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of academic staff who are committed to embedding sustainability within tertiary curricula and pedagogy.Design/methodology/approach The focus of this paper is on a New Zealand university. A survey of staff was undertaken and in-depth interviews conducted with 11 sustainability “champions”. A narrative variant of thematic analysis was used to examine the ways these sustainability “champions” made sense of the work they do. Through an analysis of their metaphors and metaphorical language, a sense of the identities that they held as educators of sustainability was gained.Findings Three types of identities emerged – the sustainability “saviour”, “nurturer” and “struggler”. These identities reflected the champion’s experiences, disciplinary affiliations and pedagogical approaches. Interdisciplinarity emerged as a key tenet and challenge for such sustainability champions.Originality/value This paper provides rare insights into the experiences, identities and teaching approaches of sustainability champions within higher education. It highlights the need for university-wide conversations and cross-discipline support for such academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how universities reconcile the need to project themselves as successful global competitors with the need to respond to national policy expectations, particularly around equality. It does so through a comparative analysis of the language used in the publicly available documents of universities in England and New Zealand. While a discourse of ‘distinctiveness’ is employed across the board by universities to denote superiority, there are differences in the extent to which differently ranked universities signify their preparedness fully to embrace economic priorities. The analysis reveals the sidelining of ‘equality’ and its replacement by a discourse of ‘diversity’ and ‘potential to succeed’ which is more compatible with elitism than with social justice. The language of ‘distinction’ and ‘diversity’, it is argued, supports a logic of accumulation - for both institutions and students - in which those who are already advantaged are likely to reap the greatest rewards from a competitive educational market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In large class settings, individualized student-teacher interaction is difficult. However, teaching interactions (e.g., formative feedback) are central to encouraging deep approaches to learning. While there has been progress in automatic short-answer grading, analysing student responses to support formative feedback at scale is arguably some way from being widely applied in practice. However, analysing student written responses can provide insights into student conceptions, thus directly informing teacher actions. Indeed, we argue that analysing student responses to provide feedback directly to teachers is as worthy a goal as providing individualized feedback to students and is achievable given the current state-of-the-art in natural language processing. In this paper, we analyse student written responses to short-answer questions posed in the context of a large first year health sciences course. Each question was designed to elicit deep responses. Our qualitative analysis illustrates the variability in student responses and reveals multiple relationships between these responses, course materials and the questions posed. Such information can be invaluable for teacher praxis. We conclude with a conceptual 'dashboard' that categorizes student responses and reveals relationships between responses, course resources and the questions. Such a dashboard could provide timely, actionable insights for teachers and help foster deep learning approaches for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand tertiary classrooms are a mix of New Zealand’s ethnically diverse domestic students and predominantly Asian international students. This multicultural diversity, while having potential to enhance educational experience, brings challenges for teachers in the use of cooperative learning. A major challenge is status inequality in diverse student groups. Elizabeth Cohen’s work on status is relevant to an understanding of status issues in New Zealand educational institutions as it gives educators the sociological framework and the practical tools to meet this challenge. This paper, based on a 12-year research study into cooperative learning resulting in a national teacher education programme run by the authors, examines Cohen’s ideas and their relevance to the New Zealand context. It identifies status activators and issues in New Zealand student groups and recommends actions and interventions to modify the activation of status effects. The aim is to give teachers tools to exploit the full range of expertise and experience in diverse tertiary student groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides a foundational framework to bring into conversation indigenous world views in reimagining universities. Highlighting a specific indigenous world view, the university is presented as a site for critical conversation and transformative praxis. We discuss the workplace experiences of indigenous staff in a university and infer from these how management practices related to indigenous staff could be enhanced. Building on our study of Māori academic and administrative staff in a New Zealand university, an indigenous typology and a Wero or challenge matrix is offered, which locates different positions and actions that universities adhere to or seek to emulate. The paper argues for universities to reimagine their policies and practices by drawing from the complex richness of indigenous world views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of an innovative one-year pre-service Graduate Diploma of Teaching (secondary) for teachers of Technology. The timing of this study is significant. Over a decade of review and adjustment to the Technology curriculum, leading to the new learning area of Technology in the New Zealand curriculum, Ministry of Education (), has caused many teachers in New Zealand schools to retrench to an earlier approach or make their own interpretation of curricular requirements. This situation in schools created the need for those involved with pre-service teacher education to prepare programmes that signpost pitfalls while building on students' own strengths and those of the curriculum to cope with the wide variety of interpretation and pedagogical approach of school communities. This paper suggests a way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scholarly literature in higher education has not dealt extensively with the responsibilities of institutions for servicing the rights of international students. This paper is a comparative analysis of legal frameworks which guide institutions in their handling of international student rights. Two national approaches, those of Australia and New Zealand, are used as a comparative analysis from which implications are drawn for institutions in other countries. The comparison indicates increasing legalism in higher education, though more law does not necessarily coincide with better rights for students. Also indicated is the importance of institutions providing more and better information to students on rights. More generally the analysis implores institutions to form, and work with, a critical understanding of the law and policy agendas of governments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For the past 30 years, beginning with the seminal work of Herbert Marsh in Australia and New Zealand, institutions of higher education have developed internal practices and procedures to collect and analyse student evaluations of teaching and learning. However, the question remains: has this development resulted in the achievement of institutional goals that maximise learning across all teaching contexts? As is the case in many other countries, a recent review of Australian national student evaluation data failed to conclude that student evaluations have improved overall teaching. However, these data have made student perceptions of teaching and learning more salient in the minds of tertiary educators. Certainly, teaching staff are aware of the impacts of student evaluations on informed decision-making, such as the continuation or discontinuation of courses, and on their promotion processes. This paper will review student evaluation practices according to criteria used in change theories, such as the transtheoretical change model (TTM). TTM construes organisational change as a process involving progress through a series of five stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. This paper will focus on organisational and behavioural outcomes that can be linked to the use of student data. It will recommend strategies for better aligning evaluation results to the stages of change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse how learning levels differ within and between degrees and diplomas with specific application to the Bachelor of Applied Business Studies degree and the New Zealand Diploma of Business, which are delivered at a New Zealand polytechnic. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review and content analysis of National Qualifications Frameworks was conducted to analyse how learning levels differ within and between degrees and diplomas with specific application to the Bachelor of Applied Business Studies degree and the New Zealand Diploma of Business which are offered at a New Zealand polytechnic. Findings – A literature review and content analysis of National Qualifications Frameworks reveals that learning levels are differentiated by level of complexity, degree of abstraction, depth in a major subject, research competency, learner autonomy and responsibility, relative demand placed on students and increasing complexity and unpredictability of operational context. This analysis failed to find any difference in learning level between Bachelor of Applied Business Studies and New Zealand Diploma of Business papers nominally at the same level on the New Zealand National Qualifications Framework. The degree comprises a portion of papers at a higher learning level than the diploma and it is at this level that the difference is realised. Research limitations/implications – Future research should investigate learning level differences between disciplines, qualifications and institutions. Practical implications – This paper provides a framework on which to base course design, delivery and assessment of the Bachelor of Applied Business Studies degree and the New Zealand Diploma of Business and credit transfer between them. Originality/value – This case study addresses the increasingly important issue of the compatibility of learning levels between different qualifications. As many economies acknowledge the necessity for increasingly skilled workforces, credit transfer to enable seamless transfer between qualifications is becoming a focus in seeking to facilitate lifelong learning. There are few studies that focus on National Qualifications level descriptors and the implications for different qualification types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers a neo-Marxist framework of interculturalisation to accommodate the increasing cultural diversity in the internationalisation of higher education with specific reference to Chinese students in New Zealand. At present, there are few official strategies in place to provide for the needs of international students in New Zealand universities. Tolerance is often promoted to cope with differences in general, but this notion is not sufficient to embrace and encourage cultural diversity in higher education. The paper reviews neoliberal and neo-Marxist perspectives of interculturalism/interculturalisation. In order to move beyond mere tolerance of cultural diversity, which is seen as a problem to be overcome, the paper concludes that a national and institutional policy for internationalisation in higher education should be underpinned by neo-Marxist principles of interculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews and critically evaluates recent reforms in higher education in New Zealand. It assesses the impact of the reforms on the social status of higher education and their impact on the reproduction of inequality. To help theorise possible forms of social inclusion and exclusion that might result from the reforms, the paper draws upon recent neo-Weberian sociology of education. The paper concludes that by reducing access to higher education and concentrating funding for research in the universities, the recent reforms can be seen as an attempt to create a more elitist system of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model of practice for analysing the internationalisation of higher education, and for better providing teaching service and support to both the internal and external other. It is derived from the theoretical analysis of the rationales, concepts and developments of the internationalisation of higher education, and from a New Zealand case study that exemplifies the current trend in the internationalisation of higher education-a shift from aid to trade. In the paper, the author examines the impacts of globalisation and the knowledge economy on the shifting currency of the rationales. The paper concludes that, because of increasing numbers of resident immigrant students, 'the international (other)' is no longer beyond national borders but is within them. Therefore, universities would do well to revisit neglected social and cultural dimensions in the provision of higher education services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of changing higher education policies and funding on university adult and continuing education in England and Aotearoa New Zealand. It discusses some of the contextual factors contributing to sustaining continuing education in New Zealand, against the tide of developments elsewhere, and in spite of its subjection to the influence of neoliberal policies since the 1980s: an ethos of public knowledge dissemination, acknowledgement of the universities' role as 'critic and conscience' of society, a broad commitment to educational equality and a strategic as well as pragmatic approach. The paper describes developments in one New Zealand continuing education department as it experiences institutional and political change. The author concludes that, in spite of demonstrating considerable resilience, the structures and activities of continuing education departments in New Zealand are as fragile as they have been in England. 'Radical hope' is advocated as the university-based adult educator's response in difficult times. It involves challenging the assumptions of neoliberalism, and reaffirming the political nature of adult education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores recent changes in tertiary education policy in New Zealand, which are designed to address legitimation deficits. By offering an analysis of the making, and the subsequent unmaking, of quasi-markets in tertiary education, this paper attempts to describe how the state dealt with legitimation deficits resulting from providers' of tertiary education use of the adult and community education funding category to increase their revenues. In providing this description, the paper helps to provide a way of understanding how the state in New Zealand has responded to legitimation deficits by introducing a new regime of governance. The paper concludes by arguing that, in terms of its treatment of category 5.1 funding, this regime is supportive of neo-conservative goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand has one of the lowest reported higher education qualification completion rates in the OECD, significantly below Australia. Why do so many New Zealand students not complete their qualification? This paper looks behind some of the numbers in an attempt to understand better and assess New Zealand's performance compared with Australia and internationally. It looks, for example, at the impact of part-time and partial qualification study on completion rates. New Zealand has the highest reported level of part-time study in the OECD, and one in eight bachelor's degree students in New Zealand pass every subject they've enrolled in, yet have not completed their degree after five years. What does this tell us about intentions and about how we should gauge success? The paper takes another look at some international comparisons focusing on full-time students, and also looks at the impact of transfers, changing qualifications, and what happens to rates when a ten-year window is taken instead of a five-year window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first postgraduate certificate in higher education teaching and learningwas offered in Australia in the late 1970s, similar courses have become a majorpart of academic development in universities in Australia, New Zealand and theUnited Kingdom. This paper describes the outcomes of a survey designed to determine the key higher education teaching and learning concepts developed in such certificates, the readings recommended, and the challenges participants face in their learning. An email survey consisting of four open-ended questions was emailed to coordinators of certificates in higher education teaching and learning programs in 147 institutions spanning Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Based on responses from 46 programs, this paper reports on the concepts of higher education teaching and learning emerging from the survey results, the scholarly readings associated with each concept as reported by coordinators, as well as the challenges experienced by course participants learning these key concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents staff perceptions of higher education science and engineering learning communities derived from a cross-case analysis of four case studies across the New Zealand university and polytechnic sectors. First we report staff expectations and experiences in terms of infrastructure and resources, and their own careers. Staff perceptions of the diversity and differences in learning styles of their students are next, followed by the importance of practical skill development, pedagogies employed and their rationale, along with scaffolding and supporting of learning. The paper concludes by considering the nature of science (NoS) and engineering, and what messages about the NoS are presented by higher education staff. The research findings suggest that staff face conflicting demands on their time, with requirements for research and administration affecting their teaching roles. Lecturers report considerable diversity and students often ill-prepared for higher education study, and consider that students are required to learn a huge amount of information. While some staff attended courses in teaching, they feel unable to apply their learning in order to enhance student learning because of concerns that time spent doing so would reduce the amount of time available to deliver content. Class sizes were identified as having considerable impact on student learning and lectures offer little opportunity for active student engagement. Practical classes are highly valued, being seen as crucial for learning practical techniques and problem-solving. Small classes and practical classes provide opportunities to develop good working relationships with students. Lecturers felt that students need to become more independent and self-reliant in their learning, and that they needed to be supported in this process at the institutional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents student perceptions of higher education science and engineering learning communities derived from a cross-case analysis of four case studies across the New Zealand university and polytechnic sectors. Here we explore student expectations and experiences of the higher education sector and canvas their views as to the infrastructure and resources in their institutions of study, and how they see their learning serves their careers' aims. Student perceptions of pedagogies employed in their institutions along with their preferred pedagogies follows, including staff-student interactions and consideration of the importance of practical skill development. The paper finishes by considering student perceptions of support structures and an analysis of their understanding of aspects of the nature of science (NoS) and engineering. The research findings suggest the students feel they become more independent and responsible for their own learning, enjoy smaller class sizes and interactive learning activities such as practical work and tutorials, and they stressed the importance of establishing good relationships with their teachers. Polytechnic students were more positive about their learning and felt the practice features of their learning led to enhanced career prospects. Students from university and polytechnic sectors were aware of formal learning support structures but only used them as a last resort, instead they first worked with peers and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sets the scene for this special issue of Research in Science & Technological Education, dedicated to understanding higher education science and engineering learning communities. We examine what the literature has to say about the nature of, and factors influencing, higher education learning communities. A discussion of issues in, and synthesis of, research into higher education learning communities completes the paper. This paper clearly identifies a need to better understand higher education learning communities: their nature, influential factors and forces that shape our higher education learning communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a major national study of higher education science and engineering learning communities in New Zealand. The scope of the research project along with a description of the methodology and method used in the study together with rationale for the study and research approach adopted are provided here. Details of the theoretical framework and a discussion of paradigm that underpinned the study are presented. A discussion of issues of reliability and validity and measures taken to maximize these also is presented. The paper begins with an overview of the New Zealand compulsory education sector and traces the now multitudinous pathways into higher education nationally. It thus provides a valuable context for this national study of higher education science and engineering learning communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates intercultural communication and its significance to higher education. The paper briefly discusses culture, subculture and the meeting of cultures. It also provides a brief survey of developments in intercultural communication research. With reference to New Zealand, the paper further points to some limitations of intercultural communication theories, but meanwhile acknowledges the significance of these theories to higher education. The author argues that adopting interculturalism based on the principles of equality and respect at the national and institutional levels is more crucial than merely mastering some intercultural competencies or applying some intercultural communication models outlined in intercultural communication theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the transition from school to further and higher education in New Zealand following the recent implementation of the National Qualifications Framework. While a genuinely ‘seamless’ interface is emerging between upper secondary schooling and further education in the context of vocational programmes, the transition from school to university has been made more complicated owing to the complexity of the redefined university entrance requirements, and comparability issues arising from the existence of the two different kinds of curricular delivery and assessment modules that are in use (unit standards and achievement standards). The paper highlights the continuing anomaly of the possibility of entry to university degree programmes from the penultimate year of secondary schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores whether it is possible to isolate independent effects of external quality audit (EQA) and concludes that effectiveness evaluations have a stronger foundation when the combined effects of university governance and management initiatives and government initiatives are examined together with EQA. The issue of how successful these influences are is addressed in relation to changing the processes of a university in enhancing learning outcomes, teaching and research outputs. The paper looks at the subject of how to measure quality and whether there is value in the use of a research‐led, evidence‐based approach. Through a case study the authors seek to identify the impact EQAs have had on one institution, the University of Otago, in New Zealand, over the past 10 years, as an illustrative example of what is occurring nationally, with relevance to the global level. The authors have developed a model which contextualises the role of external and internal influences in university performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard of governance of tertiary education institutions (TEIs) in New Zealand is critical to the success of these institutions. However, enhancing the quality of governance requires careful analysis of the purpose of governance and competent analysis of alternative institutional arrangements. Unfortunately, research addressing governance in TEIs is sparse and there has been no significant research on this topic within New Zealand. This paper provides a background to TEI governance in New Zealand, which is followed by a discussion of key issues. An evaluation of governance practice in TEIs is followed by a description of a survey of current practice in New Zealand TEI governance and an analysis of the results. The paper concludes with a discussion on how governance in New Zealand TEIs may be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand, like many countries, faces the challenge of building and sustaining an educated population. Particular challenges are posed by the need to educate an increasing proportion of the population to higher levels in order to support the growth of a modern skills and knowledge economy, as opposed to an economy built on low-cost labour and commodities. New Zealand higher education faces a challenging combination of political and economic drivers that interact to create a “wicked problem” obstructing and complicating innovation in the models used to educate adults. This paper explores the wicked character of New Zealand higher education and considers what strategies potentially offer ways of addressing and minimising the extent of the wickedness, and potentially enable progress in the quality, efficiency and impact of education in New Zealand society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Advances in technology have created opportunities for collaborative multi-institution programme delivery which are increasingly attractive within a constrained financial environment. This paper details the development of a cross-institution collaboratively delivered masters and postgraduate diploma programme in Geographical Information Science in New Zealand. We explore the benefits of such an approach as well as the lessons learnt from its implementation. The recommendations presented will be of interest to teaching faculty considering specialized collaborative programmes as well as more senior staff who are keen to combine institutional resources to meet new and emerging demands for skills. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If any engineering courses are unlikely to be transferable between Australasian and overseas universities, one could argue that civil engineering capstone design courses with a strong practical engineering focus would be the least likely. This analysis considers two capstone design courses in the US and New Zealand. The analysis examines the approaches each university has taken to improve design education through simulating professional practice. The two approaches are superficially very different with different course structure and course requirements. In addition the emphasis on site and project, and the consequent dependence on country-specific matters related to regulation and codes, would lead one to expect low transferability. Closer analysis shows that the learning objectives of the courses are relatively similar and that the relationship between site and design are key for both. The challenges faced by the two approaches have much in common, reflecting similar student experiences, and so high transferability. The paper provides details on learning objectives and challenges faced at the two programs to aid others who wish to analyse capstone design experiences across multiple universities. The conclusion is that transferability between these two design experiences is high. The implication is that, through similar forces for educational change in both countries, internationalisation of engineering education is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of unprecedented student mobility, increasingly diverse student populations in many national contexts, and globally interconnected environmental and social concerns, there is an urgent need to find new ways of thinking about teaching and learning. Static assumptions about so-called 'Western' versus 'non-Western' teaching and learning approaches or 'local' versus 'international' students are inadequate for responding to the complex histories, geographies and identities that meet and mingle in our higher education (HE) institutions. In this paper, I use María Lugones' 'world-travelling' as a framework for discussing international and New Zealand women students' reflections on teaching, learning and transition in New Zealand HE. I conclude with some suggestions as to what effective pedagogy might look like in internationalised HE if we think beyond culturalist them-and-us assumptions and recognise students' complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethical considerations are inherent to programme design decision-making, but not normally explicit. Nonetheless, they influence whose interests are served in a programme and who benefits from it. This paper presents an analysis of ethical considerations made by programme design practitioners in the context of a polytechnic in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It explores the nature of these considerations and explains how they draw on a complex interplay of utilitarian and communitarian discourses. Through this complexity the discourses not only reinforce each other, but also hide the necessity of debate about ethical considerations. The findings from this study offer educators a framework to analyse and become explicit about their own ethical considerations in programme design and the discourses they draw on. This knowledge can help them to improve their practices, as it offers them clarity about what is ‘the right thing to do’ as well as a language with which to engage in debates with others. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is little research on care in higher education, and yet for many of those who teach in higher education institutions, care is an important part of their work. Care in the compulsory education sector has traditionally been linked to the feminine, and this paper considers whether this is also the case in higher education. It investigates how care is conceptualised and gendered in the literature and in narratives of teaching staff from New Zealand universities. It finds that there is much more to care than traditional models offer, and shows how this complexity of care challenges gendered stereotypes. It concludes that a broader understanding of care can help break the link to the feminine and acknowledge the value of care in higher education and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of academic development in Anglophone higher education was linked to post Second World War massification and concerns about student failure. These concerns were driven by increasing statistical investigations into student attrition and degree times to completion, particularly in Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand. There was a dominant discourse about student ‘wastage’ (the deviant student). However, if we fast-forward to the late 2000s, we can see that these discourses have been replaced by discourses about university responsibility and teaching quality. Drawing on Foucauldian discourse analysis, this paper aims to trace the historical roots of contemporary teaching and learning dilemmas and to show how the responsibility for student failure was gradually shifted from perceptions of deviant students to perceptions of teacher ‘deviance’, which academic development units were designed to ameliorate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Internationally, centralised systems of student evaluation have become normative practice in higher education institutions, providing data for monitoring teaching quality and for teacher professional development. While extensive research has been done on student evaluations, there is less research-based evidence about teachers’ perceptions of and engagement with student evaluations, the focus of the research reported in this paper. An interpretive approach framed the study in which data were gathered through questionnaire and interview responses from teaching staff at three New Zealand tertiary institutions. Results highlighted the general acceptance of the notion of student evaluations, recurring ideas about the limitations of evaluations and significant gaps in the way academics engage with student evaluation feedback. Recommendations for enhancing teacher engagement with student evaluation are made to optimise the potential for student evaluations to inform teaching development and to improve students’ learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several papers published within the issue including one on the challenges for higher education in Japan of global neoliberalism, another regarding the issues surrounding Chinese higher education and a paper on the relationship between neoliberal globalisation and New Zealand universities.

María Lugones describes as ‘impure community' a view of community predicated on an understanding of people as plural, multiply situated subjects. She uses the term to describe an epistemological stance that resists both the fiction that disparate human histories are discrete and unrelated, and the urge to reduce differences to homogenised or fantasised sameness. Lugones articulates a crucial tension for those concerned with the politics and possibilities of internationalised education: how in educational contexts marked by the use of hard-edged (international/local, us/them) distinctions, we might foster human solidarity and a blurring of ‘edges’, while holding human complexity central. In this paper, I discuss the messy actualities of developing a social group for ‘international’ and ‘New Zealand’ women as part of my doctoral research. I reflect on the practicalities involved, women's perspectives on the group, and the limits and possibilities of impurity as a framework for contact in internationalised higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in the funding and delivery of research programmes at the university level have, in recent years, resulted in significant changes to research supervision. This paper critically reviews key influences effecting postgraduate supervision. Analysis draws on literature spanning 2000–2010 to determine the appropriateness of traditional models of postgraduate research curricula and supervision for the New Zealand context. Influences discussed include the research context, faculty issues, supervision pedagogy and models of supervision. Each area is analysed for strengths and challenges and contribution to the knowledge economy. From this review, the authors propose strategies for the development of postgraduate research supervision: faculty development, including supervisor education, and formalised research training for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the public and private higher education sectors in Oman are undergoing rapid change in the number and type of local and foreign degrees offered. The Sultanate is developing a comprehensive quality assurance system to ensure the educational appropriateness of all degrees awarded in Oman. This paper examines the collaboration between the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman and the New Zealand Tertiary Education Consortium, which has resulted in the delivery of four degrees based on New Zealand material but conferred by Oman. These degrees are thus neither fully local nor awarded by external institutions. Taking the communication degree as its focus, quality assurance matters relating to content, teaching and learning, accreditation processes, maintenance of standards across multi-campus delivery and benchmarking are explored against local and international standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]