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This study explores the career concerns that confront mainland Chinese Master's students in Hong Kong, and identifies their needs for career support. Forty mainland Chinese students from a wide range of Master's programmes participated in semi-structured interviews, after which the qualitative data were subjected to phenomenological analysis. The results showed that most interviewees were uncertain about their career paths. The study contributes to the literature by applying the systems theory framework of career development to organize the various factors that give rise to career concerns into three systems: (1) individual; (2) social; and (3) environmental-societal. Four key aspects of the students' career support needs at the institutional level were also identified: information channels, relational networks, technical skills and practical experience. Based on the findings, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications for understanding the career concerns and meeting the needs of Master's students.

This study examines the procedures, criteria, and decision-making in doctoral admissions at China's leading research universities. A content analysis was performed on doctoral admissions texts (N = 312) from 264 faculties of C9 League universities, representing China's elite research-intensive universities. The results show that the admissions procedures tend to highlight previous research and academic merit, which is to be expected for entry to doctoral studies but nonetheless seems to presuppose that all PhD students will follow an academic career path. Several standard practices were found to ensure the rigour and fairness of admissions procedures, such as the adoption of a centralised rather than a decentralised model, the setting of written examinations as a default assessment method, and the highlighting of tangible past achievements, especially pre-doctoral research outputs. There is a lack of supervisor engagement in admissions decision-making, which hinders them from evaluating applicants' potential and degree of fit with their interests. The findings provide evidence of the multiple logics and discourses involved in doctoral admissions in China and offer practical implications for improving the admissions system.

For more than a century, whether or not the research-teaching nexus exists has remained an intensely debated issue in the global academy at both the conceptual and empirical levels. Situating teaching styles within the context of teaching, conceptualizing research agendas as a dimension of research, and using academic self-efficacy as a mediator, the present study empirically investigated the research-teaching nexus. Participants were 256 academics in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields from all of the eight institutions funded by the University Grants Committee in Hong Kong. In the context of participating in the "Academic Profession in the Knowledge-based Society" (APIKS) international survey between late 2017 and early 2018, the participants responded to a short version of the Multi-Dimensional Research Agendas Inventory, a short version of the Research-Teaching Efficacy Inventory, and two scales from the Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory. Results showed that academics' research agendas statistically predicted their teaching styles -- after age, gender, academic rank, and institutional ranking were considered. Furthermore, academic self-efficacy, especially research efficacy, provided a pathway from research agendas to one of the two teaching styles examined. Limitations and theoretical contributions of the research are discussed; and practical implications of the research findings are proposed for academics in STEM fields and for university senior managers.

This study explored factors that influence academics to collaborate in research with their doctoral students. It focused on Hong Kong academics, using data from the Academic Profession in Knowledge Society survey conducted in 2017-2018. The study found that academics' research collaboration with doctoral students is influenced by several factors, including research and teaching styles and institutional conditions. Specifically, those academics whose research agendas were characterised by "discovery" and "collaboration" were more likely to report working with their doctoral students, whereas those whose research agendas focused more on "convergence" were less likely to do so. The more "legislative" the academics' teaching style was, the less they collaborated with their doctoral students. Independence in research and institutional expectations of external funding increased the propensity to collaborate with doctoral students. Academics in the humanities were found to collaborate less with their doctoral students than those in other disciplines. The study suggests that the scholarly preference and styles of the academics, as well as their disciplinary and institutional backgrounds, need to be considered to improve research collaboration between academics and their doctoral students.

This study explores student motivation to pursue a master's degree. It also explores how motivation differs based on the students' background, such as his or her study mode or place of origin. Qualitative data were collected through seventy semi-structured interviews of master's students in various programmes in Hong Kong. The results of this study show that there are two main motivations for pursuing the master's degree in current economic and social conditions: intrinsic motivation towards growth and extrinsic motivation to satisfy deficiencies. The paper argues that students decided to pursue a master's degree because of the interplay of different motivations, the patterns of which differed according to the students' particular characteristics. The study's findings expand our understanding of the heterogeneity of current students' backgrounds and their diverse demands for masters-level education. The implications of these motivations are proposed for further discussion.

Amongst all jurisdictions, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China has been one of the most effective in limiting cases of COVID-19, despite being one of the first places to be affected by the pandemic in early 2020. In the months since the first case was confirmed, COVID-19 has affected all aspects of Hong Kong society, including the higher education sector. In this collective reflective essay, we describe the effects of these unexpected external events on academics' lives and the responses of higher education institutions. Specifically, we address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on academics, their professional relationships, institutional frameworks, and Hong Kong's higher education sector as a whole. We conclude that the most significant effect of the pandemic is "uncertainty," together with new realities expressed in sayings such as 'living with Zoom, learning from webinars'; 'you will be informed "in due course"', stay calm "until further notice"'; and 'people are stuck, but business is on steroids'. The essay further describes a three-pronged institutional reaction to the pandemic, focused on "control," "support," and "positioning." It concludes with critical views on the way 'useful' knowledge in today's higher education is defined and how concepts and practices have been challenged during the pandemic.

This study explores how master's students perceive their learning experiences and build their identities as postgraduate learners. It also investigates how these students' perceptions affect their aspirations regarding academic careers. By applying the Community of Practice (CoP) framework, this study focuses on three dimensions of master's students' experience; community, practice and identity. Seventy master's students from one research-intensive university in Hong Kong were interviewed regarding motivations for doing a master's degree and reflections on learning. The interview results showed that master's students build their communities partly around shared academic interests. However, the boundaries of these communities are loose and flexible, due to the nature of master's programmes with their short periods of study and large numbers of part-time students. The study also showed how master's students develop their knowledge and skills through doing research and how they evaluate the prospect of becoming an academic.

Recent discourse about the fourth industrial revolution has revealed several issues in Korea, suggesting the need for fundamental changes in the industrial structure and higher education systems, which can prepare Korea for potential periods of technological unemployment. For example, labour expenses in Korea are predicted to be rapidly reduced if many jobs are replaced by machines, and the structure of the current manufacturing industry will not exist within the next 10 years. This position paper, based on a document analysis, explores the question: What are the current challenges for South Korea's higher education sector in light of likely shifts in knowledge production due to the fourth industrial revolution? It will be argued that Korea has multiple challenges in terms of its overall industrial structure, labour market and higher education and will have to upgrade the roles of its government, industry and universities in knowledge creation and skill formation to adapt.

The aim of this study is to explore the various factors involved in pursuing a master's degree for university graduates in South Korea. After reviewing theoretical frameworks, including human and social capital theories, an analytical model was constructed to examine the different academic and economic factors involved in pursuing a master's degree, considering different institutional backgrounds. The data used were collected from the Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey conducted by the Korean Employment Information Service. We obtained the data from 11,960 respondents who graduated from university in 2013. Descriptive statistics and logistics regression were used in the analysis. The results show that gender, age and family socioeconomic status affected students' decision to pursue a master's degree. In addition, academic background factors, such as discipline, satisfaction with undergraduate study and intrinsic motivation for the choice of major, had positive effects on enrolment in master's degrees. However, active participation in the job search process during undergraduate study had negative effects on the decision. Students in research universities in major cities were more likely to pursue a master's degree than those in teaching-oriented universities in local provinces. This study has implications for the motivations, demands and career paths of postgraduate students taking master's degrees.

This research pioneered the investigation of the role of doctoral students' thinking styles in their program satisfaction and perceived intellectual competence. Participants were 285 STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) students in Hong Kong. Results showed that students' thinking styles as measured by the Thinking Styles Inventory--Revised II (Sternberg, Wagner, & Zhang, 2007) statistically significantly predicted their program satisfaction and perceived intellectual competence as assessed by two of the scales in the newly constructed Graduate Student Survey (Shin et al., 2015)--beyond their gender, program year, and academic discipline. Findings have brought new insights into the assessment of doctoral students' program satisfaction and perceived intellectual competence. At the same time, findings have contributed to the literature on intellectual styles and that on doctoral education in STEM fields. Practical implications of the findings are proposed for STEM doctoral students in understanding their own ways of thinking and program experiences and outcomes, as well as for academics and senior managers in their efforts to enhance students' access to positive program experiences and outcomes.

This study examines the research productivity of Hong Kong academics. Specifically, it explores the individual and institutional factors that contribute to their productivity while also comparing determinants across academic disciplines. We have conducted OLS regression analysis using the international survey data from "The Changing Academics Profession." We found that Hong Kong academics are highly internationalized in terms of research activities. Moreover, research productivity is influenced by a number of factors, including personal characteristics, workload, differences in research styles, and institutional characteristics. In addition, considerable variation exists regarding the determinants of research productivity across disciplinary categories.

This article explores how the past mobilities of academics affect their current research output (and its multidisciplinarity). Five types of mobility are used simultaneously in the analysis. Field mobility and transnational educational mobility are associated with academics' educational path, whereas transnational job mobility, intra-sectoral job mobility and inter-sectoral job mobility refer to their career path. The analysis is based on a representative sample of academics based in Hong Kong and Macau. Results show that intra-sectoral job mobility (up to a threshold) and transnational job mobility positively affect research output and its multidisciplinarity, whereas inter-sectoral job mobility, field mobility and transnational educational mobility exert slight or no effect. Nested analyses of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM academics as well as experienced and junior academics offer further insight into the roles of these mobilities. Impacts of mobile experience were stronger among junior than senior academics, and in STEM fields than non-STEM fields. The article discusses these findings along with the significance of considering mobilities rather than mobility when analysing academic trajectories and the determinants of academic research production.

This study focuses on doctoral students' professionalisation as future academics across academic disciplines, using a Hong Kong research-oriented university as a case study. Doctoral students acquire the norms, knowledge/skills, and values required for the academic profession through their learning experiences. The study aims to explore how doctoral students perceive their professional competences and what are the major factors of learning experiences influencing perceived competencies among them. Data collection of the study is based on a questionnaire designed by international team members in a previous project entitled "A Comparative Study of Doctoral Education in Asian Flagship Universities." Drawing on data from 490 respondents in Hong Kong, the current study uses descriptive and regression analyses to examine and compare the factors influencing doctoral students' perceived competencies in terms of tasks, ideas and attitudes. The results show that the competencies of doctoral students are influenced by various factors, such as curricula, supervision style and learning culture. Overall, the study suggests that the formal and informal learning experiences of doctoral students must be carefully designed and implemented to foster the development of their professional knowledge, skills and values.

With an increasing number of international students in South Korea, the issue of retaining these students and reducing their dropout rates has become important. This study explores the multilevel factors that affect the institutional dropout rate among international students in Korea. The research questions are as follows: (a) to what extent do international students drop out from undergraduate or short-term programmes in Korean universities?; (b) what are the regional and institutional factors that determine international students' dropout rates? This study uses the panel data on educational institutions as found in the "Higher Education in Korea" report, which has been updated annually by the Ministry of Education since 2013. According to the pooled ordinary least square and panel analyses, the results indicate that a range of institutional factors (such as type, size, tuition and research performance of academics) and regional factors (such as regional gross domestic product, inflation and the numbers of foreigners in the region) are all associated with the dropout rates of international students. This study suggests that we need to consider various factors to improve the international students' learning experiences both inside and outside of the campus.

The aim of this study is to explore the learning experiences of students enrolled on a Doctorate in Education programme in Hong Kong. The main questions are as follows. How do EdD students position themselves as doctoral candidates? How do EdD students experience their education in terms of scholarly expertise and scholarly identity? How do EdD students characterise their relationships with their supervisors? What perceptions do PhD students hold of the field of knowledge of EdD students and the value of an EdD degree? The data obtained from 10 semi-structured interviews in one selected institution are discussed with reference to the four main themes; distinction between EdD and PhD degrees: 'co-existent' vs. 'separate'; positioning of EdD programme: title of doctor as 'unfair' vs. 'deserved'; scholarly value: 'insightful' vs. 'non-academic'; and relationship with supervisor: 'independent and self-managed' vs. 'never equal, unlike the relationship between PhD student and supervisor'.

The aim of this study is to explore work experiences and knowledge transfer among Korean academics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In particular, the study addresses the ways in which academics from different generations develop their work experiences and how these experiences influence their knowledge transfer. The research questions are as follows. (1) To what extent do academics' work experiences and knowledge transfer differ between generations? (2) What factors influence academics' knowledge transfer, and do these factors differ by generation? The study uses multiple data sources: (1) the Korean Researcher Information service provided by the National Research Foundation of Korea; (2) the Korean Citation Index, Web of Science and Scopus for publication data, (3) the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service; (4) a higher education database provided by the Ministry of Education, Korea and (5) an international comparative survey entitled 'The Changing Academic Profession'. The results show that the training for academics in STEM fields in Korea has evolved over the last three decades. Their work experiences have changed, ranging from work in industry to work for public research institutes and postdoctoral fellowships. These experiences differ by generation, which also affects academics' knowledge transfer.

New preferential policies in China promise to increase the number of rural students entering top-tier universities, where there is a wider path to a higher social status. While a substantial body of literature has investigated rural students' trajectories to university, there is a dearth of systematic empirical studies on the academic success of rural students in colleges and universities. This study seeks to address this gap by examining the academic achievement of representative samples of students entering an elite university in China, including their place of origin, family background, school experience, and the characteristics that align with their academic performance. The data suggest no significant difference in academic performance obtained by urban and rural students with respect to average grade point average (over four years). It also suggests that fathers' occupations may not be associated with the academic achievements of students from different families. However, the data suggest a relatively clear school effect on the academic performance of students at University S. The study enriches the discussions of the inequality issue in China's higher education sector. It also enriches the literature in sociology of education by looking at the relative strength of the relationship between the possible causes and outcomes of schooling.

Obtaining a tertiary degree no longer guarantees entry to the best occupational positions in today's labour market. Success is no longer about "more" education, but about "better" education for university graduates. This study aims to understand whether university prestige in Korea accounts for occupational outcomes in both monetary and non-monetary aspects, such as salaries and job satisfaction. The study particularly focuses on the way different levels of university prestige are affected by gender. The fourth wave data from the Korean Education and Employment Panel were used, providing information from the results of a panel survey of university graduates in terms of their social and academic background and job employment status. Results show that university prestige continues to matters in occupational outcomes in particular, for wage, but it is not significant for job satisfaction. The effect is more significant among male graduates than among female graduates.

Studies of higher education by scholars based in Asia have been growing in volume, following worldwide trends. To a large extent, this growth has been driven by East Asian countries, but little is known about the characteristics of the contribution of these countries. This study analyses their overall and specific contribution. The paper concludes that systemic development and its internationalization, have different impacts on trends towards international publication of higher education research and on the collaborative networks nurtured and developed in each East Asian country. The main finding is that these countries present different realities in terms of engagement in internationally focused higher education literature among their national research communities. Yet, each country has made a wide-ranging contribution to international higher education research literature over time; each has a potentially decisive role in the further integration and development of higher education research in Asia over the coming years; and also, possibly, in the development of a regional higher education system.

This study aims to explore the development of higher education research in South Korea based on historical and scientometric perspectives. After the evolution of the country's higher education research community is presented, articles focusing on higher education from 1995 to 2012 are analysed. In total, 145 articles in international journals and 1,385 articles in national journals are collected and the publication patterns are compared in terms of research themes, methods and level of analysis between national and international journals. The results show that higher education research in South Korea still tends to focus on a limited set of research topics and research approaches despite the recent growth in research volumes and interests. In addition, there is still a lack of engagement in the international academic community. This study suggests that higher education research in the country needs to be more diversified with regard to research themes and methodologies, and it also needs to have an outward perspective with active engagement in the international academic community.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of administrative staff's job competency on their job satisfaction in a Korean research university. We conceptualized job satisfaction into three subcomponents: satisfaction in the job field, in the workplace, and with the actual task. In the regression analysis, we included demographics, inner motivation, work environments, and nature of work (e.g. clarity of task) factors as the predictors of job satisfaction. We included job competency as a main research variable in the model. This study found that the administrative staff's interpersonal skills affect their overall job satisfaction, and that each dimension of job competency (organizational understanding, problem solving, interpersonal skills, ICT skills, and global competency) has a different impact on the different dimensions of job satisfaction (job field, workplace, and job task).

In the prestige economy of higher education, research productivity is highly prized. Previous research indicates, however, a gender gap with respect to research output. This gap is often explained by reference to familial status and responsibilities. In this article, we examine the research productivity gender gap from an international perspective by undertaking a gendered analysis of the Changing Academic Profession Survey. We suggest that family is not, in all cases, operating as a form of negative equity in the prestige economy of higher education. In addition, we argue that an over-reliance on an explanatory framework that positions family-related variables as central to the research productivity gender gap might well be drawing our attention from significant structural and systemic discriminatory practices within the profession.

This study analyzes whether academics with advanced degrees from foreign universities are more research productive than their domestic counterparts in the three selected East Asian higher education systems--Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. The three systems have relatively large proportions of foreign degree holders among their professoriates. The data for this study is drawn from the Changing Academic Profession survey. In our negative binominal regression analysis, we found that foreign degree holders are not more research productive than their colleagues with domestic degrees, and even slightly less productive than domestic degree holders in soft disciplines (arts, humanities, and social sciences) in Korea unless they have further foreign post-doc experience after their PhD. Furthermore, foreign degree holders are less productive in hard disciplines (natural sciences, engineering, and bio-medical sciences) in Malaysia. Finally, we discuss the findings and attribute them to contextual differences between the three localities.

This study explores Korean academics' changes in research productivity by career stage. Career stage in this study is defined as a specific cohort based on one's length of job experience, with those in the same stage sharing similar interests, values, needs, and tasks; it is categorized into fledglings, maturing academics, established academics, and patriarchs. Academics' research productivity in each career stage is analysed, and these characteristics are compared across academic disciplines. In addition, the factors influencing research productivity in different career stages are examined. The results indicate that research productivity among academics changes according to their career stage, and its pattern differs across academic disciplines. Thus, there is a need to provide proper reward systems or career development programs in consideration of such differences.

This study explores higher education research in Asia. Drawing on scientometrics, the mapping of science and social network analysis, this paper examines the publications of 38 specialised journals on higher education over the past three decades. The findings indicate a growing number of higher education research publications but the proportion of Asian publications in relation to the total world publications in higher education research remains stationary. The higher education research community in Asia is heavily concentrated in a few countries and universities, resting on a relatively small number of core scholars who publish research in the international specialised higher education journals. In response to increasing challenges in Asian higher education systems, the paper suggests that the higher education research community in Asia needs to be expanded and include more regional and international collaborations.