An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students

Influence of student-faculty interaction on graduate outcomes of undergraduate management students: The mediating role of behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement

Graduate outcomes are becoming increasingly prominent within higher education (HE) policy, driven by national governments keen to demonstrate ‘value for money’. The majority of HE policy in this area uses narrow economic metrics, such as employment status and salary, often derived from national surveys of graduates. This paper uses critical realist philosophy to develop a set of foundational concepts (graduate functionings, graduate capabilities and graduate outcomes) that illuminate the key characteristics and mistakes of this HE policy. It is shown that the narrow economic metrics used in policy are graduate functionings not graduate outcomes—they describe how graduates function in the world, rather than how HE influences these functionings. Using graduate functionings to assess the quality and value of HE is an ontological mistake. This judges HE institutions by what graduates do, which may or may not be influenced by HE, rather than considering what HE institutions actually contribute and change. This means that HE policy risks producing inaccurate and misleading conclusions. The paper concludes by recommending how policy could adopt these foundational concepts to better assess the quality and value of HE, offering more appropriate accounts of how HE impacts graduates.

Antecedents and Consequences of User Acceptance of Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds in Higher Education

A Study of University Students' Adoption of 3D Online Immersive Worlds

Social work education in Australia has been based in universities since the 1940s. There are now 32 higher education providers offering social work programs across Australia. The significant growth in master’s level qualifying programs in Australia, along with recent higher education policy changes, has increased the need for social work academic faculty members with doctoral qualifications. This paper presents the findings of a scoping review of literature on social work doctoral education. Despite a growing literature on social work doctoral education in international contexts, the review found that there is a lack of Australian research and evidence on social work doctoral pedagogy, the number and diversity of doctoral students, the doctoral student experience, and doctoral graduate employment intentions and outcomes. Addressing the lack of Australian research in this area would be an important step to enabling Australian social work to address future research training and capacity needs and directions. IMPLICATIONS There is a lack of research on Australian social work doctoral education and this is a neglected aspect of social work scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) research. Research into social work doctoral education would provide baseline information on the number and diversity of students, doctoral student experiences, graduate outcomes, and employment intentions. Development of social work SOTL about doctoral education would support future research capacity and enable the advancement of social work research knowledge and skills.

In graduate outcome metrics, the intertwinement of neoliberal and capitalist ideas forms a powerful knowledge tool. This chapter explores different approaches to the quantification of graduate outcomes, including international examples and examples from various national contexts, and studies their foundation in neoliberal thinking. The Danish measurement of graduate outcomes, conjointly constituting the political abstraction of higher education relevance, includes graduate unemployment rates, graduate income rates, job match calculations, graduate surveys, and employer surveys. The chapter shows how the compilation of different measurements allows higher education relevance to become a more objective measure, as well as how specific quantification practices are deployed to produce unambiguous measurements. While these practices are aligned with a techno-scientific paradigm, the metrics are shown to also draw on neoliberal thinking, promoting a differentiation of higher education based on educational ideas founded in economics. The chapter finds that Danish graduate outcome quantification practices differentiate the higher education sector according to area of study, in contrast to other countries that predominantly differentiate according to educational provider. In addition, the chapter finds that Danish quantification practices narrowly operationalize graduate outcomes as labor market outcomes, while broader notions of educational outcomes are used in other national and transnational contexts.KeywordsSociology of quantificationGraduate outcomesHigher educationObjectivityNeoliberalismEducational data

Reviewed by: Improving Completion Rates Among Disadvantaged Students Juan R. Guardia Improving Completion Rates Among Disadvantaged Students Liz Thomas, Michael Cooper, and Jocey Quinn (Eds.) Stoke on Trent, U.K.: Trentham Books, 2003, 176 pages, $27.50 (softcover) What are colleges and universities across the globe doing to assist disadvantaged students? What can be done to improve their retention and graduation rates in higher education? The answers to these and other related questions are found in Improving Completion Rates Among Disadvantaged Students. Editors Thomas, Cooper and Quinn gathered a group of 14 higher education professionals from around the world, including Mike Abramson, Helen Anderson, Margaret Andrews, John Benseman, David Coltman, Kay Gardner, Stephen J. Handel, Margaret Heagney, Alfred Herrera, Peter Jones, Patricia McLean, Judy Nicholl, Margaret Noble, and Vincent Tinto, who have substantial experience working with access, attrition and retention programs to contribute to this volume. Although they all originate in countries dominated by the Anglo-Saxon culture, they have a general validity dealing as they do with central issues that have to be addressed if we are to come to terms with the problem of drop-out. (p. xiii) The book is organized into eight chapters. In the first, "Establishing Conditions for Student Success," Tinto describes four factors that contribute to student retention at colleges and universities in the United States (U.S.): (1) institutional commitment, (2) academic and social support, (3) involvement, and (4) learning. "Students are more likely to persist when they find themselves in settings that hold high expectations for their learning, provide needed academic and social support, and actively involve them with other students and faculty in learning" (p. 5). In addition, Tinto describes the importance of federal and state programs targeted at disadvantaged students and how institutions are being held accountable for student retention and graduation. In chapter two, "The Implications of Globalisation for Supporting Students with a Disability: An Australian Perspective," McLean, Heagney, and Gardner introduce us to their work with students with disabilities in Australia. Many of Australia's universities employ Disability Liasion Officers who provide services for disabled students, including those planning to study abroad and international students with disabilities studying in Australia. We also learn about the culture clash experienced by international students with disabilities and how Australia's Federal Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 and the federal government's equity blueprint, A Fair Chance for All: Education That's Within Everyone's Reach, play an important role in Australian higher education. Chapter three, "Access and Retention of Students from Educationally Disadvantaged Backgrounds: Insights from the University of California" provides readers with a U.S. perspective and describes how the University of California (UC) system addressed the issue of diversity on campus after Proposition 209 prohibited the use of race in admissions in state agencies. Handel and Herrera describe how UC created an Outreach Task Force (OTF) in charge of developing new ways of attracting disadvantaged students to UC [End Page 99] campuses. One of their initial findings included how "a significant number of underrepresented students attend a California Community College yet never transfer to a UC campus" (p. 38). The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) responded with the creation of the Centre for Community College Partnerships, which "develop academic partnerships among UCLA and community college faculty and administrators to increase the number of underrepresented students who apply and are admitted to the University of California" (p. 44). UCLA also offers the Summer Intensive Transfer Experience (SITE), a six-day academic program for educationally disadvantaged, low-income, first-generation, underrepresented community college students, which prepares them to transfer to a four-year institution (Handel & Herrera, 2003). In chapter four, Andrews discusses "Access and Learner-centred Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Further and Higher Education." The chapter focuses on a qualitative study of students, teachers, and staff who participate in programs targeted at disadvantaged groups, including women, Black and ethnic minorities, and lower-socioeconomic groups at two further education colleges and two universities in London. Further education colleges are "voluntary and private training organizations usually at sub-degree levels" (p. 54) and higher education is referred to mainstream universities. Results found that further education colleges are more consistent in...

With a growing culture of accountability and institutional “managerialism” at universities and other higher education institutions, graduate employability and actual employment outcomes have become key indicators for higher education success. Research on graduate outcomes has gained significant currency among national governments, university management, employers and students. Research on graduate outcomes has, unsurprisingly, focused on econometric and instrumental measurements of graduate outcomes. Taking cognisance of the importance of the econometric, earning-based, and skills-driven conceptualisation aimed at addressing employer expectations of skills demands, student aspirations and a structurally shifting economy/curriculum, I argue for an expanded conceptualisation of graduate outcomes research. I propose a framing that interrogates and accounts for the complex constraints and injustices linked to history, background, and socio-economic context which usually obscure underlying inequalities of (un)employment and graduate outcome numbers always present. I propose a human development (capability-informed) approach as an alternative framework which applies broader notions of human development, social justice and freedoms to graduate outcomes research.

Policy makers are increasingly searching for ways to allow more disadvantaged students to access and complete higher education. The quickly growing (quasi-)experimental literature on policy interventions in higher education provide the opportunity to identify the causal effects of these interventions on disadvantaged students and discuss inequality mechanisms at the last stage of the educational system. The paper reviews 75 studies and rigorously compares more than 200 causal effects of outreach and financial aid interventions on the access and completion rates of disadvantaged students in higher education. The paper finds that outreach policies are broadly effective in increasing access for disadvantaged students when these policies include active counseling or simplify the university application process, but not when they only provide general information on higher education. For financial aid, the paper finds that need-based grants do not systematically increase enrollment rates but only lead to improvements when they provide enough money to cover unmet need and/or include an early commitment during high school. Still, need-based grants quite consistently appear to improve the completion rates of disadvantaged students. In contrast, the evidence indicates that merit-based grants only rarely improve the outcomes of disadvantaged students. Finally, interventions combining outreach and financial aid have brought promising results, although more research on these mixed interventions is needed.

Higher education (HE) policymaking is increasingly concerned with graduate outcomes. Policies often use narrow economic metrics, such as employment rates and salaries, to set strategic goals for HE and assess `value for money´. Despite this policy relevance, little attempt has been made to assess the academic literature in this area. The field’s strengths and weaknesses, areas of focus and level of criticality are unknown, leaving us unable to judge its ability to inform policy. This paper addresses this gap using a novel two-phase scoping review method. Phase 1 assesses literature that explicitly uses the term `graduate outcome´, finding a field that is largely fragmented into subfields. Phase 2 then performs a series of `top-level´ scoping reviews on each sub-field and combines them to assess the `overall´ literature. This `overall´ literature is found to share HE policy’s focus on economic graduate outcomes. While several well-developed non-economic subfields exist, such as critical thinking and lifelong learning, these are comparatively small. A limited proportion of the literature considers issues of inequality and other `critical´ topics. If research is to better inform policy in this area, it would be beneficial to develop a broader and more critical research programme.

PurposeIn this rapidly changing world, we are experiencing the fourth industrial revolution, known as “Industry 4.0,” that requires education systems to redesign qualifications in order to meet the needs of an individual and the workplace of the digitized economy. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the relatively new approaches being explored mainly in the UK and Australia within the higher education (HE) sector and to propose a framework with selected career training pathways for the tertiary education system within the Australian context. The implementation plan postulated from the reports of recent studies conducted in England’s apprenticeship system is intended as a guideline for facilitating a sustainable career and technical education (CTE) with three pillars of innovation, integration and collaboration in order to improve employment outcomes required for the digitized economy in Australia.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a descriptive, pragmatic research methodology to review and analyze education methods found in contemporary degree and vocation programs, particularly the degree apprenticeships adopted in England. This approach is used to explore, explain and develop a framework for student-centric apprenticeship options in CTE with graduate outcomes in the re-designed HE programs to successfully meet the needs of Industry 4.0 workplaces in Australia.FindingsA student-centric framework is designed for HE programs with a proposal to include practical variations in apprenticeships to embrace flexible structures and industry responsiveness. The paper develops tactical plans and implementation flowcharts for the proposed framework with four CTE pathways, such as degree apprenticeships, start-up focus degrees, tailored studies and multiple majors that are designed for tertiary education programs to meet the dynamically changing employment needs of industry.Originality/valueThis proposal is a relatively new approach to improve employment outcomes of students undergoing degrees and vocational education with a focus on apprenticeship in four different forms. The strength of this pragmatic approach is in providing an insight into “what works” through a set of flexible, sustainable and practical implementation plan for the proposed CTE pathway framework in order to meet the future need of re-skilling and training for the digital economy.

PurposeThis study explores how the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) in technical and vocational education training (TVET) systems of Nigerian higher education (HE) can enhance quality graduate outcomes. The study also explores the issues and challenges of PBL implementation in the TVET system of Nigerian HE.Design/methodology/approachThis study follows the assumptions of qualitative research. The authors interviewed 55 participants and had a focus group with 7 TVET postgraduate students. The 55 interviewees were drawn from TVET teachers (n = 33; 24 males and 9 females), Directors at National Board for Technical Education (n = 4; 3 males and 1 female), Directors of National Directorate of Employment (n = 5; 3 males and 2 females), Directors at the Federal Ministry of Education (n = 3 males), and industry executives (n = 10; 7 males and 3 females). Data were collected through a semistructured interview approach, transcribed and coded using NVivo 12 plus and analyzed through thematic analysis.FindingsThe results show that PBL in the Nigerian TVET system has positive implications for quality TVET graduate outcomes in that it can enable integrating theory and practice, motivate learning, improve students' self-efficacy, allow students to construct learning on their own, enhance graduate competencies and graduate employability. It also revealed six perceived possible major challenges to effective implementation of PBL in the Nigerian TVET system, which includes inadequacy of teaching and learning facilities; corruption in Nigerian education sector; recruitment of unqualified incompetent TVET teachers; difficulties in identifying real-life problems, among others. Participants offered benchmarks and actions and standards for improving the identified challenges, which formed a framework for coping with issues, challenges, and barriers to effective implementation of PBL in the TVET system of Nigerian HE (Table 1).Originality/valueThe results of this study are original and serve as an advocacy for Nigerian HE authorities to explore how PBL can be implemented in the TVET system to improve graduate outcomes. The study serves as a starting point for more research in the domain of improving the quality of TVET programs in Nigerian HE. Industry leaders and policymakers in Nigeria and other developing countries could use the findings from this study to increase HE and industry participation and partnership for quality of TVET program.

In this paper the authors trace the development of equity within the Australian higher education context over the latter part of the last century. In particular they focus on the ways different perspectives (liberalist-individualist and social democratic) have shaped what has been a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of students accessing higher education in Australia. The adoption of a specific perspective has influenced the formation of policies concerning equity and consequently the way universities have responded to the pressures to accept more and different students. These responses are captured under two main headings – ‘restructuring the entry into higher education’ and ‘changing the curriculum within higher education’. Several examples of current programs and procedures based upon these are explained. The paper concludes with the identification of three ‘dilemmas' which have emerged as a result of the development and implementation of equity processes and procedures in higher education in Australia. These are: (a) While there has been an increase in the number and range of students accessing higher education, this has been accompanied by a financial cost to the more disadvantaged students, a cost which has the potential to exacerbate equity principles. (b) For one of the first times in the history of higher education, a focus is being placed on its teaching and learning functions, as opposed to its research functions. The problem is that those universities that have been obliged to broaden their base radically have also been obliged to review their teaching and learning practices without any budgetary compensation. (c) A third consequence of these changes relates to the life of a traditional academic. Universities that have been at the forefront of ‘changing their curriculum’ to cope with more diverse student groups (open and distance learning) have seen the loss of ‘lecturer autonomy’ as they work more as members of teams and less as individuals.

The particular complexities associated with the non-English speaking background (NESB) equity category highlight the need for a more sophisticated equity framework. As will be shown, the definition and identification of the NESB category is problematic, which is compounded by the difficulty of measuring equity outcomes for NESB people in higher education. While NESB people as a whole are well represented in higher education, particular sub-groups are severely under-represented. Moreover, even as single group, NESB people under-achieve at university and are severely disadvantaged in terms of employment after graduation. Hence, the predicament of NESB people highlights the need for a policy approach that targets disadvantage at all points of the higher education lifecycle: access, achievement and graduate outcomes. After providing the background to the creation of the NESB equity category and contextualising its current status, the three stages of the high education lifecycle – access, achievement and graduate outcomes – will be successively used to examine the current predicament of NESB people, as well as the policy implications for the NESB category and equity framework generally.

In this introduction, the editor discusses the background and context to the book, setting out an argument for the use of the term ‘expertise’ rather than ‘excellence’ for teaching in higher education. It is suggested that the concept of expertise has the potential to offer a new approach to thinking about high-quality teaching in higher education, and a new discourse founded on an academic field of study with strong empirical foundations that provides a springboard for further research and educational development. The structure of the book, based around the editor’s model of expertise described in Chapter 1, is set out together with a brief outline of each chapter. The introduction concludes with the proposition that a conception of expertise is required that is dynamic and socially constructed and recognises the complexities of a profession that engages with humans – teachers and students. It also recognises that expertise in teaching is not simply about practised routines but requires creativity, improvisation and curiosity for what is going on in the learning space. Expertise is characterised theoretically and illustrated empirically as an ongoing developmental journey motivated by our curiosity as teacher-evaluators and our care for effective student learning. Echoing a conclusion of Chapter 1, it is noted that excellence in higher education is commonly assessed at institutional level through output measures such as student satisfaction or graduate outcomes; this effectively ignores a critical feature that distinguishes those with expertise from those with experience: a commitment to professional learning.