Research-intensive Australian University Research Articles

Inclusion in higher education: issues in university–school partnership

The significant under-representation of people from low socio-economic backgrounds in higher education in Australia has been placed squarely at the front of the Australian Federal Government's higher education agenda. The barriers for students from low socio-economic backgrounds to access higher education are broad and multi-causal. The significance of policies and interventions promoting the theme of ‘inclusive education’, not just in Australia, but also internationally, must be understood within their particular social context and the assumptions which underpin what we say and do unpicked. Both government and universities have begun to address some of the trenchant issues inhibiting the participation in higher education of young people from disadvantaged communities. Government has focused its attention on those levers that it most readily controls – targets and funding. In this article, we will briefly discuss the context within which current higher education policy on social inclusion has developed in Australia. We will then explore the ways in which universities have engaged with this policy framework. In particular, we will examine some of the challenges and opportunities this has created for one Australian research-intensive university whose recent history has been characterised more by its exclusivity than by an agenda of widening participation, as it embarks on a programme of increased engagement with schools and communities and critical reflection of its own practice.

College voices: what have we lost?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine an aspect of the working lives of a group of Australian college of advanced education academic staff who worked at Bendigo College of Advanced Education, one of Australia's oldest colleges, during the period 1965‐1982.Design/methodology/approachUsing extended interviews that were conducted with academic staff in 1982 this paper examines these academic staff's perspectives on the influence of their own tertiary education and previous employment on their then academic roles.FindingsThe academic staff in this study reported that their previous employment was more important in carrying out their academic roles than were other factors such as their tertiary education. Interestingly, current Australian university students, according to university commissioned research, by one research intensive Australian university, also attach more importance to the prior industrial and work experiences of university lecturers as opposed to their research excellence and productivity.Originality/valueUsing the perspectives from these academic staff of almost 50 years ago, this paper questions the direction of current Australian higher education policies and practices with respect to university staffing and its directives and emphases. This paper provides an important insight into current academic careers and the tension in current academic roles as a result of current higher education policy and practice, by using these voices from the past.

A positive postdoctoral experience is related to quality supervision and career mentoring, collaborations, networking and a nurturing research environment

For postdocs to have the best chances of achieving their career goals they need to not only acquire discipline-specific research experience, but also additional generic skills vital for future employment inside or outside academia. They also require access to information and mentoring that will help them strategically plan and make informed decisions about their future. Few studies have examined the variables that impact the postdoctoral experience or research productivity. Thus, a comprehensive survey was conducted to determine whether quality supervision, career mentoring, collaboration, networking and a nurturing research environment makes a positive difference in the experiences and productivity of postdoctoral researchers. Unsurprisingly, the survey revealed that job insecurity and lack of a career structure are ongoing concerns for postdocs. However, a clear association was shown between quality supervision, for example, in conveying the importance of taking responsibility for their future academic career by strengthening their track record, and the number of peer-reviewed publications produced. The findings also suggest that mentoring in non-academic career paths can be greatly improved. The results of this study have guided a research-intensive Australian University to implement initiatives and programs which enhance the postdoctoral experience. Finally this work raises awareness of the crucial contributions postdocs make to the research output and environment of universities.

Why I Wanted More: Inspirational Experiences of the Teaching–Research Nexus for Engineering Undergraduates

What is it about the teaching-research nexus that inspires engineering undergraduates to want more and become researchers themselves? In this study, we sought to discover more about the influences on current PhD students’ choices to embark on higher degrees by research in various fields in engineering in an Australian research-intensive university. An online survey and follow-up focus group discussion revealed that these students are driven primarily by a genuine interest in research itself, rather than other factors such as career advancement (although this too, plays a role). While this is not particularly surprising, what did become apparent was the specific undergraduate experiences that most strongly influenced their decision to undertake research degrees, including enjoying doing project-based work, being exposed to lecturers who were passionate about their own research, and working on a vacation research scholarship. Further analysis reveals that the weighting of various influences changes according to whether the students are local Australian graduates or international PhD candidates.

Occupying a ‘third space’: research trained professional staff in Australian universities

Despite the expansion and professionalisation of university administration over the past 20 years there has been no scholarly study on the extent to which universities, which promote the value of generic skills from research degrees to prospective research students and their employers, capitalize on the research and transferable skills of PhD graduates later employed in the university sector as professional staff. Findings from this study of research-trained professional staff at one research-intensive Australian university suggests that these professionals are using their research and generic skills in management roles, to the benefit of the university. In the context of the knowledge based economy, this study suggests that universities could benefit from actively targeting the products of their own system for professional roles.

A Case Study of Teaching Marketing Research Using Client-Sponsored Projects

This case study outlines the use of client-sponsored research projects in a quantitative postgraduate marketing research subject conducted in a 12-week semester in a research-intensive Australian university. The case study attempts to address the dearth of recent literature on client-sponsored research projects in the discipline of marketing. Evaluation results provided from students in a 3-year period indicate support for the use of client-sponsored projects because they provide a number of benefits. In particular, students feel that such projects give invaluable opportunities to develop consulting and research skills that are highly sought after by industry. However, despite the advantages of the client-sponsored research projects, the quantitative nature of the marketing research subject is still an impediment to attaining high student quality teaching scores. Furthermore, there can be problems if students lack basic statistical knowledge, do not practice SPSS outside of class, and segment project tasks within the team. Finally, although client-sponsored marketing research projects can improve the profile of marketing research courses, they demand high levels of energy by the lecturer, a small class size (up to 35 students), and are dependent on a strong degree of client commitment.

Conceptions of, and approaches to, teaching online: a study of lecturers teaching postgraduate distance courses

This paper presents the outcomes of a study into online teaching. It builds upon previous research and conceptual frameworks produced by Kember and Kwan (Instr Sci 28(5):469–490, 2000) and Roberts (Instr Sci 31(1–2):127–150, 2003). It advances research on conceptions of, and approaches to, teaching by examining teaching in a novel context: distance-taught courses at the postgraduate level. Lecturers were interviewed from a Faculty of Health Sciences in a research-intensive Australian University. Relationships between conceptions and approaches found in previous research were confirmed in this study. However, it was found that the conceptions of online teaching proposed by Roberts (Instr Sci 31(1–2):127–150, 2003) did not adequately distinguish between the conceptions held by the lecturers interviewed in this study. Three modified conceptions of online teaching are proposed: ‘for individual access to learning materials and information; and for individual assessment’; ‘for learning related communication (asynchronous and/or synchronous)’; and ‘as a medium for networked learning’. Some of the dimensions developed by Roberts to describe approaches to online teaching were not applicable in this study setting and needed further modification. Two broad approaches emerged: ‘informative/individual learning focused’ and ‘communicative/networked learning focused’. Contextual influences on teaching reported by Kember and Kwan (Instr Sci 28(5):469–490, 2000)—that is, institutional influence, nature of students and subject and curriculum—were revealed in this study to have different levels of influence over approaches to online teaching: the first two being the more relevant ones.

Internationalising Peer Review in Teaching and Learning

Excerpt: In 2004 I decided to apply for promotion from Senior Lecturer to Associate Professor. Mine is an Australian research intensive university. Having reviewed the promotion literature, I decided to seek promotion based on an ‘outstanding’ contribution to teaching and learning. At the time the university was expending far greater efforts to improve teaching and learning after rating very poorly on a national student survey. Having made a contribution to the furthering of teaching and learning, the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) and the head of the recently established teaching and learning unit were quick to offer their support to my application. Indeed the Pro-Vice Chancellor volunteered to be one of my referees.

Developing professional researchers: research students’ graduate attributes

The impetus to broaden the scope of research education is not new. Since the 1970s, concern has been expressed about the suitability of research education as preparation for a research career outside academe. Universities have been criticized for producing over-specialized research graduates, who struggle to apply their expertise to new workplace problems and agendas. These concerns have been heightened by the demands of the knowledge economy. One approach that may begin to address these concerns is to design a systematic program to develop research students’ graduate attributes. While much attention has focused on developing undergraduate generic attributes, it is only recently that universities and governments have sought to identify and develop research higher degree students’ graduate attributes. This article seeks to explore the development of a research student portfolio process (called RSVP), which was originally developed in the Advanced Wastewater Management Centre (AWMC), and subsequently modified and applied across an Australian research-intensive university.

The Role of the Learning Community in the Development of Discipline Knowledge and Generic Graduate Outcomes

In this paper we describe a study of learning outcomes at a research-intensive Australian university. Three graduate outcome variables (discipline knowledge and skills, communication and problem solving, and ethical and social sensitivity) are analysed separately using OLS regression and comparisons are made of the patterns of unique contributions from four independent variables (the CEQ Good Teaching and Learning Communities Scales, and two new, independent, scales for measuring Teaching and Program Quality). Further comparisons of these patterns are made across the Schools of the university. Results support the view that teaching and program quality are not the only important determinants of students' learning outcomes. It is concluded that, whilst it continues to be appropriate for universities to be concerned with the quality of their teaching and programs, the interactive, social and collaborative aspects of students' learning experiences, captured in the notion of the Learning Community, are also very important determinants of graduate outcomes, and so should be included in the focus of attempts at enhancing the quality of student learning.

PhD student satisfaction with course experience and supervision in two Australian Research-intensive Universities

Over the past decade, Australian universities have experienced a dramatic expansion in PhD enrolments and in the proportion of female PhD candidates. This article assesses how well two major research-intensive universities have coped with these changes, looking particularly at student course experience. Of particular concern are relatively low satisfaction ratings given by PhD students to their overall course experience, which appeared to stem largely from dissatisfaction with supervision. Females were decidedly more dissatisfied than males with both course experience and supervision. In turn, dissatisfaction with supervision by both male and female students appears to have stemmed from various factors, but particularly important were lack of easy access by students to supervisors because of high workloads, and weaknesses in supervision practice. Many younger PhD students had distinctively negative attitudes towards universities and academic careers at a time of declining government funding per student unit.

Producing PhD Graduates in Australia for the Knowledge Economy

Using survey and interview data on PhD student course experience, career plans and views on university-industry research links, this paper evaluates the success of Australian research-intensive universities in producing PhD graduates for the knowledge economy. Student satisfaction with their course experience is surprisingly low and this appears to be strongly linked with the quality and effectiveness of thesis supervision. Although the PhD degree is meant to provide high level research career training, only slightly more than half the respondents expect to follow research careers. Many PhD students have negative views about academic careers based particularly on their perceptions of the impact of reduced government funding levels on universities and the increased workload pressures on supervisors. On the other hand, a high proportion of students hold positive views about university-industry research links, with students with industry research funding showing higher levels of course satisfaction than other students.