Australian Tertiary Education Research Articles

Two sides of the same coin: a taxonomy of academic integrity and impropriety using intellectual virtues and vices

While the integrity of academic work has always been vitally important, since the establishment of the International Center for Academic Integrity in 1992 increasing attention has been paid to the area. The term academic integrity now explicitly appears in policy and in job titles or offices tasked with either detection, training, or both. Equally, regulatory, quality and standards agencies, such as Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in the UK, and the Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) have mobilised around academic integrity with frameworks, lexicons, charters and networks that offer national guidance and promote shared action and understanding. However, despite efforts to interrogate and standardise the use of the term ‘academic integrity’ from those working and researching in the field, it is often used inconsistently and frequently conflated with its opposite – academic misconduct – in practice. Our aim, in this paper, is to acknowledge a lack of clarity around the term ‘academic integrity’ and to address this ambiguity by offering a taxonomy of academic integrity. We will arrive at the taxonomy of academic integrity through philosophical conceptual analysis and making use of pre-existing philosophical work in virtue (and vice) epistemology. The outcome of this analysis will be a taxonomy of academic integrity that represents the various concepts related to it in an organised way, classified into distinct groups, along with a graphic to aid understanding.

Curriculum across the great divide: exploring a key problem of Australian tertiary education

ABSTRACT Tertiary education in Australia is dominated by a division between two large systems of provision: vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE). Over time, these tertiary education sectors have become distinct in several respects, including the way curriculum is conceived and practiced. In VET, competency-based training operates as a system-wide curriculum model. In HE, different professions and disciplines, in addition to university requirements, directly influence and shape curriculum design. The Australian competency-based model has been politicised over the last few decades, leading to fetishisation of the standards used to guide learning and teaching in VET and fostering distinct approaches to curriculum in the two systems. Schwab’s notion of curriculum commonplaces can be used to examine teaching and learning in VET to highlight ways in which an expanded concept of curriculum could lead to a renewal of VET and simultaneously promote generative articulation between the two tertiary systems.

Neoliberalizing Design and the State: The Political Origins of Australian Design Policy and Design Education Reform, 1987–1991

Abstract This article draws attention to the state involvement in national design agendas through the example of Australia’s Hawke Government, focusing on 1987 to 1991. It unearths the origins of Australian design policy and reforms to design education within an emerging neoliberal political economy in the 1980s. Drawing on gray literature, the article reveals how this was a period of intensive political rhetoric regarding design and design education, during which the government—led by the Australian Labor Party—specifically promoted the role of design in industry policy. Better design, it was hoped, could enhance the international competitiveness of Australian-made exports, thereby addressing trade imbalances and boosting manufacturing. This increasing emphasis on design occurred in a highly politicized environment and in tandem with the restructuring of Australian tertiary education (known as the “Dawkins revolution”), alongside the discursive notion of Australia as a “clever country.” In essence, this government-led politicization of design meant that Australian design was understood as operating exclusively to “meet the needs of industry,” with industrial design prioritized. While hindsight indicates that this strategy was unsuccessful in enhancing manufacturing, the legacy of this neoliberal framing of design continues to reverberate, particularly in mainstream understandings of design.

Navigating queer spaces in Australian tertiary STEM Education: a retrospective autoethnopoetic exploration

ABSTRACT This article presents a retrospective autoethnopoetic study exploring a queer student's journey in Australian tertiary STEM education, employing queer research methodologies to illuminate the challenges encountered. Through personal narrative and poetic expression, we identify critical themes: microaggressions, discrimination, identity formation, cisheteronormative navigation, and resilience strategies. Although rooted in the first author's experiences, these insights reflect broader issues prevalent among queer students in STEM, such as the impact of discrimination and microaggressions on academic performance and well-being. This study underscores the significance of queer theory and autoethnopoetic methods in challenging normative assumptions in STEM education research, contributing to a deeper understanding of the queer academic experience. It advocates for the development of inclusive and supportive educational policies aimed at enhancing the learning environment for queer students, emphasising the need for visibility, representation, and support systems within STEM disciplines.

Ownership of English: Insights from Australian Tertiary Education Contexts

ABSTRACT This study investigates the perception of English ownership among multilingual students in Australian universities. Using qualitative interviews, it explores ownership through four aspects: expertise, inheritance, usage, and identification. The findings suggest that linguistic ownership is tied to language proficiency and self-identification as an expert. Despite students' confidence in English use, being labelled as 'non-native' speakers hinders their sense of ownership. The research highlights ongoing issues related to English ownership, the validity of its variations, and the pervasive influence of the 'native speaker' concept despite efforts to dismantle it. This is largely due to students' experiences with educators who are viewed as guardians of a more 'legitimate' English. The study recommends educators foster awareness of diverse English uses and avoid reinforcing native-speakerism ideologies.

First-in-their-family students at university: Can non-cognitive skills compensate for social origin?

We study the role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills in the university readiness and performance of first-in-family students (FIFS) using nationally representative survey data and linked survey-administrative data on an incoming student cohort at an elite Australian university. In both data sets, we find that FIFS enter university with lower levels of cognitive skills than non-FIFS but with similar levels of non-cognitive skills. The only exception is that male FIFS report lower levels of Openness to Experience. FIFS at the elite institution have lower grade-point averages and are more likely to drop out after Year 1 than non-FIFS, a finding driven by females. The higher risk of dropout is not observed in the broader Australian tertiary education context, suggesting that female FIFS struggle at this elite university. Gaps in cognitive skills are the dominant channel through which FIFS experience achievement penalties, while non-cognitive skills play no role. However, very low levels of Conscientiousness exacerbate the achievement penalties due to social origin.

Distress of tertiary education students in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This project sought to characterize levels of distress in Australian tertiary education students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advertisements were placed on multiple participant recruitment and student run websites associated with various tertiary institutions. Level of overall distress was assessed with the K-10 so that comparisons could be made with previous research. A total of 1072 tertiary education students 18 years or older participated in the study. 70.9% of tertiary education students studying in Australia displayed elevated levels of psychological distress during the pandemic, with 23.01% of the sample reporting extreme levels of distress. More tertiary education students experienced severe distress during the COVID-19 pandemic than adults in the general population, as well as before the pandemic. Services are needed to help tertiary education students cope with elevated levels of distress associated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A cogwheel model of dynamic capabilities: Evidence from an Australian university

AbstractThe Australian tertiary education sector has been experiencing transformational change for many years driven by shifts in public policy and funding, emergent competition on an increasingly international scale, a seemingly never‐ending number of universities restructures, and the sudden rise of online teaching forced upon by the global COVID‐19 pandemic. This high level of environmental uncertainty suggests that if universities want to remain competitive, they might need to reconsider their strategies through adopting a dynamic capabilities (DCs) approach, such as outlined in this paper. This research is built on Teece et al.’s DCs model to examine an Australian university between 2012 and 2021. This research adds to our understanding of DCs by developing a metaphorical Cogwheel Model of Dynamic Capabilities that captures DCs’ complex and dynamic process. This model has implications for leadership and managerial practices, especially when organisations seek to navigate a strategic pathway into the future.

Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges Relating to the Variances in Students’ Response to Dissatisfaction in Business Management Educational Services

Consumers respond to their lack of satisfaction with service provision in a variety of ways. For instance, research findings indicates that consumers’ response options to service dissatisfaction is related to customer loyalty, which may impact their future repurchase intentions (Janjua, 2017). The current study investigates the impact of loyalty, and its cultural understanding, on dissatisfaction response styles of university students. In particular, it compares the variations in response options between Anglo-Saxon Australian students and international Middle Eastern students, attending Australian universities and other tertiary higher education Australian institutions, in an attempt to explore the impact of culture on dissatisfaction, and the resultant response options chosen by students, as guided by culturally defined perceptions and values (Newsome & Cooper, 2016). Findings indicate that there are significant variations in terms of the degree of ethnic loyalty and the response options that students engage in as a reaction to educational service dissatisfaction, mostly attributable to differences in cultural values. The contributions of this study are three-fold. First, the current research study further develops our understanding of cultural loyalty and its impact on students’ future repurchase intentions. Secondly, it provides an understanding of the dissatisfaction response styles of university students coming from different ethnic backgrounds. Finally, this study further contributes to our understanding of the relationship between students’ ethnic backgrounds and their respective repurchase decisions.

A business faculty, Jindaola and a path to embedding Aboriginal knowledges

ABSTRACT Much of the literature indicates the importance and the need for the improvement of embedding Indigenous knowledge into the tertiary curriculum. However, not much empirical evidence is available to identify how Indigenous knowledges can be embedded in a sustained and respectful way within the Australian tertiary education sector. This article examines how traditional Aboriginal knowledge holders and staff at a Business Faculty in Australia developed a partnership to embed Aboriginal knowledges and ways of thinking into the university business curricula. As part of our institutional educational development grants program, Jindaola, we used yarning as a way to understand and connect with each other and use an ethnographic case study approach to present our journey. We illustrate how we partnered with local Aboriginal knowledge holders to (1) deliver cultural training to staff members as a means of developing and building Aboriginal cultural awareness before embedding Aboriginal knowledges into the business curricula, (2) embed Aboriginal knowledges into the curriculum inside the classroom grounded with respect, responsibility and reciprocity and (3) embed Aboriginal knowledges outside of the classroom on Country through work-integrated learning opportunities with local Aboriginal organisations. Overall, the sustainability of the partnership is built on connections to the local Aboriginal community and developing an understanding and respect for country, kinship, culture and journey. The partnership journey between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members provided a valuable way to embed Aboriginal ways of thinking into the coursework. We continue our journey by recognising the challenges in relation to how members can sustain the partnership and develop meaningful relationships between the university staff and local Aboriginal knowledge holders.

The Best Chance For All: A Policy Roadmap for Post-Pandemic Panic

The Best Chance for All was developed in 2018 as a long-term policy vision for student equity in Australian tertiary education. We argue in this article that COVID-19 has exacerbated the issues that the policy vision sought to address and has increased demands on and of post-secondary education. Specifically, we argue that the magnitude of the social and economic challenges presented by COVID-19 warrants holistic policy responses that enable the transition to a connected tertiary education system; one designed to deliver choice and flexibility for lifelong learners. A roadmap for this transition exists in the form of The Best Chance For All. The vision can be actuated through demand driven funding arrangements across tertiary education that are coherently aligned to optimise the performance of both the higher and vocational education sectors and are underpinned by sustained investment in equity outreach and support.

Establishing quality standards for graduate entry master of nursing curricula in Australia and New Zealand: A Delphi study

AimTo describe the common elements of Graduate Entry Master of Nursing curricula and identify a set of standards and quality indicators for benchmarking purposes within and across jurisdictions. BackgroundInternationally, there has been an increase in universities offering Graduate Entry Masters programs in Nursing. Such programs specify a bachelor degree as an entry requirement and then offer an intensive program of study that prepares graduates for registration as a nurse. To date, no formal standards exist to guide evaluation of these curricula. DesignA two phased sequential mixed-methods design comprising thematic content analysis of curricula and a Delphi study. The setting was the Australian and New Zealand tertiary education sectors. Participants were nurse academics who were recruited to participate in the Delphi study. Quota sampling was used to identify educators from the education providers meeting organisational inclusion criteria (program coordinator and one lecturer working as a subject coordinator of the program) and nominated by their Head of Department. MethodsPhase One of the study involved a thematic analysis of the curricula of nine Graduate Entry Master of Nursing programs to identify common elements of curricula and domains of quality. In Phase Two these themes were used in a series of Delphi rounds to identify a set of agreed quality domains, statements and indicators. ResultsParticipants (n = 16) responded over three Delphi rounds. A total of nine domains of quality were determined, a set of 26 quality statements were identified based on the acceptance threshold of > 75% level of agreement and 27 quality indicators were established. ConclusionsOur research provides an agreed set of indicators for evaluating the quality of Graduate Entry Master of Nursing programs. This work will also make it possible to measure the immediate and longer-term impacts of Graduate Entry Master of Nursing programs for the nursing workforce. Future work must focus on testing feasibility and optimising utility while refining indicators across jurisdictions.

Aboriginal student engagement and success in Kimberley tertiary education

Abstract Over recent years, considerable effort has been put into increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) participation in higher education. While there are signs that enrolments are increasing, the sustained engagement and successful completion of higher education remains challenging, particularly in remote locations. With this in mind, a collaborative research project among researchers from three northern Australian tertiary education institutions was designed to understand student perspectives, particularly from remote contexts, about their engagement and success towards completion in higher education. Based on a qualitative research design situating Indigenist/interpretive research within a critical realism metatheory, we present findings from the study, based in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and unpack implications for higher education provision in remote contexts. The findings point to the unique challenges faced by students who live in the Kimberley—and perhaps in other remote locations around Australia. In order to meet these needs, we suggest that tertiary education providers must tailor provision to ensure that engagement with Aboriginal students is relational and culturally safe.

Coloniality of Power and International Students Experience: What are the Ethical Responsibilities of Social Work and Human Service Educators?

ABSTRACT This article explores theoretical responses to the living structures of dominance and subordination within modern postcolonial societies, highlighting racialised international students’ experiences within Australian universities. Drawing on coloniality of power and border thinking, it seeks to address ethical responsibilities for social work and human service educators from the author’s positioning as a non-Western immigrant ‘Other’, and experience of belonging as an educator of future social work and human service practitioners in Australia. Utilising autoethnographic and qualitative study, the article offers great insight into the systemic nature of discrimination in Australian tertiary education institutions. It suggests a need for critical, self-reflexive awareness about the legacies of colonialism and hegemonic whiteness to permeate social work and human service profession and education. This article, thus, enables decolonising minds, securing informed understanding, and initiating a shift in the way non-white (and non-Western) racialised international social work students are seen, constructed, and understood in contemporary Australian (Western) societies.

The trifecta for curriculum sustainability in Australian universities

<p style="text-indent:20px;">Commercialization and internationalization of tertiary education has opened a new way for universities to grow and make more profit. This in turn has supported sustainable growth of the higher education sector for the last three decades in developed countries. Curricula offered by accredited tertiary institutions must meet the quality standards set by both the governmental agencies and the professional accreditation bodies. These programs must also provide graduates with employment opportunities. Hence, quality and employment opportunities are the two key factors for sustainability of any degree program offered by tertiary institutions. However, changes in regulations and policies by the national government sometimes play a vital role in creating new programs, and maintaining or disestablishing some existing programs offered by institutions in the nation. These changes are not controlled by individual institutions, which has become the third unpredictable factor in curriculum creation and/or sustainability. Using the journey of a new master's program in information technology (IT) in an Australian university as a case study, we explore how this third factor impacted on the initialization, creation, and short life of this program primarily targeting international students in the mid-2000s. We then extend our discussion to the implications of the recent changes to tertiary tuitions from 2021 by the Australian Government on the sustainable future of the Australian tertiary education sector on a broad scale.

Emergency online teaching during COVID-19: A case study of Australian tertiary students in teacher education and creative arts

Emergency online teaching (EOT) due to COVID19 is different to well-planned online learning. This small-scale qualitative case study explored the impact of EOT upon undergraduate students in a regional university and a metropolitan university in Australia. Each university had some experience in online or distance learning, however, courses in this study were on-campus face-to-face courses in education and performing arts. Differentiating factors considered are location, course of study, year of study and innovations that arose during the EOT period. To assist in the interpretation of findings, this case study utilises the “emergency remote teaching environments'' (ERTE) developed by Whittle, Tiwari, Yan and Williams (2020) as an interpretive lens; and the findings of this study are also compared with the findings in the Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TESQA) November 2020 report. Implications derived from the present case study for consideration in the development of future online learning include technology selected, upskilling tertiary educators and unexpected benefits to students.

Excellence in research in Australia: the souffle keeps on rising

ObjectiveThe Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) data collections completed in 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2018 were developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) to measure the quality of the research produced by the broad range of Australian tertiary education institutions.MethodThis analysis compared the ratings of the 41 Australian universities across the years 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2018 for the psychology codes (i.e., 17, 1701, 1702, and 1799), as well as examining the combined means for all four data collections and compared these across institutions. The universities were also compared according to institution type (i.e., Group of 8 (Go8), the Australian Innovative Research Universities (IRU), the Australian University Technology Network (ATN), the Regional Universities Network (RUN), and the un‐aligned Universities across years. The final analysis examined the performance of the institutions on the engagement and impact assessment (EI) and compared this with the data for the research publications. The universities were also compared with international benchmarks as gathered from the international ratings agencies.ResultsResults of the analyses revealed an overall improvement in research ratings by the universities, with most improving across all four data collections. The performance improved significantly in the 2018 data collection in comparison to each of the three previous data collections.ConclusionIt is now the case that 78% of AOUs are performing at or above world standard in psychology according to the ARC's definition of world standard, an outstanding result and double the level seen in 2010. Some of the issues associated with the ERA data collections are discussed, and suggestions are made for improving this process.

White spaces for innovation in tertiary education: Australian public provider perspectives

ABSTRACT Over the last twenty years, tertiary education in Australia has radically changed. Major growth in the sector and federal government policy and funding changes have resulted in an increase of providers and a diversification of the quality of education available on the market, particularly in vocational education. Although change presents insecurity and ambiguity for education providers, it also presents an opportunity for proactive and adaptable providers to transform and disrupt the sector by designing an innovative value creation strategy to diversify or target their offering. To understand the current landscape, this paper explores the business models of 50 Australian tertiary education providers and groups these into seven business model typologies. Focusing on public vocational education providers, the paper identifies the ability of their current business model to meet skills-based gaps in the future, including their future customers, and states potential ‘white space’ opportunities for innovation.

Australia as a destination for Latin American doctoral candidates: Four personal reflections

Universities are important drivers for transnational migration to Australia, especially for students who are economically mobile, or who might be seeking to convert a transitory study experience into a more permanent migratory one. The economic growth experienced in a number of Latin American countries in the twenty-first century introduced new cohorts of Latin American students into Australian tertiary education institutions, including some from countries that may have had minimal prior presence in Australia. This includes students working towards research degrees. This article presents the autoethnographic accounts of four doctoral candidates from Latin America studying in Australia. It considers their motivations for undertaking graduate research, and the factors that brought them to choose Australia as a study destination, and the benefits and challenges they have experienced in coming here. While the candidates are all from different research fields, their experiences reveal commonalities around three key themes: opportunity, safe exploration and the role of family in enabling decisions about transnational doctoral education.

Profiling Australian tertiary education pathway providers

ABSTRACT This paper builds on recent studies of institutional diversity in Australian tertiary education by modifying this model and using it to profile Australian pathway providers. The results offer insight into the role and work of this under-represented part of Australian tertiary education, as well as highlighting key strategic issues for these institutions and encourages a self-reflexive stance towards profiling methodologies.