Current Higher Education Environment Research Articles

Address accessibility in policy development for generative artificial intelligence

At this point, you have heard about generative artificial intelligence and, most likely, dabbled with it. You may have tried out a prompt with Chat GPT or created an image using Microsoft Copilot. At first, you were a bit cautious, but it was less intimidating with practice. You felt these practice sessions were necessary — everyone is talking about generative AI — and, with yet another lecture or webinar scheduled on your campus to discuss generative AI, these “exercises” allow you to participate in the current higher education environment with some working knowledge.

Policy Demands on Promoting Physical Activity for College Students in China

In China's current higher education environment, the normalization of sedentary behavior makes college students a typical population with an inactive lifestyle. In order to effectively promote physical activity behaviors among college students, it is necessary to develop physical activity policies for college students in China. By investigating the physical activity level of Chinese college students, this study verifies the necessity of promoting physical activity in college students. Moreover, the present study analyzes the situation of policy demand from three aspects: policy content demand, policy effectiveness demand, and policy non-mandatory demand. The findings show there are policy demands on (1) policy content supplementation in college settings, (2) policy effectiveness based on the assumption of “limited rationality,” and (3) giving the freedom of decision-making. This study can provide reliable advice for policymakers on physical activity for college students in China.

Levelling the playing field: The effect of including widening participation in university league tables

Nationally and internationally, universities are ranked in university league tables (ULTs). Sustained academic criticism of the rationale and methodology of compiling ULTs has not stopped these rankings exerting considerable pressure on the decisions of university managers. The compilation of ULTs is an inherently political act, with the choice and weighting of metrics resulting in particular characteristics of individual institutions being rewarded or penalised. One aspect that is currently not considered by league tables is the diversity of the student intake, and the extent to which an institution has been successful in widening participation (WP) in higher education (HE). The need to take action is reflected in target 4.3 of the fourth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4), which aims to “ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university” by 2030. This article explores how current ULT metrics for universities in the United Kingdom (UK) relate to WP. Using publicly available data, the authors found that over 75% of UK league table metrics are negatively related to WP. This has the effect of making institutions with a diverse student body significantly more likely to be lower down in the league tables. The worst relationship with WP is for entry standards. Universities which recruit high-performing students are actively rewarded in the league tables; this fails to recognise that students with high entry grades are more likely to come from privileged backgrounds. The authors developed a ULT which includes a WP score as an explicit league table metric and found that their WP-adjusted table removed the negative relationship between WP and league table rank, resulting in a somewhat fairer comparison between universities. They conclude that ULT compilers have an ethical duty to improve their definition of a “good” university, which in the current HE environment of the UK must include WP. The authors believe this should be an urgent priority for the sector, so that universities with a commitment to widening participation can be recognised and rewarded.

Integrating Academic and Career Advising toward Student Success

AbstractIn a time when student persistence, retention, and graduation rates are being examined, academic advisors are being called upon to evaluate their interactions with students throughout their academic journey toward a meaningful career. This chapter addresses how integrating academic and career advising may benefit students in the current higher education environment.

‘Once You Get the Threshold Concepts the World Is Changed Forever’: The Exploration of Threshold Concepts to Promote Work-ready Occupational Therapy Graduates: The exploration of threshold concepts to promote work-ready occupational therapy graduates

In the current higher education environment, there is a growing expectation that universities ensure students graduate with skills and attributes that enable them to be work-ready, particularly within the health and social care disciplines. One curriculum design approach that has been proposed as facilitating this transformation from student to professional is the threshold concepts framework. A recent study identified ten threshold concepts within the discipline of occupational therapy. These were: Understanding the models and theories of occupational therapy ; Evidence-based practice; Clinical reasoning; Discipline-specific skills and knowledge; Practising in context; A client-centred approach; Occupation; The occupational therapist role; Reflective practice; and, A holistic approach . This study aimed to explore whether these threshold concepts were taught within an Australian occupational therapy program. Twelve occupational therapy educators participated in focus groups, and five themes emerged from the data. These were: professional identity; time; the impact of the learning environment; explicit versus implicit content and language; and, the value and understanding of the threshold concepts framework. The study found that the integrated use of threshold concepts may make them unique to the discipline. Findings also indicated that using the threshold concepts framework facilitates the transformation from student to occupational therapist. However, students may not acquire all of the threshold concepts prior to graduation. Practice-based learning was considered pivotal for threshold concept acquisition. This study explores the application of the threshold concepts framework, providing insights for educators who are seeking to produce graduates who are well-equipped for employment in complex healthcare environments.

Australian social work academics’ perceptions of their teaching roles within higher education

ABSTRACTThe marketisation of higher education (HE) has created a number of tensions and ideological dilemmas that may influence how academics see their roles and teaching practices. This paper explores how academics in the discipline of social work (who were also in leadership roles) perceive their roles and identities and manage the tensions and dilemmas that arise for them as teachers in the current HE environment. Unless the tensions and dilemmas are articulated, it is not possible to understand and manage their impact on academics. This may lead to the loss of quality learning experiences for students and lower workplace satisfaction. This paper addresses the research question: were there ideological dilemmas experienced by social work academics in the current environment and if so, what subject positions did they adopt in response to these? A discursive psychology approach was used to answer this question. Data showed a range of ideological dilemmas represented by each of the different subject positions adopted. The paper concludes with questions for readers to consider, generating ideas for transferring understanding of these ideological dilemmas into positive action within the workplace.

SANTPEN’s SoTL Journey: Building and Using a SoTL Approach Across Institutions

In the current higher education environment, providing high quality teaching and learning experiences to students has moved beyond desirable to essential. Quality improvement takes many forms, but one core aspect to ensure sustainable improvement is the development of a culture of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Developing such an institutional culture is surprisingly challenging yet essential to improving the status of teaching in higher education (HE), being successful in teaching and learning awards and grants, and, improving the student experience. The Australian Government’s Promoting Excellence Network initiative funds networks to foster collaboration between HE institutions to improve outcomes in national learning and teaching award and grant programs. Supported by this funding, the South Australian / Northern Territory Promoting Excellence Network (SANTPEN), a grouping of six institutions, formed. Bringing together a diverse network of institutions, similar only by virtue of geographic location is challenging. This paper describes the first three years of SANTPEN’s journey from the context of our own development with the concept of SoTL and how we applied this to build a culture of SoTL in and between our institutions. It also demonstrates how a modest budget can be put to effective use to benefit those immediately involved, institutional objectives and the aims of the national funding body. We provide evidence of this effectiveness and conclude with our collective aspirations for the future of SANTPEN and other likeminded and funded networks.

A Snapshot of MOOCs in Hospitality and Tourism

ABSTRACTMassive open online courses (MOOCs) are a significant disruptive innovation in the current higher education environment. Although the media and academia often make sweeping generalizations about MOOCs, ranging from a utopian to dystopian future, such hyperbole about innovations is common and often misguided. Critics focus on poor completion rates, typically less than 10%, whereas pundits laud the massive and global enrollments. This research note helps ground the hyperbole, reviewing MOOCs in the broad discipline of hospitality and tourism and providing a snapshot of the MOOCs currently on offer.

Good CoPs and bad CoPs: facilitating reform in first-year assessment via a Community of Practice

ABSTRACTThe idea and implementation of learning communities are gaining favour in higher education institutions. In particular, there are a number of successful examples to emerge of the application of the Community of Practice (CoP) framework proposed by Wenger [(1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press] for fostering a learning environment for academics around their teaching practice. In this paper, we describe and reflect on the efficacy of a CoP process that was implemented within our university. The purpose of this CoP was to provide a space for academics to focus on assessment practices for first-year courses and identify opportunities for professional development in this area. For a variety of reasons detailed in the paper, the efficacy of this CoP was limited, and we conclude that in the current higher education environment in Australia, success with CoP approaches to improve learning and teaching outcomes may prove limited.

Students’ perspectives on online and face-to-face components of a blended course design in Health and Kinesiology at a South Western Public University in the USA

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> The current higher education environment in the United States of America (USA) and worldwide is focused on providing people an opportunity to access a quality education at a competitive price and one that is flexible enough to meet the needs of a diverse student demographic. It is therefore necessary for course delivery methods to accommodate these diverse needs without sacrificing rigor necessary for accreditation due to the diverse backgrounds, occupations, and time constraints of students in today’s environment</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this study was to establish the students’ perception of the online and face-to-face components of a blended course design at a South Western Public University in the USA.</p><p><strong>Methods and material</strong>: The sample of this study consisted of 200 students drawn from four different blended courses in the Department of health and Kinesiology at a medium sized public university in South West of USA. A modified questionnaire from Sitter et al., (2009) with 19 questions was used to collect responses from students. The survey instrument employed a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5), to strongly disagree (1). </p><p><strong>Results</strong>: Majority of the students have a positive view of the blended learning including the online and face-to-face components. A consistent minority of the students expressed disagreement especially pertaining to technology-based communication, preferred mode of delivery, online discussion participation and grade scores.</p><p><strong>Discussion</strong>: Although the majority of students perceived blended learning and its components positively, there is need for instructors to address the communication, technology, and online learning facilitation challenges if all learners are to learn effectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and recommendations</strong>: It is clear that the majority of students are ready and have accepted blended learning course designs at this medium sized public university in south west of the United States of America and therefore there is room for expansion of the initiative to benefit more students.</p>

Tribal, proletarian and entrepreneurial career stories: junior academics as a case in point

This paper explores the career-building of junior academics in the current higher education environment, which is characterised by short-term employment conditions. The paper is based on focus group discussions with Finnish early career academics working in the social sciences. Drawing upon a narrative approach, five career stories are constructed: the Novice of the Academic Elite, the Victim of the Teaching Trap, the Academic Worker, the Research Group Member and the Academic Freelancer. Each story is analysed in terms of four dimensions: core commitment, career risk, career support and stance towards the university. Furthermore, we reflect on the crossing and maintenance of boundaries that each story entails. The stories crystallise the cultural resources that junior academics rely on while making sense of their careers. The results show that there are radically different – even opposite – ways to understand what an academic career is, and how to build it.

Supporting Academic Middle Managers in Higher Education: Do We Care?

In the current higher education environment, the need to develop and support good leaders and managers could hardly be more pressing. Yet, research on how academic middle managers are supported in their roles is surprisingly sparse. The purpose of this paper is to address this perceived gap in the literature by reporting on the findings from two separate, but related, research projects investigating the role of the academic middle manager in two culturally different English universities, specifically to examine the support that such leaders have received in relation to taking on and adapting to this increasingly challenging role. By drawing on semi-structured interviews with 28 academic middle managers from one pre- and one post-1992 university, the paper argues that we need to provide more support and individually tailored training for today’s middle managers so that the best may become the sector’s effective senior leaders of tomorrow.

Internationalization, Mobilization and Social Media in Higher Education

Although there have been significant advances in instrumentation and technology across the medical radiation sciences that changed practice and outcomes, higher education has also seen advances that challenged service delivery. This article provides an insight into higher education trends and collaborative efforts to afford leadership in those domains. Arguably, the greatest pressure in the current higher education environment is the ability to match student and institutional expectations against sustainable, cost-effective innovation. Mobilization of the classroom offers a powerful tool for enhancing educational outcomes of graduates and satisfies the current trend of globalization in the sector. Flexible delivery of materials and the advantages of authentic online applications allow a rich and diverse learning environment that is driven by the student. The essence of mobile learning adds value to the context of learning in our global world. Social media connects individuals and students via an online network. This environment is a large collective of socially autonomous, flexible, and active consumers. The role of social media in higher education includes responsibilities in hidden curriculum education as a deliverable. Particular advantage is seen as a framework for experiential learning in the clinical environment and the powerful process of reflection. It is well placed to provide autonomy to the current generation of students in an environment in which they are comfortable communicating. Medical radiation sciences exist in a dynamic and liquid environment and, thus, there is an underlying compatibility with change and innovation. Medical radiation sciences are well equipped to embrace advances in clinical, research, and higher education sectors to provide leadership across the broader health and science professions.

Creating more ‘elbow room’ for collaborative reflective practice in the competitive, performative culture of today's university

We live in ‘a world of clashing interests’ [Zinn, H. (1991). Declarations of independence: Cross-examining American ideology. Toronto: Harper Collins, p. xx]. In a grapple for survival, universities choose to spend less money and time on teaching and learning, less time on robust evaluation of student learning and concomitantly less active support for collaborative reflective practice. However, the situation is even more dire than that outlined above because university management seeks to portray its focus on teaching and learning as genuine and a priority. Considerable effort is spent on encouraging teachers to compete for teaching excellence awards at the same time as universities push academics harder and harder into ‘real research’, that is, research that is not about teaching and learning. This is further exacerbated by the use of teaching quality instruments which have been criticised as unreliable indicators of student learning. This paper argues that individual reflective practitioners collecting and collaborating together can advocate for teaching in the current higher education environment but the outreach of this advocacy is likely to be limited when the advocacy remains within ‘pockets of resistance’. To further promote change from within the institution and extend the breadth and depth of an individual's influence beyond the pockets of resistance, we suggest that individuals use collaborative reflective practice-based strategies aligned with each of the dimensions of the institution's ‘cultural web’. Collaborative reflective practice has the potential to advocate for teaching beyond small groups of enthusiasts because it taps into the often hidden but heart-felt passion and commitment to teaching held by many academics.

"The university didn't actually tell us this is what you have to do": Social inclusion through embedding of academic skills in first year professional courses

The widening participation agenda means that students will be entering degree courses with increasingly diverse needs, particularly with respect to the academic skills necessary for successful tertiary study in Australia. This paper presents findings from a mixed methods project investigating first year social work students’ perceived role in academic skills and their development. Students expressed the perception that academic skill requirements and how they would be assessed should be made explicit, and identified a stigma associated with accessing study support services. The paper concludes that an intentional design strategy, such as embedding academic skills into the curriculum, helps bridge the different expectations between academics and students in the teaching and learning of academic skills, and hence constitutes a socially inclusive strategy to teaching professional courses such as social work, within higher education. Recommendations to enhance the success and sustainability of such an initiative in the current higher education environment are offered.

Rankings in the Eyes of the Beholder: A Vox Populi Approach to Academic Journal Ranking

The ranking of academic journals is a contentious issue in the current higher education environment. Across the world, peers judge academics for tenure and promotion on the basis of the quality or prestige of the journals in which they publish. This research proposes a new metric (i.e., the MAG score) to assess journal impact and ranking in the field of marketing using the vox populi approach. The findings show that the vox populi approach provides a more comprehensive measure of journal impact than other impact factor metrics from the perspective of academics.

Campus priorities and information literacy in Hong Kong higher education

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the strategic efforts of the Hong Kong Baptist University Library to build institutional support for information literacy in an environment of major curriculum reform.Design/methodology/approachThe paper outlines the current state of information literacy efforts in Hong Kong higher education, provides a context for renewed potential of these efforts, and describes a number of approaches that were undertaken to build institutional support. Further, a change agency approach is used to assess these efforts thus far and provide guidance for the future.FindingsCampus‐wide information literacy programmes have been virtually non‐existent in Hong Kong. The current higher education environment and mindset is conducive to recognizing information literacy as a vital component in teaching and learning. Librarians can turn this opportunity into reality by gaining authority, credibility and visibility on campus, and by strategically aligning with institutional priorities such as outcomes‐based education, assessment, and lifelong learning.Originality/valueThis paper provides a Hong Kong perspective on integrating information literacy at the institutional level, and offers several specific strategies that have successfully been undertaken by librarians at one institution.

Teaching in the current higher education environment: perceptions of IT academics

This paper builds on previous research into teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching with an investigation of information technology academics. Using a phenomenographic approach to build a model of IT academics experiences and practice of teaching we aimed to identify any specific issues that academics in the IT discipline face and to assess the impact of the changing higher education environment on their teaching experiences. While there were few discipline-specific issues we did find that the current higher education environment appears to be negatively affecting the quality of teaching and learning within the IT discipline and indications are that these environmental factors are affecting academics within other disciplines. We concluded that current institutional policies, including teaching and learning quality measures and lack of resources, are compromising the way subjects are delivered. In some cases academics are discouraged from improving their teaching practice.

Educational supply chain management: a case study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to implement the philosophy of supply chain management in the current higher education environment so as to suggest innovative management ideas in higher education management.Design/methodology/approachThis paper conducted an in‐depth case study approach in a university. This study follows Yin's approach to interview the personnel of a supply chain department and collected the university documents.FindingsThe study identified three supply chains of the university, i.e. commodity, special requested and outsourcing supply chains. Rearrangements of the existing supply chain are suggested to further improve the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education.Research limitations/implicationsThis research, which used a case study approach to examine a university, affects the research generalization. This research, which qualitatively reviewed the supply chain management in a university, failed to obtain objective instruments of the supply chain performance in the university.Practical implicationsTwo innovative ideas for managing the supply chain in the higher education environment are explored. The findings provide interesting and innovative ways for the manager in the education section to review their works.Originality/valueFrom an academic perspective, this research may be an innovative way to implement the latest business management philosophy into the higher education environment. This connects education management with general business management. From a managerial perspective, this research provides education management a new way to understand how supply chain management impacts on the performance of a university. It also identifies unanswered questions for further study.

Managing the concept of strategic change within a higher education institution: the role of strategic and scenario planning techniques

Abstract Many higher education institutions in the UK develop strategies based on traditional strategic planning techniques and environmental scanning methods. The case study of the University of Glamorgan presented here illustrates and supports the notion that the reliance on these traditional techniques may not be enough to enable higher education institutions to plan strategically and also balance the pressures of change within the current higher education environment. The case study focuses on the introduction and use of scenario planning as an additional strategic planning and environmental scanning tool. The outcomes demonstrate that the tool is useful as a means of enabling institutions to evaluate the external environment against their core mission and strengths to ensure that they respond only to those external changes that will either enhance business or represent a significant threat to it. Specifically the study also illustrates the effectiveness of scenario planning in involving all staff across the organization and encouraging their imaginations and ideas about future strategies and priorities for that organization. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.