Staff In Higher Education Research Articles

The direction of reforms and job satisfaction among teaching staff in higher education in Mexico

ABSTRACT In Mexico, as in other countries, several circumstances have converged to inform political decisions that have driven a series of reforms in higher education. The reforms are designed to improve the performance of higher education institutions and their adaptability to new economic and social scenarios, as well as foster changes to the way they operate and to the way work is organised in them, and especially the work related to teaching. This article describes the impact the reforms have had on the organisation of teaching activity in several centres belonging to the University of Guadalajara. This description has been made under the assumption that the reforms may simultaneously prompt organisational tendencies of very different natures and effects. Finally, the article outlines the manner in which the changes in teaching activities have influenced the job satisfaction of teaching staff.

Job Satisfaction and Problems among Academic Staff in Higher Education

The role of a scientist in society is undoubtedly extremely important. This thesis was particularly confirmed by the global events of the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, when the spread of the COVID-19 virus revealed the helplessness of humanity in the face of a pandemic. Only intensive scientific work, having an interdisciplinary character, gives hope to stop the development of the spread of the virus. It turned out that it is scientists who are necessary to reduce mortality and morbidity, as well as the negative effects of a pandemic on the economy and public health. In this regard, it is worth discussing whether the scientific work of scientists is satisfying for them? Nowadays, the scientist is demanded for immediate effects of scientific research, implementation of inventions tailored to the emerging needs, and quick solutions to the problems of a dynamically changing society. However, along with the growing social expectations towards researchers, is their work increasingly appreciated? The aim of this article is getting to assess the level of satisfaction with scientific work among researchers and to identify the factors that influence its level. The article presents the results of research conducted on a random sample of 763 academics from Poland. The conducted scientific studies have established that: (1) The level of satisfaction of researchers concerning their own scientific work depends on employment conditions, as well as the social significance of the research carried out, (2) the level of satisfaction from work is closely correlated with the scientific opportunities of researchers (that is, the possibility of academic and didactic work, contact with students and co-workers) and negatively correlated with the necessity to carry out administrative work, and (3) the majority of Polish researchers are proud of their scientific achievements and treat their profession as a passion or vocation.

Students as political actors? Similarities and differences across six European nations

Drawing on data from students, higher education staff and policymakers from six European countries, this article argues that it remains a relatively common assumption that students should be politically engaged. However, while students articulated a strong interest in a wide range of political issues, those working in higher education and influencing higher education policy tended to believe that students were considerably less politically active than their predecessors. Moreover, while staff and policy influencers typically conceived of political engagement in terms of collective action, articulated through common reference to the absence of a ‘student movement’ or unified student voice, students’ narratives tended not to valorise ‘student movements’ in the same way and many categorised as ‘political’ action they had taken alone and/or with a small number of other students. Alongside these broad commonalities across Europe, the article also evidences some key differences between nation‐states, institutions and disciplines. In this way, it contributes to the comparative literature on young people’s political engagement specifically, as well as wider debates about the ways in which higher education students are understood.

Studi Pustaka Tentang Kerentanan Keamanan E-Learning dan Penanganannya

E-learning is an educational media that use ICT in the learning process. Nowadays, most of the higher education (universities) in Indonesia have integrated the learning process with e-learning systems. By using this system, learning can be done outside the classroom, anytime and anywhere. Based on the literature reviews, e-learning has many positive impacts on higher education components and its ecosystems, i.e., students, lecturers, higher education staff, and campus officials. Although it offers many advantages, similar to the information technology in general, e-learning systems are also vulnerable to security issues. Because, several security holes in the system can be penetrated easily by hackers, where the essential data contained in e-learning has high potential to be spoofed even modified by irresponsible parties. The security aspect of the e-learning system must be considered to minimize risks. Thus, the higher education can run their business as well. This paper aims to elaborate on the e-Learning system, opportunities, challenges, and several offered solutions on it. The research method used in this paper is literature studies from the latest references

Mapping the Growth and Demographics of Managerial and Professional Staff in Higher Education

AbstractThis chapter presents a descriptive analysis of the growth of managerial and professional staff from Fall 1993 to Fall 2011 across institution types and sectors, and a detailed snapshot of the demographic composition of these staff in Fall 2016. Our results indicate tremendous growth in the population of non‐faculty staff over time, and reveal key patterns in staff employment by gender and race/ethnicity.

A missed opportunity? How the UK’s teaching excellence framework fails to capture the voice of university staff

ABSTRACT Drawing on recent research involving approximately 6000 higher education staff, this paper examines the impact of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) on their professional lives since its launch in 2016. Our findings raise fundamental concerns, methodologically and conceptually, about the fitness for the purpose of the TEF and its failure to take into account the views and experiences of higher education staff. With a reliance on proxy metrics that emphasise the economic value of higher education over the quality of teaching, we explore how the TEF lacks legitimacy and credibility as an instrument of measurement of teaching excellence across all levels of the workforce. We also argue that the processes informing the TEF fail to take into account the experiences and perceptions of staff directly involved in teaching, which given their centrality to the quality and development of higher education, seems a lamentable exclusion.

Educational Equality and International Students

Educational Equality and International Students, recently published by Tannock (2018), explores and highlights how to conceptualize and promote principles of educational equality for both international and domestic students in the United Kingdom. Tannock’s book includes empirical research consisting of 60 interviews with higher education staff and students, as well as the use of higher education institutional documents and secondary statistics collected from universities and national higher education organizations around the UK. Tannock addresses the contradictions between the missions of higher education institutions (universalistic principles of human rights in equal education) and their practices regarding international students as “cash cows” that keep the university afloat (p. 110).

The careers of university professional staff: a systematic literature review

PurposeHuman capital is a key component of the success of organisations, and career development of staff is a vital component to both increasing and retaining human capital. Universities are no different, their people are key to their mission. There has been limited rigorous study of the careers of professional staff in the academy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review methodology resulted in a review of 23 articles dedicated to research on careers of professional staff in higher education (HE). Thematic analysis identified a series of enablers and barriers that influence career development and progression.FindingsCareer enablers and barriers have been found to exist at both the institutional and individual levels. Within the HE context, professional staff have a hybrid career mindset, desiring traditional and more contemporary career factors, leading to a reciprocal relationship between the organisation and the individual.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need for future research to investigate the hybrid career mindset, and the reciprocal relationship, both to add depth to understanding of careers for professional staff in universities, and to examine this in other settings.Practical implicationsUniversities may need to consider ways to integrate institutional support for high performance work systems (HPWS) with opportunities for professional staff, while individuals may need to consider adopting career self-management behaviours (CSMB) to fit their hybrid mindset.Originality/valueThis review has highlighted organisations and individuals will benefit if the relationship between HPWS and CSMB is better understood for the hybrid career mindset.

Perceived advantages and disadvantages of taking a psychology professional placement year

PurposeIt is well established that there are several benefits of taking a placement year, for example, higher academic attainment, the acquisition of transferable skills and enhanced employability. It is therefore important to understand why students choose to take or not to take a placement. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachIn the current study, 159 first year students studying psychology were asked about their perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of taking a psychology professional placement year. Their responses were analysed using thematic analysis, and the number of participants who provided information relating to each main theme was also tabulated.FindingsStudents perceived the main benefits of placements as relating to career certainty, future prospects, experience, knowledge and skills. In contrast, they perceived the main disadvantages as practical disadvantages, social/emotional disadvantages, difficulty, and there being no guaranteed benefit of a placement.Practical implicationsThe results are discussed in terms of their potential to inform practices for developing and enhancing psychology placements within higher education. For example, providing further empirical evidence of the benefits of placements may help staff in higher education to further promote placement years.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the knowledge of perceived advantages and disadvantages of taking a placement in psychology. Placements in psychology are likely to be very beneficial for employability, but are often only available on a voluntary basis.

Counselling referral for university students: a phenomenological study from the teachers’ perspective

ABSTRACTThis small-scale pilot study analysed the input of two university teachers regarding their approaches, attitudes and understanding regarding counselling referrals for students in a university setting in Singapore. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, four main categories of themes were defined from the findings: referral procedures, challenges/difficulties, support and awareness. The academic teaching staff has an important role in the holistic development of students by helping them obtain counselling referrals. The key issues raised are outlined for consideration by policymakers, academic teaching staff and practitioners both within and outside of Singapore. The findings are discussed, including future research possibilities and recommendations to improve the referral process initiated by university staff in higher education.

Professional support staff in higher education: networks and associations as sense givers

The aim of this study is to explore the functions that professional networks could have as sense givers during the process in which professional support staff at higher education institutions make sense of their roles. The empirical data comprise interviews with three categories of support staff at three technical universities in Sweden and a review of home pages and other written sources from ten, both Swedish and international, professional networks. One conclusion is that the networks can serve as sense givers for the professional support staff related either to the professional task or to the relational characteristics. However, these functions are not straightforward. The support staff in focus comprise a new category, with no ready-made scripts for their roles. Given that membership in these networks is voluntary, the networks may face challenges in their functions as sense givers. The networks thus opt for other ways of attracting members. This voluntariness in combination with a plasticity in the roles of the support staff suggests that the functions of professional networks not only will vary, but might also be limited as sense givers in the sense making process of professional support staff at higher education institutions (HEIs).

Learning Styles and Evidence‐Based Approaches to Education

The basic idea behind the use of ‘Learning Styles' classifications is to diagnose learners into one or more of a handful of ‘styles' (e.g. Visual, Auditory, Converger) and then teach students according to their supposed style. This idea has been repeatedly tested and does not improve learning, according to current experimental evidence. Continued use of a teaching method that is not evidence‐based is potentially associated with negative effects on learning, particularly where learners are compartmentalized into a small number of ‘styles'. Despite this lack of evidence, survey and literature review research I will present here demonstrates that belief in the use of Learning Styles appears to be widespread amongst teaching staff in Higher Education (58%). This may be in part due to the continued publication of research papers that are based on the premise that matching teaching to Learning Styles is an effective approach. However the percentage of respondents who reported actually using Learning Styles in the last year (33%) was lower. Far more reported using a number of techniques that are demonstrably evidence‐based. As a group, participants agreed with all the posited weaknesses and negative consequences of Learning Styles theory. However, a substantial number of participants (32%) stated that they planned to continue using Learning Styles despite being presented with the lack of an evidence base to support them, suggesting that a ‘debunking’ approach to belief in Learning Styles may not be an effective way to promote evidence‐based approaches education. Qualitative comments revealed a number of potential reasons why belief in Learning Styles persists.Support or Funding InformationN/AThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Supporting pedagogic innovators in professional practice through Applied eLearning

This study explores the relationship between conceptions of innovation in eLearning pedagogy, the role of artefact-based learning in demonstrating this innovation, and how this can be investigated through critical incidents analysis of personal and collective learning. The context is an accredited masters programmes and the graduates' experience from 2007 to 2017. Graduates are a blend of academic staff in higher education, private sector trainers, and independent eLearning consultants wanting to develop knowledge and skills in eLearning. Key dimensions of pedagogic innovation explored are the continuum of how programme participants learn to innovate, what enables or prohibits them to innovate in their professional practice, and how they lead such innovations. Sixty-five graduates from the programme were invited to a survey and 10 of these who self-formed a LinkedIn community of practice after graduation engaged in a critical incident analysis on pedagogic innovation in their professional practice. As the participants are drawn from a range of academic subject disciplines, and share a cohort with eLearning professionals from the private and public sector, findings show the prohibitors and enablers within their disciplines and organisations in introducing and sustaining innovations to practice. Also shown is the importance of growing confidence in digital pedagogical practice, the power of collaborative cohorts, deconstructing innovative pedagogy for these contexts, and what supports pedagogic innovation. Findings have curriculum design and support implications for practitioners delivering eLearning professional development for academic staff and industry.

Health status and physical activity among academic and non academic staffs in higher education

Being physically active is reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases. A cross sectional mixed method study was conducted to analyze health status and explore supporting and inhibiting factors of physical activity among academic and non academic staff in higher education. A total of 83 respondents were met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The majority of UAD staffs are physically active and overweight. No significant health problems are found. Individual, social and environmental factors are identified as factors that can support and inhibit physical activity. Policies at the Faculty and University level are needed as well as cross-sectoral collaboration with related parties to support physical activities in UAD.

Connecting Local to Global: A Case Study of Public Engagement

Public engagement is recognised as having an increasingly important role in the changing landscape of higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), and is promoted as a ‘pathway to impact’ by many higher education funding bodies. However, there is limited evidence to support the outreach and impact gained by higher education institutes that undertake international public engagement activities. Similarly, little is known about higher education staff and student’s experiences of participating in such public engagement activities. This study focusses on a Global Festival of Learning (GFoL) in delivering public engagement on an international stage through an integrated approach involving the fusion of education, research, and professional practice, and the perceived impact on staff and students. This paper proposes an adaptive model for public engagement founded on five strategic public engagement areas that can be transferred to other higher education institutes with an interest in developing their international outreach and impact.

“A Different Kind of Activism”: The University of Florida Committee on Sexism and Homophobia, 1981–1992

By 1982, the queer student group at the University of Florida (UF) had gained official recognition and space on campus. However, in 1987 they decided to remove themselves from university life. The group reemerged in 1991 with the assistance of a new, quietly radical entity—The UF Committee on Sexism and Homophobia. Anchored by the oral histories of Phyllis Meek and Irene Stevens, the founders of the UF Committee on Sexism and Homophobia, the historical analysis of this overlooked episode is designed to illuminate the quieter role faculty and staff in higher education played in sustaining the civil rights and human dignities of queer people at UF during a time when students activism had lost momentum.

Tendências das publicações brasileiras sobre a formação de professores indígenas em ciências da natureza

A partir da Constituição Federal de 1988, inicia-se a discussão sobre um novo formato de escola indígena. Para esse novo formato de escola, surge a necessidade da formação de professores indígenas, para atender a carência desse profissional, na educação básica. Esse estudo teve como objetivo realizar um levantamento das publicações nacionais, dos últimos quinze anos, sobre a formação de professores indígenas em Ciências da Natureza. Para selecionar teses, dissertações e artigos nacionais, relacionados com a temática em estudo, foram realizadas buscas nos sítios da Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD), do Scientific Eletronic Library Online (Scielo) e do periódico da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES). A partir das leituras dos resumos, foram selecionadas as produções que apresentavam relação direta com a temática investigada. Realizamos a leitura das produções, identificando o quantitativo, ano, estados, regiões, instituições vinculadas, nível, contextos investigativos e o que anunciam. Foram encontrados 58 trabalhos, sendo esses, 21 teses, 17 dissertações e 20 artigos. Desse total, apenas 2 trabalhos apresentam relação direta com o tema, suas discussões estão voltadas para as tensões e conflitos decorrentes do encontro entre saberes indígenas e os saberes provenientes da Ciência Moderna, assim como da diversidade cultural presente na formação de professores indígenas. Compreendemos, que a formação de professores indígenas em Ciências da Natureza, exerce papel chave para que a área de Ensino de Ciências colabore com os projetos de autossustentação e autodeterminação dos povos indígenas, daí a importância de se conhecer como está a produção científica sobre o tema. Verificamos que o campo de formação de professores indígenas é novo no Brasil e, mais especificamente, as investigações sobre a formação de professores indígenas em Ciências da Natureza.

Coherence and disparity in assessment literacies among higher education staff

Assessment literacies are finding leverage, but there is little exploration of links between theory, practice and perceived understandings in higher education (HE). This article builds on and consolidates research that has taken place over ten years that evaluates assessment literacies among HE lecturers in education and science, and in staff developers, by presenting a comparative view of the data. The results indicate that there was generally a good understanding of theoretical and practical aspects of summative assessment across all groups. However, understandings of formative assessment showed little concordance between and within the groups, particularly among staff developers, but this group was better at clarifying the necessary link between formative assessment and feedback. Although education lecturers had a firmer grasp of central terminologies, in general there are still deficits in understanding about how these terms interrelate. Staff developers' relative weakness of understanding in some areas is of concern since this group shapes those who teach. These issues are exacerbated by a lack of acknowledgement that they exist, which may seriously hamper the development of both staff and students in clarifying processes they encounter daily. Basic shared understandings are required that can translate into personal, coherent assessment literacies. As a community we need to take on this task, because if we do not, as individuals, or individual groups, we will continue to have fragmented assessment literacies.

Understanding Internationalization at Home: Perspectives from the Global North and South

Internationalization at Home (IaH) has become a strategic priority in higher education research, policy and practice, although there is still a lack of conceptual clarity around its meaning and practical applications and implications. This paper aims to shed empirical insight into how this concept is understood by higher education staff. It follows a multiple-case study design to explore bottom-up understandings of IaH by 18 staff in two universities in Brazil and the UK. Findings yielded by a thematic analysis of two focus group sessions forefront three dimensions when enacting an IaH agenda: (1) the institutional or organizational side of internationalization, (2) teaching and learning aspects, and (3) personal experiences of the social actors involved in internationalization processes. Within these dimensions, four baseline features should be considered for a bottom-up understanding of IaH: institutional strategizing, international curricula, student integration, and inclusivity of IaH. Implications for future research highlight the importance of furthering empirically grounded definitions of IaH via a bottom-up and top-down development of the concept that clarifies the epistemology of equity it represents. Implications for practice point to the urge of attending to staff perceptions whilst exploring macro-, meso- and micro-contextual conditions and needs.

What’s in a name? Job title and working identity in professional services staff in higher education

ABSTRACTThere has been an increasing interest in the lived experiences of professional services staff working in the higher education sector, but little attention has been given to the role that job title plays in the shaping of working identities for this group of staff. This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of twenty members of professional services staff working in a research-intensive UK university. Job titles were important to the participants but challenges and frustrations arose, sometimes from the job titles themselves, but largely from a lack of understanding of the professional services job structure and how job titles, roles and responsibilities were understood by others within and outside the organisation. Recommendations for institutions and individuals are provided based on the findings.