Fair contest or elite sponsorship? Entry settlements in Australian higher education

Significant change to Australian higher education occurred between March, 1987 and March, 1996, under the direction of a Federal Labor Government. At one level, the period witnessed an increase in the provision of higher education and variation in the criteria used to grant student entry. Such change represented a crisis in higher education's traditional or 'qualified-entry' settlement which led to its resettling around a more 'diversified-entry' arrangement. The organising logic of this diversified-entry was characterised by the discourses of 'contest' (fairness in competition) rather than 'sponsorship' (selection by association), although the latter appears to have been just better 'hidden'.

More towards the centre : searching for field position for student equity in Australian higher education

The field of Australian higher education has changed, is changing and is about to change, as it is repositioned in relation to other ‘fields of power’. It is a sector now well defined by its institutional groupings – the Go8, the IRUs, the ATN and the rest – and by their relative claims to selectivity and exclusivity, with every suggestion of their differentiation growing. Even within these groupings there are distinctions and variations. Moreover, Australian universities now compete within an international higher education marketplace, ranked by THES and Shanghai Jiao Tiong league tables. ‘Catchment areas’ and knowledge production have become global. And the potential of a ‘joined‐up’ tertiary education system, of VET and universities, will rework relations within Australian higher education, as will lifting the volume caps on university student numbers. In sum, Australian universities (and agents within them) are positioned differently in the field, although not in the stable relations imagined by Pierre Bourdieu in the France of the 1960s. And being so variously and variably placed, institutions and agents have different stances available to them, including the positions they can take on student equity. In this paper I begin from the premise that our current shared stance on this has been out‐positioned. Nation‐bound proportional representation loses its equity meaning when the Australian elite send their children to Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge. The same could also be said, and has been, about equity representations by region, institution, discipline and degree. What then, also, for a new national research centre with a focus on student equity and higher education, for its research agenda and positioning in the field? What stance can it take on student equity that will resonate on a national and even international scale? And, given a global field of higher education, what definitions of equity and propositions for policy and practice can it offer? What will work in the pursuit of equity?

Competition or collaboration: policies and practices in international higher education

Universities in the twenty-first century experience numerous competing drivers that shape their sense of purpose and role in society, their perspectives of knowledge and its production and their overall sense of being in the world. One major force is marketplace discourse, in particular neo-liberalism and competition, which is discordant with the discourse of academic collaboration and collegial sharing. This review essay examines what it means to ‘be’ a university in light of these overarching discourses and what is envisioned for universities of the future.

Concepts and factors influencing independent learning in IS higher education

The concepts of independent learning (IL), self-directed learning (SDL) and self-regulated learning (SRL) have been widely used in relation to students’ learning success. Often, these terms are interrelated and used interchangeably in the literature with regards to students’ learning process. The purpose of this paper is (1) to promote conceptual clarity by having clear definitions of SRL, SDL and IL and (2) to provide a review of research related to the development of students’ SRL at higher education particularly in the context of Information Systems studies. The findings from the literature reveal that mastering the process self-regulation progressively leads to self-directed and independent learning. The literature review on SRL reveals that students’ academic self-regulation is influenced by their personal processes such as cognitive knowledge and motivational beliefs and also external processes such as lecturers and instructions in higher education.

Towards a southern theory of student equity in Australian higher education : enlarging the rationale for expansion

Student equity in Australian higher education is a numbers game. While university student recruitment departments focus on ‘bums on seats’, equity advocates draw attention to which bums, in what proportions and, more to the point, which seats, where. But if the counting of ‘bums’ is crude, so is the differentiation of seats. Just distinguishing between courses and universities and scrutinizing the distribution of groups is a limited view of equity. This paper proposes an expanded conception for student equity and an enlarged regard for what is being accessed by students who gain entry to university. Drawing on Connell’s notion of ‘southern theory’, the paper highlights power/knowledge relations in higher education and particularly for ‘southerners’: those under-represented in universities, often located south of cut-off scores, and whose cultural capital is similarly marginalised and discounted. The paper concludes that taking account of marginalized forms of knowledge requires thinking differently about what higher education is and how it gets done.

Transformative learning and international students negotiating higher education

This chapter aims to explore the theory of transformative learning as a possible explanation for the changes international students make in their journey to negotiate higher education. The chapter is derived from a doctoral study that involved international Chinese and Vietnamese students' adaptation to Australian higher education academic practices (Tran 2007). Within this chapter, transformative learning is viewed as a changing process in which international students construct reality through revisiting their existing assumptions and moving towards life-changing developments in their personal and professional perspectives (Cranton 2002; Mezirow 2000). It will be argued in this chapter that international students' process of negotiating higher education is a dynamic interplay between challenges and transformative power. Cross-border intercultural experiences are intimately linked to opportunities for self-transformation, and the challenging experiences that international students go through indeed foster the conditions for professional development and life-enhancing changes to take place. Given the current lack of theoretical and empirical research on the transformative power of international students, there is a critical need for more research on the transformative characteristics of international students and how best to capitalize on their potential. In this chapter, I draw on excerpts from two rounds of interviews with individual international students to illustrate the specific ways in which international students have the capacity to transform their own learning and develop life-enhancing skills. The discussion shows that they experience evolution in professional outlook, attitudes and personal qualities through the process of critical self-reflection and adaptation to disciplinary demands in higher education. The chapter also highlights the contradictions regarding the discursive practices within the current context of international education export.

Virtual worlds in Australian and New Zealand higher education: Remembering the past, understanding the present and imagining the future

3D virtual reality, including the current generation of multi-user virtual worlds, has had a long history of use in education and training, and it experienced a surge of renewed interest with the advent of Second Life in 2003. What followed shortly after were several years marked by considerable hype around the use of virtual worlds for teaching, learning and research in higher education. For the moment, uptake of the technology seems to have plateaued, with academics either maintaining the status quo and continuing to use virtual worlds as they have previously done or choosing to opt out altogether. This paper presents a brief review of the use of virtual worlds in the Australian and New Zealand higher education sector in the past and reports on its use in the sector at the present time, based on input from members of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group. It then adopts a forward-looking perspective amid the current climate of uncertainty, musing on future directions and offering suggestions for potential new applications in light of recent technological developments and innovations in the area.

The role of brand orientation in the higher education sector: a student-perceived paradigm

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived brand orientation (PBO), satisfaction, loyalty, and post-enrolment communication behaviour in the Australian higher education sector.

Design/methodology/approach
Two hundred and fifty-eight questionnaires were completed by undergraduate students of a particular university in Australia. Structural equation modeling was employed in this study to examine the associations between the constructs.

Findings
This study provides empirical evidence that PBO has a positive and significant relationship with all dependent variables. The research reveals that students' perception of a university's brand orientation is significantly related to satisfaction, loyalty, and post-enrolment communication behaviour.

Research limitations/implications
The findings may guide the key decision makers in higher education institutions to understand the importance of brand orientation in their corporate strategy to enhance satisfaction, loyalty, and positive WOM, which can be used to differentiate themselves from other institutions in the highly competitive education market.

Originality/value
Past researchers have not looked into the dynamic relationships between PBO, satisfaction, loyalty, and post-enrolment communication behaviour, and hence research is to be called for in this area. The paper is the first to examine brand orientation from the perspective of the students and provide higher education institutions with recommendations to improve service quality through brand orientation.

Learners' perceptions about the relationship between music education and generic skills development : a case study within the Australian higher education sector

A major issue emerging from the research and debate concerning quality in higher education has been an emphasis on the value of the acquisition of generic skills by undergraduate students, as indicators of quality in education. Music educators have long recognised the contribution music makes to the general education of learners. Learning in and through music can present varied and complex means for the acquisition of generic life skills such as: problem solving, decision-making, critical thinking, oral and written communication and teamwork. This paper documents one particular course of action that was implemented within a university undergraduate primary teacher education program, to systematically gauge learner perceptions about generic skill development/enhancement before and after participation in the music component of the core arts education subject.

Flexible learning in teacher education: myths, muddles and models

While there has been widespread take-up of the concept 'flexible learning' within various educational environments—and equally frequent references to the flexible 'natures' of the computer and communication technologies that often underpin flexible learning initiatives—the relationship between technologies and flexibility is not a simple one. In this paper we examine some of the more persistent myths about technologies that are intertwined with discourses of flexibility. We highlight some of the more common 'muddles' that these myths can lead us in to and argue that the 'mess' that so often results from well-intentioned moves to 'be more flexible' is largely a result of the ways that CCTs, or indeed any new educational technology or strategy, is theorized. Drawing on a recent study of online teaching and learning in higher education, we outline a new framework for examining these and related issues as they apply to teacher education.

Towards the mature ePortfolio : some implications for higher education

Electronic portfolios [ePortfolios] are a recent addition to the language of higher education. Commencing with a summary of their role from EDUCAUSE, whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology, the distinctive characteristics of ePortfolios are outlined and salient differences from conventional portfolios in terms of process and outcomes are explored. Having considered the attributes of a mature ePortfolio, the paper focuses on pedagogical and technological issues for students and staff to move to mature ePortfolios. While accepting the valuable role ePortfolios can play in higher education, and that students increasingly come to the tertiary sector with expectations and experience that appear to warrant this approach, the paper concludes that decision making in this area is not yet adequately supported by research. Educators need to be open to the promise ePortfolios offer their students and staff but be aware of the implications for their adoption.

Preparing to not to be a footballer : higher education and professional sport

In the commercialised and professionalised world of elite sport, issues associated with career pathways and post sporting career options have a particular resonance. In various football codes, an unexpected knock, twist, bend or break can profoundly impact a player's career. In this high risk and high consequence environment, a number of sports entertainment industries have instituted player development and education programmes to educate and prepare elite level performers for life after football. Drawing on Foucault's later work on governmentality and the care of the self, this paper will discuss findings from a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL). The paper presents data that suggests that, elite performers are so focused on establishing and prolonging a career as an elite performer, that other aspects of identity are seen as something to be complied with as a consequence of industry expectations. An industry emphasis on higher education raises issues for the sports industries that promote player enrolment in higher education and for the higher education institutions that must manage this lack of engagement.

Indigenous higher education student equity : focusing on what works

The rates of higher education access, participation and completion for Indigenous students are much lower than those for non-Indigenous students in Australia. This paper argues for a research-led focus on what works in terms of Indigenous  student equity in higher education. Undertaking independent evaluation of  existing initiatives and leveraging the experience of hundreds of successful Indigenous graduates, it may be possible to articulate some of the ways in which success has been, and can be, achieved, despite the challenges that face Indigenous students. In other words, it may be possible to articulate some aspects of what works for some Indigenous people in relation to higher education. A focus on articulating strategies that Indigenous individuals and communities might adopt in relation to higher education should be developed alongside the management of systemic problems through a range of means. The “successfocused” approach would provide one of a suite of approaches that may be helpful in addressing Indigenous student equity.