Analysing the quality of Australian universities’ student anti-bullying policies

ABSTRACT

Bullying has been a topic widely researched in schools and the workplace, however, comparatively there is a paucity of research into bullying among university students. This is an oversight, as bullying may also have negative consequences for university students, ranging from anxiety to suicidal ideation. Anti-bullying policies are an important part of bullying prevention and intervention, however, due to Australian Federal legislation, policies for students are not mandatory at universities. To be an effective prevention and intervention strategy, anti-bullying policies and procedures should be informative, supportive, well publicised, and student user friendly. Through analysing the anti-bullying policies and procedures from 39 Australian universities, using a 37-item analysis tool adapted from Purdy and Smith as well as thematic analysis, this study aims to determine if Australian universities are providing students with the information and support they need to be able to report bullying to their university and study in a safe environment. Both strengths and weaknesses were found in 37 individual universities’ student anti-bullying policies and procedures, as well as overall trends displayed by universities Australia-wide. The overall paucity of information and consistency, as well as the poor user-friendliness of many of the documents, highlights the need for changes to be made. Without the reform of student anti-bullying policies and procedures in Australian universities, students will be unsupported and ill-equipped to identify and report bullying. Universities will also run the risk of gaining a bad reputation and not promoting a bully-free culture for students in which to learn and socialise.     

Commercialization of research: a case study of Australian universities

Research commercialization is a crucial aspect of technological innovation and is a complex socio‐economic and technological process. This paper explores the commercialization of university research, drawing on an empirical study of the development of research commercialization by Australian universities. The study addresses three main research questions: (i) What are the recent major policy changes affecting the commercialization of university research in Australia? (ii) How much have Australian universities done in research commercialization over the past few years? (iii) What are the key barriers to the achievement of higher levels of commercialization in university research? The findings of this study show that there are two fundamental issues that universities have to address: (i) adequate financial support from governments, industries, and other stakeholders; and (ii) effective innovation management with academic entrepreneurship. Because the issues and problems covered in this study are common to many countries, the study has international applications and provides policymakers and practitioners with valuable information to assist them in the development of organizational strategies in the commercialization of innovative university research.     

Honouring the incomparable: honours in Australian universities

The Honours undergraduate degree in Australia is unlike that in most other countries. It has taken on a particular significance as a qualification, as a pathway to and a pre-requisite for direct entry into doctoral programs. This paper explores the outcomes of a study that suggests that the aims, outcomes, curriculum, pedagogical practices, purposes and enrolment patterns of Honours vary substantially across disciplines and university types. It addresses the questions about the diverse nature of Honours programs and questions what this diversity means for Australian higher education in the context where global standardisation of awards is rapidly occurring. Honours is seen variously as a qualification, an experience, or a program. These variations are discussed and it is demonstrated that Honours globally has not one, but many meanings. These meanings are often poorly understood within, and outside the academy. These multiple meanings create confusion about what Honours stands for and inhibit communication about the role and purpose of Honours both within Australia and in a global context.     

Similarity grouping of Australian universities

The Unified National System of Australian Universities was created out of universities, institutes of technology and colleges of advanced education. In this study similarity clustering of universities within this system is attempted based on two data sets: one based on evaluative ratings and the other on quantitative performance indicators. With the exception of three traditional universities that tended to cluster together across data sets no consistent clustering emerged. Within data sets there was no tendency for the emergent clusters to reflect the origins of the institutions in any consistent manner. It is suggested that the Unified National System has not reduced diversity.     

International education in Australian universities: Concepts and definitions

This paper explores the trend towards a decentred social organization of learning that has become evident over the last 30–40 years. This is illustrated by the shifting imagery of education, from the red brick school to dispersed learning networks, or ‘learning bubbles’, that constitute new learning spaces. In the context of our large funded research project that aims to assess new learning spaces, we problematize this decentring of education and consider theoretical social and spatial resources that help us to understand this shift in the social organization of learning. We draw these insights together as suggestions for framing a socio‐spatial research agenda and the key themes that help us to interrogate decentring and the emergence of new learning spaces, how these trends are manifest in educational practices, and the implications for affective learning, learners and their life chances.     

对新时期高校学生社团建设的几点思考

随着高等教育改革的不断深入,日益蓬勃发展的大学生社团在校园文化建设、素质教育以及学生自我教育、自我管理、自我服务中发挥着越来越重要的作用。但学生社团建设也存在一些有待解决的问题。     

提高质量：关于高校发展学生党员的思考

提高高校发展学生党员质量,要结合学校的具体工作实践．从完善制度、明确标准、注重培养、强化教育、加强管理等几个方面展开。     

Instruments for obtaining student feedback: a review of the literature

This paper reviews the research evidence concerning the use of formal instruments to measure students’ evaluations of their teachers, students’ satisfaction with their programmes and students’ perceptions of the quality of their programmes. These questionnaires can provide important evidence for assessing the quality of teaching, for supporting attempts to improve the quality of teaching and for informing prospective students about the quality of course units and programmes. The paper concludes by discussing several issues affecting the practical utility of the instruments that can be used to obtain student feedback. Many students and teachers believe that student feedback is useful and informative, but for a number of reasons many teachers and institutions do not take student feedback sufficiently seriously.     

Collecting student feedback: a comparison of questionnaire and other methods

A study was conducted comparing the feedback received from students about teaching obtained using different instruments. Twelve first‐ and second‐year undergraduate modules were selected from seven different schools within a single university. Students studying each module were allocated to ‘questionnaire’ and ‘comparator’ groups. ‘Questionnaire’ students completed the standard end‐of‐module questionnaire, whilst ‘comparator’ groups evaluated the modules using ‘rapid feedback’, ‘H form’, focus group and reflective diary methods. The responses of 335 students to questionnaires were compared with those of 160 using the other methods; no results were obtained from the reflective diary students. Only a minority of the issues raised by students using the comparator methods were covered by the questionnaire, and the comparator methods showed different rankings of the issues in common. The key difference between questionnaire and comparator methods was the use of closed and open questions respectively, with comparator methods being more appropriate for formative evaluation.     

Reputation and reality: ranking major disciplines in Australian universities

League tables that rank universities may use reputational measures, performance measures, or both. Each type of measure has strengths and weaknesses. In this paper, we rank disciplines in Australian universities both by reputation, using an international survey of senior academics, and with actual performance measures. We then compare the two types of measures to see how closely they match. The criterion we use for both sets of measures is ‘international academic standing’. We find a high correlation between the survey results and the various measures of research performance. We also find a correlation between the quality of student intake and the survey rankings, but the satisfaction levels of recent graduates do not correlate well with the rankings by academics. We then construct an overall measure of performance, which gives very similar rankings to the survey results, especially for the top-ranked institutions.

谈高校学生管理工作的创新

学生管理工作是高校管理工作的重要组成部分,在新时期,搞好学生管理工作要针对学生的新特点,创造性地开展工作。     

Management development in Australian colleges and universities

Management development is a relatively recent concern in Australian higher education. Historically, management of colleges was deemphasized; instead, a gentlemen's approach to academic governance has predominated. Recently, as a result of an emerging administrative crisis, colleges and universities have started experimenting with new approaches to management. This article explores the applicability of a general management development model to the Australian context. The model, which identifies a dynamic relationship between the structural characteristics of an institution and its management needs, was developed from research on American colleges and universities. Based on the analysis of three case studies the model appears applicable to the Australian setting, especially for large and complex institutions which confront simultaneous pressures to develop the planning and management capability in basic units, and to increase coordination and planning at the institutional level.     

创造教育:高校学生工作的灵魂

创造教育理念及其原则,在高校学生工作中具体体现和贯彻于思想教育、日常管理和社团活动等三个方面;要引导学生确立科学、全面的创造观,正确处理创造能力的培养与基础知识的学习和行为规范的养成之间的关系,把对学生的创造教育与全面发展的教育有机地结合起来。     

保持高校学生干部队伍先进性的探讨

保持高校学生干部队伍的先进性具有深远的现实意义。保持学生干部队伍先进性应加强学生干部思想政治素质的培养,突出学生党员的模范带头作用,夯实干部的群众基础,推进学生干部队伍的制度建设,建立有效的监督机制,正视学生干部中的违纪现象。     

An approach to assign individual marks from a team mark: the case of Australian grading system at universities

This study uses a new approach to assign individual marks from a team mark using individual contributions to a teamwork product. A team member’s contribution to a teamwork product, in the form of an individual weighting factor, is calculated using team members’ co‐assessment. A comparison of the proposed approach with existing methods has been discussed with the help of a typical teamwork example. The approach has been refined to make it applicable for the Australian grading system at universities. It has been implemented in a large undergraduate engineering course to observe its effectiveness in practice. The results show that the method encourages teamwork, penalises below‐average contributions and rewards above‐average contributions. An analysis of a students’ perception survey shows that students prefer the approach over alternative approaches.     

针对高校学生管理工作中创新的分析

社会在发展、时代在进步。教育教学管理工作的开展也应该顺应时代的变化而变化。在进行高校学生管理的过程中,应该基于新时代教育形式的发展需求,制定合理的管理方针。针对现代高校管理工作采取创新管理路径,提高高校学生管理工作创新的能力及管理效果。