Analysing IJAD,and some pointers to futures for academic development (and for IJAD)

This paper starts by sketching International Journal for Academic Development (IJAD’s) first 20 years, its contents and concerns and staffing. Suggestions follow on future directions for both research and practice in academic development. These suggestions build in particular, but not exclusively, on reviews of and projections for academic development by my fellow founding IJAD editor Chris Knapper in this issue, Graham Gibbs (2013), and David Baume and Celia Popovic (2016). Some thoughts on the future of IJAD are added.     

Re-integrating academic development and academic language and learning: a call to reason

This paper argues for the re-integration of academic development (AD) and a academic language and learning (ALL) practitioners in Australian higher education. This argument is made as universities aim to develop internationally recognised, inter-disciplinary and standards-based curricula against the backdrop of international comparative education (e.g., Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), the Australian Qualifications Framework and a quality emphasis on English language standards (e.g., Tertiary Education Quality and Assessment Agency). Drawing on Rowland's argument that professional life in the academy has become fragmented across five fault lines ([2002]. Overcoming fragmentation in professional life: The challenge for academic development. Higher Education Quarterly, 56(1), 52–64), I propose a sixth: the pedagogical fault line between language and learning which I argue is institutionally manifest in the historical bifurcation of AD and ALL practitioners in the academy. This paper traces the historical separation of these two fields of practice in Australian higher education in order to disturb the present distinction and show how it is more an accident of history than the result of sound pedagogical decision-making. The paper argues that in the current educational context, it is timely to consider a re-integration of these two aspects of the academic field. It is suggested that such a move will create research and teaching connections that develop synergies in educational development that are able to work with language and learning simultaneously.     

两次学术革命与研究型大学的发展

科学研究被引入大学的第一次学术革命 ,造就了研究型大学。此后科学研究这一大学(主要是研究型大学 )的社会职能逐步走向职业化和专业化 ,从“小科学”步入“大科学” ,研究型大学也由此在今天成为新知识与新经济的策源地 ,以致人们提出大学正经历着把经济发展也引为学术使命的第二次学术革命。     

Promoting academic development: a history of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED)

This essay traces the history of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED) through document analysis and email interviews with founding and prominent ICED members. It also provides a summary of the themes and locations of all the ICED conferences.     

论新建地方本科院校科研工作的可持续发展

科研工作是高校发展的基础和先导,是提高教学质量的基本途径,也是为社会服务的主渠道.新建地方本科院校相对于传统研究型大学和教学研究型大学,有其强劲的后发优势和广阔的发展空间.同时也存在科研基础薄弱、科研经费严重不足、缺乏国家教育政策扶持等问题.因此,新建地方本科院校的科研工作必须强化科研意识,完善科研制度,突出地方特色,走为地方社会经济服务之路,才能保证其健康、持续的发展.     

Argumentative and trustworthy scholars: the construction of academic staff at research-intensive universities

Research-intensive universities, such as the Russell Group in the UK, the Ivy League Colleges in the USA and the Sandstone Universities in Australia, enjoy particular status in the higher education landscape. They are, however, also often associated with social elitism and selectivity, and this has led to critique as higher education systems seek to widen access. This article looks at how academic staff are discursively constructed in five such institutions in South Africa through an analysis of documentation submitted as part of a national review. Three interrelated discourses are identified: a discourse of ‘staff as scholars’ whereby research is privileged over teaching, a discourse of ‘academic argumentation’ whereby a critical disposition is valued and is called upon by academics to resist development initiatives and a discourse of ‘trust’ whereby it is assumed that academics share a value system and should thus be trusted to undertake quality teaching without interference.     

Conceptualizing impact in academic development: finding a way through

This paper explores the notion of impact in the context of academic development programs and considers how it can be described and understood. We argue that impact has a range of meanings and academic development programs such as graduate certificates have a broad group of stakeholders and hence the impact is different for each group depending on how the program aims and objectives are defined and understood. In finding a way through the difficulties of evaluating impact in academic development we point to the importance of clearly conceptualizing the notion of impact, a careful identification of the assumptions underpinning any program and an understanding of who academic development will benefit and how. We suggest that impact in academic development cannot be understood without taking account of the range of possible impacts and the difficulty of attributing simple cause and effect to a complex environment.     

Measuring the international standing of universities with an application to Australian universities

Globalisation has meant an increased demand from students, employers, and academics for indicators of the international academic standing of universities. In this paper we examine the broad methodological issues involved in measuring international academic standing and apply our conclusions to data for 38 Australian universities. Determinants of the international academic standing of universities are grouped into six broad categories: standing of academic staff, quality of undergraduate intake, quality of undergraduate programs, quality of graduate programs, resources, and peer opinion. The relative importance of each of these attributes is ascertained though a worldwide survey of university presidents, rectors and vice-chancellors plus Australian deans, thus reducing the need for subjective weighting by the researchers. The empirical findings are used to weight quantitative performance data for Australian universities and the results compared with two other recent worldwide rankings of universities.     

试析美国研究型大学基层学术组织模式

美国研究型大学基层学术组织是以学科为基础的独立的、自主的学术组织。其组织规模主要根据教学科研任务的需要来决定。其内部管理以教授统治为主,采取的是少数服从多数的决策机制。总结和归纳美国研究型大学基层学术组织的现状与改革动向,对于探讨我国研究型大学未来的改革重点与方向具有重要的借鉴意义。     

高校学科带头人队伍建设研究

学科带头人不仅是高校实现培养人才、科学研究和服务社会职能的支柱力量,更是高水平大学和创新型国家建设的重要方面军。通过对30年来学科带头人队伍重要性、存在问题及原因分析等主要议题的研究,未来应在如何科学界定学科带头人、选拔培养高层次学科带头人、构建学科团队机制、优化学科科研环境、完善评价体系等方面进行探索。     

Impacts of organisational culture on academic efficiency and productivity in selected private universities in the Niger delta region of Nigeria

Organisational efficiency is a consistent quality that derives more from and thrives on strong internal culture than on isolated instances of timely and effortless accomplishments by corporate systems. This study sought to evaluate the relationship between organisational culture and enhanced productivity and efficiency among members of five universities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which with its peculiarities provided a unique context for the study. The quantitative and qualitative methods were used for data collection among 104 respondents. Faculty were assessed on the direct impacts of their organisations' culture on their research and publication, creativity and innovativeness, among others, while students were assessed on learning, career prospects and others. The study suggested that most of the five universities had no well-articulated organisational culture. This significantly compromises their unique value addition to the educational system, implying that they risk losing their relative advantages unless they fortify their organisational cultural frontiers.     

Organisational culture and values and the adaptation of academic units in Australian universities

This study explores connections between the organisational culture and values of academic units in Australian universities and their efforts to adapt to external environmental pressures. It integrates empirical findings from case studies with theories of organisational culture and values and adaptation. It identifies seven dimensions of academic unit’s organisational culture and values that influenced how case study academic units adapted. Then patterns of heterogeneity and homogeneity within these dimensions are noted and their associations with different modes of adaptation are discussed.     

Examining the public face of academic development

Language is an important way of presenting an identity, either individual or group. This paper explores the language used in the presentation of the identity of academic development. The study is based on an analysis of websites from academic development centres in the UK and Australia and outlines the public ways in which academic developers present their work and the meanings that are attached to this presentation. It uses frame theory to analyse the language of academic development websites in order to explore some of the assumptions underpinning the public face of academic development. It explores the ways in which language is used to frame and persuade in order to establish the credibility of academic development as an expert and scholarly field.     

Theory development and application in higher education research: the case of academic drift

This article examines the case of academic drift, as an example of a theory developed and applied within higher education research. It traces the origins and meaning of the term, reviews its application by higher education researchers, and discusses the issues it raises and the critiques it has attracted. It concludes that academic drift is at the heart of the long-standing liberal/vocational education debate, so is likely to continue to attract attention. The contemporary application of this theoretical framework also illustrates both the tendency for researchers to re-invent similar ideas in different times and places, and to ignore or overlook the work of some researchers whilst acknowledging that of others.     

Learning in academia is more than academic learning: action research in academic practice for and with medical academics

Academic learning traditionally involves research, and the production of journal papers, books, etc. ‘Learning in academia’ refers to academics becoming more skilful in what they do. It is what legal or medical clinicians would refer to as continuing professional education (or development) (CPE/D) which, by analogy, invokes the notion of CPE in academic practice. Action research and reflective practice through action learning processes in a graduate programme in higher education are used to promote such learning. Participants are mid‐career medics.

Five themes stand out: mapping the terrain to be addressed; creating the required ‘space for learning’; keeping projects confined in scope; assessment and the shift in emphasis from ‘content’ to ‘process’; and, achieving a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Many attributes of threshold concepts are evident, but conceiving of learning as progress along a continuum rather than crossing a singular threshold is favoured. Issues to do with promulgating CPE/D in academia, identity construction, rethinking learning, and universities are briefly addressed.     

Deliberative academic development: the potential and challenge of agency

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore possibilities and challenges for deliberative academic development. Deliberative academic development refers to a practice that engages members of the university in dialogue about its purposes, ways of organizing and leading higher education, as well as teaching and learning. The paper critically analyses data from focus group interviews with academic developers from four universities within two national contexts. Combining sociological conceptualizations of agency and the framework of ‘epistemic living spaces’, the paper offers insights into challenges and opportunities for deliberative academic development, as well as a framework for studying agency in other contexts.     

对我国学术期刊国际化发展的一点思考

21世纪的期刊出版市场竞争格局发生了巨大变化，科技学术期刊面临更严峻的考验，同时也为其走向世界提供了发展机遇。机遇与挑战共存，学术科技期刊任重道远，要尽快建立适应市场经济条件的、适应改革开放和国际化发展的新型办刊模式，求生存，谋发展。     

Identifying teaching groups as a basis for academic development

Academic development recognizes the strengths of communities, such as communities of practice or learning communities, in providing academics with supportive environments for the development of teaching. The problem academic development faces is that not enough academics are involved in these communities. Instead of trying to interest academics in joining communities, this research looks at the existing contexts around academics, which it refers to as ‘teaching groups’. It is proposed that every academic involved in teaching belongs to at least one teaching group, formed by colleagues teaching in the same course, degree or subject and that teaching groups form relevant contexts for engagement with teaching. The research investigates how teaching groups compare to communities and finds that less than half of teaching groups named by participants have strong community characteristics, indicating large space for improvement in the remaining majority of groups. The suggestion is made that identifying teaching groups across an institution might provide a promising starting point for engaging a majority of academics and working with these academics towards increased interaction on teaching in open and trusting collegial atmospheres.     

学风建设:大学可持续发展的永恒主题

加强学风建设,是大学落实科学发展观、实现可持续发展的永恒主题。追求真理、强化学术自由与学术责任、服务社会发展和张扬个性,是大学学风建设的题中应有之义。加强大学学风建设,应该用大学精神去激励,用道德教育去引导,用大学制度去规范,用校园文化去陶冶,并注重把握好大学学风建设的学、思、用、创四个关键环节。     

Lessons learned: towards a framework for integration of theory and practice in academic development

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I describe an approach to the integration of theory and practice at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational levels. The results of the research projects in which I have been involved over the last ten years are used to illustrate how these three levels have facilitated the identification of three tensions. These tensions together create a framework that can help academic developers better understand how to approach the challenges of advocating for the integration of higher education theory with academic practice in their own institutional environments, and how this integration is linked to existing higher education literature.