Disciplining writing: the case for multi‐disciplinary writing groups to support writing for publication by higher degree by research candidates in the humanities,arts and social sciences

This article addresses multi‐disciplinary writing groups in supporting writing for publication for higher degree by research candidates in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Drawing on focus group discussions with postgraduate research students from the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Australia who participated in the writing groups, it investigates the participants’ perceptions of the multi‐disciplinary nature of the groups and some of the benefits of sharing writing with fellow postgraduate research students from different fields of study. Discussing both the strengths and weaknesses of the multi‐disciplinarity of the groups as identified by participants, the authors suggest that such groups can provide a forum for postgraduates to develop their ‘professional’ academic identity and develop their writing beyond the context of their theses and can have some unexpected benefits to participants’ sense of themselves as disciplinary proponents. The multi‐disciplinary context is thus considered as providing a level playing field in which postgraduates may approach the writing process as a shared methodology, encompassing a suite of specialised but generic skills that cross‐disciplinary boundaries.     

The research-teaching nexus from the Portuguese academics’ perspective: a qualitative case study in a school of social sciences and humanities

This paper reports on a study conducted as part of an action-research project—INTEGRA I&E—aiming to promote the research and teaching (R&T) nexus at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of a Research University in Lisbon, Portugal (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, ISCTE-IUL). This study set out to investigate a multi-informant perspective of the academics’ rhetoric (conceptions, perception of barriers/facilitators and consequences) concerning the nexus, which can be considered at different levels of the curricular and organizational structure. Focus groups were conducted with 26 professors and 8 researchers from six different disciplinary areas and, afterwards, recorded and transcribed. A content analysis was used to categorize and quantify participants’ responses. Four themes emerged: practices linking R&T, barriers, facilitators and consequences of the nexus. Different levels of analysis were identified for each theme, namely, the level of ISCTE-IUL, Research Centers, Departments, Courses and Classes. Some disciplinary differences were also encountered. This study contributes with a multi-informant and multi-level perspective of academics’ conceptions of the R&T nexus in a Portuguese research-oriented university.     

A policy trajectory analysis of the internationalisation of Chinese humanities and social sciences research (1978–2020)

Since the Reform and Opening-up in 1978, science and technology research has long been regarded as an engine for China’s modernisation. Comparatively, humanities and social sciences (HSS) research has been overlooked in national policy for a long period. Although China’s science and technology research has gained global prominence, its HSS research remains less visible in the world. This article reviews the policy trajectory of internationalising Chinese HSS research from 1978 to 2020. It identifies changing and unchanged tensions along the policy trajectory, explores the dynamics between the internationalisation and indigenisation (‘Chinalisation’) of HSS, and reveals a hybridisation of ideological openness and vigilance in Chinese HSS research. Based on the examination of those tensions, this article discusses the shifted power paradigm in Chinese HSS, the connotation and challenges of ‘Chinalisation’, and the tensions between national policies, institutional implementation and individual practices.     

Why change? A practitioner's perspective on why and how universities tackle organisational change (or don't)

ABSTRACT

Over a number of years, universities have needed to become more adept at managing change as internal and external factors affect their longer term financial sustainability. That sustainability is, for many institutions, closely linked to how straightforward (or otherwise) it is to recruit student numbers of the right quality from often diverse markets. However, the scale of a university's financial challenge isn't always enough on its own to dictate how bravely an institution drives its change agenda, nor the nature and pace of change.     

Conflicting perceptions and complex change: promoting web‐supported learning in an arts and social sciences faculty

This article discusses the processes and outcomes of an attempt to encourage academic staff to use a web‐supported learning package in a UK post‐1992 university. The researcher adopts an ‘insider’ approach to research, drawing on participant observation, an analysis of policy documents and a small number of semi‐structured interviews. The view of organisations as forming unitary ‘cultures’ that can be easily transformed, evident in some literatures on managing change, is critiqued. Instead, the existence of diverse cultures within universities is acknowledged, and conflict between groups is viewed as a useful method of problem solving. While no dramatic increase in the numbers of staff using the new technology was observed in the first year of implementation, the research suggests this is viewed not as a failure but indicative of the incremental and complex process of change within higher education institutions.     

Sisters’ stories: a psychosocial perspective on families,peers and social class in resistance and conformity to education

This article places identification at the centre of a discussion about sisters, families, shaky class locations, and resistance and conformity towards schooling. Drawing on ideas from group psychology, and placing sisters centre stage, it seeks to shed light on some of the push and pull of unconscious processes and flows of affect across and between generations and groups, and their place in the educational identifications of working‐class girls.     

Who benefits from tuition-free,top-quality universities? Evidence from Brazil

This paper investigates the long-term impact on earnings of attending a tuition-free, top-quality university in Brazil. We identify the causal effect through a sharp discontinuity in an admission process based on test scores. If admitted, low-income students are found to increase their earnings by 26% ten years later. However, admission has a small and insignificant effect on high-income students. The difference between income groups is not explained by educational attainment, program choice, or selection into better-paying jobs. The evidence suggests that most low-income applicants, if not admitted, still graduate from college but with much lower returns to education. High-income applicants who just miss the cutoff, however, can find other opportunities such that earnings trajectories are unchanged. Our results underscore the role of affordable higher education in promoting social mobility.     

Who governs? Academic decision-making in US four-year colleges and universities, 2000–2012

This study compares the explanatory power of two models of academic governance: dual and managerial control. The research is based on characterizations by chief academic officers of the primary decision-makers involved in 13 types of recurrent academic decisions. We examine change between responses to surveys fielded to US four-year colleges and universities in 2000 and 2012. We find limited support for the dual control and the managerial control models in both years. As an alternative to the two dominant conceptual models, we develop an empirically grounded classification based on multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. In each year we find high faculty participation and management-dominant clusters. The other identified clusters do not map well onto either of the two dominant conceptual models. Given these results, we argue that configurational analysis should be used as a supplement to future studies monitoring the incidence of dual and managerial control in academic governance.     

An immanent social class effect on participation in higher education? A rejoinder to Harrison and Waller

This article responds to criticisms, put forward by Harrison and Waller in this issue, of an earlier paper by Noble and Davies. In particular, we argue that our interpretation of earlier quantitative research is correct, that Harrison and Waller have misconstrued the purpose of our previous paper and the analysis it contains, and that they (mis‐)attribute to us a series of propositions and standpoints that are not in our paper. In the light of increasing policy interest in the extent to which providing information can lead to ‘more well‐informed choices’ about participation in higher education, we remain of the view that researching the role of cultural capital in the students’ immanent choices is a matter of considerable importance.     

Unemployment in South Africa on the rise: Are schools and universities to blame?

Abstract

Some critics have placed the blame for the rise in unemployment in South Africa at the doorstep of schools and universities since they are the initial formal education providers. This article argues that the notion that initial formal education should prepare the youth for the job market overlooks the core business of schools and universities, and the fact that the job market is not static. The article contends that schools and universities are there to prepare learners for life in all its spheres, through the development of literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills. It attempts to put into perspective the breadth and depth of initial formal education as a foundation for life in its entirety, not just for labour. It argues that the said skills enable the youth to access the wealth of knowledge locked up in texts that attempt to explain the wide spectrum of human experience and possibilities. These skills are taught within broad contexts of specific study fields that open job and service provision opportunities in the labour market. The article maintains that in cases where initial education institutions had adequate resources to accomplish their role, South African education has earned international recognition and its graduates have accessed job markets both in South Africa and internationally. It further identifies possible causes of the perceived current high rate of unemployment among the youth of South Africa, for example, the economic climate of the country and the legacy of inequalities in educational provisioning among others.

The article concludes that the popular criticism that universities operate as ivory towers has long become a cliché, since universities, apart from the conventional academic and professional qualification programmes they offer, also provide a variety of career-specific short programmes for people already in employment.     

Admission path,family structure and outcomes in Ghana’s public universities: evidence from KNUST students enrolled in the social sciences

At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, first year enrolment increased by 1466.81% from 708 in 1961/1962 to 11,093 in 2011. In the 2013/2014 academic year, the total student population was 45,897. There are now five main admission paths, comprising regular, mature, fee paying, less endowed, and protocol/staff admissions. The number of dropouts and fails has risen steeply, for example, at the end of the 2013/2014 academic year, roughly 22.11% of the 1239 students were either withdrawn or repeated at the Faculty of Social Sciences due to non-performance. This paper examined the impact of the admission path and family structure on university students’ academic outcomes. A logistic model was applied to individual-level data obtained from 1000 students enrolled at the Faculty of Social Sciences in the university. The results indicated that the regular and mature admission paths have a positive impact on performance whilst the fee-paying admission path has a significant negative influence on academic performance. It was also found that the family structure (living with the father and mother and the mother only) has a significant positive influence on performance. The study recommended that lecturers should be motivated to conduct additional classes for academically weak students. Counselling units should also identify students who experienced disruption in home life and raise their aspirations.     

Bringing universities to account? Exploring some global and local policy tensions

Increased accountability is at the centre of widespread educational reforms which feature the rhetoric of deregulation in many countries across the globe. Not only have educational systems, institutions and practitioners been required to be more accountable, but arguably the nature of accountability has also changed from professional and democratic to managerial and market forms. In particular, within the hegemonic discourses of the market ideology associated with globalization, market accountability to paying customers (both within a nation-state and internationally) has been foregrounded. However, the hegemony is not complete. Governments have often positioned themselves as ‘market managers’, creating a complex and often contradictory relationship between new forms of market and managerial accountability, layered on top of more traditional notions of professional and democratic accountability. This paper explores the changing nature of accountability in Australian and English higher education, and makes comparisons between them. As we enter the twenty-first century, central higher education authorities in both countries are conducting major reviews and revisionings of mechanisms to enhance the accountability of universities in the new global knowledge-based economy. While the analysis finds convergence of policy objectives and discourses, it also finds divergences in the particular structures and processes employed. Further, it finds a disjunction between macro-level policy intent and institutional-level reactions and practices in both countries. We argue that with globalization ‘talk’, it is important not to gloss over policy differences between individual nation-states, and to problematize potentially globalizing concepts such as accountability within policy debates at both national and global levels.     

Business as usual? Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to research,development and innovation (RDI) activities of universities of applied sciences

Universities of applied sciences (UAS) have a strong mandate to carry out research, development and innovation (RDI) activities in collaboration with local stakeholders. Geographical proximity is one of the key factors for the creation and success of RDI activities because of the positive balance between costs and benefits of local knowledge transfer, but they also depend on the networks of individual staff members. This paper aims to explore how maintaining and developing purpose-built and individual RDI partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed. An enhanced conceptual framework for assessing contextual dimensions of the RDI activities beyond academic entrepreneurship as business ventures has been developed. The paper focuses on a single case study drawing on semi-structured research interviews investigating how the swap to remote working have affected RDI activities at Tampere University of Applied Sciences, one of the biggest UAS in Finland with intense regional linkages. The contribution of the study is twofold; firstly, the paper introduces an expanded theoretical approach for assessing the external and internal factors having an impact on the RDI activities beyond academic entrepreneurship. Secondly, by testing the proposed framework, it shares insights and good practices derived from empirical evidence, namely binary data and semi-structured interviews revealing experiences of RDI personnel and project managers involved with different phases of RDI process, for optimising high-quality innovation support, knowledge transfer activities and co-creation of new knowledge in exceptional circumstances.

     

Does a formal wiki event contribute to the formation of a network of practice? A social capital perspective on the potential for informal learning

Informal learning in blended and online settings plays an increasingly important role in the continuous professional development of individuals. Yet, how do individuals engage into these types of activities? We argue that social capital theory can provide valuable insights into how people behave and decide to take part in (in)formal learning. Using social network analysis, we provide empirical evidence on an informal learning activity, where participants collaboratively created knowledge on wiki sites on a predefined set of topics. Our results show that there are three types of active participants in these types of informal learning activities, namely leaders, collaborators and lone editors. These findings provide valuable insights for other, similar activities that aim at enhancing the professional development of individuals.     

C — Past, present, and future — A perspective

This article looks at the development of the C language from its inception to the present day. The salient features of the language, which are of importance both historically as well as from the point of view of the industry, are brought out. Also, the impact of C as a cross-platform developmental language is highlighted.