Mapping the field of Higher Education Research using PhD examination reports

The PhD is the highest formal qualification and signifies a scholar’s rite of passage as a legitimate contributor of new knowledge in a field. Examiner reports make claims about what is legitimate in a thesis and what is not and thus articulate the organising principles through which participation in a field is measured. The authors analysed 39 examiners’ reports on 13 PhDs produced over a five-year period by scholars from the Higher Education Research doctoral studies programme at Rhodes University in South Africa. Drawing on aspects of Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), this study uses the dimensions of LCT:Specialisation and LCT:Semantics to explore what kinds of knowledge, skills and procedures and what kinds of knowers are validated in the field of Higher Education Research through the examination process. The study found that despite concerns in the literature about the a-theoretical nature of the Higher Education Studies field, examiners valued high-level theoretical and meta-theoretical engagement as well as methodological rigour. In addition, examiners prized the ability to demonstrate a strong ideological position, to use a clear doctoral voice, and to recognise the axiological drive of the field. The analysis showed that examiners were interested in strong contextualisation of the problem-spaces in higher education in South Africa but also commented positively on candidates’ ability to move from troubling an issue within its context to being able to abstract findings so as to contribute to the field as a whole.     

The neoliberal turn in Higher Education

Recent writing on Higher Education has seen much policy and practice attributed to the advent or impact of neoliberalism. This paper examines the origins and meaning of the term, its application to Higher Education and Higher Education research, and the issues and critique that have been raised in this context. It is argued that neoliberalism is just one more in a whole series of ‘fright terms’ used in an attempt to galvanise opposition and resistance to the current directions of Higher Education policy and practice.     

Students’ experiences of supervision in academic and industry settings: results of an Australian study

The joint supervision of Research Higher Degree (RHD) students by an industry and university supervisor is likely to increase in forthcoming years with a rise in the number of university–industry collaborations. Research students may become involved in these collaborative arrangements for a variety of reasons and may launch into their RHD without considering how they will serve two masters, and how this complex relationship will affect their RHD experience. Moreover, little research has been conducted to assess the impact of these arrangements on current RHD students’ experiences. The experiences of students with academic and industry supervisors were, therefore, explored in a survey of confirmed RHD students at an Australian research‐intensive university. This paper investigates whether RHD students conducting research in traditional academic settings have a different experience to students working on industry‐related projects in industry settings, specifically in regards to supervision and institutional access and engagement.     

Student resistance in the classroom—Functional‐instrumentalist,critical‐emancipatory and critical‐functional conceptualisations

The paper provides a systemic literature review and a typology of texts that discuss student resistance in the classroom in Higher Education. Analysing 134 empirical and conceptual studies published between 1988 and 2018 for how student resistance is conceptualised, this review identifies three approaches: functional‐instrumentalist, critical‐emancipatory and critical‐functional. Presenting the three approaches in more depth, the article points to the main tenets, like supposed reasons for and suggested ways of handling student resistance. In the final part of the analysis, the paper discusses the typology in light of the current institutional background of Higher Education, including the managerial university and ambivalences of critical education. Finally, the article offers future research directions.     

‘Maintaining competence’: a grounded theory typology of approaches to teaching in higher education

This paper presents a contingency theory of approaches to teaching in Higher Education adopted by university academics who teach heterogeneous student cohorts within a changing university context. The study is located within the substantive context of academics within Australian universities who teach within the broad field of management studies. Orthodox grounded theory is employed to generate a contingency typology comprised of four separate teaching approaches: Distancing, Adapting, Clarifying, and Relating. The model demonstrates how academics utilise a variety of teaching approaches to address their ‘main concern’, namely maintaining their professional competence within the context of a rapidly changing university landscape and significantly heterogeneous groups of students. We have labelled this process ‘Maintaining Competence’. This model stresses the importance of the twin forces of structure and individual agency in determining teaching approaches. It emphasises the value of analysing what academics actually do in the classroom situation, rather than concentrating on normative assumptions of what they should do in terms of best practice.     

External quality monitoring in the market place

Abstract

The paper presents a case‐study about the experience of leading sector‐wide change from within a national agency. This experience is analysed in relation to the literature on leadership and change and against the back‐drop of wider social, economic and political changes affecting higher education in the UK ‐ changes that have parallels in other countries. From the literature, the author draws out certain ‘principles’ about leading change and highlights the activities that were developed in practice. The case that is discussed is that of the 3‐year ‘Graduate Standards Programme’ mounted by the former Higher Education Quality Council in the UK. This Programme (the GSP) was formally set up to define and establish threshold standards for undergraduate degrees in the UK, but also sought to examine UK approaches to defining and assuring standards in the light of far‐reaching changes affecting the higher education system. Lessons about leadership, managing change and quality enhancement in an academic context are drawn out. The author concludes that ‘good process’ is more important than the static notion of ‘good practice’ when seeking to create and lead change in higher education.     

Change Readiness among Teaching Staff at Anadolu University,Turkey

Turkey’s Anadolu University is one of the world’s largest mega‐universities. It is engaged in strategic planning in response to changes in the expectations of the Turkish Higher Education Council and the community at large. In re‐examining its vision and strategic directions, Anadolu University needs to be informed on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of its teaching staff, and the systems and support needed to assure their change readiness. This article examines the literature of organizational and educational change and its implications for the university. It reports on a study based on the relevant constructs from the literature and is designed to gauge the extent and nature of teaching staff knowledge, skills, practice, and research in educational and technological change, motivating and de‐motivating factors, change adopter types, and perceptions of the organizational climate for change. It considers the implications of these findings and draws conclusions about what would be needed to improve staff readiness for change.     

‘Bunking off’: The impact of truancy on pupils and teachers

There is widespread interest in the impact of unauthorised absence on pupil attainment, links with disaffection, exclusion from school and criminality. However, little is heard about what those who take unauthorised absence from school think that the effect has been on them; nor do we hear the voices of other pupils and their teachers. This article presents evidence from a one‐year study of absence in seven local authorities in England funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It defines ‘truancy’, explores some issues from existing literature on pupil non‐attendance, and presents evidence to show the impact that absence from school has on truants, other pupils and teachers. Finally, it suggests that although the greatest impact is on the academic and socio‐psychological development of persistent absentees, the attitudes and learning of other pupils and the workload and morale of teachers are also affected.     

ORIENTATION OF RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Responding to the interest of readers of issue No.1, Vol.IV, January‐March 1979 of “Higher Education in Europe”, which had as its main topic “Higher Education in Relation to Problems of Environment”, it was decided to continue devoting some attention to these problems in later issues of the Bulletin. In this context, we present the following article, written for “Higher Education in Europe” by Mr. Victor Kolybine from the Environmental Education Section of Unesco.

We also invite other readers to write on this important topic which concerns all of us.     

Expertise and the PhD: Between depth and a flat place

Expertise is under sustained interrogation. We see it in so‐called edu‐scepticism and pessimism about graduates’ apparently diminishing employment prospects, challenges to the role of Higher Education institutions as arbiters of knowledge and post‐truth rhetoric more broadly. This paper examines how the PhD is being discursively positioned in this context. We ask what these changing conceptions of expertise, education and work mean for how PhD‐level expertise is understood. Drawing on a range of sources, from the scholarly to the wider media, we draw together five exemplar models of expertise to expose the transforming ratio between generalist, transferable skills and specialist knowledge. The evident diminution of specialisation raises numerous issues for the PhD as it is increasingly called upon to serve multiple and potentially contradictory needs: an innovation society on the one hand and the discipline on the other. Reconciling the tension between depth and breadth is an important issue for a degree whose hallmark is—or at least has been—depth.     

Developing sustainability-literate citizens through outdoor learning: possibilities for outdoor education in Higher Education

UNESCO's challenge to Higher Education institutions to provide educational leadership in sustainable development, provides an impetus to develop innovative, interdisciplinary curricula and pedagogy. Whereas Higher Education curricula in sustainability and sustainable development have tended to come from the environmental sciences, recent studies have highlighted the need for more holistic, experiential, interdisciplinary approaches. As a pedagogical approach, outdoor learning may have something to offer since it lends itself to holistic and experiential learning and enables integration of knowledge and skills from a range of discipline areas. Outdoor and environmental education research suggests that educational experiences in outdoor settings can be significant in developing environmental sensitivity and knowledge. Such knowledge and attitudes are components of ecological literacy and, more recently, sustainability literacy. This paper considers how outdoor experiential pedagogy might contribute to the current sustainability education agenda. It focuses on Higher Education since this sector has the obligation and the capability of instigating a 'ripple' effect' in developing sustainability-literate citizens. It discusses possibilities and issues arising from a review of outdoor, environmental and sustainability education literature, particularly, but not exclusively, from the UK. The paper is a precursor to an empirical study into how outdoor learning might contribute to the development of sustainability-literate graduates.     

From schools to Higher Education – neoliberal agendas and implications for autonomy

Neoliberal agendas have acted to limit the agency of groups and of individuals through both the imposition of boundaries and through setting up rigorous systems of accountability which together act to codify behaviours. Such systems do not so much remove freedom as influence conceptions about the alternatives available. In this article we outline the English educational policy context and the pressures placed upon first primary schools and then Higher Education establishments, considering the extent to which accountability and an emphasis on the needs of the individual impact on leadership behaviours in schools and upon academic freedoms in Higher Education. Boundaries to individual or group agency are explored drawing together lessons about the limits on professionals in these two situations.     

It is better to light a candle than to ban the darkness: government led academic development in Saudi Arabian universities

At first glance, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s current multi-billion dollar investment in its social sector, especially in setting up new schools and universities, seems to have as its primary aim the preparation of the Kingdom for a future that is not dependent on its oil resources which are predicted to run out in less than a 100 years. However, there is another consideration that warrants examination in the current context. KSA is also positioning itself to assume a dominant role firstly among the Gulf countries, secondly in the Arabic world and thirdly globally. The two ambitions are obviously intertwined but are likely to have distinct impacts on the international academy. To this end, the Higher education sector has seen unprecedented growth both in student numbers and infrastructure due to the expenditure of massive amounts of money. More than 13 billion dollars is pumped into education and of this Higher Education receives more than two billion annually. However, because the main concern for KSA’s Higher Education development is to maintain its Arabian base whilst striving to become internationally relevant, the funds are applied in a centrally controlled manner that aims to balance the two ambitions. In practice, the gender-based segregation is one issue that continues to be an unresolved and contested complication. This paper argues that ultimately international competitiveness is likely to be impact significantly and possibly irrevocably on Saudi cultural traditions and religion norms.     

Impact of social media use on student satisfaction in Higher Education

Social media has transformed the communication landscape for institutions of Higher Education by providing improved teaching and learning experience. However, very little is known as to whether the use of social media by Higher Education students improves their satisfaction. Grounded in social media, risk and technology acceptance literature, this paper examines Higher Education students' perceptions of social media use (SMU) and the impact of SMU on their satisfaction. Data collected from the students were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The study finds that: (1) perceived usefulness of social media has positive effect on the use of social media in student learning; (2) perceived risk of using social media discourages the use of the tool, and (3) SMU has positive effect on student satisfaction. The study further discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Non‐traditional students in Australian higher education: Persistent inequities and the new ideology of ‘student choice’

Abstract

Despite the expansion of access to Australian higher education in the past decade, the participation shares of rural and isolated people and people from lower socio‐economic backgrounds have altered little and remain unacceptably low. This paper reports findings from two national studies at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education that have examined student choices about higher education, especially the inhibiting factors still present for non‐traditional students. The discussion focuses on the dilemmas and challenges for Australian universities in balancing the adoption of entrepreneurial approaches to student recruitment with an unfinished equity agenda. The paper raises questions about the new ideology of individual choice influencing university policy and whether or not this can be reconciled with social equity objectives.     

Developing sustainability-literate citizens through outdoor learning: possibilities for outdoor education in Higher Education

UNESCO's challenge to Higher Education institutions to provide educational leadership in sustainable development, provides an impetus to develop innovative, interdisciplinary curricula and pedagogy. Whereas Higher Education curricula in sustainability and sustainable development have tended to come from the environmental sciences, recent studies have highlighted the need for more holistic, experiential, interdisciplinary approaches. As a pedagogical approach, outdoor learning may have something to offer since it lends itself to holistic and experiential learning and enables integration of knowledge and skills from a range of discipline areas. Outdoor and environmental education research suggests that educational experiences in outdoor settings can be significant in developing environmental sensitivity and knowledge. Such knowledge and attitudes are components of ecological literacy and, more recently, sustainability literacy. This paper considers how outdoor experiential pedagogy might contribute to the current sustainability education agenda. It focuses on Higher Education since this sector has the obligation and the capability of instigating a ‘ripple’ effect' in developing sustainability-literate citizens. It discusses possibilities and issues arising from a review of outdoor, environmental and sustainability education literature, particularly, but not exclusively, from the UK. The paper is a precursor to an empirical study into how outdoor learning might contribute to the development of sustainability-literate graduates.     

The use of self,peer and teacher assessment as a feedback system in a learning environment aimed at fostering skills of cooperation in an entrepreneurial context

Education is criticized for producing inert knowledge and for paying too little attention to skills such as cooperating and problem solving. Powerful learning environments have the potential to overcome these educational shortcomings. The goal of this research was to find out ways in which a ‘learning enterprise’ can best be supported (coached) in order to constitute a powerful learning environment aimed at teaching certain cooperative skills in a business context. This ‘learning enterprise’ constitutes an entrepreneurial context in which students in secondary or higher education are working together to conceptualize and eventually commercialize a product. In this research, the impact of different ways of supporting a learning enterprise will be compared. These ways are based on existing guiding principles for the design of powerful learning environments and on a further elaboration of these principles in what is conceptualized as an ‘equilibrium model’. In this model, the balances that are needed between motivating students, activating them towards self‐regulated learning, coaching, structuring and steering the learning processes have been elaborated. Based on this model a differentiation between a ‘student‐controlled’, a ‘teacher‐controlled and a ‘coached approach’, as an equilibrated way between the various approaches to coaching a learning enterprise, has been worked out. We hypothesize that the coached approach will give the best learning results in relation to cooperative skills. A combination of self, peer and teacher assessment of these skills, and an adequate feedback‐strategy based on these assessments, should be an important part of approaches used. These approaches were put into practice in a design experiment, and the impact was compared by means of a pre‐test/post‐test design. Results confirmed the postulated hypotheses that there will need to be a balance between, on the one hand giving students enough freedom for self‐discovery and self‐regulation, and on the other hand steering the students in such a way that certain problems can be avoided and that every student can get optimal learning chances. An adequate assessment‐strategy is needed to search for this balance. Further, a systematic action research of the design experiences resulted in more information on how best to coach a learning enterprise. This information has been summarized in the form of general guidelines.     

The death of a discipline or the birth of a transdiscipline: subverting questions of disciplinarity within Education Studies undergraduate courses

As non‐teacher training courses in UK higher education in Education Studies have grown and developed in recent years they have received enormous interest. All of these Education Studies degrees claim to integrate a number of disciplines using an interdisciplinary or a multidisciplinary paradigm. Traditionally the systematic integration of disciplines within courses has created a range of lenses for focusing upon issues such as in medical sociology and health. However, by their very nature, Education Studies courses are complex and influenced by a number of factors such as the socio‐economic climate, political factors, changing technologies and the contemporary views of childhood as well as the changing and evolving socio‐constructions of childhood. Currently, Education Studies courses integrate a number of disciplines to investigate the learning process in context. There is a trend for Education Studies degrees to shift between terms of disciplinarity such as multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. This paper examines the nature of Education Studies degrees and tries to provoke the debate about the mono, inter, and multidisciplinarity nature of Education Studies. The paper promulgates that Education Studies by its nature and complexity cannot seek identity with any one of these approaches. It will suggest that, given the complexity of the context it serves to match, that instead Education Studies is embedded within transdisciplinarity.     

Gender and Management in HEIs: Changing organisational and management structures

This paper reports on the second phase of a multi‐country study examining cross cultural perspectives of gender and management in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It examines the broader labour market context and legislative frameworks for higher education in each country and then analyses the literature on women in university management. The paper presents the findings of research with male and female senior managers about their perceptions of women as HEI managers within changing organisational and management structures. It concludes that although HEI’s are now largely aware of barriers to women getting into and on in senior management, they have not addressed the organisational structures and cultures that perpetuate this inequity.     

Higher Education Rankings: Evolution,Acceptance, and Dialogue

Departing from the usual ‘From the Editors' piece, Jamie Merisotis, President of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, and Jan Sadlak, Director of UNESCO‐CEPES, reflect on the content of this issue of the review. At the same time, they outline the essential developments affecting ranking systems and methodologies in higher education. These developments made up the main topic of the meeting jointly organized by the Institute for Higher Education Policy and UNESCO‐CEPES for the project “Higher Education Ranking Systems and Methodologies: How They Work, What They Do”, and held in Washington D.C., USA on 10–11 December 2004. Most of the articles presented in this issue relate to the context of the above‐mentioned meeting.