Are you overpaying your academic executive team? A method for detecting unmerited academic executive compensation

University tuition fees and student debt have risen in part due to rapid expansion of university administration compensation. This study provides a novel methodology for detecting inappropriate executive compensation within universities. The usefulness of academic ideas is openly ranked using the h-index. By comparing the ratio of academic executive pay to their h-index a dollar per value of academic impact can be found. If the university compensation system is appropriately calibrated, the impact/$ increases with faculty rank and continues to improve into the executive team. Analysis is provided for vice presidents of research of the ten largest state universities in America. The results suggest that 50% of these public universities are overcompensating their executives. A case study is presented of the most egregious discrepancy around compensation of >$3.1 million/year. The methodology was shown to be a quick and inexpensive way to ascertain if further investigation is necessary at an individual university.     

Relational pedagogy for student engagement and success at university

The Australian Government’s policy to transform higher education by 2020 includes plans to significantly raise the levels of undergraduate enrolment by people of low socio-economic status. In light of this policy direction, this article examines how a group of undergraduate students of low socio-economic status work to maintain their desire for learning and to remain included in the university system despite experiencing cultural processes of exclusion. As the students reflect on the cultural and pedagogical conditions that promote, support and enhance their participation and engagement in higher education, a picture emerges of the importance of students’ relationships with academics. Whilst positive relationships help students to remain engaged, negative experiences work against continuing participation and engagement. Given the desire of the Australian government to increase participation in higher education by students from under-represented groups, this research identifies some challenges and possibilities for both universities and academics.     

The development of one teacher's understanding of practitioner research in a multi-ethnic primary school

This article is an attempt to describe the development of my understanding of the purpose of practitioner research over the first 4 years of a project leading to a PhD. It tells the story of the evolution of my thinking, from an initial focus on the curriculum and the children's unsophisticated thinking about race as the source of the problem, to a more self-critical stance, in which I saw ‘whiteness’ as an important factor in structuring the children's experiences of schooling. Thus, the early outward focus of the research – the children, and their response to the curriculum – was replaced by an inward focus – on my own attitudes and actions as a white teacher, and the effect they have on the children I teach. The article argues that teachers should have the opportunity to reflect on aspects of their practice in this way as an integral part of their professional development.     

Patriotism in British schools: teachers’ and students’ perspectives

Because there are good arguments both for and against loving one’s country, patriotism should be taught as a controversial issue in schools. But is this pedagogical approach practically viable in the British educational context? Here we report on a small‐scale survey of teachers and students in secondary schools and show that their perspectives and practices are highly compatible with our recommended approach.     

Editing an African scholarly journal

African scholarly publishing faces multiple challenges in a vast continent where scholars themselves are handicapped by poor facilities and often find it difficult to publish in scholarly journals abroad. The Journal of Social Development in Africa attempts to meet these challenges by offering a dedicated service to scholars, improved reviewing practices, marketing on the Internet, expanding email communication, and by attempting to collaborate and network with similar publishers in Africa and abroad.     

Foreign Communication

Australia, Henry Mayer reports on ten recent publications

COMMUNICATIONS LAW AND POLICY IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: EXPERIENCES & REFLECTIONS (International Law Institute, 1330 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036 price not given, paper)

JAPANESE COMMUNICATION STUDIES OF THE 1970S: BIBLIOGRAPHIC ABSTRACTS OF STUDIES PUBLISHED ONLY IN JAPANESE compiled by Hayato Yamanaka, et al. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986—price not given, paper)

DEVELOPMENT AS COMMUNICATION: A PERSPECTIVE ON INDIA by Uma Narula and W. Barnett Pearce (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986—$19.95)

COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MASS MARKET IN CANADA by Barry Lesser and Louis Vagianos (Brookfield, VT: Brookfield Publishing, 1985—$10.00, paper)

SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPING IN THE BROADCAST MEDIA: A REPORT ON INDUSTRY SELF-REGULATION (Ottawa: Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, 1986—pricenot given, paper)