Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemThe idea of the university(Centre for Independent Studies Limited, 2004)In their book on how Melbourne University has ‘lost its way’, John Cain and John Hewitt provide a rich snapshot of an institution in transition. They document a host of dissonances afflicting Australian universities generally, and show how confusing recent changes have been for many who work there. This is the book’s main strength. Its weaknesses are that it is prone to errors of fact and interpretation; and as a critique of the present situation, it rounds up the usual concepts and targets the usual suspects. In consequence, it offers no convincing solutions.
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ItemPerformance management and cultural difference in the Australian university(SAGE Publications, 1999)A key recommendation of the Higher education management review (the Hoare Report, 1995: 86) was that every Australian university should ‘phase in a comprehensive performance management system for both academic and general staff’. This recommendation received very mixed reactions, due in part to the widespread failure of earlier attempts to introduce schemes with managerialist overtones in universities. A Monash University study (Paget et al., 1992: 3) found widespread ambivalence about the role of appraisal in tertiary institutions. Managers wanted a summative (judgemental) approach, while staff wanted a formative (developmental) approach.
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ItemRethinking the Australian university: a critique of Off Course(Taylor & Francis Australia, 2004)This paper critically examines a recent book about the University of Melbourne. It uses this as a case study to explore traditional conceptions of the university in the Western tradition, and aspects of the Australian debate about government policies and institutional strategies.
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ItemThe devil’s in the detail; Guy Neave and comparative higher education(Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente, 2007)Professor Guy Neave held the Chair of Comparative Higher Education Policy Studies at the University of Twente and his most substantial contributions to the study of higher education arise from his comparative perspective. However, his approach to the comparative study of higher education is not one that unduly bothers with the niceties of methodological rigour. Rather, he is primarily concerned with the realities and importance of time and place. Context - historical, geo-political and cultural - makes all the difference.
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ItemThe attractiveness of the Australian academic profession: a comparative analysis(LH Martin Institute, University of Melbourne & Australian Council for Educational Research & Educational Policy Institute, [2009])This briefing provides an analysis of challenges facing the sustainability and development of the academic workforce in Australia. It draws together insights from national statistics collections and a number of recent studies, sheds light on current characteristics of the academic profession, and identifies key problem areas. From a review of the evidence, we argue that now is the time for both policy action at the national and institutional level to address these problems, and for further research that can inform workforce planning and development in the years to come.
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ItemInternational dimensions of the Australian academic profession(Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University, 2009)This paper provides insight into the international dimensions of the Australian academic profession. Australia has one of the most internationalised higher education student populations in the world, which leads us naturally to inquire into the international characteristics of its academic staff. It is important to consider, for instance, whether the academic workforce has internationalised in the same way as the student body, and how academic staff are responding educationally to various opportunities and challenges arising from internationalisation.
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ItemThe Australian academic profession: A first overview(Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University, 2008)
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ItemIntroduction(UNESCO, 2008)“In December 2007, the Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID), UNESCO Bangkok, convened the 11th UNESCO-APEID Conference entitled “Reinventing Higher Education: Toward Participatory and Sustainable Development.” This volume contains selected papers from that conference, which was held in Bangkok from 12 to 14 December 2007.”
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ItemInnovation in higher education: the university paradox(Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), 2006)Innovation is one of the major buzzwords in economic as well as higher education policy debates world-wide. In Europe, the Lisbon Agenda is the embodiment of this, with the clearly stated – though very difficult to attain – objective of Europe being the most dynamic and innovative economic block by 2010. In Australia the notion of transforming the economy from a primary industry-base to a knowledge-based economy is paramount in the governments policy, resulting in catchphrases such as the Clever Country. And in Asia, economies are rapidly transforming with the Chinese economy being one, though certainly not the only, example of major change and expansion. Within this framework, much emphasis is placed on the role of higher education and in particular of universities in supporting and sometimes even leading the quest for innovation. In this chapter we address this drive for innovation and the question of innovative universities by not only tackling the question why the theme of innovation has come so much to the fore and what places universities in so central a role in this. We also focus on the question what prevents universities to fully exploit their potential in stimulating innovation in our societies and economies. We do this by focussing first on the changing environmental conditions that universities face, including a particular stakeholder approach. Secondly, we explore the nature of the beast of little more through an analysis of the basic characteristics of universities. On the basis of this in the final part of this chapter we formulate some suggestions for effective reactions by universities for optimising their position in what we today so easily term the knowledge society.