Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Higher Australia'

Over the past ten years Australian higher education has undergone a transformation from a binary structure, marked by a division of 'traditional universities' and colleges of advanced education, to a uniform university structure. This transformation was first proposed in 1987 by the Hon. John Dawkins, Minister for Employment, Education and Training in the Hawke Labor Government. The proposals appeared in the form of a 'Green' policy discussion paper which drew substantial amounts of criticism from the academy, but nonetheless were swiftly transformed into policy as a 'White' paper or policy statement. Since that time, Australian higher education institutions have been subject to a series of changes that have fundamentally changed the patterns of tertiary education provision established over the previous forty years. They have experienced a re-allocation of research funds which has eroded the established advantage of the traditional universities; they have been obliged to accept amalgamations; and, student numbers have expanded at a rate and to a proportion never previously imagined. All of this has been achieved under the banner of improving Australia's place in the highly competitive international economy. The champions of a restructured higher education sector have argued that this competitiveness is greatly dependent upon Australia's ability to improve the scientific and technical base of its human capital: higher education must move towards a more efficient and effective provision of education which will meet the needs of the market.The transformation of higher education has been achieved without the unanimous blessing of the academy. Many of the most strident critics of what have come to be known as the Dawkins Reforms are academics who have expressed dismay at these changes. In particular there has been as strongly argued case that the reforms, with their emphasis on science and technology, mark the end of liberal education in Australia. Australian higher education is now, they declare, the site of mass education based upon a new instrumentalism in which the liberal arts have no significant place.This dissertation takes such criticisms as its focus. In particular it attempts to show that the critique founded upon a defence of the inherent role of liberal education in the Australian university sector has been misguided. Furthermore, the dissertation argues that because so much of the attack on the restructuring policy took this form there was little place for a substantial critical appraisal of the validity of restructuring based upon an imperative of the market.The idea of the university in Australia as one fundamentally defined by liberal education is examined at two levels. First, it is argued that the notion of liberal education used to defend the university against new instrumentalism is an idealised notion which both ignores the historical construction of such an idea at a time when liberalism itself was undergoing transformation, and, wrongly assumes the absence of instrumentalism, within it. Second, the history of the establishment of the university in Australia is reviewed to show that whilst the founders of the universities often had sympathies for the liberal arts, from the outset Australian universities were consistently conditioned by the drive for instrumental education.Higher education policies in the post-WWII era are given particular attention in order to show that mass higher education is no new phenomenon, but the continuation of the drive towards expanded education provision. Just as with the expansion of schooling to mass schooling, a greatly expanded higher education sector has been necessary to fulfil the continued demands of the social democratic consensus. The thesis concludes with the argument that the critique of higher education reforms has been hobbled by the absence of a critical sociology of education which could place the restructuring of Australian higher education in the context of the transformation of social to market democracy.

This thesis analyses conceptions of care within the public discourse about international higher education in Australia from 2002-2013. It examines a series of public texts from the period that specifically addressed questions about the 'care' and 'duty of care' that government and institutions afforded to international students studying in Australia. I trace through the conceptions of care that are articulated within these documents, analyse how they both constitute and are constitutive of wider social practices within the period, and posit a new critical model of care to provide a way forward for how we might practice care more effectively within international higher education, both in Australia and elsewhere.

Over the past ten years Australian higher education has undergone a transformation from a binary structure, marked by a division of 'traditional universities' and colleges of advanced education, to a uniform university structure. This transformation was first proposed in 1987 by the Hon. John Dawkins, Minister for Employment, Education and Training in the Hawke Labor Government. The proposals appeared in the form of a 'Green' policy discussion paper which drew substantial amounts of criticism from the academy, but nonetheless were swiftly transformed into policy as a 'White' paper or policy statement. Since that time, Australian higher education institutions have been subject to a series of changes that have fundamentally changed the patterns of tertiary education provision established over the previous forty years. They have experienced a re-allocation of research funds which has eroded the established advantage of the traditional universities; they have been obliged to accept amalgamations; and, student numbers have expanded at a rate and to a proportion never previously imagined. All of this has been achieved under the banner of improving Australia's place in the highly competitive international economy. The champions of a restructured higher education sector have argued that this competitiveness is greatly dependent upon Australia's ability to improve the scientific and technical base of its human capital: higher education must move towards a more efficient and effective provision of education which will meet the needs of the market.The transformation of higher education has been achieved without the unanimous blessing of the academy. Many of the most strident critics of what have come to be known as the Dawkins Reforms are academics who have expressed dismay at these changes. In particular there has been as strongly argued case that the reforms, with their ++
emphasis on science and technology, mark the end of liberal education in Australia. Australian higher education is now, they declare, the site of mass education based upon a new instrumentalism in which the liberal arts have no significant place.This dissertation takes such criticisms as its focus. In particular it attempts to show that the critique founded upon a defence of the inherent role of liberal education in the Australian university sector has been misguided. Furthermore, the dissertation argues that because so much of the attack on the restructuring policy took this form there was little place for a substantial critical appraisal of the validity of restructuring based upon an imperative of the market.The idea of the university in Australia as one fundamentally defined by liberal education is examined at two levels. First, it is argued that the notion of liberal education used to defend the university against new instrumentalism is an idealised notion which both ignores the historical construction of such an idea at a time when liberalism itself was undergoing transformation, and, wrongly assumes the absence of instrumentalism, within it. Second, the history of the establishment of the university in Australia is reviewed to show that whilst the founders of the universities often had sympathies for the liberal arts, from the outset Australian universities were consistently conditioned by the drive for instrumental education.Higher education policies in the post-WWII era are given particular attention in order to show that mass higher education is no new phenomenon, but the continuation of the drive towards expanded education provision. Just as with the expansion of schooling to mass schooling, a greatly expanded higher education sector has been necessary to fulfil the continued demands of the social democratic consensus. The thesis concludes with the argument ++
that the critique of higher education reforms has been hobbled by the absence of a critical sociology of education which could place the restructuring of Australian higher education in the context of the transformation of social to market democracy.

This work is a critical policy analysis of the Crossroads Review, especially those aspects of it that are most likely to have a significant impact on higher education in regional Western Australia. It aims to understand the place of higher education in regional Western Australia historically with a view to critiquing current policy directions and the potential consequences of Crossroads. The thesis argues that the ideologies of marketisation and corporatisation are driving current higher education policy and this may significantly damage the long-term viability of regional campuses and learning centres as well as public and private funding allocations. The implications for the dismantling of the social contract (or social democratic settlement) in the knowledge economy is an important issue for regional populations for their continued growth, health, education and welfare. The issues examined here are relevant to regional higher education in this State. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the potential policy effects with regard to accessibility of higher education in regional Western Australia. The thesis analyses the advantages and disadvantages of studying in regional WA in the current policy environment where there has been a dramatic shift in ideology from the welfare state to economic rationalism. Factors that impact on higher education in regional Western Australia include the provision of telecommunications services for access to and participation in the knowledge economy. The thesis considers the evolution of higher education in Australia in general and more particularly in Western Australia, as it has evolved since its foundations in the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this time there have been radical changes in higher education in Australia in line with changes to our society and its place in an increasingly globalised environment. The thesis concludes by considering some possible options for the future such as the development of learning communities and branch campuses. In discussing such possible alternative forms of delivery of higher education to regional Western Australia, this thesis seeks to raise awareness in relevant government bodies and in rural and remote communities of their particular higher education needs. It is hoped also to encourage regional communities to become more confident and pro-active in their own endeavours to gain greater access and equity in higher education.

This work is a critical policy analysis of the Crossroads Review, especially those aspects of it that are most likely to have a significant impact on higher education in regional Western Australia. It aims to understand the place of higher education in regional Western Australia historically with a view to critiquing current policy directions and the potential consequences of Crossroads. The thesis argues that the ideologies of marketisation and corporatisation are driving current higher education policy and this may significantly damage the long-term viability of regional campuses and learning centres as well as public and private funding allocations. The implications for the dismantling of the social contract (or social democratic settlement) in the knowledge economy is an important issue for regional populations for their continued growth, health, education and welfare. The issues examined here are relevant to regional higher education in this State. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the potential policy effects with regard to accessibility of higher education in regional Western Australia. The thesis analyses the advantages and disadvantages of studying in regional WA in the current policy environment where there has been a dramatic shift in ideology from the welfare state to economic rationalism. Factors that impact on higher education in regional Western Australia include the provision of telecommunications services for access to and participation in the knowledge economy. The thesis considers the evolution of higher education in Australia in general and more particularly in Western Australia, as it has evolved since its foundations in the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this time there have been radical changes in higher education in Australia in line with changes to our society and its place in an increasingly globalised environment. The thesis concludes by considering some possible options for the future such as the development of learning communities and branch campuses. In discussing such possible alternative forms of delivery of higher education to regional Western Australia, this thesis seeks to raise awareness in relevant government bodies and in rural and remote communities of their particular higher education needs. It is hoped also to encourage regional communities to become more confident and pro-active in their own endeavours to gain greater access and equity in higher education.

The emergence of the global economy has forced the Australian government to revise economic strategies and to seek institutional changes. Higher education's new roles in research and human resource development, have been manifested in university commercialization activities. Mindful that Universities are prestige rather than profit maximizers, this study applies Schumpeter's (1942) theoretical model for the survival of a firm under financial stress. The model's responses, extended to education by Leslie and Miller (1973), include new products, new markets, restructuring, increased productivity and new supply factors. University entrepreneurial activities have monetary and non-monetary impacts. The non-monetary costs and benefits of Australian university enterprise were studied by Leslie (1992) and Leslie and Harrold (1993). In this study, academics at Curtin University of Technology (Perth, Western Australia) were selected as entrepreneurial or non-entrepreneurial subjects and surveyed on the non-monetary costs and benefits of entrepreneurial activities affecting Curtin's teaching, research and public service mission. This data were analyzed and subsequently compared with data obtained by Leslie (1992). Differences in academic perceptions were found among the Curtin respondents by gender, academic status, discipline area, entrepreneurship and non-entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial revenue importance. Using the Leslie data inter-institutional differences were examined and an order of entrepreneurial institutional types proposed, with Curtin University described as a frontier entrepreneurial university. The taxonomy of costs and benefits developed by Leslie (1992) was revised with the addition of personal social costs, stress, networking and professional development. An estimate was made of the dollar value of non-monetary items; non-monetary benefits were three times the dollar value of monetary benefits; non-monetary costs were less than half the monetary cost levels. The ratio of non-monetary costs to benefits was 1:3.5. Academics in the disciplines of engineering and science had more favorable perceptions of entrepreneurial costs and benefits than respondents in business studies. Health science respondents were described as having pessimistic perceptions. Future research may look at the levels of commercial revenue and investigate the effects of the amount of financial success or failure on the entrepreneurial efforts of academics. In university enterprise successes seem to foster success and the favorable perceptions of academics.

Quality management in higher education is a politically contentious issue in Australia. as it is in North America, New Zealand, and many European countries. The Australian government has instituted a quality management system for higher education that it claims will improve university efficiency, accountability and quality. Critics assert that the current quality management system is detrimental to universities and undermines the capability of universities to deliver maximal benefits to individuals and to society. Evaluation of the basis of conflicting claims is necessary to enable decisions about the usefulness of current practices and decisions about whether existing quality management arrangements should be retained, modified and developed, or replaced, or, abolished.

A rapidly changing social, educational, political and economic context has meant that there are calls for teaching processes in universities to change from the traditional didactic, lecture method to a more problem-based, student centered active approach to learning, in order to promote and encourage the development of creative, analytical, flexible, lifelong learning skills in graduates. In Australia in recent times there has been an emphasis placed on improving the quality of teaching in higher education. Recently teaching in higher education has been nominated by the Government as an area of national priority. Many universities have responded by establishing Academic Staff Development Units part of whose brief is to assist with the improvement of university teaching practices. University lecturers are well trained in their own disciplines but it is unusual for them to have received any pre-service formal education in teaching methodology. This study was based in and limited to the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) where teaching is a valued part of the mission, and an Academic Staff Development Unit (ASDU) was established to provide support and assistance to lecturers. Part of the brief of the unit is to provide programs, courses, projects and individual consultation to assist lecturers to make changes and improvements to their teaching practices. This study explored the processes involved in encouraging lecturers to join and sustain their involvement with a voluntary collaborative, cross faculty teaching development project (TRAC) which promoted an alternative method of teaching development. This teaching development project offered academics an opportunity to move out of the traditional forms of teaching development by becoming reflective practitioners (Schon, 1983, 1987). The fact that some lecturers were becoming involved and making improvements to their teaching practice by reflecting on and researching their own teaching suggested a need to focus on the processes required to foster and sustain this involvement. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine my process of facilitation in the teaching development project. The study is descriptive and interpretive, it was designed to reveal the processes involved in facilitating the project. Narrative inquiry was used as the mode of research in this study as it was an appropriate means of understanding an experience in which the researcher was an active participant and for capturing the complexity of improving teaching in higher education. As facilitator of the project the researcher kept a journal and data was collected through a series of unstructured conversations with lecturers involved with the TRAC project. Observations were made of group meetings and the documents relating to the reflective, collaborative teaching development project were collected. This study aimed to add to the literature on the role and concerns experienced by the facilitator of a teaching development project in higher education. By engaging in reflective inquiry, the researcher learned more about her role and responsibility as a teaching developer and the potential promise and possible pitfalls of helping others engage in studying their teaching practice in higher education. She came to understand more about engaging in reflective practice. The narrative highlighted the processes involved in facilitating a university-wide collaborative, reflective teaching development project for lecturers in higher education, which was aimed at improving the quality of university teaching. By giving a detailed analysis of the individual experiences of the facilitator the study provided a portrayal of the barriers to change and the discussion extended to the implications for supporting lecturers in their quest to become "reflective practitioners" or "teacher-researchers" of their own lecture rooms, laboratories, tutorial rooms and studios in order to improve their pedagogic practice. This study has not aimed to portray a "perfected" process of facilitation, but rather to explore various processes involved in one particular situation. Inquiry into teaching in higher education increasingly focuses on how students learn. While there are many reports in the school sector of teachers examining their own teaching practice, we read very little information about self-reflection either among lecturers or among teaching developers in higher education. The narrative focused on the exploration of my daily practice. The emerging portrayal was characterised by complexity. In this study, I observed that for lecturers to venture beyond the security of former patterns of teaching, to extend their vision and to engage in the change process to improve their teaching practice, I had to create the opportunities and provide support for lecturers whilst they became involved in questioning their teaching practice. I had to provide a 'safe haven' as they entered into a process of thinking, talking and writing about their experiences as lecturers. I found for many lecturers, telling their stories (either through writing or talking) and sharing their concerns with colleagues produced a remarkably fresh and personalised awareness of the experience of being a lecturer.

The increase in Indigenous participation in university courses in recent years has not been matched by an increase in graduation. In the mainstream university population, student success has been linked to approaches to learning, which are linked to conceptions of learning. This study investigates what conceptions of learning Indigenous students identify at the beginning of their university career. Thirty six students completed a 'Reflections on Learning Inventory' developed by Meyer (1995). Nine of these students were interviewed in depth about what they thought learning was and how they would go about it. The interview analysis for each of the nine students was compared with their individual inventory profile. It was anticipated that the use of such complementary methods would increase the validity of the findings, but this was not the case. The participants identified a range of conceptions comparable with those identified by mainstream students, but with a greater emphasis on understanding. However, the descriptions of how learning happens were undeveloped and not likely to result in the kind of learning described. The findings will be useful in making curricula decisions in an Indigenous university preparation course that encourage students to adopt successful strategies for learning. In addition, it will also be useful information for the participants themselves as they become reflective learners.

This was an investigation of factors that assisted Australian Aboriginal students complete or incomplete a business course at a University in Perth between 2000 and 2010. The concept of resilience and related factors of inclusion and exclusion from the participants’ past were assumed clues by the researcher. The investigation involved four inquiries. First, the researcher reviewed recent statistics of Aboriginal population, education and employment. A short history of Aboriginal education in Western Australian was also made. Both reviews indicated Aboriginal people endured relative exclusion and a lower status than the mainstream population in areas of education and employment. Second, the researcher assumed that a shared interdependency existed between distinct “ethnic groups” (Barth, 1969) in terms of “levels of engagement at the cultural boundaries”. The cultural boundaries consisted of four layers, namely observable behaviour and material artefacts, institutions, values and worldviews (Barney, 1973; P. D. Milnes & Grant, 1999b). At these “cultural boundaries” that the researcher explored, there were more than three “Rs” (i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic) concerns active in the classroom, namely the silent “R”, resilience. Third, the researcher built upon the theoretical work of Francis’ (1981) ‘teach to the difference’, Nakata’s (1997) idea of ‘cultural interface’ and Milnes’ (2008) concept of ‘meeting place’. The researcher then adapted a new research model called ‘engagement at the cultural boundaries’. Fourth, the researcher conducted a large case study on four samples. A short life-history interview was made of each sample: 1) a pilot study of a previous business graduate; 2) Aboriginal graduates (n=17); 3) Aboriginal non-graduates (n=13); 4) teaching and administrative staff (n=6). Then the pilot study and three groups of stakeholders were rated with a ‘resilience score’ in terms of their engagement at social and economic boundaries based on their personal, public, training and economic identities. The researcher concluded that overall ten factors of resilience had assisted the Aboriginal students complete or incomplete the tertiary business course. These ten factors were: a strong self-reference point, sense of community, structured living, strong support network, stakeholders identifying with struggles, significant role models, strong status and a single mindedness to complete the task at hand, skills in crisis management, and a previous history of successful engagement at the cultural boundaries. Besides the pilot study, the students who completed the tertiary business course had a high resilience score based on previously, strong inclusive engagements at the two key cultural boundaries, the social and economic boundaries. Those students who did not complete the tertiary business course still had a high resilience score, but showed less experiences and examples of inclusive engagement at the overall cultural boundaries prior to and for the duration of the tertiary business course. Teachers of Aboriginal students would do well to discern that Aboriginal students do have a high resilience score overall despite their publicly acknowledged low status and historic loss of economic power. Teachers and key stakeholders in Aboriginal tertiary education also would do well to recognise that some of the ten factors of resilience in Aboriginal tertiary students, especially those resilience factors linked to training and economic identity, require more focus and strengthening. The challenge for all stakeholders of tertiary education is to develop all factors of resilience so that Aboriginal students can experience more inclusion as the latter engage at the tertiary cultural boundary.

Higher education has undergone significant change as universities have sought to respond to government reforms in a period of globalisation. One major reform that globalisation has introduced is the reduction in state funding for higher education. Universities have turned to other resources to provide funding and one of these is the recruitment of international students. The focus of this thesis is on contrasting the internationalisation policies of two nations, Australia and the United States, by analysing published policies, statistics and carrying out interviews on two campuses. Two universities, one in Australia and the other in the United States, served as case studies to examine the strategies used to implement these policies. Approximately 100 participants were interviewed, including administrators and faculty members, international and domestic students. Each university featured internationalisation as a goal in its mission statement. By integrating intercultural and global dimensions into the teaching, research and service functions of a university, internationalisation encompasses a multitude of activities that provide an educational experience. While administrators generally stated that the implementation of strategic plans to achieve international goals had been successful, many faculty members, domestic and international students were of the view that international goals were yet to be realised. These contrasting discourses revealed that each university was falling short of achieving its internationalisation goals. Faculty members and domestic and international students expressed dissatisfaction about cultural insensitivity, lack of adequate services that offered housing and emotional/social support, and language barriers. At the same time, each university was achieving some of its internationalisation goals. In conclusion, strategies are suggested that might improve the implementation of internationalisation at both universities.

This cross-sectional correlation study is concerned with accounting practitioners' receptivity to a propose change in accounting education; specifically, that the existing three year degree course be extended to four years. This change is proposed by the Accounting Profession in Australia. A model of accounting practitioners' receptivity towards the proposed change, at the adoption stage, was revised and adapted from a general model of teacher receptivity to any system-wide change. The revised model has one dependent variable, receptivity, which is measured in three aspects; overall feelings, attitudes, and general behaviour intentions towards the proposed change in accounting education. It has eight Independent variables, and a number of situation variables. These independent variables are; attitudes towards the structure and content of the proposed change, general beliefs about the change based on the expanding scope of accounting practice, overall feelings about the strengths and weaknesses of accounting graduates, overall feelings about alleviating fears and uncertainties of the proposed change, overall feelings about the practicality of the proposed change in the lecture room and tutorial room in two aspects, general behaviour intentions about expectations and achievements for the proposed change, and general behaviour intentions to support instructors and the accounting profession. The relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variables are examined in the context of a number of situation variables.

This thesis addresses the need to clarify the meaning of the open learning concept. It does so from a curriculum perspective and with a particular focus on curriculum control. The reason for this is that open learning is said to involve control of curriculum by learners. The study draws on curriculum theory to identify three alternative conceptions of curriculum which are used as alternative ways of considering open learning. Thus,open learning is examined as an element of social theory, as an intended curriculum and as a perceived student learning experience. The analysis is facilitated by the development of a suite of analytical tools, comprising curriculum code theory and the concepts of frame and decision-making space. Students are considered as curriculum decision-makers in order to investigate their latitude for curriculum control from their own perspective. By comparing the three conceptions of open learning listed above as they apply to a particular case of open learning provision, by analysing that case in terms of the suite of analytical tools and by considering the relevant historical and socio-cultural context, a new theory of open learning is generated. In the first instance, the three curriculum conceptions of open learning are applied to the Australian Open Learning Initiative. The methodology is based on a research philosophy of realist-coherentism. Theory on open learning, which is generic and inclusive of a wide range of views, is analysed and reviewed. Three major categories of theory on open learning (descriptive, prescriptive and explanatory) are considered. The intended curriculum of the Initiative is then detailed primarily from documentary evidence with support from key informant interviews. Students' curriculum experiences are studied by means of a series of telephone interviews with a targeted sample of 44 students registered for units of study with Open Learning Australia (the Open Learning Agency of Australia) in the first study period of 1993. Comparing theory on open learning with the evidence of the intended curriculum and student experience indicates that a technocratic approach to opening access, rather than learner control of curriculum, is the central feature of this case. Learner-centred features of the curriculum and learner control are not primary aims but rather the byproducts of increasing participation primarily through flexibility in the location and timing of study and an open entry policy. Students are seen to be essentially curriculum-takers with curriculum structures acting as strong frames on their decision-making. In relation to its context, the Initiative is seen as a pragmatic response to economic and political pressures to expand participation in higher education and to have implications for centralising control of higher education. It is proposed that open learning is understandable as a manifestation of educational democratisation. Rather than being a novel post-Fordist or neo-Fordist form of education, it is argued that open learning is a continuation of longer term, progressive educational trends. Open learning is distinctive from earlier progressive educational movements in its adult focus and use of communications technologies. It is suggested that, in the post-industrial era, pressures associated with the attainment of mass higher education are inducing reforms at that level similar to reforms previously enacted in primary and secondary education as these reached mass levels of provision. Evidence for this interpretation extends beyond the Australian case and includes parallels between open learning and the reforms characteristic of democratisation as well as historical data on the expansion of opportunities for adult education. In terms of curriculum code theory, open learning is seen as an expression of the rational curriculum code. This suggests an amendment to curriculum code theory to acknowledge a lag in the implementation of certain codes at post-secondary level in comparison with schooling. If the patterns previously observed in school education continue to be followed, state intervention is likely to involve further technocratic and internalised controls at this level. The new theory implies that a systems wide, rather than a piecemeal, approach to the development of national systems of open learning is needed. In Australia, this means fully integrating the Initiative within the Unified National System of Higher Education and making its funding base and systems of student support more equitable with conventional provision. The study identifies the learners' context as a significant but previously unacknowledged constraint on students' decision-making and learner control of curriculum. It notes that transfer of control over entering a program of study is not automatically conferred by an open admissions policy but is, instead, dependent on providers meeting the information needs of students.

Nobody really knows with certainty what education using digital video communication technology will be like in the next ten years. The only thing that seems certain is that it will not be like the present. While no one can see into the future, we can research present realities and current rates of change as bases for projecting ahead. Video conference systems that operate over IP (Internet Protocol) are being implemented in educational organisations, businesses and homes around the globe. Video conference manufacturers inform us that the implementation of such systems and their use is relatively straightforward. This may or may not be the case. This research argues that there is significantly more to implementing video conferencing over IP than simply installing the equipment, training staff and commencing classes. This study reports on an investigation into the effectiveness of implementing digital video conferencing over IP in educational institutions. It specifically looks at this in respect of the desktop and small group user. Research in desktop videoconferencing in education exists but is not abundant, for example, Thompson (1996), Kies et al., (1997), Bogen et al., (1997), Daunt (1999), Davis and Kelly (2002), Davis et al., (2004). With the considerable progress made in IP technologies, more educational providers are moving to use desktop and small group videoconference systems to link to classes and/or students over the Internet. This is a trend that is growing rapidly world-wide. The implementation and application of IP video conferencing in education is under-researched. This study examines three separate case studies to collect the required data. It looks at the processes required to set up effective communications with students and teachers using digital media. It identifies the specific difficulties that need to be overcome, both technically as well as the human factors that are involved. It addresses these issues chiefly as related to desktop users and small groups of participants in particular. In conclusion it also focuses on the design aspects of the video conference equipment and venues used in educational environments. The aim of the research, therefore, is to understand current and future trends of implementing and using video conferencing over IP, in a technical, human and design sense. The research has practical significance for educational institutions, as it provides useful information for students, tutors, technicians and designers involved in digital video conferencing technologies now, and in the years to come.

The business of tertiary education has become more and more competitive in recent years due to reductions in government funding and higher study fees. As the nature of the environment grows more competitive the role of marketing, previously non-existent in most universities, has grown significantly. One of the key pieces of information that would assist the marketing effort of any university is an understanding of what determines university preference. This study examines university preference in Western Australia. A form of conjoint analysis, known as Adaptive Conjoint Analysis (ACA), was used to investigate the relative importance of a number of attributes to university preference. The study involved presenting 259 Western Australian school leavers (Year 12 students) with a combination of paper and disk based questionnaires. Results indicated that the four most important determinants of university preference for Western Australian school leavers were course suitability, academic reputation, job prospects and teaching quality. The results are compared to previous research findings and their implications for the marketing of universities are discussed.

Australian universities are multi-million dollar operations employing tens of thousands of people. They attract revenue from a variety of government and non-government sources, and yet, as non-profit organisations they are judged by governments, peers and their communities on their performance in teaching and research rather than on a financial bottom line. In order to achieve these results, university managers must make decisions on how to allocate available funding throughout the university. Faced with competing demands on scarce funds, how do university managers make these choices? One option is to use a resource allocation model to 'crunch the numbers'. Resource allocation models can incorporate a number of elements - student and staff numbers, weightings and performance data, for example - to allocate available funds. These allocation models are used in different ways in different universities, but serve the same basic purpose of assisting decision-making on how much to allocate to different sections of the organisation. Such models operate within a process and context that includes the strategic aims of the University, the organisation structure, its committees and culture. This thesis contains case studies of resource allocation models and processes used in three Australian universities. It examines the methods used for resource allocation at the first and second levels within each university; that is, from the Vice-Chancellor to Dean (or equivalent), and from Dean to Head of School (or equivalent). Observations and conclusions are drawn on the models used, the processes surrounding the models, and the continuity between the two layers of allocations. The research finds all the case-study universities operate models at multiple levels in their organisations, and that there is a concerning lack of consistency and flow-through at these different levels. The messages that the university leadership intends to send through the allocations may be lost to managers one-process removed from them. The research also concludes that transparency is the most important element of the resource allocation process. University staff dealing with allocation processes will accept the results, even if they are not ideal, if they can understand how and why decisions were made. As a professional doctorate thesis, the aim is to provide a practical aid to people with responsibility for resource allocation in universities.

In the last 20 years or so, there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of international full-fee paying students applying to study in Australian universities, The revenue provided in this way has helped to address the problems faced by cash-starved universities facing recurring funding cuts over the same period. Furthermore, the presence of such students on any university campus provides immeasurable enrichment to the student body in terms of cultural diversity and research potential, and indeed it is very tempting in an ever,-increasing global market, to be as flexible as possible with prospective international students. However, the process of admission also demands careful consideration on the part of the various stakeholders involved. Although several factors need to be taken into account, the most obvious and certainly of primary importance would be the need to prove proficiency in the English language, Given that English is the dominant means of communication in the university, all students are required to draw from a complex web of linguistic resources to construct meaning and to complete the range of tasks required of them during their tertiary studies, This volume deals :with the overarching theme of issues of English language proficiency for overseas students studying in an Australian university. This focus can be viewed from many angles, and there are certainly many key facets involved, a selection of which is explored in the papers of the portfolio. These include the following broad areas: recruitment and admissions, language testing and technology, curriculum and inclusivity, English language support, academic conduct and finally the specific needs of international students, as viewed from their own perspective.

In recent years, the Australian Government's (Commonwealth) relationship to universities has become one of greater involvement as political circles recognise the escalation in the significance of higher education as a key determinant in Australia's economic, social, cultural, and intellectual development. The increasing role of the Commonwealth in Australian universities is largely a consequence of this recognition, but it is also due in part to changes in the way governments approach the public sector and publicly funded institutions. Both the literature and extensive Commonwealth reports provide an array of details in relation to: what the Commonwealth wants from its universities; why it wants it; what it is doing to ensure that it gets what it wants; and the results of its actions-at least from the perspective of the Commonwealth. But what is missing is how universities themselves perceive the impact of the Commonwealth's increasing involvement in universities. Although academics and managers in Australian universities have much to say about how current and proposed Commonwealth policies affect their working environment they are not given much of a venue to opine. As such there is a lack of literature on how universities perceive the impact of this increasing involvement. This dissertation aims to fill the gap by providing a forum that addresses universities' perceptions of how Commonwealth policies affect their universities. Specifically, this dissertation sets out to discover if and how Commonwealth policies change universities and focuses on how policies influence autonomy and research in Australian universities through the responses of those who work in the offices of the deputy vice chancellors of research in twelve Australian universities. One of the most significant findings of the thesis is that the Commonwealth's increasing involvement in universities is viewed by respondents as a consequence of the Commonwealth's mistrust of Australian universities. Furthermore, the Commonwealth is seen as lacking expertise in areas relating to universities-their needs, history, purpose, mission, and how they best relate to and contribute to society-and their need for autonomy. This dissertation offers some insights into perspectives whereby policies built on the Commonwealth's mistrust and lack of expertise in university matters negatively influence autonomy and research productivity in Australian universities. The results indicate decreased productivity which leads to further mistrust that appears to decrease productivity even morea cycle that respondents fear might be a self-propelling downward spiral. Eight hypotheses and one overarching proposition emerge from the findings. In addition, nine areas are identified as adding to the overall understanding of the affect that Commonwealth policies have on university autonomy and research productivity in Australian universities.

Universities in Australia and elsewhere have changed considerably in recent years. Inevitably, this has meant that the work of academics has also changed. Academics’ work is of importance because they are key players in universities and universities matter to the nation economically and intellectually in advancing knowledge and its practical application. Through the changes and challenges that have characterised academia in recent years, there is an assumption that academics’ work is representative of a profession. This research study investigates how academics construct their own perspectives regarding the academic "profession". The study is theoretically informed by Freidson’s theory that conceptualises professions as occupations if they are in control of their work rather than it being under the control of either the market or of their employing institutions. Two research questions guide this study. The first question investigates how academics might construct their work in ideal terms and the second one investigates the extent to which such constructions might constitute a "profession". A qualitative case study was conducted within two Australian universities. In all, twenty academics from ten disciplines took part in the study that consisted of a focus group and fifteen individual interviews. The study was conducted in three phases during which a conceptual framework of academics’ work was developed across three versions. This framework acted both a prompt to discussion and as a potential expression of academics’ work. The first version of the framework was developed from the literature during the first phase of the study. This early framework was used during the second phase of the study when five academics took part in a focus group. After the focus group, the second version of the framework was developed and used with fifteen academics in individual interviews during phase three of the study. The third version of the framework was the outcome of a synthesis of the themes that were identified in the data. The discussion data from the focus group and the individual interviews were analysed through a content analysis approach that identified four major themes. The first theme was that academics reported that their work would ideally be located within universities committed to using their expert knowledge to serve the world. The second theme was that academics reported that they wanted sufficient thinking time and reasonable workloads to undertake the intellectual work that they regard as their core responsibility, particularly in relation to undertaking research. They argued against heavy routine administrative workloads and sought a continuation of current flexible working arrangements. The third theme was that teaching qualifications should not be mandated but that there should be a continuation of the present practice of universities offering academics the opportunity to undertake formal teaching qualifications if they wish to. Finally, academics reported that they wanted values that have traditionally mattered to academia to continue to be respected and practised: autonomy, collegiality and collaborative relationships, altruism and service, and intellectual integrity. These themes are sympathetic to Freidson’s theory of professions in all but one matter: the non-mandatory nature of formal qualifications which he regards as absolutely essential for the performance of the complex intellectual work that characterises occupations that are professions. The study places the issue of academic professionalism on the policy agenda for universities wishing to identify academics’ work as a profession. The study contributes a theory-based and data-informed conceptual framework for academics’ work that can be considered in negotiating the nature and extent of their work. The framework provides a means of analysing what "academic professionalism" might mean; it adds specificity to such discussions by exploring a particular definition of profession, namely Freidson’s theory of professions as occupations that are in control of their own work. The study contributes to the development of theories around higher education concepts of academic professionalism and, in so doing, links that theoretical contribution to the wider professions field.

While there is abundant literature about Australian rural women including references to those who have had or wish to have some form of tertiary education, little attention is given to those who are the subject of the present study, graduate rural women, in this case of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The significance of the research emerged from its focus on the experiences of such women, with the purpose of the study being to present an exploration of their previously unrecorded perceptions of themselves as graduates occupying a place in their rural communities - to articulate the impact and import of graduate status for rural women. As understanding the articulations rather than explaining the data was deemed to be more appropriate to the exploration, a qualitative-interpretivist approach was adopted, recognising that a grounded constructivist epistemology would assist in viewing the experiences through the eyes of the participants. Data were collected in the form of written narrative - correspondence via e-mail - which allowed both the participants and myself to revisit and reflect upon each other's comments. The graduate women's comments were wide-ranging, from matters of concern to all country people, to those which were particularly relevant to graduate rural women, such as the perceived value of their own expertise and their experiences in taking up either professional or other roles in the rural context. The depth of thought, the powers of perception, the identification of lines of reasoning, the development of interwoven themes in rural life, and the manner of expression through the articulation of common occurrences, revealed far more than was originally envisaged. From the resultant collation of data it was possible to identify, examine and associate important perceptions which permeated the lives of graduate rural women. An exploration of the term rural and being a rural person in that environment was an important pre-cursor to interpreting subsequent articulations as the meaning of rurality extended the accepted geographical definitions and comparative urban-rural economic and social relationships. With this understanding, remembered experiences embraced the stages of becoming and being graduate rural women in professional practice and in everyday life, evidencing the participants' introspective, positive appreciation of the impact and import of their university education in the fulfilling and rewarding application of their professional skills. The concluding stage involved the graduates' relationship with the members of their rural communities as they attempted to pursue their lives at the level of their confidence and belief in themselves and in the value of their education. Challenging situations were recounted, indicating a schism to be overcome in that association, with male culture and traditional attitudes, the feminist movement and the rural crisis being included in the considerations. The core concepts, upon which the findings of the research were structured, emerged from the participants' articulations to illustrate the stages of becoming and being graduate rural women, both from the introspective and contextual viewpoints. The written narrative articulations of graduate rural women defined their reflective views of self-empowerment through education, countered by the challenges and constraints of social reality in the application of that ability in the rural context of their professional and everyday lives. The previously unrecorded perceptions of this significant section of society have added to the store of knowledge by giving graduate women a voice, a basis for further expression and a collective presence and identity in the rural situation. The future value of this research lies in its dissemination to raise awareness of identified issues and in its invitation to explore a wider sphere of knowledge enrichment beyond its central focus.

This portfolio describes an action research study designed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in an undergraduate teacher education course. It will describe the process of the initial implementation of an online module containing video segments of teachers at work. Use of the Internet and high quality digitised video has been combined to increase the number of classrooms preservice teachers can observe. Is it the answer to improving the depth of understanding of teacher's work and creating a higher level of reflective practice in undergraduates attending a teacher education program? The study examines the experience of a team of university lecturers and tutors and 232 first year undergraduate students when an online module was introduced into their first year general educational studies unit. In particular the study will investigate how the use of 'high tech' software provided frequent, relevant opportunities for viewing teachers at work and whether they have implications for future teacher training institutions. The presentation of the study in digital form is an innovative way of presenting the results of an action research study. The digital format enables the display of information and evidence not normally available in a print format.

This work is a critical policy analysis of the Crossroads Review, especially those aspects of it that are most likely to have a significant impact on higher education in regional Western Australia. It aims to understand the place of higher education in regional Western Australia historically with a view to critiquing current policy directions and the potential consequences of Crossroads. The thesis argues that the ideologies of marketisation and corporatisation are driving current higher education policy and this may significantly damage the long-term viability of regional campuses and learning centres as well as public and private funding allocations. The implications for the dismantling of the social contract (or social democratic settlement) in the knowledge economy is an important issue for regional populations for their continued growth, health, education and welfare. The issues examined here are relevant to regional higher education in this State. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the potential policy effects with regard to accessibility of higher education in regional Western Australia. The thesis analyses the advantages and disadvantages of studying in regional WA in the current policy environment where there has been a dramatic shift in ideology from the welfare state to economic rationalism. Factors that impact on higher education in regional Western Australia include the provision of telecommunications services for access to and participation in the knowledge economy. The thesis considers the evolution of higher education in Australia in general and more particularly in Western Australia, as it has evolved since its foundations in the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this time there have been radical changes in higher education in Australia in line with changes to our society and its place in an increasingly globalised environment. The thesis concludes by considering some possible options for the future such as the development of learning communities and branch campuses. In discussing such possible alternative forms of delivery of higher education to regional Western Australia, this thesis seeks to raise awareness in relevant government bodies and in rural and remote communities of their particular higher education needs. It is hoped also to encourage regional communities to become more confident and pro-active in their own endeavours to gain greater access and equity in higher education.

This thesis reports on a study into the Western Australian state government policy to raise the compulsory school leaving age (RSLA). In 2006, the compulsory school leaving age in Western Australia was increased from age 15 to 16 years, and again in 2008 from age 16 to 17 years, where it has remained since. This thesis is informed by Michel Foucault’s theory of governmentality and has adapted the governmentality literature into framework that supports a research methodology. Within this orientation, the research is guided by the question: What are the discourses, rationalities, technologies and ethics of the Raised School Leaving Age policy in Western Australia? Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with authorities charged with managing and coordinating young people’s participation. As well, 184 policy documents and other ‘grey materials’ were analysed. Two key conclusions are drawn. First, RSLA entails a narrow and reductionist ontology, and, consequently, its theory and practice of the problem of attrition and early school leaving is diminished. Second, it is rooted in a deficit view of young people producing contradictory practices that expect young people to be self-reliant, entrepreneurial and independent, even though they are construed as being at-risk, inept and damaged. The result is a policy myopia that sidelines critical debate about the context of schools themselves as being complicit in the problem of early school leaving and student disengagement. It also turns youth unemployment and underemployment into a problem of the individual who is seen to have failed to manage their participation, and thus RSLA ignores the role of wider economic forces in producing a difficult labour market experience for many young people. This thesis provides an account of the thinking and practices of RSLA insofar as it is conceptualised as an expression of modern governing over young people’s lives.

This thesis presents a research study that investigated student learning in a mentor supported design office situation, using a cognitive apprenticeship learning approach that utilised authentic design project tusks. In this study, 29 final year Technical And Further Education (TAFE) building design students undertook authentic building design projects with expert building designers, who acted as mentors, in commercial design office situations. The mentors guided student learning by using a cognitive apprenticeship approach to learning, implemented with authentic design projects designed to replicate the everyday culture of practice activities typical of commercial design office operations. This study follows the progress of these students as they worked in collaboration with their mentors in the design and presentation of design solutions developed for the projects. Data about the students' learning experiences in this setting were collected and analysed to determine their learning outcomes, the kinds of knowledge acquired and the means through which knowledge was transferred in the study situation. A holistic interpretivistic approach was used to collect data in three phases. The first of these was a pilot-study with the other two phases providing the main data gathering parts of the study. Much of the focus of the third phase of this study was on verifying findings emergent from analysis of data collected in the first two phases, as well as seeking greater understanding of the study phenomena. Throughout each of the three phases, data were collected from multiple sources, which included interviews, direct observations, personal journals and drawings. Analysis of the data showed that using cognitive apprenticeship learning methods organised around mentor supported authentic projects implemented in authentic commercial design office situations provided successful transfer of declarative, tacit and procedural knowledge from the mentor to the students. This thesis concludes with recommendations for the classroom application of cognitive apprenticeship learning methods, as used by the expert building designers who participated in this research.

Extensive consumer protection legislation has existed in Australia for nearly four decades. The new Australian Consumer Law (‘ACL’) in schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (‘CCA’)1 is the most significant change to consumer rights since the introduction of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (‘TPA’). Over a corresponding period of time, the landscape of the higher education sector has been transformed into a culture of consumerism with the student at the centre as the consumer. However, students have seldom sought redress in relation to infringement of their rights as consumers under consumer protection legislation and more rarely successfully. It is recognised that some rights do accrue to students as consumers of educational services under the ACL, principally with regard to promotional activities of higher education institutions (‘HEI’).2 It is not certain that the ACL can provide effective protection for students as consumers of educational services beyond this known application to address issues regarding the nature of the service provided. This research is specifically concerned with whether the introduction of an Unfair Contract Terms (‘UCT’)3 regime in the ACL overcomes identifiable barriers faced by students using consumer protection as a means to ensure they receive services as promised and advances their rights as consumers.The ACL saw the introduction of an UCT regime, which previously had only existed in limited jurisdictions in Australia, notably Victoria, as a means of protection in consumer contracts. Now any term in a consumer contract that is an unfair term as defined under the ACL is void. The application of these provisions in the context of the student as a consumer of educational services will require first an assessment of whether there exists in Australia a contract between the student and HEI. Further, for the UCT to apply, the student–HEI contract must be a ‘standard form’ ‘consumer contract’4, for ‘services’ occurring in ‘trade or commerce’5. Importantly the analysis will identify any connection between the UCT provisions regarding substantive unfairness and the protection this affords students in the context of the provision of educational services, such as the design and delivery of courses, as distinct from promotional activities.Ordinarily, claims concerned with the nature of the educational service provided are considered matters that involve questions of academic judgement. Courts have been consistent in their reluctance to examine matters relating to the exercise of academic judgement and accordingly such matters are considered non-justiciable. The significance of the UCT provisions is that rather than just focusing on procedural unfairness, they attempt to deal with substantive unfairness.6 In the context of the student–HEI contract and provision of educational services, the UCT provisions have the potential to ensure that the student–HEI contract does not contain terms that are substantively unfair. Consequently, HEIs may now be obliged to provide educational services in a manner students might reasonably expect upon entering the student– HEI contract. Thus the new UCT regime may deal with claims concerning the provision of educational services more effectively than other actionable rights that require the court to examine matters of academic judgement in relation to the nature of educational services provided. The analysis will evaluate the implications for the higher education sector and make recommendations for change in the current practice.

This research explores the experiences and insights of ten Middle Eastern Gulf women as they cross international borders to study in Australian universities. The literature indicates that international students in Australia establish their identity within the context of their overseas existence. This is particularly important as Muslims may feel they are being placed in a precarious situation due to, more often than not, terrorism being linked to Islam. Also, when Muslim women wear Islamic or traditional attire, the general public tends to look upon them with curiosity. With this in mind, the complex and changed contexts faced by ten Middle Eastern Gulf female post-graduate students are investigated using qualitative research methods. Utilising a grounded theory approach to interpret data and identify themes from two online questionnaires and personal interviews, individual portraits are created to illuminate their experiences. The research findings reveal new knowledge indicating that education is a structured mechanism for the participants, resulting in the creation of a new hybrid self as a key instrument for survival. This enables them to better understand cultural contexts and barriers arising from class, tradition, religion and learning. The participants indicate that a two-way agreement between educators and learners is paramount to a smooth transition into the Australian education system and a positive return to their home communities.

The internationalisation of universities has attracted significant political and even media attention, as well as internal focus. Concurrently, global discourses evolving around the notion of borders, terrorism, security and identity have taken on a renewed significance. Today, the articulation of identities has significant and even dire consequences for many people living in different parts of the world. In Australia, too, the matter of what it means to be ethnic, indigenous, non-indigenous or mixed-race is highly contested, controversial and for some groups of people, in particular contexts, even dangerous. In Australian higher education, the term international is commonly used to refer to the other - citizens of other countries (including those who visit our educational institutions). They are seen as the global citizens and we are not. Cultural diversity is widely celebrated and legislated through the Commonwealth Government?s Living in Harmony policy. Yet there is a dearth of knowledge and/or discussion around members of staff who are different in our own universities. This raises questions about how we come to differentiate between us and them in an Australian socio-historical context, understanding how race and ethnic difference is made salient in identification, and the knowledge production process. This is a small-scale, in-depth qualitative study, which addresses a significant gap in the literature on higher education by focusing on the experiences of four women educators of colour, each of whom has brought with her a complex collage of diasporic experiences, histories, identities and ways of knowing. By employing a multi-race/ethnic dialogic methodology and a research conversation method, the study presents the women?s experiences in narrative form, integrating the autoethnographic writing of the researcher with the women?s stories about difference. The inquiry provides new insights into what race and ethnic identity mean to the women in an everyday, professional and ethical practice context. The women?s stories are not of the traditional career or romantic multicultural kind, but reach into the realms of the personal, political, philosophical and spiritual dimensions of human experience. As they traverse the political terrain of the Academy, the women have looked within and outside the university, navigating multiple identities to make sense of their work. By documenting four women?s experiences that have never been documented before, this small-scale study provides basic research for others to build on. This research affirms the salience of race and ethnicity in the university and the new higher education knowledge creation ethos. The study reveals there is little current evidence that Australian universities are capitalising on and applying opportunities provided by research on race, ethnicity and difference to higher education debate and reform. The women?s stories reveal that the issue of under-representation of women of colour is not unique to the university, but is reflective of the powerful and constitutive impact of discourses of race and difference in Australian society. By highlighting the issues of who has the power and authority in the university to determine what counts as a valid identity and how identity and knowledge boundaries are policed within the Australian university, this research raises questions about the wider implications of epistemological racism embedded in university practices in relation to governance, curriculum, policy, teaching and learning. Through its development and exploration of a multiple race and ethnic dialogic methodology, and the use of research conversations as a method, the study sheds new light on the complexities of Australian race politics in knowledge production and on women?s differentiated experiences in higher education.

This research project explored the potential of a second language teacher education course for fostering teacher identity negotiation. It was found that classroom conversations provided a rich space for teacher identity negotiation; however, no substantial changes were observed in most aspects of their identities during the course, except for a growth in a few teachers’ selfconfidence. The implications are that conducting teacher education in an interactive manner is highly beneficial, but deeper engagement with practice of teaching is recommended. These insights should facilitate positive outcomes for teacher education programs.

E-learning has acquired the status of a "radical innovation" in higher education over the past decade. This claim is contestable, but certainly as the latest educational innovation, it can be attributed with introducing significant disruption into many facets of university life, reaching well beyond the traditional activities associated with the classroom pedagogies. In Australian universities, there are many now who simply take e-learning for granted as accepted teaching and learning practice (Oliver, 2004). Conversely, there are others who forecast its demise, claiming that, like previous educational technological innovations, it is another passing fad (Noble, 1998b). This thesis does not primarily engage this debate. Instead the purpose of this thesis is to gain insight into how universities can realise sustained benefits from the considerable investments to date that have been made in educational technological innovations. The inquiry seeks to understand better change within contemporary universities, in particular the process of embedding the e-learning innovation effectively. The intention is to produce an analysis useful to university executives, managers, teachers and researchers, as well as to make a more general contribution to knowledge about innovations in organisations. The research literature on change and innovation in organisations is relevant but is reviewed and assessed as of limited value to the enquiry. This is because: * the literature mainly focuses on the objective characteristics of an innovative product which cannot encompass the socially constructed value of e-learning * it fails to differentiate between the concept of "embedding" and other change phases and constructs, mostly examining the precursory and innovation-producing processes * the context of research into innovation has been primarily industrial, not university-based * its variable analytic paradigm fails to produce holistic analyses which can be appreciated and enacted on by decision makers and practising managers. For these reasons and because suitable research on innovation in universities is lacking, an introductory investigation based on grounded theory building was undertaken. To this end, four qualitative, descriptive case studies of contrasting Australian universities embedding e-learning were compiled. The four case universities (their identities protected through use of pseudonyms) assessed were: * Gamma University - a multi-campus institution, geographically spread across urban and regional locations * Lambda University - an established university, with the majority of students located at a single urban campus * Epsilon University - a younger, multi-campus amalgamated university with a strong reputation for distance education * Delta University - a relatively young multi-campus, urban university, although its parent bodies provide a longer history. The cases were based on interviews and focus group sessions with 74 participants, and electronic resource and document analyses over two phases; the first conducted in 1998-1999 and the second in 2002-2003. These analyses provided holistic pragmatic accounts that encapsulate a number of issues. One issue was about the importance of creativity in the innovating process. A second set of issues centred on the theme of complexity and the multifarious nature of the e-learning innovation. Other themes included the significance of the innovation context, partnerships and collaborations, and the emerging polarisation of issues such as standardisation versus diversification. These issues provoked three major propositions about the process of embedding and prompted the development of two systems-based analytical frameworks; one focusing on the nature of system relationships and interactions and the second providing a longitudinal perspective of system change. The propositions are: * the ability of a university to negotiate system intersections and transitions influences the degree to which e-learning can be embedded in that university * complexity is an integral part of an innovation, therefore cannot be ignored or eliminated without destroying the kernel of the innovation itself, and its longterm viability * the efficacy of the innovation is related, in some measure, to the ability to sustain partnerships and collaborations. The analysis suggested that there are number of key influences which affect the embedding process and the ability of an organisation, such as a university, to manage the processes associated with the e-learning innovation. The key system influences which affect embedding include: * the nature of the interactions and transactions occurring within the system, at the boundaries and between the phases of transition * the importance of organisational context (cultural, technological, strategic, geographic) * the pervasive impact of complexity on all dimensions of the research problem (the e-learning innovation, the change process and the university environment) * the necessity for collaboration. The implications of this study for university executives, managers and beyond are far reaching, and in some respects contradict accepted contemporary management practice. They include: seeking ways to maximise organisational tensions to achieve positive outcomes; enhancing decision making by allowing more flexibility and personal judgement into the process; developing greater tolerance for system fuzziness and uncertainty; and encouraging better utilisation of previous knowledge gained about innovation practices and processes.

This study explores student learning in a tertiary visual arts institution. Students' conceptions of art practice are described using the phenomenologically based educational research method of phenomenography. The study addresses the intentional content of student art practice in the contexts of the visual arts institution and the status of visual arts in the 1990s. Data collection was carried out through interviews with Honours Year visual arts students, which was processed using textual analysis to examine understandings related to the visual arts.

This research focussed Singaporean student decision-making when choosing an institution for university studies. It is contended that if a university does not understand the dimensions of how prospective students make decisions when choosing an institution it cannot meaningfully offer representation to these potential customers. Fittingly, this thesis drew on past research from buyer behaviour and college choice studies. Adapting an established model of consumer decision-making (Engel, Blackwell and Miniard, 1990), the study investigated the degree of compliance with the Extended Problem Solving concept (Howard, 1963), including what factors determined and influenced choices, and whether students learn from past decisions. To this end, an exploratory / descriptive study used mixed methods (Creswell, 1994) to map out the dimensions of student decision-making within an Australian University and Singaporean Association case. Results indicated students? decision-making was closely aligned to simple models and their decision-making steps could be best described as (1) having a need, (2) searching and gathering information, (3) evaluating alternatives, (4) making choice/s, and (5) accepting an offer and enrolling in a university program. Further, respondents did not necessarily engage in extensive searching and gathering activities, as theorised, demonstrated limited learning and had few discernible influences on their choices. The implications for the University-Association case included the need to guide students through their decision-making processes by providing relevant data on which they could make informed choices, relative to career and income advancement. For those indicating that they would choose an institution for postgraduate studies, ensure undergraduate post-choice regret is minimised and offer more choices of management programs so that respondents would consider continuing their studies with the same institution. The study contended that, despite delimits and limitations, contributions to both theory and practise had been made and concluded with several ideas for future research, including proposing two alternative hypotheses.

First Nations youth in Australia are the future leaders of their communities and represent over half the Indigenous population; as such their voices and wellbeing needs are vital for their communities' brighter future. This thesis weaves together Indigenous and Western theoretical perspectives to identify the wellbeing needs of First Nations students’ attending university. The research put First Nations higher education youth’s voices and agency at the epicentre, enabling Indigenous higher education youth to define what their wellbeing needs are, thus providing future theory, research, and practice with new insights and directions.

Despite the rapid growth in the provision of tourism higher education in the past 40 years, uncertainties remain about the content and nature of tourism degrees and how these are aligned with the needs of the tourism industry. Some research has been done on tourism higher education curriculum design, but the extent to which tourism higher education meets industry needs has not yet been closely investigated. This study aims to ascertain whether a gap exists between what education institutions provide in their undergraduate curricula in the way of tourism knowledge and skills sets, and what knowledge and skills sets are required by the tourism industry. A conceptual framework was developed to outline the research process, which involved two steps. First, content analysis of tourism curricula was conducted as the preliminary research. A list of 34 subject areas was synthesised from all core subjects offered in tourism courses in a sample of Australian universities according to subjects? titles, themes and detailed descriptions. A list of 27 skills and abilities was identified by collating university generic skills and tourism discipline attributes from these institutions. Based on the study of tourism curricula, two web-based surveys were then designed and distributed in order to investigate the respective perceptions of industry professionals and academic providers on the subjects and skills sets necessary for tourism employment. In analysing the data, perceptions about the subjects and skills sets were compared between tourism industry professionals and academic providers. Importance- performance analysis, gap analysis, and SPSS statistical tools were applied to analyse this data. The study found considerable variance between the views of industry professionals and academic providers in Australia. Their views vary firstly on the relative value of tertiary degrees for tourism professionals; secondly, on the relative merits of skills and abilities needed to work in the tourism sector; and thirdly, on the relative merits of various subjects taught at university. These findings establish the existence of a gap between the existing tourism curriculum at university level, and the needs of the tourism industry. The findings of this study also provide evidence to suggest that tourism higher education provision should not be isolated from real practice and that those involved in curriculum design should work closely with industry representatives to ensure a strong connection between theory and practice, thus improving the likelihood that graduates of tourism higher education courses will graduate with knowledge and skills sets which are closely aligned with the needs and expectations of the tourism industry

[Truncated abstract] The Australian higher education sector has changed markedly in the last two decades. The size of the sector has swelled in size as new universities have been created from former Colleges of Advanced Education and Institutes of Technology, and succeeding governments have introduced policies that have embedded increasingly corporate and commercial practices into university administration. This has caused the creation of what are becoming known as ‘enterprise universities’. This thesis examines hypotheses arising from two fundamental questions. (i) Given the increasingly market-oriented higher education environment in Australia, will a model developed from the study of services marketing (which has developed since the 1970s as a distinct sub-branch of the Marketing discipline) show itself to be applicable to universities operating in the Australian sector? (ii) If so, are there demonstrable differences in the way in which ‘student customers’ respond in terms of the antecedents of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty within different types of university? . . . The study found that the model tested was highly appropriate for indicating the major antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty in this setting. It showed that the institutional image was a relatively stronger antecedent of perceived value and customer satisfaction than were elements of service quality, and that the model was effective in accounting for a large proportion of the variance found in students’ loyalty to their institution. It also found that there was relatively little difference between students attending different types of university in these matters. It argues that there is an important imperative for Australian universities to take a strategic image management approach to their marketing initiatives, and also issues related to the nature of higher education as a positional and public good.

The continuing under-representation of female academics in senior classifications at Australian universities is widely acknowledged and documented. It has been proposed that universities fail to take advantage of the leadership skills of female academics, thereby inhibiting their organisation’s competitiveness (Airini et al., 2011). Statistics from the Australian Department of Education and Training (2018) indicate over half of full-time and fractional full-time academics are women, yet female academics constitute only a third of positions above that of Senior Lecturer across Australian universities. Substantial research has been conducted to explore the reasons behind the enduring gender inequity in academia, with a focus on the lack of women at senior classifications and in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) faculties. Statistics indicate significant reductions in the number of female academics between midlevel classifications; this area of research is less well developed. Specifically, the decrease in the number of female academics commences between the mid-levels of academic careers (from Levels B to C, as well as C to D) and accelerates from that point forward. Mid-level promotions have been identified as key promotion levels and indicators of future career progression (Yap & Konrad, 2009). There is a crucial need to understand the reasons for the inability of women to traverse this key point in their academic careers. This study proposes that for the gender distribution across senior classifications in academia to improve, these bottlenecks identified at the levels of Lecturer (Level B) and Senior Lecturer (Level C) should be analysed and addressed. The pipeline theory proposes that the increasing number of women entering the workforce will gradually result in an equal representation of women in leadership. However, the current gender distribution in Australian academia challenges this theory because there are presently more than enough women in academia qualified to be appointed to leadership roles, yet gender inequity remains. Persistent and continuing inequity requires a similarly determined response and it has been proposed that different and novel approaches are needed to return gender to the agenda (Kamberidou, 2010). Much of the gender equity research in academia has focused on the under-representation of female academics in senior classifications, but it has been argued that there is a lack of research exploring drivers of the careers of female academics (Nguyen, 2013). While the identification of career inhibitors remains vital, it can be argued that simultaneously identifying those factors that have assisted female academics in their career progression can provide policymakers and universities with valuable data to guide and assist gender equity efforts further. Researchers suggest that when exploring the career outcomes of female academics, it is also imperative to simultaneously explore family outcomes (Mason et al., 2013). International research suggests that female academics make more career sacrifices for their families as well as more family sacrifices for their careers, highlighting the challenges with which female academics continue to be faced. Data regarding this important measure of gender equity are absent for the Australian academic environment. This study’s aim was therefore to explore the inhibitors, with a focus on the identified bottlenecks, as well as the drivers and family outcomes of a career for female academics at an Australian university. To gain multiple perspectives, data for this research was drawn from chancellery members, Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) Charter Committee members, human resource professionals, and male and female academics at a public university in Australia. Owing to the exploratory nature of this research and the need for thick and rich data, a two-phased, multi-method qualitative approach was adopted, consisting of nine semi-structured interviews with senior stakeholders at the case study institution (CSI) in Study 1, and 47 “draw, write, reflect” (DWR) sessions with male and female academics in Study 2. DWR is a method specifically designed for this study, adapted from arts-based methods intended for research involving children. The aim of this study was to obtain data that may not lend itself to verbal expression, and the arts offer researchers an opportunity to retrieve experiences that may otherwise be challenging to obtain (Eisner, 2006). For this study, DWR involved asking respondents to draw their careers and associated experiences on an A4 sheet of paper, specifically including any inhibitors and drivers. Because of the novelty of the method adopted, this study includes a review of DWR with the academics who participated in the study, as well as the researcher, to assess the method’s validity, reliability and effectiveness in obtaining data. The study explored the careers of female academics through the lenses of role congruity theory (RCT), self-efficacy theory and attribution theory. For the purposes of this thesis, the roles referred to will be gender roles, which propose that female academics are likely to act in accordance, rather than deviate from, their prescribed female gender role. Gender incongruity is likely to be perceived negatively by others and may be punished through performance devaluation or harassment (Eagly & Karau, 2002). Confidence has been identified as a high-status characteristic for men (Moss-Racusin et al., 2010), while women are expected to be shy and humble (Prentice & Carranza, 2002). Framed by selfefficacy theory, women’s lack of expressed or perceived confidence may contribute to their lack of progression to senior academic classifications. Lastly, attribution theory, in combination with RCT, proposes that female academics are likely to attribute their lack of career progression to themselves while attributing positive career outcomes to external factors, such as luck. Thematic analysis of the data highlighted that female academics have significantly different career experiences from their male colleagues. While some of this study’s findings substantiate contemporary knowledge, others, owing to the inclusion of multiple perspectives, offer unique insights into the career experiences of female academics in Australia. Perspectives and narratives obtained from senior stakeholders were utilised to provide an organisational perspective of gender inequity, while the narratives of male academics served to compare their career experiences with those provided by female academics. The data identified several inhibitors of the career progression of female academics. Gender roles continue to influence career and family decisions and can result in female academics having to choose between a career or a family. Some women in the sample had reconsidered their career aspirations as a result of caring responsibilities, while others had postponed or decided not to have children in order to pursue their careers. The female gender role and the ideal academic role create incongruity in the lives of female academics, who often must shift between these two competing roles. Female academics did not report structural inhibitors of their career progression, and several female academics, who did not have caring responsibilities, had progressed their careers on a par with male academics. RCT posits that men and women are more likely to act in accordance with the male breadwinner model, which prioritises the male career. The female academics in the sample appeared to have accepted this situation and, rather than viewing the structure as inhibiting, viewed their inability to meet this standard, as a result of outside responsibilities, as the problem. A significant finding of this study related to the identification of a distinct “holding pattern” amongst female academics at academic Level B. Seven of the eight female academics at this level indicated that they would not be pursuing a promotion in the near future, suggesting that they will be employed at this level for an extended period. Inhibitors specific to the career progression of female academics, particularly at Levels B and C, were, amongst others, identified as a lack of confidence, academic housework, careful crafting of a work/life balance, fear of work/life conflict, career interruptions and caring responsibilities. As a result of the multi-level approach of this study, several drivers of the career progression of female academics at CSI were unearthed. While no societal drivers were identified, the organisational drivers included leadership, the Athena SWAN Charter, the organisational culture, and promotion and recruitment practices. Female academics reported that individual factors such as individual characteristics, family support, informal mentoring and a love of the job had driven their career progression. In terms of family outcomes, this study found that female academics in the sample were more likely to be divorced, less likely to have children, more likely to struggle with maintaining a work/life balance and more likely to experience tension with their partner regarding working hours than were their male colleagues. This finding indicates that career outcomes are only one aspect of gender equity. A focus on the number of female academics at senior classifications does not convey the full picture of female academics’ career narratives. Academic careers can come at a personal cost to female academics, and, despite the flexibility of academic work, it remains difficult to combine a successful career with caring responsibilities. This research makes several contributions. Firstly, the introduction, employment and review of a novel data collection method—draw, write, reflect—extends contemporary methodology knowledge and provides a clear procedure for researchers interested in employing this method in their research. Secondly, the identification and exploration of the previously unexplored bottlenecks in the academic pipeline revealed that a significant number of female academics remain in stasis at Level B, a situation identified in this research as forming a holding pattern. A possible explanation for this finding, when viewed through the lens of RCT, may be that Level B is congruent with the female gender, but to advance would create incongruity and is therefore less likely to occur. The identification of specific inhibitors contributing to this bottleneck were identified and presented. A third contribution of this study lies in the presentation of drivers of the career progression of female academics that have resulted in an improved gender distribution at CSI. The findings regarding positive strategies for career progression were related to mentoring and changes to recruitment and selection practices and can be utilised as a template for other universities working towards gender equity. Lastly, knowledge about the family outcomes of an academic career for female academics in Australia has thus far been absent in the literature. This study argues that this aspect is an important measure of gender inequity, and it has therefore been included in this research. The findings indicate that female academics have significantly different family outcomes from their male colleagues, with more female academics reporting being divorced and childless. The data obtained in this study can contribute to current knowledge about the careers of female academics and pragmatically to improving career opportunities for female academics in Australia, as well as internationally.

During the past decade, nurses in the clinical setting have began making a paradigm shift from Quality Assurance to Total Quality Management, or as it is commonly referred to within health care facililties, Continuous Quality Improvement.In contrast, scant attention has been paid to quality management practices in nursing in the higher education sector. This study provides an applied example of where it investigates quality management practices in the context of organisational culture and human resource management with the aim of developing a quality culture model for a school of nursing in higher education.The research study that was conducted produced several major findings from the views of nurse academics who participated in it. Several issues associated with nurse academics' opinions of quality management practices utilised in schools of nursing have been unravelled.The fundamental issue is that procedures and policies formulated for nurses in the hospital setting do not serve the needs of nursing education.The most crucial factor to be considered in policy developments and future research is that it needs to be contextualised in the culture of nursing in higher education.It has become imperative that a transparent quality culture reflects contemporary nursing in Australia and the proposed model in this thesis provides nurses with an opportunity to shape a quality system for the nursing profession.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study is motivated by the need to look continually for ways to improve Griffith University’s learning assistance services so that they meet the changing needs of stakeholders and are at the same time cost-effective and efficient. This study uses the conceptual tools of cultural-historical activity theory and expansive visibilisation to investigate the development and transformation of learning assistance services at Griffith University, one of Australia's largest multi-campus universities. Cultural-historical activity is a powerful theoretical framework that acknowledges the importance of dimensions such as cultural context, local setting, collective understanding, and the influence of historical variables on interactions in settings. Expansive visibilisation is a practical four-stage process that was used in this study to make visible and analysable the work context of the Learning Assistance Unit. The study uses these conceptual tools to illustrate how learning assistance services at the University have moved through several stages of historical development and that historical variables, such as the political setting and physical location of services continue to influence current work practices. The investigation involved gathering data through interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders in order to map the University's Learning Assistance Unit as an activity system that appears to have separated out from the overall activity system of the University. It involved making visible problems and tensions in the activity system, and identifying ways of improving future practice. The study reveals problem clusters and underlying tensions amongst the interacting activity systems of the Learning Assistance Unit, faculty, library and student. These problem clusters relate to different understandings about the purpose of the Learning Assistance Unit and the role of the learning adviser, the difficulties in offering a quality service on a restricted budget, and tensions between contextualised and de-contextualised learning assistance. The study suggests that resolving these tensions depends on staff taking an active role in critically examining their practice, in particular the way that they collaborate with key stakeholders in the learning environment. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that one way forward is to expand the activity system on its socio-spatial, temporal, moral-ideological, and systemic-developmental dimensions (Engeström, 1999c).

This thesis attempts to explain the apparent contradiction between what is said and what is done about providing adult and continuing education in an Australian university. It does this firstly by tracing the historical development of adult and continuing education in Australian universities with emphasis on Sydney University, the institution with the longest tradition in this field. Over the past ten years there has been a shift from liberal adult education towards continuing professional education largely as a result of the tremendous gains in education across all sectors of society since 1945, and the implications this has as educated people seek more opportunity for learning. The thesis then reviews recent changes to the nature of provision of continuing education in other Australian universities which reveals a dismantling of specialised continuing education in preference for the less expensive, integrated approach whereby established faculties and departments take on responsibility for continuing education. These changes have been accompanied by a rhetoric of support for the concept of continuing education by institutions. The basis of such contradiction is analysed by using a four part framework focussing on the different perspectives of continuing education and higher education. The major dimensions on which these differences are analysed are; role and orientation; the nature of academic work; organisational focus and decision making; and, administration and resource provision. An indepth study of the history of adult and continuing education at the Australian National University (ANU) reveals that the contradictions evident in other Australian universities reviewed earlier are also evident at the ANU. The thesis concludes in three ways first with a comment on the iinplications of a recent report by the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission (CTEC) on non-award adult and continuing education in Australia as it relates to higher education. The findings of the CTEC report on the organisational aspects of the provision of continuing education by universities is consistent with the findings of the thesis. Secondly it concludes that the framework for analysis identified helps to understand the basis for action in the ANU regarding the management and resourcing of its Cent re for Continuing Education. We _suggest that the framework requires more work for better understanding of the dynamic relationship between the two fundamental categories; role and orientation and the nature of academic work and the other categories; organisational focus and decision making, and administration and resource provision . Finally it concludes on the strategic implications of universities withdrawing from continuing education; becoming less relevant to the needs of an ever changing society, receiving less, real term funding, and aiding in the increase of a range of other organisational interests in continuing education including, professional, community, other governmental and commercial organisations.

碩士
國立暨南國際大學
比較教育學系
95
Higher education internationalisation is an important developing aspect of our national higher education system. For this purpose, we need a lot of experience to avoid the mistakes and time wasting. Australia is a country with splendid victory of higher education internationalisation, especially in the rapid growth of its international student number. Therefore, this research focus on describing and analysing the strategies which are used by Australia government and one of its universities in order to support our government and universities to figure out some ways to improve our higher education internationalisation. The developing of higher education internationalisation in Australia can be separated into three periods: 1.aid 2.trade 3.international education. At the first and the second period, most actions are about the recruitment of international students. Till the third period, Australia government and the universities, which conduct various actions and activities to improve their higher education internationalisation with an active attitude, gradually value the other aspects of higher education internationalisation. This research focuses on the strategies of Australia government and a university, which are used in the third period and still work on now. At the part of Australia government’s strategies, this research sorts four main strategies: 1.the formation of organisations with specific aim; 2.the establishment of quality insurance system; 3.the promotion of international cooperation; 4.the set up of international scholarships. The specific organisations, which are hold or supported by Australia government, can support the development of higher education internationalisation and pull together the resource from the different departments. The quality insurance system helps to attract the international students and the credit transfer also gives impetus for local students to study overseas. At the part of international cooperation, Australia sign up Memoranda of Understanding and take part in the international organisation to increase its advantage of opening up its international education and the flow of international talents. At the part of international scholarship, Australia supplies the scholarship for the people from developing countries, arrests the excellent students and also supports its local students to develop international experience. The example of Australia universities is Monash University. There is three strategies analysed in the research: 1.the support of administration; 2.the set up of international delivering locations; 3.the advance of international flows. In the support of administration, it sets up the international recruitment networks, the specific responsible departments. At the establishment of international delivering locations, it sets up the overseas campuses, the international co-courses and the distance learning. At the advance of international flows, it provides awards and lots of exchange programmes for the staff and students to expand their international experience.