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This study examines the research output of female staff and the factors that affect their research productivity in the Nigerian university system. The study was carried out with a view to promoting strategies that will enhance productivity and increase the research output of female staff in Nigerian universities. The study adopted a survey research design. The purposive sampling method was used in administering questionnaires to 381 female academic staff from twelve randomly selected universities in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. The study revealed that female research output was generally low: 59.5 per cent of female academics published one paper annually; 23.6 per cent published up to two papers; 1.1 per cent published three papers; and 15.8 per cent did not publish on an annual basis. Although most female academic staff published annually, most wished to increase their publication rate. The study's results found that marital status, religion, academic position and number of hours of lectures per week had an impact on their ability to carry out research and publish the results. The study concluded that female academics made contributions that are more significant to teaching than research and that the Nigerian university system needs to develop strategies to enhance female research output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerted efforts to transform gender cultures within Nigerian universities have introduced formal strategies aimed at reinforcing gender equity principles and practice. This is evidenced through the creation of gender centres and the adoption of gender equity policies in some Nigerian universities. However, existing literature reveals that despite these formal measures, gender imbalance in academic leadership is still prevalent. This paper seeks to investigate why gender equity policies in Nigerian universities have failed to gain traction, especially for advancing women to academic leadership positions. Using documentary data gathered from purposively selected universities in Nigeria, this paper unveils the various ways in which the content and enactment of institutional gender policies are gendered and potentially reinforce systems of inequality. Informed by a Feminist Institutionalism and Feminist Policy Analysis framework, I analyse gender policy documents and identify areas of silence, women's exclusion, and how male dominance is perpetuated in the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women constitute just over one fifth of full professors in UK higher education and whilst work has emerged in recent years on professors as leaders, there has been comparatively little research about how this under-represented cadre define and practise their role as intellectual leaders. This paper seeks to analyse how women see their role as full professors through autobiographical accounts of their intellectual and career histories via interviews with women professors, and a small comparison group of male professors. A range of freedoms and responsibilities connected with the professorial role are identified along with personal qualities considered central to success. Both female and male professors understand their role principally in terms of research leadership, but women are more likely to emphasise the importance of academic citizenship, especially mentoring, compared to their male counterparts, an obligation that weighs especially heavily on women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics areas. While these findings are indicative of the continuing effect of so-called 'academic housework' in holding back the academic careers of women, they are also a positive indicator of a commitment to an all-round role as an intellectual leader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including gender, postgraduate education in Sweden, and scope and role of advising programmes.

Higher education is a key factor in a nation’s effort to develop a highly skilled workforce for competing in the global economy. In this paper, current trends in accessibility, equity, participation and financing of higher education in Kenya are examined. The paper explores the challenges which need to be confronted and discusses the way forward for reforming higher education policies in Kenya to widen access and advance equity by suggesting a number of strategies. It highlights the need for programmes and policies focusing on improving access to quality secondary education experiences; increasing aspirations and application to higher education; and the improvement of policies on financial support to disadvantaged students through the already existing Higher Education Loans Board. It concludes with a number of recommendations including a new revenue allocation particularly to the rising numbers of higher education aspirants from low income, rural, ethnic minorities and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including one on the aspects of staffing in New Zealand, and another one on gender-biased policy.

This paper undertakes a critique of the gendered nature of leadership in modern universities in Kenya. The paper argues that the inclusive nature of African feminism makes it easier for both men and women to join in this discussion since African feminism demands a more holistic perspective that does not pit men against women but encourages them to work together to address gender inequalities. The review shows that there is a need to develop policies and strategies both at national and local level geared towards increasing women's participation in decision making and leadership in higher education in Kenya. The paper provides an opportunity for reflection on problems related to the participation of academic women in leadership in higher education in Kenya and comparable systems through the changing times and settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses a survey of leadership development needs and current challenges of senior women at two different Australian universities. It found that their leadership development needs were quite similar: over 80 per cent of respondents considered that a senior women's leadership programme would provide knowledge and skills for leadership in the current tough working environment. The preferred content included skills in people management, political awareness, operational issues and career development, and preferred format was mentoring, peer networks, coaching and 360 degree feedback, and shadowing and mentoring at another university. The qualitative responses indicated several strong themes: the impact of excessive workloads and high levels of administration on their effectiveness; the need for peer and supervisor support and networks, underpinned by effective organisational skills and administrative support; and the gendering of careers, especially academic careers, evident in male colleagues receiving more support, resources and recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most universities around the world put in place administrative processes and systems to manage student progress. These processes usually involve filling out standardised forms and instruments: managerial tools intended to increase transparency, promote efficiency and ensure fairness by applying the same standards to all. The progress report is a widely used management tool in doctoral candidature in Australia and in other countries which look to the United Kingdom for degree structure and format. This reporting mechanism requires students and supervisors to make a retrospective account of the research done in a given period. The intention of the progress report is to provide a mechanism for recording feedback and an opportunity to clarify communication between supervisors, students and the institution itself on the progress of the research. However, whether these managerial tools achieve these aims in doctoral candidature is questionable. In this paper, we report on findings from a study of progress reporting in doctoral studies in one middle-band university in Australia. We found that men and women reported qualitative differences in their encounters with the progress reporting mechanisms, which called into question the idea that these management tools are gender neutral and fair in their effects or application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of greater gender equity within Australian universities is a significant issue for both the quality and the strength of Australian higher education. This paper contributes to our knowledge of academic workloads, observing individual workloads in business faculties. A multiple case study method was employed to observe individual academic workloads. Two regional universities were selected for this research on the basis of their senior staff profiles. Multiple sources of evidence were used to gather teaching and research workload data for all faculty members. Differences in workloads were not always evident between genders. Our results suggest that universities that are over-represented with females in senior academic positions when compared to the national average achieve equity in workload. Universities that are underrepresented with females in senior academic positions do not achieve workload equity with male academics producing more research and coordinating more teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores leadership styles and gender in higher education (HE) by examining representation of female professors in Australian and Turkish universities and identifying barriers to achieving seniority. The paper explores factors, including leadership styles, which explain the higher representation of female professors in Turkey, despite legislative frameworks and strategies in Australia to improve representation of senior women. It then explores barriers to women's career advancement, including the difficult management culture, low morale, informal processes in appointment and promotion, and lack of training for management roles in Australia, and conflict between career and family roles in Turkey. Finally, the paper identifies the impact of strategic choices on leadership styles and women's career advancement. This research questions the impact of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action frameworks on women's representation as professors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender equality in academia has been monitored in Australia for the past three decades so it is timely to reflect on what progress has been made, what works, and what challenges remain. When data were first published on the gender composition of staff in Australian universities in the mid-1980s women comprised 20 per cent of academic staff and held 6 per cent of senior positions. Since the early 1990s many Australian universities have had policies in place to remove sex discrimination and initiatives to increase women’s representation in academia. Two decades on, women comprise 44 per cent of academic staff and hold 31 per cent of senior positions. How did this happen? What worked? Are there still challenges to be addressed? This paper provides a critical reflection on what has worked, the practical impacts on gender in academia in Australia and what challenges remain for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Women make up 65 per cent of the staff in Australian universities who do not perform academic work. While there is a growing body of research on women in senior management and the experiences of female academics in Australian universities, there is less literature on women working in the administrative stream, especially those in middle management. Using a national sample of 172 university female middle managers, the paper reports on issues for this under-researched cohort. Despite a prevailing Australian paradigm of equal opportunity and anti-discrimination, women commented on many instances of discrimination, masculine culture, inflexibility regarding their carer responsibilities, lack of recognition and opportunity and an academic/administrative divide that was gender inflected. A number of women also queried whether female managers should adopt masculine management styles. Despite indications from this research and the literature that gender issues are worse in other sectors, the numerous comments in this research paint a picture of continued male hegemony that devalues and marginalises administrative women's contribution in the management of Australian universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses differences in perceptions of gender and leadership though qualitative interviews with 45 senior managers in Australia and Turkey. The literature suggests that masculine models of leadership are changing with both women and many men preferring transformational leadership styles. The research found that there were different perceptions about gender and leadership in Australian and Turkish universities, reflecting different economic and social contexts. Turkish respondents mostly did not engage in discussion on the topic and did not consider women experienced discrimination as managers. In contrast, Australian respondents acknowledged discrimination and supported interventions by Vice-Chancellors (VCs) to increase women in university management. Perceptions of leadership in Turkish universities were aligned with a predominantly masculine/transactional model, and in Australia had moved from heroic masculinity to more inclusive leadership styles, consistent with a transformational leadership model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heads of department (HoDs) are commonly made responsible for implementing gender balance change in academia. Research has found that they are often reluctant to take ownership of this problem. Our study found that department heads in Norway did take on a lot of ownership for gender balance change and we divided their leadership approaches with regard to gender balance into uncertain, collegial and heroic. However, such approaches did not distinguish much regarding what they were able to do in practice, partly due to restraints from being in a middle-management position. Thus, there is a unexploited potential for HoDs taking a leading role in gender balance change if they are granted more autonomy and more support from above leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of senior managers in consolidating and interpreting new managerialism in higher education in Australia, South Africa and Portugal, and perceptions of potential effects on gender. The impact of managerialism on decision-making in Australia was increased centralisation with the Vice Chancellor operating as a Chief Executive Officer; in South Africa tension existed between collegial and managerial models evident in power struggles between Vice Chancellors and faculties, plus overt risk and strong political considerations; while in Portugal decision making remained collegial with Rectors seeing themselves as primus inter pares (first among equals). The major finding was that while women as senior managers had an increased capacity to impact on decision-making in managerial universities, mainly related to 'soft' management skills, these were not valued in a competitive management culture strongly focused on research output. Thus managerialism presents a great challenge for women in senior management in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation of factors which differentiate between university lecturers in relation to publication output is reported. The study drew on data from lecturers working full-time at two large Australian universities. Measures of research publication output were used to select two groups of lecturers (N1 = 119; N2 = 119); that is, those without or with very few publications and those with impressive publication records. Because of the differing metrics of the selected factors, both discriminant and logistic regression analysis were employed to test the discriminative capacity of the various factors and models incorporating some of the factors. A range of factors, including qualifications held, proportion of work time devoted to research tasks and the confidence assigned by lecturers to the execution of certain research tasks, were found to differentiate between the two groups. A logistic regression model incorporating these factors showed good fit of the data, as indicated by the omnibus test result (p< 0.001), a Cox and Snell R2 value of 0.57, and 86.1 per cent of the grouped cases being correctly classified. The implications of these results are examined from the perspectives of university managers, who may wish to create an environment that fosters greater research and publication, and those who engage in these activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores research on gender and institutions for the purposes of informing analytical frameworks for research on institutional change with regard to gender equality in higher education. Drawing on feminist institutionalist studies that explore the relationship between gender, institutions and institutional continuity and change, the aim is to evaluate how this body of scholarship can be adapted to an analysis of the dynamics of gender equality plan implementation in universities.S [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workforce diversity is considered an indicator of successful diversity and equal employment opportunity initiatives. In Kenya, it is a legal requirement for all public establishments to seek to represent the diversity of the population in employment of staff. This study analyses ethnic and gender representativeness and heterogeneity of the workforce in public universities. The results show over-representation of certain ethnic groups and non-compliance with diversity requirements in most universities. Variations between universities with regard to workforce heterogeneity are not statistically significant. However, the link between workforce heterogeneity and degree of urbanisation of university location is statistically significant. The conclusion is that compliance with legal requirements does not necessarily translate into representativeness and heterogeneity of the workforce. A shift from legal compliance to planned increase in numbers of under-represented gender and ethnic groups through diversity initiatives that identify and address barriers to equal employment and discriminatory employment practices is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this study was to examine how different physical activity domains are represented on the official social media sites of Spanish universities, through a content analysis of the photographs. Our results show that the representation of different physical activity domains is not balanced. While the analysed images do promote a message of gender equality in sedentary and leisure time physical activity behaviour, pictures illustrating active commuting and disabled groups were under-represented. We conclude that Internet-based physical activity promotion in university settings must to be guided by the principles of ‘health-promoting universities’ in the sense of promoting a comprehensive view on healthy behaviours in every action carried out with the university community, and in particular including diversity as a norm rather than the exception. Professionals should be aware of their responsibility in the design of the built online environment and their influence on the welfare of the university community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the participation of women in academic conferences in Israel, a country in which women are under-represented in academia vertically and horizontally. Data were retrieved from announcements of academic conferences in Israel, for one academic year, covering 56 conferences that attracted 997 participations. Participation was measured according to a three-level vertical hierarchy and a three-level horizontal divide that was based on academic discipline. Statisticalz-tests and χ2tests were conducted to compare the proportions of male and female participation. Findings show that male participation in conferences was three times that of women. It was also found that the conferences reflected the social agenda in Israel. It is suggested that women are subjected to two forms of gender marginality, one stemming from the gendered division of labour and the other from the characteristics of the academic conferences that reflect the masculine military social agenda in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender implications of nationally competitive teaching awards were examined to determine whether women receive sufficient accolades, given their dominant position in university teaching. Quantitative methods and secondary data provided objective analysis of teaching awards for Australian universities, for an 18-year data set with 2046 units of analysis. Results indicate that women were over-represented in lower-level citations and under-represented in higher-level awards. Women did not dominate, particularly the highly prestigious Prime Minister’s award, where men constituted 65%. Policy and management implications include that universities could review the gender balance in their teaching award processes and set goals as internal support is a springboard to national awards. Groups of the same gender could be encouraged to work together at the highest levels to overcome individualistic, competitive barriers. National teaching award applications could be gender blind, at least for the higher levels. There are no clear trends towards a better gender balance, possibly because there has been a very limited gender spotlight on the awards at any level of policy and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining a tertiary degree no longer guarantees entry to the best occupational positions in today’s labour market. Success is no longer about ‘more’ education, but about ‘better’ education for university graduates. This study aims to understand whether university prestige in Korea accounts for occupational outcomes in both monetary and non-monetary aspects, such as salaries and job satisfaction. The study particularly focuses on the way different levels of university prestige are affected by gender. The fourth wave data from the Korean Education and Employment Panel were used, providing information from the results of a panel survey of university graduates in terms of their social and academic background and job employment status. Results show that university prestige continues to matters in occupational outcomes in particular, for wage, but it is not significant for job satisfaction. The effect is more significant among male graduates than among female graduates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, the focus is on understanding the success of one university in increasing the proportion of women at professorial level from zero in 1997 to 34 per cent in 2012, considerably above the averages for Irish, European Union and Australian universities. Using a concept of leadership ‘as a process of influence’ and drawing on both documentary and experiential evidence, it identifies four stages and key factors in that transition, including the situational context of a new university; positional and informal leadership; increased transparency and the prioritisation of disciplines with high levels of professorial posts and where the appointment of women was structurally more likely. It illustrates the extent of the change that can occur, even in intractable areas such as the university professoriate. Such change is neither inevitable nor permanent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women remain a minority in the Australian professoriate despite decades of equal opportunity policy. This article discusses the findings of an intensive case study that investigates why women's representation declines at the most senior academic levels. Through in-depth interviews with 24 women, the study explores the extent to which women's choices and aspirations are shaped by academic employment conditions that are ambiguous in their effects on women's capacity to reach senior academic roles. Responses suggest that women are slowed down, in ways that men often are not, by multiple conditions. The findings draw attention to the need for equity policies that support women to reach the professoriate before retirement becomes the preferred option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]