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This paper proposes four principles for managers and higher education educators who are designing units and programmes so as to be dual mode ready. 'Dual mode' design and delivery enables students to equitably complete their studies fully online, while also offering on-campus experiences where possible. The four principles are: (1) All learning outcomes can be met irrespective of participation mode; (2) Teaching-learning activities are equitable across participation modes; (3) All students have equivalent opportunity to demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes; and (4) 'Online ready' design. Being dual mode ready will likely remain important as on-campus delivery may not be possible for all students. Further, universities may need to pivot rapidly to fully online delivery for a range of reasons, including pandemic-related circumstances. The four principles provide guidance on how best to ensure equity and fairness for students and teachers in a dual mode context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from a doctoral study that investigated how young refugees and their families encounter England's education system. All children have the right to education in England; however, there are no specific educational policies for young refugees' education. Their invisibility in policy makes it more challenging for them to access appropriate support and contributes to them being portrayed through a deficit‐based lens. Due to limited school–home partnerships, educators may often be unaware that people with 'refugee' and 'asylum seeker' statuses face various barriers in and outside of school, further disadvantaging them. In this doctoral research, I drew on the concept of funds of knowledge (FofK) to highlight young refugees' and their families' practices and knowledge(s). I conducted a critical ethnography combined with arts‐based activities to investigate young people's and their families' experiences and perspectives of education. Based on the research findings, I argue that families' FofK can be used as resources for teaching and learning and to help overcome deficit‐based views of young learners. An FofK framework may help schools establish young people's and families' expectations, understand their circumstances in England and build deeper school–home partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the critical praxis approach of an equity initiative with students who have left care. We contend that 'praxis' (International Studies in Widening Participation, 2018, 5: 10–20) – understood here as the close, dialogic and iterative relationship between research and practice, can be a powerful tool for approaching ordinarily rigid equity categorisations as a means for interrogating their conceptual efficacy while simultaneously creating more exploratory approaches to equity populations and initiatives. We examine how unproblematised notions of care leavers migrate between fields and institutions, arguing for a more robust and rigorous interrogation of the salience of the concept of a care leaver as it is integrated into the field of higher education. We contend that rigid definitions of care that narrowly define people only through their relationship to formalised state‐legitimated forms of welfare intervention risk making 'absent' (Epistemologies of the south: Justice against Epistemicide, 2014; Routledge) the substantial population of people nearby this experience of care. This includes people who have escaped official definitions as policies change, circumstances that are similar or identical to people placed in care that have not been included in the official definition of care, or the overlapping and intersecting conditions of marginality that often shape the conditions for being removed into state care. Critical praxis is offered here as providing the basis for allowing the category of 'care leaver' or 'care experienced' to become an in‐road for expanding practice initiatives and research understandings to further dimensions of marginalisation and social vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the numbers of Indigenous people enrolled in research higher degrees in Australia is important for building the Indigenous academic workforce, broadening the scope of knowledge production in academic institutions and ensuring effective research outcomes for Indigenous Australians. While the numbers of Indigenous research higher degree students are increasing, universities still have a lot to do to bring that number up to parity. In this paper, we explore the value of a pre-doctoral program developed for Indigenous people interested in doing a PhD that provides them the information they need to inform their choices about undertaking a doctoral project. As the only program of this kind in Australia, this research contributes to the emerging literature on the factors that have an influence on why Indigenous people choose to undertake PhD programs and the effectiveness of initiatives to support their pathway to higher degree research. The research outcomes build on the evidence base for improving initiatives across the university sector, highlighting the need for tailored, Indigenous-led pre-doctoral support programs for Indigenous students, the value of cohort experiences and the importance of universities that value Indigenous people and their knowledge systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, there has been growing concern about teacher preparation at university and the link to educational quality. As a result, higher education institutions have designed programmes to help faculty teachers further their development in their professional careers. However, the literature pinpoints a lack of empirical evidence on professional development (PD) policies at university level due to the limited tradition of research and evaluation at this educational stage. The aim of this research is to provide an overview of the actions and programmes for the professional learning of new academics at university institutions. To this end, we conducted a systematic review of the international literature, based on 262 papers from three international databases, of which a total of 18 were analysed in depth. This study examines the types of programme, content and learning outcomes. The findings show that most programmes deploy mentoring versus other modalities, although duration and content are heterogeneous. In addition, mentor selection and training is revealed as a key element for programme success. Finally, we present a number of lessons learned that may be useful for university induction programme design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of college athletic reclassification for educational institutions in the United States. Most of America's colleges and universities offer athletic opportunities for their students under NCAA governance. The level of competition and associated resource requirements range from relatively low (Division 3) to high (Division 1). In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of institutions that have either reclassified to a higher division, or publicly considered such a move. The resource obligations of reclassification are significant, and administrators must carefully weigh expected benefits and costs with respect to the institution's mission and vision. While several studies (Bell, 2017; Schwarzber, 2014; Frieder & Fulks, 2007; Tomasini, 2005) have focused on reclassification from Division 1-FCS to FBS—the highest level of competition—less attention has been paid to colleges in Division 2 and 3—which comprise two-thirds of NCAA membership. Our study addresses a gap in the literature by analyzing athletic reclassification among schools moving up from Division 2 to Division 1 (FCS and no-football) during the period of 2001–2018. Drawing upon multiple data sources, we construct a panel of 33 schools (14 treatments and 19 controls) to evaluate the impact of reclassification on applications and athletic department budgets. Results from quasi-experimental methods (difference in differences, event study, and synthetic control models) suggest that reclassification significantly increased basketball program revenues and athletic department expenses among the treatment schools. However, we do not find evidence that reclassification raises student applications in the short term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because strong oral communication skills have well-known academic, social, and professional benefits, they are increasingly targeted and reinforced throughout general education programs in higher education. In these efforts, public speaking assignments most often ask students to discuss information they have previously written about (e.g., theses defenses, position statements, research papers). This article presents a reverse approach—using short oral presentations to prepare students for subsequent written assignments. Previous studies have found that students will more closely read and evaluate source materials when they must articulate the information orally for an audience. Integrating oral presentations in the writing process gives students practice with language and vocabulary, but maybe more importantly, it also has the potential to increase students' self-efficacy—their confidence in their ability to understand and successfully complete additional research-related activities—which can, in turn, positively affect engagement and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study investigating the implementation of peer support groups (PSGs) for the purpose of supervisor development in higher education. The context for the study is a national doctoral programme in Norway, where PSGs were introduced as an important part of measures aimed at the development of PhD supervisors. The aim of the PSGs was to establish forums for discussions of specific challenges that the supervisors faced in their supervision. Furthermore, our aim was to contribute to supervision development via meaning-making, problem-structuring and problem-solving. The supervisors discuss challenges from their own supervision practices according to a specific five-phase model. Using a combination of thematic analysis and interaction analysis, we found that the discussions enabled by the PSGs resulted in altered comprehensions of the challenging situations the supervisors faced, as well as thoroughly considered strategies with which to progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the roles of quality managers at community colleges, their experiences balancing accountability and improvement and their insights into the future of quality assurance. Design/methodology/approach: This phenomenological, qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with eight community college quality managers to investigate their roles, experiences and perspectives. A reflexive thematic approach was used to analyze the interview data. Findings: Four themes were identified from participant responses: quality managers frame and enable program quality, quality managers drive program change, quality managers cultivate a culture of quality and quality managers seek system change. The findings illustrate the roles played by quality managers as they work to improve college education at program, institution and system-wide levels. Research limitations/implications: The decision of participants to accept the recruitment invitation might reflect particular attitudes, perspectives or experiences. Practical implications: Quality assurance has emerged as a key mechanism for ensuring postsecondary programs are current, relevant and meeting the evolving needs of students and employers. This study advances the understanding of how quality assurance processes play out at the operational level and explores the experiences of quality managers as they navigate various quality tensions. Originality/value: Quality managers play key roles in leading, evaluating and influencing quality assurance processes in postsecondary education yet they are underrepresented in the literature. The findings of this study shed new light on the aspirational and influential roles they play in advancing quality assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precarity of the Ukrainian professoriate is a lacuna in the higher education literature. There was no research on this subject before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Furthermore, no investigations have been conducted on how university professors handle the hardships of teaching in wartime. This study tries to understand the phenomenon of precarity, as it is experienced by Ukrainian educators affected by the brutal invasion and ensuing dehumanization. The study explores the following questions: What do post-Soviet educators learn from precarity and hostile environments that undermine their individual and professional dignity? How do they manage the security deficit in their academic and living environments? By presenting insights from thirty-nine interviews, this paper elaborates on the phenomenon of precarity among university educators who are urged to redefine themselves, reinstate their academic identity, and salvage their teaching careers in the context of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fragmentation of academic work and its uneven distribution among academic staff have produced particular challenges for new entrants to teaching in Higher Education, Early Career Teachers [ECTs]. In this paper, documentary analysis of the narratives of fourteen ECTs, who worked across six different continents, was undertaken. The findings highlight the diverse forms of precarity that ECTs face, which cut across migratory, identitarian, economic, and ideological dimensions. It discusses ECTs' reflections on their expectations of teaching and their adaptation to the demands of neoliberal Higher Education. Drawing from their narratives and Sevil Sümer's theories of differentiated academic citizenship, ECTs are recognised as 'precarious academic citizens'. This has important implications for revealing the unique circumstances of this group, thereby opening further questions as regards their mentoring and support to enable them to be situated more equally as citizens of the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has become increasingly common to endorse and implement anonymous grading as a way of promoting fairness or equality of opportunity in the classroom. The American Philosophical Association currently recommends anonymous grading, as do the Canadian Philosophical Association, the British Philosophical Association, the Society for Women in Philosophy, and Minorities and Philosophy. Despite its increasing prevalence, the practice has received surprisingly little attention in applied ethics. This paper begins filling this gap. I start by clarifying the 'Standard Argument' from fairness or equality of opportunity for anonymous grading. I then argue that the Standard Argument fails to support current models for anonymous grading. The issue: current models for anonymous grading are practically self-undermining if the aim is to reduce violations of equality of opportunity or fairness. So, if we want to address bias in grading because we care about equality of opportunity or fairness, we need to change how we do it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancient Chinese civilisation developed two ideas about the ordering of large human spaces. The first was tianxia or 'all under heaven', the inclusive and cosmopolitan world as a whole, with no exterior, and governance on the basis of shared values and benefits, which first shaped statecraft in the Western Zhou dynasty (1047–1771 BCE). Second, the centralised nation-state which emerged in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Both strands have been influential through Chinese history. In the last twenty years discussion of tianxia has revived, especially through Zhao Tingyang, stimulated by globalisation and the need for practical relations beyond the nation state. This paper proposes one version of tianxia as a heuristic for understanding, rethinking and remaking ethical relations in worldwide higher education. It reviews different understandings of tianxia in China, identifies a world-centred (rather than China-centred) tianxia , and discusses the potentials of tianxia in higher education. Tianxia is appropriate to world higher education because of its spatiality and its ethical commitment to universal benefit in diverse settings on the basis of mutual respect. The article suggests four clusters of relational values that could constitute a tianxia order in higher education, and compares tianxia to existing practices of globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current educational scenario is changing and inclining more towards digital technologies for teaching-learning. Interactions during the classrooms or virtual sessions are vital for students' learning engagements. Learner-learner interactions and educator-learner interactions during online classes are to be promoted and sustained for a better teaching-learning experience. The use of social media in education is noted in previous research. This paper aims to explore the role of social media in learner-learner interactions and its impact on students' learning engagement. A theoretical model is proposed in the study through a review of existing literature. The model testing is done with data of 344 respondents through a self-designed structured questionnaire. The respondents are selected from an urban city in western India. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling are applied for the hypotheses testing and regression analysis. The results indicate that the learner-learner interactions, as well as the educator-learner interactions, are imperative for student learning engagement in online teaching. Also, learner-learner interactions are positively affected by the students' self-efficacy concerning the technology. The study also noted that the use of social media improves learner-learner interaction and student learning engagement in a technology-mediated learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment is a key element in any course, and providing students with a balance between formative and summative assessments is crucial. Defining such a process is a complex task for teachers and often entails a great workload. This makes it necessary to have tools to help in the assessment process definition and its monitoring. This paper first analyses the possibility of using the available tools in Moodle. For that, we carried out a bibliographical study, conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 teachers, and analysed the use of the Moodle gradebook in their courses. We found that teachers find it quite difficult to use the Moodle gradebook, so they rarely take advantage of all its possibilities. Taking this into account, we present Forge, a system that facilitates the definition of assessment processes following the e2Forja methodology in such a way that the produced process can be exported to Moodle. We have analysed whether Forge makes the assessment definition process easier or not. We have selected four courses to carry out a case study using Forge and interviewed the teachers again. We detected that Forge facilitates the assessment process definition and its monitoring, taking advantage of the characteristics of the Moodle gradebook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current digital transformation in manufacturing has a strong impact on the competencies needed by manufacturing companies. This leads to evolving requirements for digital training in industrial engineering courses. The concept of virtual labs in academic environments can be instrumental in teaching new digital skills through practical experience. This paper aims to examine the requirements and essential factors involved in designing virtual labs, proposing a framework to meet the requirements of virtual lab activities, integrating didactic and research purposes while examining the requirements and essential factors involved in designing virtual labs digital twin as an enabling technology. The framework is the result of the analysis of the technical aspects related to immersive technologies, such as extended reality, together with insights gathered from interviews and pilot testing conducted in workshops involving students, teachers, and lab managers from three institutions implementing virtual labs. The outcomes of this study include the digital model of four manufacturing labs as virtual labs that are openly available for academic purposes. This showcases a commitment towards offering quality and inclusive engineering education through cuttingedge virtual technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definitions of disability are changing, shifting from a narrow medical diagnosis to a biopsychosocial model of disability, where disability is conceptualised as a series of relational conditions that can potentially disadvantage individuals within environments. Implications of this new understanding of disability will have significant effects in the higher education sector, where there is increasing participation of disabled students. In this paper, we discuss one aspect of these implications through the topic of graduate employability. In doing so, we generate a new concept 'Employability for Inclusion' that can be utilised as an equity-focused lens for universities to consider how employability initiatives are inclusive to disabled and/or diverse students. To unpack this concept, we further illustrate how a biopsychosocial model of disability would impact key employability activities (e.g., work-integrated learning) and provide valuable insights into how the higher education sector can adopt emerging conceptualisations of disability and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, Irish Travellers have experienced social exclusion and marked educational disadvantage. Less than 1% of Travellers are documented as being in third-level education, with only 167 adult Travellers reported as holding a third-level qualification (0.5%). This low rate of participation has been targeted by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH). The PATH programme (Strand 3) funded partnership initiatives between higher education institutes in regional clusters. The SOAR partnership initiative in the South Cluster developed a Travellers in Education workstream which delivered three key initiatives: (1) two Leadership in the Community courses delivered at University College Cork (UCC); (2) a Mentoring in Education course delivered at Munster Technological University (MTU) Kerry Campus and (3) a Traveller Graduate Network (TGN) developed at Munster Technological University (MTU) Cork Campus. Two of these initiatives (1 and 2) are bespoke part-time courses for adult learners and the third is a network to support Travellers accessing full-time higher education. Drawing from evaluations of these three initiatives, this paper provides insights into Travellers’ experience of accessing and progressing through Higher Education and identifies supports and barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractGenerative artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly increased capacity for producing textual, visual and auditory outputs, yet there are ongoing concerns regarding the quality of those outputs. There is an urgent need to develop students’ evaluative judgement – the capability to judge the quality of work of self and others – in recognition of this new reality. In this conceptual paper, we describe the intersection between evaluative judgement and generative AI with a view to articulating how assessment practices can help students learn to work productively with generative AI. We propose three foci: (1) developing evaluative judgement of generative AI outputs; (2) developing evaluative judgement of generative AI processes; and (3) generative AI assessment of student evaluative judgements. We argue for developing students’ capabilities to identify and calibrate quality of work – uniquely human capabilities at a time of technological acceleration – through existing formative assessment strategies. These approaches circumvent and interrupt students’ uncritical usage of generative AI. The relationship between evaluative judgement and generative AI is more than just the application of human judgement to machine outputs. We have a collective responsibility, as educators and learners, to ensure that humans do not relinquish their roles as arbiters of quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how a collaborative self-study of teacher educators in the Republic of Ireland supported pre-service and practising teachers on teacher education programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teacher educators engaged in student feedback meetings conducted online as a replacement to traditional in-school visits, some of which were supported by observation of lesson recordings viewed prior to the sessions. Teacher educators engaged in critical reflection on these feedback meetings individually, guided by a critical incident template, before reflecting collaboratively with colleagues. The redesign of online placement encouraged interrogation of practices among teacher educators and led them to a greater understanding of their practice. Actions that enhanced student learning in relation to placement included adopting a student partnership approach, peer teaching using asynchronous lessons, lesson recordings and adjusting the timing of feedback. This study falls into the broader Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and adds to the body of research exploring the innovative responses and adaptations of teacher education programmes worldwide to school and Higher Education Institution closures during the pandemic. More specifically, this study offers alternative approaches to on-site school placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractEvaluative judgement is the ability to understand what constitutes the quality of a performance or product and to apply this understanding in the evaluation of one’s own or another’s task. It is, therefore, a key element in the development of learning to learn competences linked to professionalism. Experiences that explicitly encourage it in university studies are therefore essential. Peer feedback strategies could be one way of developing it. This paper presents the results of an intervention, based on a didactic sequence that included a peer assessment process, carried out in three courses with an iterative task of two feedback loops. A total of 1173 comments from 114 students were collected and analysed under a triple categorisation. A classification of peer comments is presented, which can be used and transferred to other work aiming at a similar analysis. From the first loop to the second, a higher percentage of comments classified as positive corrective feedback is observed, and an improvement in the quality of comments in all courses. In addition, the quality of comments differs greatly according to the type of assessment criteria. These results are discussed, outlining strategies for future designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the higher education landscape has shifted and calls for change and improvements have grown louder, researchers have turned to empirical investigations of what makes change possible in higher education. Recent studies on the impact of informal interactions for promoting change have given impetus to social network analysis as an approach to studying higher education change. However, the relationship between teachers’ social network characteristics and their disposition to adopt changes remains largely unknown. In this study, we describe the characteristics of teaching networks and explain the network characteristics of the most innovative teaching staff. By capturing whole teaching and research networks within a STEM discipline department at a Norwegian university, we show that teachers tend to speak to the same colleagues about both research and teaching, and that teaching communities are constrained by departmental sub-units (i.e. research groups). Furthermore, by combining the network data with a survey on diffusion of innovation, we find that the most innovative teachers (1) are central in the network, having the largest personal networks, (2) have a substantial reach to the rest of the network, and (3) are highly interconnected. This paper contributes to the understanding of change theories in higher education and discusses how these results can inform the practice of change agents and educational developers. In addition to confirming the presence of a research-teaching nexus, we discuss why leveraging the networks of the most innovative teaching staff would be a promising strategy for facilitating change in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationalization is known to enhance university capacities in cross‐border learning and encourage institutional transformations for improved quality of scholarship and education. Studies on internationalization of research and teaching are, however, under‐problematized with regard to asymmetries that pervade different collaborating systems and cultures. This paper addresses this gap by elucidating asymmetries in the Greater Bay Area of China (GBA), which is dealing with differences in legacies and experiences of internationalization in university research and teaching. At a time when the governments in the three constituent jurisdictions of GBA—Guangdong Province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), and Macao SAR—encourage universities to collaborate across jurisdictional borders, this study applies a bibliographic analysis to shed light on asymmetries and mitigation strategies in internationalization of research and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, scholarships for international higher education play a critical role in human capital development. While substantial research has documented the benefits such scholarships provide for individuals, their impact on the creation of pathways for social change remains under-researched. This paper bridges this gap by examining the extent to which a government scholarship for international education has created pathways for social change in Kazakhstan. Data were collected through interviews with 67 scholarship alumni. Drawing on Dassin et al.'s (2018) framework for pathways to social change, the findings reveal that international education fosters social change in Kazakhstan in four ways. First, the scholarship program develops local talent and builds agents of change. Second, it widens access to international education, particularly for individuals from marginalized communities, who would otherwise lack access owing to their scarce financial resources. Third, the program develops alumni's cosmopolitan and intercultural competencies and strengthens international collaborations. Finally, it creates associations and groups through which alumni can collectively contribute to society. The findings highlight that while the interviewed alumni foster strong patriotic feelings and are determined to contribute to the prosperity of their country, underdeveloped industries, economic volatility, and top-down bureaucracy in workplaces limit their potential contributions to social changes. These findings may help policymakers and administrators to reconsider and improve on the design and structure of scholarship programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, higher education institutions (HEIs) have a governance arrangement in which the university president and the party secretary occupy key roles. However, their legal roles as institutional leaders are vaguely specified in existing legal frameworks. Based on a four-dimensional theoretical model, this paper (i) clarifies the leadership roles in the dual governance structure, (ii) explores how HEI leaders (i.e. presidents and party secretaries) perceive their leadership, and (iii) applies the unique Chinese practices as a valuable test bed for critical reflections on how existing theoretical models of leadership are relevant in Chinese contexts. Through in-depth interviews with six top-level leaders from six Chinese public HEIs, our findings indicate that Chinese HEI leaders apply more structural than symbolic dimensions in their leadership practices. Whereas studies on institutional leadership conducted outside China tend to highlight the symbolic dimensions of leadership practices, our study suggests that top-level Chinese HEI leaders may assume the role of university managers rather than institutional leaders. We offer some reflections on the relevance of existing theoretical models of leadership and suggest the directions for further theoretical enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of research to allocate government funding to universities is now common across the globe. The Research Excellence Framework, introduced in the UK in 2014, marked a major change by extending assessment beyond the 'quality' of published research to include its real-world 'impact'. Impact submissions were a key determinant of the £4 billion allocated to universities following the exercise. The case studies supporting claims for impact are therefore a high stakes genre, with writers keen to make the most persuasive argument for their work. In this paper we examine 800 of these 'impact case studies' from disciplines across the academic spectrum to explore the rhetorical presentation of impact. We do this by analysing authors' use of hyperbolic and promotional language to embroider their presentations, discovering substantial hyping with a strong preference for boosting the novelty and certainty of the claims made. Chemistry and physics, the most abstract and theoretical disciplines of our selection, contained the most hyping items with fewer as we move along the hard/pure – soft/applied continuum as the real-world value of work becomes more apparent. We also show that hyping varies with the type of impact, with items targeting technological, economic and cultural areas the most prolific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies Appadurai's notion of scapes in globalisation to study international student mobility. Thirty mainland Chinese students were interviewed; the majority of whom studied at prestigious institutions in the West before enrolling in their current PhD programmes at a research-intensive university in Hong Kong (HK) in the immediate aftermath of HK's large-scale social protests and amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. We seek to understand why these students relocated to HK to further their studies given these turbulent circumstances and how their mainlander identity and sojourns in the West influence their perceptions of HK's social movements from the perspectives of ethnoscape and ideoscape, respectively. Our findings reveal that HK represented the 'best' compromise for our participants, mitigating their nostalgia for home (i.e. mainland China) whilst offering a superior education to the Chinese mainland. Most participants perceived HK as a nationalistic ideoscape, wherein HK people's pursuit of autonomy is subordinated to the putative Chinese national interests. Moreover, ethnoscape and ideoscape dynamics were found to crisscross other scapes. Generous scholarships (i.e. financescape) provided additional incentives driving student relocations. The persistent consumption of Chinese social media (techno-mediascape) was found to have resulted in worldview conformity between our participants and the Chinese state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Australian Higher Education sector, the gendered, racialised, and heteronormative culture of neoliberalism means that for minoritised teachers the university classroom is always a contested, and often hostile, space. Our gendered and racialised bodies become objects under the gaze of our students and the deafening headwinds of post-truth anti-intellectualism render our stories difficult for our students to hear. This paper probes our experiences as minoritised educators who through a decolonial framework, actively challenge deeply entrenched narratives through critical teaching and consider how that translates into student feedback. We employ a collaborative autoethnographic approach to offer an understanding of how Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) are used as a tool of disciplinary control in the neoliberalised university. We argue that SETs are racialised and gendered tools of power that can be hostile and biased towards minoritised teachers, and urge reconsideration of their overuse in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoelectric sensor, with its high sensitivity and global instantaneous communication ability, has become an important technical support in intelligent higher education. The background of this research is the rapid development of higher education, the rapid progress of intelligent technology and the popularization and application of 5G computing network. This paper investigates how photoelectric sensors can be used to achieve more efficient teaching and learning methods in intelligent higher education. A 5G computer network model including initial mapping model and migration mapping model is constructed. The initial mapping model compresses and encrypts the data before sending, and converts it into a format suitable for transmission in the network, ensuring the security and transmission efficiency of the data. The migration mapping model performs secondary processing on the data when it arrives at the receiving end and converts it into the format acceptable to the receiving end to ensure that the data can be properly received and processed. The findings suggest that photoelectric sensors can be used for real-time monitoring and feedback during the teaching process to provide more accurate assessment results, thereby improving the quality of teaching, and can also be applied to virtual laboratories and distance education to provide students with a wider range of practical and learning opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an interpretative phenomenological analysis study of students' experiences with ungrading in the form of reflection-based self-evaluation in a college course. In the landscape of student evaluation, ungrading strategies respond to the limitations of traditional grading systems, particularly with respect to cultivating in-demand skills and capacities, such as adaptability, creative thinking, and self-management. Through in-depth interviews with eight students, this study reports on four experiential themes that characterize the switch to ungrading: de-gamification, or unsettling the "gamified" nature of evaluation in the traditional grading system; time to think and reflect, creating space for review and the deepening of learning; rich communication, or continual feedback between teacher and student; and learning community, in which students felt like they were part of a team effort rather than siloed individuals. Considerations for further research, as well as implementation of ungrading in other courses, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions have a mandate to serve the public good, yet in many cases fail to adequately respond to the global climate crisis. The inability of academic institutions to commit to purposeful climate action through targeted research, education, outreach, and policy is due in large part to “capture” by special interests. Capture involves powerful minority interests that exert influence and derive benefits at the expense of a larger group or purpose. This paper makes a conceptual contribution to advance a framework of “academic capture” applied to the climate crisis in higher education institutions. Academic capture is the result of the three contributing factors of increasing financialization issues, influence of the fossil fuel industry, and reticence of university employees to challenge the status quo. The framework guides an empirical assessment evaluating eight activities and related indices of transparency and participation based on principles of climate justice and the growing democracy-climate nexus. The framework can be a helpful tool for citizens and academics to assess the potential for academic capture and capacity for more just and democratic methods of climate action in higher education. We conclude with a series of recommendations on how to refine and apply our framework and assessment in academic settings. Our goal is to further the discussion on academic capture and continue to develop tools that transform higher education institutions to places of deep democracy and innovative climate education, research, and outreach to meet the challenges of the Anthropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Universities Initiative (EUI), created by the European Commission in 2017, is a recent novel phenomenon within the European Union policy toolkit that explicitly targets the development of transnational cooperation in higher education (HE). To date, the EUI counts 44 European university alliances, involving around 340 HE institutions. In this paper, we argue that the EUI can be seen as a case of a transnational institution building process representing a potentially significant structural reform for European higher education. Anchored in new institutionalism, we explore the regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive dimensions of the EUI. Methodologically, this study analyzes the perspectives of European policy actors (n = 4), a set of policy documents (n = 13) and the mission statements of the EUI's partnerships funded before 2022 (n = 41). The results show that the EUI emerges as the 'next level of cooperation' in European HE since it aims to transform European cooperation (regulative dimension), to create and diffuse a new model for European HE following a challenge-based approach (normative dimension), and to work as a way to reinforce and institutionalize European and global scripts for European HE (cultural-cognitive dimension). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the nexus between migration governance and higher education. While the intersections between these two societal/policy systems have received attention in existing literature, much has changed as a result of the recent COVID-19 crisis. The global pandemic has introduced spatial and temporal disjuncture that significantly impact how international students navigate these systems. We address this issue through the lens of international student mobility, taking postgraduate international students' perspectives as a vantage point. By drawing on a comparative qualitative study between Singapore and the UK (specifically, London), we focus on how international students experience, first, (mis)alignments between migration governance and pandemic-induced mobility regulation and, second, tensions between mobility regulations and institutional measures adopted by universities in Singapore and the UK. In both contexts, pandemic governance often compounded the complexities of migration policies, creating additional barriers for international students. In navigating these new challenges, international students adaptively draw on various resources while also imagining new possibilities presented by the otherwise challenging circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in the mid-1980s, European governments have increasingly implemented performance-based funding systems for higher education. While a focus on the transnational pressures that contributed to the widespread adoption of performance-based funding in Europe accounts for the impetus for performance-based funding policies, it fails to address how and why the resultant performance-based funding policies are as distinct and different as they are. In this paper, I argue that an institutional logics perspective offers a theoretical account of the performance-based funding policy formation process. I use the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, and France as case studies. I contend that in these three cases, different local logics drove the performance-based funding policy formation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed one of the most challenging situations for the academicians as well as the students all around the world. Students being the biggest stake holders of the education process, their challenges during this pandemic become even more pivotal. These challenges vary in intensity and type depending on multiple items. In this paper, we analyse and document the challenges particular to the courses of mathematics and statistics in higher education. A survey was carried out for students, who have taken mathematics/statistics courses at universities mainly in UAE, to analyse various items affecting the learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the survey showed that a significant portion of students are satisfied with distance education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on university education and its role in developing personality traits essential to achieving success in entrepreneurship is required because of the significance of entrepreneurship for advancements in the economic, social, technological, and environmental spheres. Additionally, the value of a university education in shaping an individual's personality, and the necessity of emphasizing entrepreneurship in higher education for students to achieve real success, should be a priority in our society. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore how university education influences personality traits that are key to success in entrepreneurship in Spain. To achieve this objective, a qualitative methodology based on the study of 11 cases has been adopted. The results allow us to conclude that university education has a decisive influence on the development of the personality traits that integrally determine entrepreneurial success as the culmination of the final stage of the maturation process; however, a university education is not fundamental to the development of these traits. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs emphasized that the personality traits analyzed need to be reinforced explicitly in university education since they effectively positively impact the success of entrepreneurial initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the impact of tuition fee increases in England on the full‐degree mobility of undergraduate students from the European Union. First, we investigated whether the increase in tuition fees reduced the number of EU students in English higher education institutions. Our analysis shows that, on average, English universities suffered a sudden drop in EU enrolments in 2012/13 but recovered and then expanded their pre‐2012 enrolment levels in subsequent academic years. We observe that those English universities regarded as less prestigious experienced the sharpest decline and took longer to recover their pre‐2012 numbers. Second, we examined how changes in enrolment are associated with EU countries' macro‐level characteristics, using the push‐pull model framework. While there was a significant decrease in the number of students from Northern and Western European countries attending English universities after 2012, the tuition fee increase did not impact the number of students coming from Southern Europe. We found an association between EU countries' youth employment rates and higher education system characteristics with changes in enrolment in English universities. By examining the effect of changes in the tuition fee policy on international student mobility, our research provides new evidence on how tuition fee policies might change the behaviour of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated development of regional higher education can provide strong technological and intellectual support for the integration process of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. Through the construction of evaluation index system of higher education development and the use of coupled coordination model, this study finds that the degree of higher education coordination in Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle has been continuously improved in recent years, but there is still a big gap in the integration degree of higher education compared with other urban agglomerations in China. By delving into the problems and causes, this paper explores and puts forward the measures, such as formulating an integrated development plan, promoting the improvement of quantity and quality, innovating the coordinated development model, improving the level of joint construction and sharing, strengthening the opening-up, and improving the framework of collaborative governance, so as to accelerate the high- quality development of higher education in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global pressure on universities to compete for research rankings has escalated research expectations and intensified a performativity culture for early career researchers (ECRs). However, there are limited examples in the literature of ECRs advocating for their career and research trajectories. In response to this issue, ECRs in one Australian regional university initiated the Teacher Education ECR Action and Advocacy Group (TEECRAA). This research, reported in this paper, aimed to understand how TEECRAA contributed to the career and research trajectories of these ECRs and their advocacy regarding ECR-specific policy in their higher education context. Framed by tenets of policy network theory and policy communities, this study draws on documents developed by the TEECRAA group using content and thematic analysis to investigate their activities and experiences. Findings highlighted that ECRs were able to set research and career goals, prioritise opportunities for professional learning, create resources to support their research profiles, and develop a network of support. ECRs also increased their contributions to policy and practice by engaging in strategic action that promotes ECR visibility and advocates for their needs. This contribution, however, requires the development of a network-like interaction between ECRs and university leaders with a commitment from the university to work in partnership with ECRs for mutual benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study represents a scientific foray, aimed at elucidating the role and indisputable contribution of STEAM skills in higher education, skills that are extremely necessary for educational actors in the era of postmodern education. The aim of the research is identification of the implementation directions of STEAM education applied in higher education institutions. In the preparation of this paper, we used qualitative research, content analysis of the reports of higher education institutions in the EU that allowed us to analyze the practices they use in the cultivation and foundation of STEAM skills. In addition to this, the Global Innovation Index repot and the Human Capital index were analyzed, which allowed us to elucidate the main challenges that the Republic of Moldova faces in capitalizing on human potential, in the generation and implementation of innovations. In conclusion, we can mention that universities, currently, must remodel their management system, adapt their curricula, in order to base new skills - STEAM skills, which help higher education institutions to focus on a new education - STEAM education, a digitized education, focused on the integration of innovation in the didactic activity, on national-regional-international cooperation in order to train competitive young people on the labour market, young people with a culture of innovation, young people who will contribute to the promotion of sustainability at the society level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In immersive block models students learn over shorter teaching periods and with fewer concurrent units than in typical semester or trimester models. A core aim of many such innovations is to enhance students’ learning outcomes; however, there are few investigations of student satisfaction at scale in immersive block models. This paper reports on an exploratory study of results from an institution-wide student feedback survey administered at an Australian public university that has introduced a 6-week immersive block model across the institution. Two strands of analysis were undertaken. Strand 1 (N = 4,157) compared satisfaction ratings across units delivered in the immersive block model in 2021 with ratings from the trimester model in 2019. Strand 2 (N = 1,925) explored the relative strengths of correlations between individual survey items and overall unit and overall teaching satisfaction in the immersive block model. The research found that overall, five of seven unit satisfaction indicators and all six teaching indicators improved to a statistically significant degree in the immersive block model. While student perceptions of workload appeared to be most susceptible to negative change, the correlation between workload and overall unit satisfaction was relatively weak compared to other unit indicators, suggesting that students have some tolerance for reduced satisfaction with workload. Meanwhile, the data suggest that students’ overall satisfaction with their units in the immersive block model appears most strongly tied to their satisfaction with teaching. Overall satisfaction with teaching appears most strongly associated with academics presenting content in a clear manner while showing concern for students’ learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching quality assurance has become a common concern and a common pursuit for institutions of higher learning around the world. This paper takes teaching quality as a governance issue in higher education, as different governance systems entail different approaches to quality assurance. Through a detailed examination of the Chinese system in teaching administration in comparison with the Canadian system, this study aims to provide insights on different approaches to teaching quality assurance in more centralised and decentralised governance structures. Based on the findings of this study, no winner can be declared between centralised and decentralised systems in the area of teaching quality assurance. Instead, the study points to different strengths in each system. With more local autonomy, the decentralised system better respects disciplinary uniqueness and academic freedom in teaching. With more national planning, the centralised system secures a system-wide threshold in teaching quality and an optimal long-term development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge exchange (KE) is increasingly important in higher education internationally, yet relatively little attention has been paid to it as a pedagogic opportunity for students. This paper draws on 26 interviews with stakeholders within and outside HE to develop a model of studentled knowledge exchange as a guide for learning through KE. The model includes the following elements: Preconditions, Prior Knowledge, Planning and Place, Pedagogic Context and Product, and offers an analysis of different forms of KE which occur between individuals in a learning triad consisting of student, facilitator and external participant. The research foregrounds a social view of learning where valid knowledge comes from diverse participants in the exchange, including students themselves. Students act as a catalyst for multi-directional KE – a finding which challenges the implied hierarchies evident in much of the literature on this topic. The model is offered as a starting point for developing a pedagogy of KE in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service-learning represents an innovative pedagogy that integrates academic learning with community service to address environmental issues based on experiential learning principles. This innovative pedagogy enhances higher education learning out-comes by fostering active engagement, real-world context, interdisciplinary insight, skills development, and civic engagement among students. The merging of service-learning contributes to a profound understanding of the subject matter, its practical applications, and personal and professional growth. This paper provides an overview of the implementation of service-learning in the STEM field, with a primary focus on the decade-long involvement of the Faculty of Chemistry and Technology in environmental protection projects. Through collaboration with the non-governmental organisation Sunce and partners from the University of Split, this initiative, led by environmental experts, has introduced a novel approach to higher education, facilitating knowledge expansion, skill improvement, and expertise development for both students and academic staff. The impact has been substantial, with the University of Split attaining the 21st position globally on the “World Universities with Real Impact” list for ethics in 2021, largely attributable to these service-learning projects. Service-learning has been integrated into the SEA-EU initiative, furthering its development at the University of Split, and establishing it as a pioneer in this field. Institutionalising service-learning in higher education requires the establishment of dedicated courses, integration into existing programmes, and the allocation of resources for academic staff, community partners, and students. Successful implementation requires a collaborative, iterative process involving careful planning, preparation, and assessment, ensuring that students benefit from meaningful opportunities to apply course content to real-world challenges while positively impacting the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summative assessment is often considered a motivator that drives students' learning. Higher education has a responsibility in promoting lifelong learning and assessment plays an important role in supporting students' capability to make evaluative judgements about their work and that of others. However, as research often focuses on formal pedagogical design, it is unclear what behaviours summative assessment prompts, thus the relationship between summative assessment, learning and evaluative judgement requires further investigation. Drawing on a small-scale ethnography-informed study, this paper adopts a practice theory approach to explore how undergraduate physics students from three year levels make evaluative judgements in the context of summative assessment tasks. The contexts explored through observations and interviews include a graded in-class tutorial, an out-of-class study group for an in-semester assignment, and individual preparation for examinations. The findings suggest that while summative assessment is a crucial aspect of students' learning context, it does not fully shape students' practices. Instead, students engage in incidental conversations about the quality of their work and how to do things in their studies. By focusing on what students actually do, this study integrates formal and informal aspects of students' learning, highlighting the tensions between undergraduate practices and intended learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several times each year the teaching performance of academics at higher education institutions are evaluated through anonymous, online student evaluation of teaching (SET) surveys. Universities use SETs to inform decisions about staff promotion and tenure, but low student participation levels make the surveys impractical for this use. This scoping review aims to explore student motivations, perceptions and opinions of SET survey completion. Five EBSCO® databases were searched using key words. Thematic analysis of a meta-synthesis of qualitative findings derived from 21 papers identified five themes: (i) the value students' place on SET, (ii) the knowledge that SET responses are acted upon to improve teaching, (iii) assurance of survey confidentiality and anonymity, (iv) incentives for completing SET, and (v) survey design and timing of survey release. Perceptions, knowledge and attitudes about the value of SET are essential factors in motivating students to engage and complete SETs, particularly if surveys are easy to interpret, time for completion is incentivised and responses are valued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings of a study exploring educator and student experiences of teaching and learning trauma-material. Two participant samples were recruited. Sample one included seven educators teaching trauma-material across two Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) delivering Social Work Programmes approved by Social Work England. Sample two included eight student social workers enrolled at the HEIs. Methods included educator semi-structured interviews and a student survey. Analysis used a deductive-inductive thematic approach. Highest frequency of comparable statements within data were coded into five themes indicative of trauma-informed teaching principles identified within literature including: (1) ensuring safety (2) maximising choice (3) encouraging collaboration (4) establishing trustworthiness and (5) prioritising empowerment. A sixth theme (6) promoting resilience was identified. Findings highlight educators' understanding of vicarious trauma and relevance for risk of (re)traumatisation in the classroom of students' experience of childhood adversity. This understanding was embedded in educators' pedagogical practice(s) and how trauma-informed teaching principles were implicitly applied was identified. Experiences of receiving teaching in a trauma-informed way were shared by students. Findings indicate essential to 'best practice' is educators' need to enhance awareness of trauma-informed teaching to help moderate risks to students and themselves associated with exposure to trauma-material in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Building on the theories of social learning and social information processing, this paper aims to examine the effect of green servant leadership (GSL) on green voice behavior among staff working in Qatari higher education. In this relationship, the climate for green initiative (CFGI) was used to act as a mediating mechanism. Design/methodology/approach: Data in this study were collected from 275 staff working in Qatari higher education. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings: The results suggest that GSL positively influences green voice behavior, whereas CFGI mediated this link. Practical implications: The results can be beneficial to higher education pertaining to the importance of GSL in generating positive green behaviors such as green voice behavior. Furthermore, the results highlight the significant role CFGI plays in motivating such behaviors. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that examines the link between GSL and green voice behavior in the higher education context. Furthermore, research on CFGI has received limited attention so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]