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Responsible conduct of research and ethical publishing practices are debatable issues in the higher education literature. The literature suggests that 'authorship disputes' are associated with multi-author paper publication and linked to ethical publishing practices. A few research studies argue authorship matters of a multi-author paper publication, but do not explain how to arrange author list meaningfully in a multi-author paper. How is a principal author of a multi-author paper to be decided? The literature also does not clarify whether language editor(s) could claim authorship for a research paper publication? The paper adopts qualitative methodology that subsumes descriptive, evaluative, and interpretative approaches to answer these questions. While answering these questions, the paper critically examines 'authorship disputes' and 'types of authorship' relating to research paper publication practices. At the end, the paper proposes a framework that would help to resolve authorship disputes over multi-author paper publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agency of international students has long been neglected and undertheorised, though recent literature indicates that this has started to change. This paper systematically reviews 51 studies that address student agency in international higher education. Focusing on research published in the last two decades (2000–2020), the review draws on studies that foreground student voices, or international students' perspectives, rather than the perspectives of teachers, administrators or policymakers. A detailed discussion of how international student agency is positioned in the literature found that agency appears as either: a research object, as part of a theoretical or conceptual framework, or an emergent finding. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that the term "agency" is often used as a buzzword rather than as a fleshed-out concept. Thus, drawing on this initial analysis, the review synthesises varying but overlapping conceptualisations of international student agency in the literature into an integrative framework. Implications for future research are drawn, based on our findings about the understudied populations and methodological limitations in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback is beneficial to students' learning process and overall achievement, but one of the common complaints from students about college education is regarding feedback. So, this study aimed to examine whether digital written feedback positively influences students' learning experience and attitude toward learning. Digital written feedback refers to feedback provided through a learning management system as handwritten feedback added to a scanned copy of the student's paper-based assessment using a smart pad and smart pencil. The study surveyed a diverse set of college students' (n = 175) perceptions regarding feedback satisfaction, learning satisfaction, the usefulness of digital written feedback, and perceived achievement via an online survey. A one-way analysis of variance found a significant difference between feedback satisfaction and learning satisfaction according to the feedback method. A multiple regression analysis indicated the satisfaction and perceived usefulness of digital written feedback predicted perceived achievement. From the students' open responses regarding the benefits of digital written feedback, five themes emerged, namely usability, psychological relief, accessibility, self-regulation, and acceptance. The implications for digital written feedback are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the shifting landscape of higher education in Turkey, highlighting a disconcerting trend of politically motivated appointments, coined as "parasailing." Departing from traditional merit-based norms, this practice of appointing professors without necessary approvals disrupts the academic environment, prompting concerns about the integrity of higher education institutions. The paper introduces the term "parasailing" to elucidate this phenomenon, emphasizing the connection between the appointed professor and their academic destination. In contrast to the widely used term "parachuting," in Turkish academia the proposed terminology offers a better understanding of the appointment process. The subsequent sections provide an overview of the Turkish academic landscape, explore the origin of the term "parachuting," review existing literature, define "parasailing," and connect it to different philosophical thoughts. Overall, this paper contributes to a broader comprehension of the challenges facing Turkish higher education, urging a reconsideration of appointment procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid adoption of online learning across higher education, there is an urgent need to identify its challenges and ways of addressing them. Online group projects, in particular, present significant issues for educators. This paper presents the findings of a systematic literature review identifying the key challenges of online group projects, together with strategies to address them. From a corpus of 114 recent papers, the 57 most relevant were analysed, to identify themes related to challenges and strategies. Key challenges were: low and uneven participation by students; a lack of clarity and preparation for students; and poor relationships. Strategies for addressing challenges were: careful design of projects, particularly regarding fair assessment; clear guidance and preparation of students; and practical and emotional support throughout, to encourage confidence and engagement. The findings of this review will enable educators to design and facilitate online group projects which students find rewarding and valuable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutes are continuously exploiting technology to improve the delivery of courses. This paper reviews the use of mobile learning applications in higher education institutes to; i) identify publication trends, ii) types of mobile learning applications used, and iii) categorize the research papers published. The applied method is the Systematic Mapping Study. A Systematic mapping study was conducted using 103 papers retrieved from six different databases. The findings of this mapping study showed an increased research interest in the field and a variety of mobile learning applications used (learning management, vodcast and podcast, game-based learning, collaborative learning, and language learning applications). The published studies are mainly solution-oriented that focus on the use of mobile learning applications. The results were helpful to position future research activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student enrolled in research based degree programs conduct literature survey to identify and to specify issues which need to be addressed in their domain of interest. They annotate research articles either using symbolic markers such as underline, question mark, circle etc or record their observations, opinion, queries in textual form of comments. These annotations may be recorded either manually using pen/pencil or electronically using any text/word processor tool. These annotations of research scholars are very valuable knowledge resource and are associated with annotators sentiments. Sharing of these resources amongst community of researchers is likely to reduce time taken in literature survey and may foster collaborative research. In this paper, we present the results of our research to identify symbolic markers and opinionated words commonly used in annotating research articles. We have identified eight different types of symbols and a set of opinionated words based on a survey with teachers and graduate students and analysis of manually annotated research papers and comments of reviewers on research article submitted for a conference. To manage these annotations and literature survey experiences of researchers, we propose a model using RDFS (Resource Description Framework Schema). Important resources identified by us include annotation, annotation trace, annotation type, sentiment etc. An annotation trace represents resultant artifacts of literature survey and used to model the experiences associated with it. Each annotation and annotation trace have well defined unique type and specific sentiment orientation and polarity value. Based on above model, we have implemented a tool which facilitates annotation of research articles, management of annotation and annotated research papers and their sharing amongst the peer annotators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collecting feedback from students through course, program and other evaluation questionnaires has become a costly and time consuming process for most colleges. Converting to data collection through the internet, rather than completion on paper, can result in a cheaper and more efficient process. This article examines several research questions which need to be answered to establish that results collected by the two modes of administration are equivalent. Data were gathered for a program evaluation questionnaire from undergraduate students at a university in Hong Kong. Students were able to choose between completion on paper or through the internet. In six of the seven Faculties the number of responses through each mode was roughly the same. Students in the Engineering Faculty favored the internet. Scores on the 14 out of 18 scales in the instrument showed small differences by mode of response, which became smaller still with controls for pertinent demographic variables. The main response question addressed in the study was whether there was any difference in the way respondents to the two modes interpreted the questions. The study demonstrated the equivalence of the two data sets by showing that both could be fitted to a common model with structural equation modeling (SEM). Five levels of tests of invariance further confirmed the comparability of data by mode of administration. This study, therefore suggests that changing to internet collection for course and program evaluations will not affect the comparability of ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1990, a large and dynamic global science system has evolved, based on grass roots collaboration, and resting on the resources, infrastructure and personnel housed by national science systems. Euro-American science systems have become intensively networked in a global duopoly; and many other countries have built national science systems, including a group of large- and middle-sized countries that follow semi-autonomous trajectories based on state investment, intensive national network building, and international engagement, without integrating tightly into the global duopoly. The dual global/national approach pursued by these systems, including China, South Korea, Iran and India, is not always fully understood in papers on science. Nevertheless, China is now the number two science country in the world, the largest producer of papers and number one in parts of STEM physical sciences. The paper investigates the remarkable evolution of China's science funding, output, discipline balance, internationalisation strategy and national and global networking. China has combined global activity and the local/national building of science in positive sum manner, on the ground of the nationally nested science system. The paper also discusses limits of the achievement, noting that while China-US relations have been instrumental in building science, a partial decoupling is occurring and the future is unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collective response paper concludes the Special Issue on "Revisiting 'Asia as Method' in Education Research: Toward Ontologies and Epistemologies of Difference." The paper provides reflections, constructive critiques, and key learnings from individual papers and the Special Issue as a whole. A key feature of the paper is the dialogue and inter-referencing it fosters among and between the discussants, authors, and academic journals. As decolonization in education is an ongoing struggle, this paper is a call to continue the work for ontological and epistemic justice in/through higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses speculative methods as a way of imagining futures for higher education in open, non-predictive ways. The complexity and 'unknowability' of the highly technologised, environmentally damaged and politically degraded futures we seem to be facing can mean that our conversations about the future of higher education have a tendency to spiral too quickly into dystopianism and hopelessness. Speculative methods can help open up new kinds of conversation capable of supporting active and fundamental hope. Working within a postqualitative framework, we argue that such approaches support the collaborative imagining of multiple alternatives, and represent a way of advocating for those that are preferable. The paper presents a series of speculative scenarios and microfictions focusing on worlds ruptured by climate change, artificial intelligence, revolution and the technological enhancement of humans, connecting each of these to current critical research focused on climate crisis, 'big tech', rising global injustice and 'big pharma'. It emphasises the vital contribution and place of higher education within such futures, and advocates for speculative methods as an approach to maintaining hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses hopeful futures for higher education and the use of technology in realising those futures through the lens of refugee education in Uganda. Through an analysis of qualitative research done with refugee students and teachers participating in a blended bridging programme designed to prepare students for entry and success in higher education, this paper explores the interplay between contingency and positions of hope for refugee students in relation to higher education and further assimilation into civic society. Two themes emerged from the analysis that suggested a prioritarian orientation for higher education to realise a more hopeful future. First, hope renders as an act of cultivation as refugee students become exposed to new concepts and develop confidence in relation to them. Second, digital technologies broaden the cultivation of hope towards greater civic participation, even if access to higher education is not achieved. Third, hope correlates to action not necessarily as a linear progressive trajectory but as a diligent watchfulness for positive possibility. The implications for higher education are that taking a prioritarian lens for refugees in educational design engages with the contingencies that impact all, placing the sector deliberately in search of positive possibility in its orientation and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable body of work now exists on the role that identity plays in understanding teachers and teaching. Developing and sustaining teacher identities in higher education can, however, be challenging given the subordinate positioning of teaching in some educational contexts. Despite the growth of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes in many parts of the world, recent research suggests that EAP practitioners are especially vulnerable to being assigned marginalized identities within the academy. Therefore, this paper reports the results of a study which used a short story approach to investigate the tensions and triumphs one EAP practitioner in Hong Kong experienced in constructing her language teacher identities (LTIs). Findings suggest that her identity tensions and struggles take place across space and time and play out at different scales, including classrooms, educational institutions, and within broader societal discourses. However, the short stories presented in this paper speak not only of tension and struggle, but also of determination and resilience to construct LTIs in the academy. Consequently, the results of this study can help to raise awareness amongst stakeholders, including policy makers, leaders of higher education institutions, and language teaching practitioners, of how they can support and sustain the construction of LTIs within the academy. Implications for professional learning for language teaching practitioners and suggestions for future research are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature reviews as standalone papers serve various purposes; these include the development of new theories, the shaping of future research, the production or knowledge dissemination, and support of evidence-based practices. Review papers, as a foundational block of the research process, may promote further research with higher level of quality. However, in some cases, this methodological approach raises questions about their scientific rigor, trustworthiness, systematicity, and transparency. The main goal of this study is to assess transparency levels in previous review papers pertaining to blended learning in higher education. To complete this goal, this study collects and analyzes information about the report of methodological decisions and research activities in 40 review papers. As a result, in this descriptive review paper, we identify some patterns about the type of reviews and their transparency levels. Findings also demonstrate that most efforts (80%) remain focused on describing a phenomenon in the formats of narrative reviews (65%) and descriptive reviews (15%). These types of papers show low levels of transparency in their reporting process. Nevertheless, trends indicate in the last 5 years an increase in other types of published review papers such as critical, meta-analysis, and qualitative systematic reviews. This represents an important shift in the research domain. Finally, we argue that, regardless of its type, each review paper should have a minimum level of transparency in order to ensure trustworthiness in the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Commonwealth Government should move to the funding of undergraduate courses for Australian students through the students rather than by way of direct grants to institutions. An independent coordinating body should be re-established to report on the higher education sector, advise the Commonwealth and administer Commonwealth higher education programs. Public funding of undergraduate education and research training should be decentralised through a system of scholarships. Undergraduate scholarship holders should pay charges determined by universities under HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme) arrangements. HECS arrangements also should apply to full fee paying undergraduates and PELS (Postgraduate Education Loan Scheme) arrangements to full fee paying research students. Institutional research funding should be on a disciplinary basis, taking account of the volume and quality of outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Educational Technology Social Justice Matrix based on a review of thirty-eight recent papers from a search for the terms "educational technology" and "social justice." The papers were reviewed using the SJPACK Model (Dyches & Boyd, 2017) for social justice in education, and educational technology themes were generated from the reviewed papers. The Educational Technology Social Justice Matrix presents ways that the field of educational technology intersects with the SJPACK Model. This provides a powerful lens for educational technology researchers to explore and expand their use of social justice to promote activism and anti-racist education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of generative AI tools in higher education has received considerable attention. Although there are many proponents of its value as a learning tool, many are concerned with the issues regarding academic integrity and its use by students to compose written assessments. This study evaluates and compares the output of three commonly used generative AI tools, ChatGPT, Bing and Bard. Each AI tool was prompted with an essay question from undergraduate (UG) level 4 (year 1), level 5 (year 2), level 6 (year 3) and postgraduate (PG) level 7 biomedical sciences courses. Anonymised AI generated output was then evaluated by four independent markers, according to specifed marking criteria and matched to the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifcations (FHEQ) of UK level descriptors. Percentage scores and ordinal grades were given for each marking criteria across AI generated papers, inter-rater reliability was calculated using Kendall's coefcient of concordance and generative AI performance ranked. Across all UG and PG levels, ChatGPT performed better than Bing or Bard in areas of scientifc accuracy, scientifc detail and context. All AI tools performed consistently well at PG level compared to UG level, although only ChatGPT consistently met levels of high attainment at all UG levels. ChatGPT and Bing did not provide adequate references, while Bing falsifed references. In conclusion, generative AI tools are useful for providing scientifc information consistent with the academic standards required of students in written assignments. These fndings have broad implications for the design, implementation and grading of written assessments in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The move away from transmission-based lecturing toward a more student-centred active learning approach is well evidenced in STEM higher education. However, the examination of active learning has generally remained confined to formal timetabled contexts, with assumptions made that students independently manage the transition between timetabled and non-timetabled learning. This paper introduces research findings from a mixed methods study that used an ecological approach when investigating student transitions between a formal lecture theatre and adjacent informal breakout space in a UK STEM university. Using quantitative occupancy monitoring data to analyse usage patterns of both spaces, in combination with qualitative ethnographic observations and field interviews, permitted a purposeful exploration of student engagement with transitions within and between the two learning spaces. The ecological approach aided the discovery of spatial, pedagogic and agentic transitions and tensions, which subsequently informed strategic modification of space across the institution to facilitate the adoption of active learning pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to investigate the commitment of universities in terms of inclusion and social justice in the light of the opportunities offered by university public engagement in order to identify the main areas of intervention with which universities give visibility to their ability to be socially sustainable. A qualitative-quantitative methodology was adopted. First, an empirical analysis of the official websites of 100 European universities was conducted through content analysis. An exploratory factor analysis and, subsequently, a correspondence analysis were used to identify the main public engagement practices adopted by universities in terms of inclusion and social justice. The results show four macro-areas of intervention: (1) Access, (2) Cultural awareness of diversity and social justice (3) Initiatives in defense of diversity, (4) Protection of diversity and the principles of social justice. The results also show that the issue of inclusion and social justice still lacks the involvement of all stakeholders, especially for those initiatives aimed at creating a cultural awareness of diversity and inclusion and intended for their protection. The paper provides a valuable basis for verifying the ability of universities to integrate the issues of inclusion and social justice in university Third Mission programs. The results also allow university management to better understand and regulate public engagement practices in order to ensure broad stakeholder participation in the light of social sustainability objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored research trends in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Descriptive analysis and co-word analysis were used to examine articles published in Social Science Citation Index journals from 2011 to 2020. From a search of the Web of Science database, a total of 761 articles were selected as target samples for analysis. A growing number of STEM-related publications were published after 2016. The most frequently used keywords in these sample papers were also identified. Further analysis identified the leading journals and most represented countries among the target articles. A series of co-word analyses were conducted to reveal word co-occurrence according to the title, keywords, and abstract. Gender moderated engagement in STEM learning and career selection. Higher education was critical in training a STEM workforce to satisfy societal requirements for STEM roles. Our findings indicated that the attention of STEM education researchers has shifted to the professional development of teachers. Discussions and potential research directions in the field are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although geographical distance has become less relevant in co–authorship for monodisciplinary fields such as economics, mathematics, and physics, little is known about international collaboration in multidisciplinary fields such as higher education. This paper studies collaboration patterns in higher education research using the Scopus database with the application of the gravity model. The results show that the intensity of collaboration is negatively associated with geographical distance and positively associated with linguistic commonality but these findings differ significantly between various world regions. European scholars appear to give preference to linguistically proximate partners over geographical neighbours. Although English is the lingua franca in science, language is not a significant factor for the formation of collaboration for North American and Asian researchers. These findings have policy implications for fostering multidisciplinary research in international partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s, China created a research evaluation system based on publications indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) and on the Journal Impact Factor. Such system helped the country become the largest contributor to the scientific literature and increased the position of Chinese universities in international rankings. Although the system had been criticized by many because of its adverse effects, the policy reform for research evaluation crawled until the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, which accidently accelerates the process of policy reform. This paper highlights the background and principles of this reform, provides evidence of its effects, and discusses the implications for global science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship education (EE) has rapidly evolved within higher education and has emerged as a pivotal mechanism for cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talent. In China, while EE has made positive strides, it still faces a series of practical challenges. These issues cannot be effectively addressed solely through the efforts of universities. Based on the triple helix (TH) theory, this study delves into the unified objectives and practical content of EE in Chinese higher education. Through a comprehensive literature review on EE, coupled with educational objectives, planned behavior, and entrepreneurship process theories, this study introduces the 4H objective model of EE. 4H stands for Head (mindset), Hand (skill), Heart (attitude), and Help (support). Additionally, the research extends to a corresponding content model that encompasses entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial practice, startup services, and the entrepreneurial climate as tools for achieving the objectives. Based on a single-case approach, this study empirically explores the application of the content model at T-University. Furthermore, this paper elucidates how the university plays a role through the comprehensive development of entrepreneurial learning, practices, services, and climate in nurturing numerous entrepreneurs and facilitating the flourishing of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. This paper provides important contributions in its application of TH theory to develop EE within the Chinese context, and it provides clear guidance by elucidating the core objectives and practical content of EE. The proposed conceptual framework serves not only as a guiding tool but also as a crucial conduit for fostering the collaborative development of the EE ecosystem. To enhance the robustness of the framework, this study advocates strengthening empirical research on TH theory through multiple and comparative case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines social fiction and academic analysis to envision hopeful futures for higher education. At the heart of the exploration is Phoebe Wagner's speculative fiction piece, University, Speaking, which personifies a university grappling with environmental, political, and social change. Phoebe Wagner's first-person narrative highlights the power of collective voice, the importance of centering community, and the urgent need to cultivate resilience and adaptability. Through analysis of key themes, this paper connects Phoebe Wagner's fictional vision to contemporary research on the multi-faceted and complex challenges facing universities today. By integrating artistic and academic perspectives, this paper discusses new possibilities for universities navigating disruption and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching and learning in higher education is informed by a multitude of conditioning factors, not least the values systems and outlook of academics. Understanding the epistemological positioning taken by academics in relation to teaching and learning is therefore important if we are to make judgments about how we educate now, and could do so in the future. Developments in educational theory and digital technology have opened-up new possibilities for the ways in which students learn, and to a degree this has been accelerated by the responses from universities to the COVID-19 pandemic. How then should we conceive the future? Heutagogy is one of a number of theoretical approaches that has attracted interest from those who wish to see greater student control over the learning journey- but how widespread is this view amongst academics? This paper reports on a qualitative study in which 12 academics in an English Business School were asked to describe their views on teaching and learning, which we can encapsulate through the concept of epistemic cognition. The findings infer that there is little epistemological underpinning for heutagogy and that if academics are going to innovate, then additional resource and professional development should be put in place to support epistemic reflexivity, and a shift in their epistemological positioning. The paper conceptualises academics' positioning through a typology of epistemic views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematics education is like many scientific disciplines witnessing an increase in scientific output. Examining and reviewing every paper in an area in detail are time-consuming, making comprehensive reviews a challenging task. Unsupervised machine learning algorithms like topic models have become increasingly popular in recent years. Their ability to summarize large amounts of unstructured text into coherent themes or topics allows researchers in any field to keep an overview of state of the art by creating automated literature reviews. In this article, we apply topic modeling in the context of mathematics education and showcase the use of this data science approach for creating literature reviews by training a model of all papers (n = 336) that have been presented in Thematic Working Groups related to technology in the first eleven Congresses of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME). We guide the reader through the stepwise process of training a model and give recommendations for best practices and decisions that are decisive for the success of such an approach to a literature review. We find that research in this period revolved around 25 distinct topics that can be grouped into four clusters: digital tools, teachers and their resources, technology experimentation, and a diverse cluster with a strong focus on student activity. Finally, a temporal analysis of these topics reveals a correlation between technology trends and research focus, allowing for reflection on future research in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the volume and type of anonymous comments academics receive in student evaluations of courses and teaching (SETs) at the 16,000 higher education institutions that collect this data at the end of each teaching period. Existing research has increasingly pointed to the negative issues of student surveys, but very little research has focused on the volume, type, and impact of anonymous student comments on academics. This paper analyses the survey results of 674 academics to inform higher education leaders and the sector more widely of the amount and type of abusive comments academics are receiving. The work also demonstrates that the highest volume, most derogatory, and most threatening abuse is directed towards women academics and those academics from marginalised groups. The paper finds that previous estimates of the rate and severity of abusive comments that academics receive, and the impact to academics' wellbeing, mental health, and career progression, have underestimated what is taking place. The paper argues that many universities are failing to protect their staff from this abuse, and the prejudice nature of SET results, which will continue to have a negative impact on the career progression of marginalised academics - a major flaw in a sector that prides itself on diversity and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years ago, higher education globally had started to change radically in terms of the proportion of young people enrolled in the system as well as society's expectations for what this would deliver. From the outset, Higher Education has featured research interrogating various aspects of inequality in higher education, including institutions and staff as well as students. This article offers an overview of that work. Our analysis is structured around three levels at which major questions on this topic have been framed and investigated. The macro level focuses on national systems and looks at widening participation, especially the increase in access to higher education for young people. The meso level mostly focuses on institutions and their engagement with organisational inequality. The micro level focuses on the lived experiences of academics, in this case focusing on gender and race. We adopted a thematic and purposive approach to article choice, ultimately selecting key papers for further illustrative analysis. In our analysis, we tracked changes in areas of empirical or other emphasis, the use of a variety of theoretical and epistemological frameworks and methods, policy recommendations, and the geographical locations of authors and their content. We noted a growing emphasis on intersectionality and a widening range of countries but also more critical analyses and suggestions for more radical changes in higher education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand how the digitalization of higher education influences the inter-relationship between students, teachers, and their broader contexts, research must account for the social, cultural, political, and embodied aspects of teaching and learning in digital environments. Digital ethnography is a research method that can generate rich contextual knowledge of online experiences. However, how this methodology translates to higher education is less clear. In order to explore the opportunities that digital ethnography can provide in higher education research, this paper presents a methodological review of previous research, and discusses the implications for future practice. Through a systematic search of five research databases, we found 20 papers that report using digital ethnographies to explore teaching and learning in higher education. The review synthesizes and discusses how data collection, rigour, and ethics are handled in this body of research, with a focus on the specific methodological challenges that emerge when doing digital ethnographic research in a higher education setting. The review also identifies opportunities for improvement—especially related to participant observation from the student perspective, researcher reflexivity in relation to the dual teacher-researcher role, and increased diversity of data types. This leads us to conclude that higher education research, tasked with understanding an explosion of new digital practices, could benefit from a more rigorous and expanded use of digital ethnography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China as a scientific research superpower has been frequently discussed in media and literature. However, past analyses are usually based on the geographical database and they ignore how the millions of emigrated Chinese students, who are now being considered the major research workforce in many countries, affect their academic outputs. Here we quantitatively analyze the contribution of Chinese scholars in physical science around the globe by their publications in a country's papers from 2010 to 2021 as well as their citations. Contrary to common perception, we find that increasing the number of Chinese scholars does not correlate with the net publication growth or decline in their host countries before the Chinese population exceeds a critical value. On the other hand, increasing Chinese authors in a paper improves its citations. The phenomena, though anomalous, are observed in many subfields of physics across the globe. Our analysis suggests that although Chinese scholars do not change the perceived publication capabilities of many countries but may have reshaped their research culture as well as workforce distributions. The results would be valuable for R&D, higher education, and immigration policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University–Industry Collaborations (UIC) are increasingly recognized as crucial drivers of economic growth and development. While numerous studies have been conducted on this topic, this paper specifically focuses on UIC in the Arab World. The aim of this study is to explore the establishment of successful UIC by conducting a review of existing literature to identify and synthesize key factors that enable collaborative innovation between industry and universities. The findings are summarized into six main themes: the importance of UIC, barriers to UIC, gaps between universities and industry in the Arab World, partnerships and sustainable growth, current trends and perspectives, and future agenda for Arab countries. These themes are elaborated on and used to summarize results from the reviewed studies regarding facilitators of collaborative innovation. The contribution of this work lies in enhancing the existing body of literature and knowledge regarding collaboration between higher education and industry in the Arab World. This research presents specific measures that can be implemented to ensure successful UIC in the future. Its outcomes are significant for policymakers, academics, and industry experts in the Arab region, who aspire to form productive UIC partnerships that encourage economic development and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher Education Institutions are expected to stimulate the innovation system and to contribute to the development of societies in a global perspective. Within this context, there is an increasing focus on internationalization. HEIs are developing institutional mechanisms to support internationalization while academics are expected to carry specific practices that allow them to improve the internationalization of knowledge production. At the same time, they are encouraged to engage with non-academic partners to co-produce and transfer knowledge, contributing, in this way, to economic and social development. Although there is some research on the impact of internationalization on academic entrepreneurship, studies on the effects in other dimensions of academic engagement with society are almost absent. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between academics' internationalization practices and perceptions and the development of different types of academic engagement. Our analysis draws on quantitative analysis with data provided by an international survey (APIKS) and explores the Portuguese context. Findings show that the different practices and perspectives on internationalization impact differently on the way scientists engage. While there are positive effects of internationalization of research on engagement, the time academics stay abroad and the high focus on publishing in internationally high-rated journals may negatively affect academics' orientation towards the local community. This paper contributes to the debate on the role of the internationalization in the context of a knowledge-based society, considering different dimensions and a broad spectrum of knowledge-based engagement activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoliberal practices such as managerialism and academic casualisation impact higher education systems globally. While these practices can constrain any curriculum aimed at enabling transformative learning, this paper shows that they place particular limitations on arts and humanities curricula intent on cultivating criticality and a sense of social responsibility. I draw on data from an English literature curriculum study at a mega distance education institution in South Africa and use Legitimation Code Theory to take a close-up look at how two neoliberal practices: managerialism and academic casualisation cause misalignments between the underpinning values of the curriculum and the kinds of pedagogic and formative assessment practices that are employed. I conclude that decisions regarding administration, enrolments and staffing based on neoliberal values can frustrate students' epistemological and ontological access to humanities disciplines and limit the potential of humanities curricula to offer a higher education in service of the social good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is the first attempt to integrate microdata on universities and firms across most European countries in order to disentangle the impact of knowledge spillovers from human capital (graduates) and intellectual capital (codified research output) on the performance of firms. Data cover all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) registered in the official European Tertiary Education Register (ETER). Data on performance of firms are from ORBIS and refer to change in the 2011–2015 period in turnover, total assets, intangible assets, and employment. Firms are georeferred and the spillovers from all HEIs located at a given distance are summed and integrated. The findings suggest that, among knowledge spillovers, the creation of human capital via education of students has a larger impact than the circulation of research knowledge. Moreover, the two factors seem to be complements rather than substitutes. Spatial proximity is important for embodied knowledge spillovers (i.e. educated people), while for codified and disembodied spillovers (citations to publications) the spatial dimension is less relevant. The findings have important managerial and policy-making consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an ever-increasing demand for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to engage with the challenges of the changing labour market contexts and trends, such as the Fifth Industrial Revolution and the new normal. However, a major criticism is that higher education institutions do not often prepare graduates for real-life contexts. For that reason, it is not surprising that graduate employability and the competencies required have become the primary concerns of HEIs. Often, we see the phrases "competency" and "employability" presented in the literature as essential requirements for graduates to attain gainful employment streams. Some studies also present them as interrelated concepts. However, we seldom find studies that unravel their intertwined relationships. This article tries to bridge this gap by looking into the role of HEIs in promoting the development of competencies for employability. We used a structured questionnaire to collect the quantitative data from 389 postgraduate students enrolled in a generic stream from an Indian State, Kerala. This paper proposes and tests a structural model of relationships between the perceived competencies of the postgraduates and their perceived career preparedness and, subsequently, perceived employability. This paper also highlights the need to reimagine tertiary education to suit the demands of changing times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deploying systems-theoretical conceptuality, this paper improves understanding of the organisational consequences of the intensified societal engagement of a research university. Aligning its work with Luhmannian organisational analysis, it addresses the dynamic interplay between two modes of administrative decision-making communication, namely, the traditional professional administration and the New-Public-Management-oriented (NPM) managerial techniques. Our research observes how the politico-economic conditions of the society translate into the university's decisions concerning an initiative to engage in start-up entrepreneurship. The article contributes to higher education literature by showing that the university's professional administration is a discrete organisational function internally differentiated into specialised administrative branches, each of which operates according to a sense-making regime associated with its primary societal system reference, such as education, science and the economy. The article also demonstrates the structurally conditioned differences in branch-specific temporalisations of the entrepreneurial initiative during decision-making. Inspired by the Luhmannian view on temporality, we demonstrate how administrative decisions synchronise the varied structural time horizons within the university's professional administration. Focus on temporality in decision-making thus allows us to see how the NPM-inspired managerial techniques are operationalised in administrative communication at universities. Consequently, the paper argues that university administration is a complex dynamic entity, which varyingly aligns itself to national policy scripts, and only selectively enacts features of a global trend known as NPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws attention to empirical work on widening access to understand the silence on race matters in English higher education. This work repurposes a critical race theoretical framework that offers a glimpse of how the issue of unequal access to higher education has been framed in the research field. It is argued here that the framing of widening access reveals a persistent colour-evasiveness that is dominant. The findings show that widening access policy has not benefitted students of colour as they are not accessing higher education with the same kind of success as their white peers. The paper concludes for a call for race-conscious interventions to remedy the continued race inequity in accessing highly rejective institutions based on the evidence gathered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Jonathan Shay argued that social, relational, and institutional contexts were central to understanding moral injury and conceptualised moral injury as a normative response to the betrayal of an individual's understanding of what is right by a more senior/authoritative "other". Using the conceptual lens of moral injury, this paper investigates academic staff experiences of HE during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the rapid transition back to face-to-face teaching that took place in autumn 2020. To collect data, we used an online survey that opened in January 2021 and ran until the end of March 2021. A total of 663 complete questionnaires were received across the survey period. The questionnaire was comprised of ten topic-related questions, each of which included follow-up sub-questions and also invited participants to write in additional information. The majority of participants felt that during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, they had acted in ways that put their own health and wellbeing at risk. Of those who had acted in ways that put their health and wellbeing at risk, they believed that their senior management were the most responsible for them acting in such ways, followed by the UK government. Qualitative data showed a systemic absence of leadership in the sector during the time, a sense of betrayal of staff and students by senior management and the government, and feelings of compulsion to act in ways which put lives at risk. On the basis of these results, we argue that there could be synergies between the situation facing healthcare staff and academics during the pandemic. Many of the experiences of HE academic staff during the pandemic reported to us in this research are resonant with the concepts of betrayal and moral injury and resulted in affective responses which we understand here in relation to feelings of guilt, shame, and anger, leading ultimately to poor mental health and wellbeing. This paper discusses implications for the HE sector going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of Machine Learning and Internet of Things, numerous sensing devices collect sensory information for various industries. Aerobics, a popular and energetic sport, benefits from analyzing and researching the training approaches of high-level university and college teams. However, the complexity and diversity of sensor data require systematic classification and adaptive preprocessing for effective human motion recognition. Based on these, this paper aimed at the balance ability of aerobics students and analyzed and studied the balance ability of aerobics students through wireless sensor networks. Furthermore, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of how to use a class of enhanced machine learning approaches, such as Artificial Neural Networks, to facilitate analytics and learning in the wireless sensor networks domain by utilizing continuous sensor data. During experimental work, this study selects 10 third-year students in a college of physical education, and the subjects were divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group collecting their data by continuous sensors. The experimental group mainly carried out special training and elastic band exercises within eight weeks. After eight weeks of elastic training, eight indexes of the left and right legs, including anterior (ANT), anterolateral (ALAT), lateral (LAT), posterolateral (PLAT), posterior (POST), posteromedial (PMED), medial (MED), and anteromedial (AMED) were improved (P < 0.01), but the indexes with the left foot as the fulcrum were not significantly improved. By using the 8-week elastic band training method, the technical indexes such as single leg lifting and single leg rotation of aerobics students were significantly improved (P < 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates review time and insider bias in 56,920 papers published by 258 Social Sciences journals. Results show that average review duration in Social Sciences is 134 days. Education (177 days) and Business & Economics (151 days) journals have the longest, Theology (85 days) and Law (87 days) journals have the shortest review time. Insider bias, Web of Science and Scopus (WOSS) coverage, and number of papers published (PUBSCORE) are the three most important factors affecting review time. Insider bias leads to a 18% decrease, while WOSS coverage and PUBSCORE lead to up to 28% increase in review time after controlling for other variables. Overall, 15,804 (27.8%) of all papers are published by insiders, providing them a 43-day (29.7%) speed advantage over outsiders. However, insider ratio can climb up to 73% and insider speed advantage can be as large as 71% for individual journals. The bias is the strongest in Law (35.6%), Theology (34.1%), and General Social Sciences (32.9%) journals, and the weakest in Communication (15.6%) and Education (20%) journals. Research universities dominate academic publishing space through ownership of 128 journals, however, they tend to publish a greater number of insider papers. Full professors are the largest benefiters as their insider ratio goes up to 48.3% in disciplines such as Theology and Law, while assistant professors are the smallest benefiters, consistent with the entrenchment hypothesis. We note that insider bias remains strong as a robust insider base of around 2200 papers continues to be published annually. Review time and insider statistics for journals are provided, contributing to transparency and accountability in academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to examine uses of evidence in university students' writing of scientific argument. The study was conducted in an introductory level oceanography course in a large public university. In this course students draw on large-scale geological data sets provided by an interactive CD-ROM, `Our Dynamic Planet' (Prothero 1995), to write a scientific technical paper. We examined the uses of evidence in two ways. First, we conducted interviews with undergraduate oceanography students n = 9, non-oceanography undergraduate students n = 8 , and course instructors n = 4 to assess the differences in interpretation of uses of scientific evidence for high ranked and low ranked student papers from a previous academic year. Second, we applied our proposed argumentation analysis to student writing to examine the formulation of evidence in these high and low ranked papers. We draw on these findings to discuss ways of teaching students the construction of argument in scientific writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the accuracy and robustness of data feature mining, a highly reliable and robust feature mining method for university education data based on dynamic semantic memory network is proposed. Firstly, educational data was collected and extracted; Secondly, the range transformation method is used to transform and process scattered data, achieving reasonable classification of data feature attributes. Then, based on the classified results, the k-nearest neighbor method is used to perform equivalent classification on the data subset, reducing the search range for optimal values. And use floating search to reduce feature dimensionality. Finally, remove educational interference information data, update the position and step size of information elements in college English education data, and optimize the feature mining function of dynamic semantic memory network data using Levy function based on this to achieve highly reliable and robust mining. The experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper can maintain high data feature mining accuracy and robustness under both 5G network overload and attack intensity states; And it effectively improves the recall rate of data feature mining, with high reliability of data feature mining features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experience of higher education (HE) has come to characterise many contemporary political divisions, including those related to Brexit, Trump and coronavirus policy. However, the academic literature is unclear whether HE plays a causal role in changing peoples' political attitudes or is simply a proxy. Furthermore, in many contexts, there is limited descriptive evidence on whether students' political attitudes change during HE. This paper focuses on the UK, using data from the British Election Study, to make a twofold contribution. Firstly, the paper introduces recent political science theorising on the nature of contemporary political divisions, which has remained largely outside the HE literature to date. This theorising is illustrated through a cross-sectional analysis, comparing the political attitudes of those with and without experience of HE, showing that the former tend to be more left-leaning and less ethnocentric. Secondly, a longitudinal analysis is performed to assess how students' political attitudes change during their time in HE. While in HE, students tend to make small movements to the left and become less ethnocentric, representing approximately 20–33% of the overall division between those with and without experience of HE. These findings are interpreted through a critical realist lens—they evidence that HE could have a causal role to play in creating contemporary political divisions. However, to establish whether HE does play a causal role, further intensive research is needed to explore how particular aspects of HE might bring about these changes and how this varies for different students in different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, particularly the widespread use of ChatGPT in higher education, necessitates a profound exploration of effective communication strategies. This paper addresses the critical role of prompt development as a skill essential for university instructors engaging with ChatGPT. While emphasizing the practical implications for higher education, the study introduces a novel two-layered AI prompt formula, considering both components and elements. In methodology, the research synthesizes insights from existing models and proposes a tailored approach for ChatGPT, addressing its unique characteristics and the contextual elements within higher education. The results highlight the formula's flexibility and potential applications in diverse fields, from syllabus planning to assessment. Moreover, the study identifies limitations inherent in ChatGPT, emphasizing the need for instructors to exercise caution in its usage. In conclusion, the paper underscores the evolving landscape of AI in education, envisaging specialized versions of ChatGPT for academic settings and advocating for the proactive adoption of ethical frameworks in the use of AI in higher education. This study serves as a foundational contribution to the discourse on effective AI communication in educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we put in dialogue the local dimension of a nation-state with the global challenges faced by universities worldwide. We focus on the case of Denmark, a nation that was exceptionally active in implementing international university reforms and where digitalisation is a high priority of the public sector governance. The article seeks to contribute to speculative research and critical studies by presenting a mixed-methods study that explores higher education teachers' views about desirable and realistic future scenarios in Denmark. The study draws on data from a survey applied at a large Danish university, analysed both quantitatively (N = 755) and qualitatively (N = 53). The findings show that teachers share clusters of concern about uncontrolled digitalisation and teaching automation, commodification of education, and modularisation of university courses, the latter being a contested but realistic perspective in the latest political reforms. They reaffirm the mission of the university as preparing students for solving real problems and contributing to the challenges of the present time. The paper concludes with a call for university management to recalibrate future imaginaries to the values expressed by the teachers, and the university they wish to create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing internationalization of Higher Education Institutions has facilitated universities from East Asian countries like Taiwan, Korea, and China to value university rankings more in enhancing their admissions and reputation. Especially when Taiwan and China are all considered belonging to Chinese social community, returnee doctorates are assumed to possess international experience that is theoretically helpful to improve their research productivity and university employers generally prefer foreign-trained doctorates. However, there is little research to prove that returnee doctorates are more productive than local doctorates because of more frequent international mobility. This research examines a University in Taiwan, a prominent academic research university, credible for its research productivity. From the perspective of bibliometrics, this study used the Scopus International Academic Database to identify publications, citations, and Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) as credible indicators of research productivity, controlling for personal background, doctoral training, international mobility, and research collaboration. We hope that the differences in research productivity between local and returnee doctorates can be measured more comprehensively and objectively. The results of this study found that there is a significant difference in the higher FWCI score of research publications between local and returnee doctorates, and further found that there is a significant positive relationship between local doctorates, published papers during doctoral studies, prestige of supervisors, and international and domestic research collaboration on research productivity. Those that identified international mobility in careers had a stronger impact on research productivity compared to those of the doctorate educating stage, and both international and domestic research collaboration were important for research productivity. The results based on empirical analysis broke the myths of returnee doctorate corresponding to high research productivity in this study, and can serve as a reference for faculty recruitment and research environment enhancement in research-oriented universities in Taiwan and other Asian countries. Policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions abound over how universities should teach and prepare the next generation of researchers to confront current and future wicked problems. With so much focus on curriculum and training, it is crucial that we step back and reflect on higher education's capabilities to foster solution-oriented, collaborative research. What do the institutional incentive structures in higher education support, in terms of practices and outputs related to scholarship? And are those structures felt evenly across the academy? Those doing research in these spaces—in terms of title, autonomy, power, privilege, and status—vary widely by their institutional locations as well as in terms of their ties to broader disciplinary norms. To assess whether these dynamic, contested institutional landscapes afford so-called wicked problem scholarship, this paper draws from survey and interview data collected from 44 researchers working at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems at Carnegie Research 1 universities in the United States. Findings point to an uneven institutional landscape, which is shown to shape in different ways the type of solutions-oriented, collaborative scholarship fostered across the five positions examined. The paper concludes by reflecting on the paper's findings, particularly in terms of what the data tell us about higher education as a place that fosters wicked problems scholarship, while also highlighting the study's limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating digital technologies to benefit teaching and learning has long been driving higher education. The uptake of technology has been supported by teacher training focused on developing teachers' capabilities to design for learning. However, in this paper, we raise the point of moving towards teaching-sensitive technology as a clear alternative to current strategies focusing on teachers' mental processes. To develop this point, the paper offers a qualitative study that explores teaching to identify critical features of technology supporting teachers' work. Analysing teaching from a hermeneutic perspective, we arrive at six fundamental dynamics within which teachers operate. Based on the factors identified, we present three principles to guide future design of technologies for teaching and two approaches to designing technology sensitive to teachers' values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global university rankings (GUR) have become increasingly influential as a proxy measure of higher education quality. The more recent development of regionalised forms of rankings has increased their global reach, drawing a greatly expanded range of institutions into their orbit. As a result, regionalised GUR have developed an increasing potential power to shape social perceptions, institutional actions, and everyday academic practices. In this paper, the perceived impact of regionalised forms of GUR is analysed from the perspective of Latin American higher education. Based on a critical meta-synthesis framed by a glonacal heuristic (Marginson and Rhoades, Higher Education 43:281–309, 2002), the tensions arising around the application of regionalised forms of global rankings are mapped. Specifically, the impact of rankings on conceptions of the mission of universities is foregrounded. The meta-synthesis identifies three primary tensions around the regional application of GUR in Latin American contexts: how conceptions of regional higher education quality are most effectively developed, how the local university is imagined under the weight of global expectations, and the relativised value of local agency in assessing quality outcomes. The findings suggest that GUR have created strong fissures in Latin American higher education regarding the missions of institutions, particularly in confronting the powerful hegemonies of the epistemologies of the Global North imposing themselves on Latin American higher education. The paper concludes that the stratification and social anxiety caused by the regional applications of GUR may not be necessarily productive in encouraging regional institutional diversity or in enhancing the local relevance of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]