Counting the uncounted: contestations over casualisation data in Australian universities

2019 ◽  
pp. 327-336
Author(s):  
Nour Dados ◽  
James Goodman ◽  
Keiko Yasukawa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Academic Employment ◽  
Marketization Of Higher Education ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Recently, insecure work in universities in many countries has grown exponentially, alongside the rapid marketization of higher education. Reflecting the neoliberal ideal of a flexible workforce, research and teaching at universities is routinely carried out by precariously-employed academics. In Australia, for instance, the bulk of university teaching is now carried out by hourly-paid employees. This structural dependence on precarious academics poses a reputational problem for universities, and universities respond by obfuscating the statistical evidence. We present a case study of tracking down the level of this phenomenon in Australian higher education. The academics’ trade union and allies have used the university-level figures to challenge the advance of academic job insecurity, and are now highlighting the incidence of precarious academic employment nationally. Our own work has highlighted the multiple and conflicting figures being reported by universities, and the systematic underestimation of the actual rate of insecure jobs reported by government departments. We question these unreliable estimates, examples of neoliberalism’s ‘funny numbers’, and develop alternative data and arguments Thereby, we aim to reveal the impact of casualisation and enable critical evaluation of trends in the higher education sector, so as to restore industrial justice.

scholarly journals The Impact of Higher Education on Entrepreneurship and the Innovation Ecosystem: A Case Study in Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5597 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Portuguez Castro ◽  
Carlos Ross Scheede ◽  
Marcela Georgina Gómez Zermeño
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Master Of Science ◽  
Global Innovation ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Impact Of Higher Education ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Entrepreneurship is recognized as an engine for the economy. However, Latin America must promote higher opportunities for the creation of new businesses, especially for technology-based ventures. In this sense, the Center for Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CGIE) of the University of Texas at Austin offers a Master of Science in Technology Commercialization (MCCT) that prepares students with methodologies to promote the creation of new businesses in Mexico. This study aims to know the contribution of training to the creation of new companies, and its role in the innovation and the technology transfer processes, from the viewpoint of the participants. This research presents a case study that analyzes the impact of the MCCT through the analysis of the data of a survey answered by 109 former students of this center. Findings show that the methodologies developed by the MCCT allow the creation of technology-based enterprises and entrepreneurial skills in students. This study presents good practices that can be emulated by other countries in the region, as well as recognizing the great value the role of higher education in creating synergies between actors of the innovation ecosystem that strengthen social and economic growth.

scholarly journals Wpływ wykorzystania dotacji ministerialnych i  funduszy unijnych na kształtowanie się zbiorów w bibliotece uczelni niepublicznej na  przykładzie biblioteki Wyższej Szkoły Bankowej w Toruniu

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 47-63
Author(s):  
Julita Niedźwiecka-Ambroziak
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Education System ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Public University ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The impact of ministerial grants and EU fundson the library of a non-public higher education institution as seen in the Library of the WSB University of ToruńThe article presents an outline of the legal basis of the operation of non-public higher education institutions and their place in the Polish education system. This is the background for the author’s analysis of the library and information systems of business schools that are part of the TEB SA group. The author focuses on extrabudgetary forms of expanding the library of anon-public univer­sity through the use of ministerial and EU grants. The case study presented in the article is that of the Library of the WSB University of Toruń. The author examines, on the basis of books inventoried in 2011–2016, the volume and percentage share of books acquired thanks to EU funds and ministerial grants. She demonstrates how the Library — which, owing to the business nature of the University, has specialist collections at its disposal — acquires new forms of books e-books in mobi and pdf files, e-book readers, audiobooks etc. as well as educational aids. She presents examples of how extrabudgetary funds can support and complement the main budget of the library of anon-public university in its initiatives aimed at creating amodern facility.

scholarly journals Teaching Resilience: Enabling Factors for Effective Responses to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Baumber ◽  
Lucy Allen ◽  
Tyler Key ◽  
Giedre Kligyte ◽  
Jacqueline Melvold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Success ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
The University ◽  
Sydney Australia

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education globally. Teaching staff have pivoted to online learning and employed a range of strategies to facilitate student success. Aside from offering a testing ground for innovative teaching strategies, the pandemic has also provided an opportunity to better understand the pre-existing conditions that enable higher education systems to be resilient - that is, to respond and adapt to disturbances in ways that retain the functions and structures essential for student success. This article presents a case study covering two transdisciplinary undergraduate courses at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. The results highlight the importance of information flows, feedbacks, self-organisation, leadership, openness, trust, equity, diversity, reserves, social learning and nestedness. These results show that resilience frameworks developed by previous scholars are relevant to university teaching systems and offer guidance on which system features require protection and strengthening to enable effective responses to future disturbances.

scholarly journals The Impact of Knowledge Management Processes on the Quality of Higher Education from the Perspective of University Professors: A Case Study of the Professors of the Faculty of Economic and Commercial and Administrative Sciences, University of Biskra – Al

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (44) ◽  
pp. 28-54
Author(s):  
أ. جمعة خير الدين ◽  
أ. أحلام دريدي ◽  
أ. صبرينة خليل
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
University Professors ◽  
Quality Of Higher Education ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Knowledge Management Processes

This study aimed to identify the impact of knowledge management processes on the quality of higher education from the viewpoint of university professors at the Faculty of Economic,Commercial and Administrative Sciences at the University of Muhammad Khaydar Biskra. To achieve this objective, the descriptive analytical and case study method was used. Thestudy population was 195 professors, 109 of whom were selected as a sample of the study. To collect data from the study sample, a questionnaire was used. 195 questionnaires weredistributed to the study sample, but 72 questionnaires were returned at a rate of return (66.05%). Then the hypotheses were tested based on a set of research methods, using theSPSS software. Major findings of the study indicated a statistically significant effect of knowledge management processes with their dimensions (quality of scientific research,quality of student services and graduates, quality of curricula and study programs) on the quality of higher education among professors of the Faculty of Economic, commercial andadministrative sciences at the University of Biskra. The study concluded with a set of recommendations, including the adopting knowledge management processes approach todevelop and improve the quality of higher education institutions, utilizing and activating professors' roles, knowledge, ideas and expertise.Keywords: knowledge management, knowledge management processes, higher education quality, university professors, University of Biskra.

scholarly journals What do university teachers do all day (and often into the night)?'

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Josie Arnold ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
University Research ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Teaching and the student experience are interlocked. This paper takes a personal look at the pleasures and pressures of teaching in contemporary higher education. In doing so it adds to the definition of teachers’ work in higher education, surveys some of the creative and positive sides of University teaching and shines a light upon the impact of increased commercialisation and managerial approaches upon academic work. It focuses upon the teaching and learning activities that academics undertake in the service of the university, including the research that adds to and updates their own knowledge, and hence underpins their teaching, so as to enable and enrich the learning journeys of their students. This paper has been written as a personal narrative, as what I have come to call a ‘subjective academic narrative’. The ‘subjective’ refers to acknowledgement of the inevitability of the personal being an integral part of research; the ‘academic’ refers to the analytical and the intellectual ambience in which university research takes place; and the ‘narrative’ refers to the story, that is, the way in which we re-tell all of our research. Above all, this paper contributes to a sense of understanding some of the elements of teaching that are involved in student engagement.

Organizational Learning in Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study of A Public University in Vietnam

2016 ◽  
pp. 88-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngoc Pham Thi Bich ◽  
Huy Tran Quang
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Employee Participation ◽  
Public University ◽  
Regression Techniques ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Organizational learning has been discussed by a number of scholars. However, few of them have empirically addressed the issue in an educational context. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the limited previous research on organizational learning in higher education by examining the impact of employee participation on the organizational learning process and the relationship between the organizational learning process and performance of a public university in Vietnam. A survey of 136 employees of a public university in Hanoi, targeted at managers, lecturers and researchers having more than a 5-year working experience, was conducted in 2015. Multiple regression techniques were used to analyse the data. The study findings indicate that the organizational learning process is positively influenced by employee participation in decision-making and significantly associates with the performance of the university.

Mentorship and Sustainable Research Output

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reetha Nundulall ◽  
Nirmala Dorasamy
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Research Mentorship ◽  
The University

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa are facing challenges arising as a result of the shift from traditional teaching activities to a combination of research and teaching. Increasing emphasis on research, an integral part of this transformation of higher education, has required HEIs to develop and implement capacity development strategies to enable those new to research to engage in research output; and mentorship is a strategy that is enjoying increasing popularity. This article explores the challenges faced in the implementation of a formal research mentorship programme (REMP), using the University of Johannesburg as a case study. A quantitative approach was adopted to obtain the perceptions of academic staff of REMP as a strategy for building research capacity. The findings reveal that whilst the REMP is strongly favoured by academics as a means of guiding novice researchers, key factors need to be addressed to ensure its success. This article examines the challenges for both mentors and mentees and suggests actions to help mentorship programmes make sustainable contributions to the development of research capacity.

scholarly journals Flipped Classroom in the Context of Higher Education: Learning, Satisfaction and Interaction

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 416
Author(s):  
María José Sosa Díaz ◽  
Jorge Guerra Antequera ◽  
Mario Cerezo Pizarro
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Social Perspectives ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Learning Satisfaction ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Educational governmental institutions have recommended implementing blended learning in higher education to respond to the “new educational normality” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, although this is not a new challenge. Over the last few decades, higher education institutions have tried to incorporate the use of technological devices to university teaching, by redesigning and optimizing the learning experiences through a mixed teaching model. In this context, the Flipped Classroom (FC) model is one of the pedagogical models that is revolutionizing the scope of education. However, there is still not enough evidence of its advantages and disadvantages in the university stage. Therefore, it is important to analyze the impact of the FC on the learning, satisfaction and interaction of the different agents of the university community. Due to the idiosyncrasy of the present study, an exclusively qualitative and longitudinal methodology was selected; thus, 266 interviews based on open questions were conducted throughout the last five years. The results show that students value the FC model positively and corroborate its great potential from academic, competence, personal and social perspectives. Nevertheless, a small group of students are still very critical about the model and would prefer to keep using a traditional methodology, mainly due to the lack of habit using active methodologies and establishing the learning commitment required by such methodologies.

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