Past research revealed that International Branch Campuses (IBCs) are simultaneously under two types of isomorphic pressures. On the one hand, they are obliged to conform to the institutions of their host countries, which lead them towards homogenising with the local Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), hence deviate from their parent unit's…

Since their introduction in the 1990s, explicit standards documents have pervaded higher education assessment--success likely linked to their compatibility with constructive alignment and quality assurance regimes. Researchers, however, criticise that such documents are based on a misconception of standards as explicit and absolute, when in fact…

Widespread reforms of governance and funding of universities has taken place in most Western countries, many of them influenced by New Public Management (NPM), which includes intensified attempts by the government to steer academic research in a utility direction. One way to do this is through university profiles and priorities of research. This…

Desirable qualities for modern doctorate academic advisors in the USA that provide for successful completion were explored. In this mixed method study, both interview and survey data were collected. Interviews took place with 13 academic advisors and 18 doctoral candidates and graduates. Thirty-eight academic advisors and 151 candidates and…

This paper reports findings from a recent study of Australian Aboriginal higher education student experience. Reported here are extracts from a set of case studies of staff, specifically those working in Indigenous Centres, involved with these students in both teaching and support capacities. These participants provided a rich set of qualitative…

This article argues that the development of criticality in the three domains of knowledge, self and the world can and should be a goal for undergraduate learning in the sciences. It presents empirical evidence that this can be facilitated through teaching and learning that places a strong emphasis on the social dimensions of both the exercise and…

This study explored the perceptions of ethical issues in supervision among doctoral students and supervisors. The nature of ethical issues identified by doctoral students (n = 28) and their supervisors (n = 14) is explored and the degree of fit and misfit between their perceptions in two cases representing the natural and behavioural sciences is…

This study endeavors to identify ways to promote a productive learning culture in higher education. Specifically, we sought to encourage development of internal values in students' culture of learning and examine how this can promote their understanding of scientific content. Set in a high enrollment undergraduate biology course, we designed a…

This study investigates the influence of academic entrepreneurship on traditional academic duties carried out in a resource-constrained environment, particularly focusing on whether there is synergy or rivalry between these two activities. Using qualitative evidence, we discover that there are funding, resource, knowledge and skill and networking…

This article draws on the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari to reconceptualise transition to Higher Education. In doing so it contributes a new theoretical approach to understanding transition to Higher Education which largely remains under-theorised, uncritical and taken-for-granted. Drawing on data from two projects, the article activates…

The deep structure of university knowledge governance system is uncharted. In an exploratory case study of a university merger with an art college, this study inductively examines how knowledge governance structures in universities affect (and are affected by) the creation and passing on of knowledge. The authors found the university governance…

Much is written apropos a rationalization for public engagement in science and technology (PEST). Less copious is a literature that considers PEST in a broader form and operationalized in the specific environment of higher education and the impact of its undertaking on the working lives of academics. This paper considers the status of public…

Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical commentary on the potentially devastating consequences of market logic for pedagogy. In this paper, we consider the student-consumer prominent in these debates as a contested yet under-analysed entity. In contrast to the dominance of "homo…

Work-integrated learning programmes help students acquire professional acumen and provide opportunities for them to experiment with new aspects of self and identity. Twelve internship students were interviewed regarding their perspectives on how they think they learn about professionalism and the information sources they use. They describe how…

Evaluation systems including global university rankings have been recently introduced as mechanisms for assessing overall academic quality, appraising research reputation and as a basis for funding and policy decisions. This study explores the concept of research reputation in terms of how it is defined, constituted and assessed. Eight…