A principal consideration in recent cross-sector educational reforms in Hong Kong is ensuring that undergraduate programmes prepare students for the future workplace, a factor that has made the capstone a central feature of the new four-year curriculum. This paper discusses a study that explored the final-year student experience based on a…

Drawing on data gathered from British Council seminars in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Dubai on "Absent Talent: Women in Research and Academic Leadership" (2012-2013), this paper discusses academic women's experiences and explanations for women's under-representation as knowledge leaders and producers in the global academy.…

Workplaces abound with knowledge that is different from the knowledge students gain at universities. Crossing the boundary from a university to a workplace can, therefore, be difficult for students. To compensate for the dearth of knowledge on how these issues play out in an African context, this study investigates how knowledge and experiences…

This paper argues for the re-integration of academic development (AD) and a academic language and learning (ALL) practitioners in Australian higher education. This argument is made as universities aim to develop internationally recognised, inter-disciplinary and standards-based curricula against the backdrop of international comparative education…

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has yet to fully enter the mainstream of life in higher education. In this case study, we consider a specific network focused on the reform of engineering education. The network involves global collaboration within the discipline of Engineering and is based around curricular activity that affects…

The writing of this essay coincided with the author's first meeting as a member of the newly established Task Team for the Council on Higher Education (CHE)--an advisory body to the national Ministry of Education--to review the state of higher education in South Africa over the past twenty years since its transition to a post-apartheid…

The higher education landscape is undergoing major transformation, with a significant impact on the work and family practices of academics and professional staff. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the extent to which (1) time-related, (2) strain-related and (3) demographical variables impact on the work/family balance of academic…

This article explores the wicked problem of quality in higher education, arguing for a more robust theorising of the subject at national, institutional and local department level. The focus of the discussion rests on principles for theorising in more rigorous ways about the multidimensional issue of quality. Quality in higher education is proposed…

In this invited commentary, I offer a critique of two lacunae in the emerging field. I consider how aspects of research on the transformations of global higher education constitute an emergent sociology of higher education, and I also review how the dominant tendencies occlude gender and feminist perspectives. By way of enticing readers to…

This paper presents an example of constructive alignment in practice. Integrated technology supports were deployed to increase the consistency between learning objectives, activities and assessment and to foster student-centred, higher-order learning processes in the unit. Modifications took place over nine iterations of a second-year Marketing…

Student engagement in learning is a complex process influenced by many factors. This article introduces a conceptual organiser developed from a review of the literature. It captures four key perspectives--motivation and agency, transactional engagement, institutional support and active citizenship--and suggested indicators for each perspective.…

There is clear evidence from a number of studies conducted over the last decade that the student experience of internationalisation in universities around the world can be both positive and negative. In this paper we explore these polarised views of internationalisation as they are recorded in the literature. We argue there is evidence of too much…

The critical features of a strategy to promote improved teaching and learning are explored in this article from a socio-cultural perspective in a research-intensive institution. The paper presents theoretical underpinnings and implications as well as an empirical case study of such a strategy and its seemingly successful results. The strategy…

Bringing about significant change in a mature and successful work-integrated learning (WIL) scheme is quite a difficult thing to accomplish. The University of Surrey, which has a long established WIL scheme based on year-long professional training work placements, has embarked on a programme of research and development aimed at adapting and…

The paper describes and analyses the design and implementation of a higher education student placement program in the community services sector. Principally ideas about partnerships and social learning informed the design. The placement program represents a significant innovation in work-integrated learning, achieved through collaboration between…