One of the biggest challenges confronting university students with print disabilities, such as blindness, is accessing the written word. In the past it was necessary to read text books onto cassette tape or turn them to Braille so these students could access the text books. Technological advances are making university life increasingly accessible…

Globally, research has become a key driver for the achievement of status and the procurement of funding for higher education institutions. Although there is mounting pressure on institutions to become research active, many institutions are rooted in a strong tradition of teaching. These institutions find it challenging to develop research capacity…

As the United Arab Emirates diversifies its economy towards knowledge-based industries, maximising the participation of the national workforce, particularly women, in the science, engineering and technology fields is of utmost importance. To accomplish this, identifying the factors that lead students to select their degree programme, as well as…

This paper questions the value of the current trend towards mandating formal teaching accreditation in higher education and argues that the "just-in-time" nature of short training programmes coupled with on-going occasional mentoring is likely to result in more productive professional development for academic teachers. Specifically, the paper…

Recently, institutes of higher education (universities) have shown a renewed interest in organisational structures and operating methodologies that generate productivity and innovation; responsibility centre budgeting (RCB) is one such process. This paper describes the underlying principles constituting RCB, its origin and structural elements, and…

A large number of failures in learning reforms at Asian universities have been documented recently in the literature. The main reason is that reformers often import Western-developed practices to Asian classrooms without a careful examination of their appropriateness within the socio-cultural context of these countries. This approach faces a high…

Much emphasis is currently placed on the impact of marketisation on higher education and the damage it has caused to forms of academic and student identity. Evident is a concern that much of value in these identities has been lost amidst the pressure of audit, performance indicators and consumerism. This paper explores the changes to these…

This article examines the impact of occupational stress among academic staff, administrative staff, and students in a well-established US university environment. The results show that there are different correlations associated with stress such as organisational demand, health issues, and stress management. Findings suggest that occupational…

The Australian Government's response to the 2008 Bradley Review of higher education has set clear targets for increased university participation of people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. Using a "success-focused" methodological approach, this research documents the factors that a sample of 53 later-year, low socioeconomic status…

This article reports on interview-based research on Chinese students' perceptions of aspects of university study and their reasons for undertaking Australian programmes. In this cross-cultural setting, perceptions of "good" and "bad" subjects were elicited, and the need to standardise or adapt programmes to meet Chinese students' needs is…

An important way to improve access for groups that are under-represented in tertiary education is to facilitate the movement of students from vocational education and training to higher education institutions. However, there is substantial evidence of rigidities and obstacles to such a closer integration between these two sectors. This paper…

Women make up 65 per cent of the staff in Australian universities who do not perform academic work. While there is a growing body of research on women in senior management and the experiences of female academics in Australian universities, there is less literature on women working in the administrative stream, especially those in middle…

Many university administrators, academics and marketers expend time and financial resources promoting postgraduate study options, yet scant scholarly research has addressed students' attraction to postgraduate study. This study examines awareness and knowledge of, and intentions to pursue postgraduate study from the perspective of current…

Studies documenting the harm associated with excessive drinking amongst university students are numerous. Fewer studies have explored the experience of non-drinkers in the university setting. In 2008, 826 students aged 18-29 years responded to an online survey aiming to investigate alcohol use and alcohol related harm at an Australian university.…

Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data, this article highlights the increasing proportion of women in senior academic management positions in Swedish higher education between 1990 and 2010. The article uncovers some of the factors that account for women's successful entrance into these positions. According to 22 interviewed female senior…