The purpose of this study is to examine at-risk students and the reasons they give to explain their poor academic performance, with a view to developing a typology of at-risk students. A case study methodology was used to investigate the total population of at-risk students for Semester 2, 2008 studying at the Singapore campus of an…

This paper presents a practitioner's view on student system implementations in the Australian university sector. A student information system is a core system of any university and integral to its operations and services to students. These systems are constantly on the list of major projects and at any point in time, a university is either…

In this paper, the salient characteristics of the French higher education system are examined in the light of its recent evolution and in the context of overwhelming Europeanisation trends. In spite of major weaknesses still hindering the performance of French universities, it is argued that following the recent wave of reforms, the country is…

Secondary education in Fiji ends with the Form 7 examination. Predictive validity for academic success of Form 7 scores which form the basis for admission into the Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery programme of the Fiji School of Medicine was examined via a cohort of 129 students. Success rates for year 1 in 2008, 2009, and 2010 were 90.7…

New models of leadership are needed for the higher education sector to continue to graduate students with leading edge capabilities. While multiple theories of leadership exist, the higher education sector requires a less hierarchical approach that takes account of its specialised and professional context. Over the last decade the sector has…

This article reports on a research project that investigated the aspirations of primary and secondary school students about access to, and participation in higher education. The research was undertaken at schools in low socio-economic status regional and rural areas of north-eastern New South Wales. The paper discusses the background to the…

Research capacity building has become a prominent theme in higher education institutions in China and across the world. However, Chinese Teaching English as a Foreign Language academics' research output has been quite limited. In order to build their research capacity, it is necessary to understand their perceptions about research. This case study…

In recent times, many key host nations have made it easier for foreign graduates to migrate after graduation. These students are often considered ideal migrants, possessing local qualifications along with a degree of acculturation, language skills and, in many cases, relevant local work experience. For the student, the opportunity to obtain…

Students who travel abroad for study bring with them a wealth of cultural resources and expectations that influence their ability to adapt and acculturate into their new environment. While the ability to fit into their new context is a largely personal endeavour, for students from Confucian heritage societies, the cultural expectations of family…

We report on a succession planning pilot project in an Australian university health faculty. The programme aimed to enhance organisational stability and develop leadership capacity in middle level academics. Six monthly sessions addressed university and general leadership topics, communication, decision-making, working with change, self-management…

In 2007, Kwara State in Nigeria embarked on a process of college of education reform. This article explores the strategic and managerial issues associated with that process. It sets out the policy imperative for reform within the context of an urgent need to improve the quality of education in Nigeria and traces progress over a four year period,…

This paper examines the quality of Hong Kong's sub-degree level education provided by the self-financing institutes in terms of its impact on the earnings of workers, based on Hong Kong's 2006 by-census data. Education is an investment in human capital that enhances the productivity of workers and increases their lifetime incomes; and a more…

The focus of this paper is the coalition United Kingdom government policy on university funding in England as a political economy. It depicts higher education as a public and private good in the context of international trends in "cost sharing" and it addresses the centrality of economic drivers for the profile and orientation of higher education,…

This study investigates the experiences of academics who take on temporary, middle management roles within a university faculty. Individuals with titles such as Associate or Sub Dean, Head of Department or Programme Director were interviewed but, for the purposes of this paper, we will refer to all of these as Associate Deans. We are aware that…

There are increasing demands for higher levels of data assurance in higher education. This paper explores some of the drivers for this trend, and then explains what stakeholders mean by the concept of data assurance, since this has not been well defined previously. The paper captures insights from existing literature, stakeholders, auditors, and…