There is a substantial body of quantitative evidence about the benefits of higher education. However there is little qualitative evidence about the extent to which these benefits accrue to graduates from non-traditional backgrounds. This paper contributes to this gap in knowledge by exploring the experiences of a group of 15 graduates 10 years…

The literature on higher education policy points to changes in the dominant discourse over the years. In particular, the ascendance of a discourse marked by concepts of new public management, using language inspired by neoclassical economic theory which characterizes education as a marketplace where students are customers, has led scholars to…

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is increasingly common in higher education, with benefits and risks for students and supervisors' wellbeing. Central to wellbeing is dignity, often described as the respectful treatment of others. While studies have explored dignity for employees, it is yet to be examined in the WIL context. This qualitative study…

Considerable attention has been paid to the economic benefits of participating in higher education, particularly the 'economic premium' of graduates compared to non-graduates. Although the civic contribution of graduates has been widely acknowledged and discussed, there has been a dearth of empirical analysis that investigates this contribution.…

Understanding factors that cause students problems throughout their doctoral education is of benefit to doctoral educators striving to improve doctoral completion rates. In this paper, Baker and Pifer's (2015, "Antecedents and Outcomes: Theories of Fit and the Study of Doctoral Education." "Studies in Higher Education" 40 (2):…

Despite compelling qualitative arguments for scale and scope economies in university-level distance education, as distinct from traditional class-based face-to-face instruction, there is little rigorous quantitative evidence in support. In this paper, we explore the scale and scope economies of distance education using a multiplicatively separable…

The purpose of this research is to investigate how Young Enterprise (YE) student entrepreneurs develop new product/service opportunities, learn decision-making skills and achieve a sense of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. From a national survey of YE participants in the Netherlands, entrepreneurial self-efficacy was found to partially mediate…

The paper contributes to the growing and often controversial study of higher education productivity measurement. The paper clarifies core productivity ideas, and considers alternative models for productivity assessment. Results from these models are explored using data from Australian higher education. Findings reveal implications for the…

As international student mobility worldwide reach new heights, there have been increasing conversations around how tertiary institutions need to rethink how they relate to and support international students for success. This study asks mainland Chinese students, the largest proportion of international students worldwide, to voice their desires…

Collaborative learning has important group-level benefits, yet most studies in higher education only focus on individual benefits of collaborative learning experiences. This study extends these insights by testing a model in which teamwork quality mediates the impact of several compositional differences (gender, nationality and teamwork expertise…

This paper investigates employment outcomes for a large sample of Ph.D. students who were enrolled in a doctoral training program in Italy in the period 2008-14. The empirical analysis is based on survey data obtained from a questionnaire distributed to 23,500 individuals in 2016. In Italy, student enrolment in a Ph.D. involves a university-based…

Engagement in knowledge exchange (KE) with external actors has become widely accepted as an integral mission of universities. However, research and teaching performance remain more important for career progression, while engagement activities are more weakly institutionalized. This raises the question of why academics participate in knowledge…

This paper assesses labour market outcomes associated with the acquisition of different graduate competences in the Italian labour markets particularly focusing on 'soft skills' developed during HE programs. By using a classification of graduate jobs that distinguishes between different horizontal skills, namley managerial and communication…

Foreign-born faculty (FBF) comprise between a quarter and a third of the higher education workforce in the U.S. today. As part of a larger mixed methods research project, we examined undergraduate students' perceptions of FBF prior to and after engaging with them in the classroom. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of undergraduate…

This article draws on the concept of structural lag to expand the notion of transitions in higher education contexts beyond linear and age-differentiated. Research reported here responds to scholars who are taking theories of transition into conceptually new landscapes. Using a rhizomic data analysis of a doctoral research project, the idea of…