This paper analyses the factors limiting marketisation in Italian higher education. The analysis was conducted by adopting Jongbloed's framework. Using empirical data on the Italian higher education system, it is shown that only a small amount of funds are allocated to Italian universities based on market mechanisms. The analysis shows that the…

The article entitled "The selection of scientific talent in the allocation of research grants" by van Arensbergen and van den Besselaar published in "Higher Education Policy" 25/3 (2012) is based on research that both researchers carried out on behalf of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. In this comment, we…

In the various world university ranking schemes, the "Overall" is a sum of the weighted indicator scores. As the indicators are of a different nature from each other, "Overall" conceals important differences. Factor analysis of the data from three prominent ranking schemes reveals that there are two factors in each of the…

This article focuses on the phenomenon of middle leadership in a university context and directs attention to the significance of learning as a central facet of leadership development. Drawing on the reflections of two of the authors as new middle leaders (chairpersons of departments), this article critically examines how middle leaders learn…

A national sample of 1515 university administrators (academic deans, directors, associate deans, and department chairs) completed a survey of leadership skills, preparedness for administrative role, and job satisfaction. Overall, participants felt least well prepared in the areas of developing entrepreneurial revenue, developing metrics to…

The role and impact of diversity in higher education has permeated conversations about student access and achievement for many years. Language articulated by various courts suggests that higher education policies should reflect a broad conceptualisation of diversity beyond that of the magnitude and proportion of race and ethnicity, yet…

Despite email playing a central role in university business, little is known about the strategies used by staff to manage email and the factors contributing to email overload. In a mixed method study undertaken in one Australian university comparing academic (n = 193) and professional (n = 278) staff, we found that while email volume was higher in…

Bullying, often considered an interpersonal or intergroup behaviour, has not been explored as an unintended artefact of organisational structure. Institutional review boards (IRBs), the 'human research ethics committees' at US universities, help oversee the protection of human research subjects, particularly in the social sciences within…

While external quality assurance in higher education was originally developed to cater for various domestic needs, recent decades have seen various attempts in the use of quality assurance also as a mechanism for creating more trust in cross-national higher education activities. In this article, a conceptual framework for analysing available…

This study evaluates the extent to which academic institutions and their curricula are internationalised in the US. The survey instrument incorporates variables that assess the students' globalisation skills related to international awareness, international competency and international expertise. Generally, findings suggest that a large proportion…

Higher education policy and politics in the United States (US) has been an issue of studies for several decades. Since the 1960s, researchers have been attempting to understand, explain and extrapolate on the relationships between higher education funding and political institutions. This review attempts to assess recent studies concerned with US…

Two key measures to determine the quality of higher education are the performance of students and the accreditation of a programme's quality. We analyse the difference in the distributions of the student's scores in a standardised test of economics knowledge between accredited and non-accredited undergraduate economics programmes in a…

Because of the potential value of alumni involvement for student success, for connections to society and as a base for future philanthropy, there is growing interest in developing university alumni relations programmes in countries that do not have a long tradition in this area. This case study of Stockholm University describes the goals,…

The higher education policy of the previous Australian government aimed to achieve an internationally competitive higher education sector while expanding access opportunities to all Australians. This policy agenda closely reflects global trends that focus on achieving both quality and equity objectives. In this paper, the formulation and…

Against a backdrop of new public management (NPM) thinking and managerialism generally applied to universities in a range of countries, this study examines one of its manifestations--performance management for academics. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 40 academics at an Australian university, this article identifies six stances regularly…