Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 

About: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management is an academic journal published by Brill. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Higher education & Government. It has an ISSN identifier of 1360-080X. Over the lifetime, 956 publications have been published receiving 27175 citations.

Student Satisfaction: An alternative approach to assessing this important concept

Abstract: A student's overall satisfaction with his/her educational experience has traditionally been measured by a simple 'yes or no' question, or with one question assessing the degree of overall satisfaction. Even though this type of question is simple to answer and analyze, students may not thoroughly reflect upon their previous responses within a questionnaire regarding satisfaction with individual educational attributes when asked to assess their overall satisfaction with a university on the basis of a single question. The purpose of this article is to present an alternative approach to measuring student overall satisfaction using a multiple-item weighted gap score analysis approach. The results suggest that this approach may have more diagnostic value to both academics and practitioners.

Academic manager or managed academic? Academic identity schisms in higher education

Abstract: The relationship between values and academic identity has received scant attention in the higher education literature with some notable exceptions (Churchman, 2006; Harley, 2002; Henkel, 2005). This paper contends that the perceived need to align all academics around corporate values and goals has given rise to academic identity schisms in higher education. Central to the academic identity schism is the notion of person–organisation values fit and the degree to which the ideologies and values of academics are congruent (the ‘academic manager’) or incongruent (the ‘managed academic’) with the prevailing discourse of corporate managerialism. To reduce the prevalence of academic disengagement and make it easier for academic managers to gain the support of the managed, the paper proposes two inter-related strategies for bridging identity schisms in academe.

Academic staff workloads and job satisfaction: expectations and values in academe

Abstract: University academic staff do complex work in an increasingly demanding environment. Traditionally, universities have defined the role of academic staff according to the three domains of teaching, research, and service, with primary emphasis placed upon the teaching and research aspects and secondary emphasis upon service or administration. Recent dialogue regarding the place of universities in a “knowledge society” has not necessarily reflected upon the impact on the workloads of faculty given increased expectations for measurable outputs, responsiveness to societal and student needs, and overall performance accountability. University faculty motivated by core academic and disciplinary interests are said to be increasingly challenged by increased accountability and workloads. Research on academic workloads have examined the intensification of academic work as well as the balance between research and teaching, particularly as governments have adopted performance funding for research budget components for h...

Improving the Retention of Students from Lower Socio-economic Groups

Abstract: Success in higher education for students from lower socio-economic groups and from disadvantaged backgrounds is becoming an increasingly important policy goal in the UK and abroad. An analysis of the HEFCE performance indicators identified six English higher education institutions performing above their benchmarks with regard to widening participation and also student retention and completion, and prompted an investigation of what these institutions had been doing that might account for their success. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior managers responsible for retention and completion, which focused on institutional strategy. Analysis of the interviews suggested that success in retaining students from lower socio-economic groups required a strong policy commitment to access and retention, backed up by practical action. A number of actions were identified as possible contributors to such success.

Rethinking Academic Work in the Global Era

Abstract: Australian universities are being transformed by profound long-term changes. Inevitably, these changes are reshaping academic work and the academic profession. Universities in Australia entered a period of accelerated transformation in the late 1980s. Foreshadowed in policy circles by the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission’s (CTEC) report on EfŽciency and Effectiveness in Higher Education (CTEC, 1986), this period was shaped above all by the Green and White Papers issued by Commonwealth Minister John Dawkins (1987; 1988) and the mergers, managerialism and marketisation that followed. For a while, it seemed that the norms of academic work were Ž xed, amid a university system in which every other element—the map of institutions, institutional identity and developmental strategy, systems of management and the organisational cultures of universities, the Ž nancing of institutions and their economic relationship with students, the course mix, the character of postgraduate education, relations with employers, and so on—was subject to rapid change. The internal life of the academic profession seemed to be protected by its traditions, by its institutions such as tenure, peer review, and autonomy in curriculum matters; and by a certain self-imposed inertia. The reform process started from the outside and took some time to work its way into the day-to-day practices of academic staff. However, this inner sanctuary of academic work is no longer secure from the processes of organisational change. The argument of this paper is that, to the extent one can talk about a single academic profession, the academic profession in Australia is undergoing a profound transformation, though this transformation has yet to be adequately researched and analysed. In many respects, the traditional practices of the Australian academic profession are in crisis. It is uncertain what the future of academic work and academic professionalism will be. Indeed, it is plain that more than one future is possible. The processes of transformation and crisis in academic work have four dimensions, which overlap with each other: