Criticality in international higher education research: A critical discourse analysis of higher education journals

The purpose of this study is to critically and systematically examine current discourse within scholarship on the internationalization of higher education. Our study engages critical discourse analysis to review articles from four top-tier higher education academic journals published between 2000 and 2016. Findings across journals/articles demonstrate the absence of a clear definition of the concept of internationalization, a strong Western focus, and often inexplicit recommendations for practical application of research findings. Through critical discourse analysis, we explore the orientation of higher education research towards equity and inclusivity and challenge the perception of international higher education research and its distribution through academic journals as value-neutral. By continuing to recognize, articulate, and critique biases in research development and dissemination, higher education researchers and discourse may become more accountable and continue to develop a more critical lens for promoting globally inclusive scholarship. This study contributes to the ways in which discourse both shapes and is shaped by knowledge production in the higher education landscape, and future directions for this field

The Value of Transfer of Knowledge in Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM

This article belongs to the Special Issue Co-education and Sustainability in Higher Education[Abstract] Spanish researchers’ recent evaluations regarding the transfer of knowledge have shown that activities that could help close the gender gap in STEM areas are penalized upon evaluation. The results were very disappointing and, upon inspection, could lead readers to reach certain conclusions: first, Spanish researchers transfer research to society in a mediocre way; second, female researchers are even less capable of transferring knowledge in a profitable, beneficial way; and third, activities without a high economic impact for either society or research institutions are not promoted and do not boost the prestige of researchers in this research area. With the help of an ad hoc questionnaire responded to by 513 researchers (both male and female), we examined the causes of the low scores received by female researchers and whether transfer of knowledge activities focused on promoting STEM among female students end up penalizing the female researchers dedicated to those activities. This issue is compounded by the problem of the low visibility of female role models for young female students. The conscientious analysis of the results of the questionnaire may help to improve the fairness of future application rounds, avoiding subsequent disastrous results and encouraging researchers and administrators to work toward fostering an equal society, even if no economic value is directly derived from female-led researc

Examining Scholar-Practitioner Identity in Peer-Led Research Communities in Higher Education Programs

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how research skills and communities can be promoted in student affairs and/or higher education graduate preparation programs through a peer-led, team-based model. Background: Numerous scholars emphasized a lack of empirical research being conducted by student affairs professionals, even though integration of scholarship with practice remains of critical importance to field of higher education. Methodology: Though a descriptive case study of a graduate research course, we engage both quantitative and qualitative data points in a convergent parallel mixed methods design. Contribution: This study provides an important contribution in understanding how graduate programs may better prepare students to engage within a spectrum of scholar-practitioner identity. Findings: Findings suggest that while participants see value in a scholar-practitioner identity and its impact on their future goals, there is often a discrepancy between the perceived feasibility of embodying the role in actual student affairs practice as well as variations across master’s and doctoral student levels. Recommendations for Practitioners: Recommendations for practice include working to integrate scholarship in professional positions and promoting greater collaboration between graduate coursework and professional supervisors. Recommendation for Researchers: Recommendations for researchers include continuing to examine how communities of practice develop across the levels of graduate socialization. Impact on Society: Understanding how individuals engage in scholarship in their fields carries interdisciplinary implications for merging research into professional roles. Future Research: A key area for future research is longitudinal inquiry into how emerging professionals in higher education/student affairs negotiate the scholar-practitioner spectrum across career development

Innovative learning in action (ILIA) issue four: New academics engaging with action research

This edition of ILIA showcases four papers which were originally submitted as action research projects on the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice and Research programme. Within the programme we offer an environment where participants can explore their unique teaching situations – not to produce all-encompassing approaches to Higher Education (HE) practice but to develop an ongoing dialogue about the act of teaching. In effect, there are no generalisable ‘best’ methods of teaching because they never work as well as ‘locally produced practice in action’ (Kincheloe, 2003:15). Thus rather than providing short term ‘survival kits’ the programme offers new HE teachers a ‘frame’ for examining their own and their colleagues’ teaching alongside questioning educational purpose and values in the pursuit of pedagogical improvement. This ‘frame’ is action research which Ebbutt (1985:156) describes as: …The systematic study of attempts to change and improve educational practice by groups of participants by means of their own practical actions and by means of their own reflections upon the effects of their actions… We promote ‘practitioner-research’ or ‘teacher-research’ as a way of facilitating professional development for new HE teachers, promoting change and giving a voice to their developing personal and professional knowledge. Teachers as researchers embark upon an action orientated, iterative and collaborative process to interrogate their own practices, question their own assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs in order to better understand, influence and enrich the context of their own situations. The action researcher assumes that practitioners are knowledgeable about their own teaching situations and the fact that they are ‘in-situ’ and not at ‘arms length’ as the value-neutral, ‘scientific’ researcher is often claimed to be, does not invalidate their knowledge. Thus, practitioners are capable of analysing their own actions within a ‘reflective practitioner’ modus operandi. Action research is on-going in conception and well suited to examining the ever-changing and increasingly complex HE practice environment. Findings from action research are always subject to revision since it intrinsically acknowledges the need to constantly revisit widely diverse teaching situations and scenarios across everyday HE practice. Teaching is not predictable and constant, it always occurs in a contemporary microcosm of uncertainty. Action research provides an analytical framework for new HE teachers to begin to engage with this unpredictability on a continuing basis, that is its purpose and also its perennial challenge. The papers presented here describe how four relatively new HE teachers have begun to address the challenge of improving their practice within their locally based settings utilising the action research ‘paradigm’

Fostering gender equality in research institutions through Transformational-Gender Action Plans

"This paper draws upon baseline evidence compiled for the FP7 Project 'INstitutional Transformation for Effecting Gender Equality in Research' (INTEGER) in three very different research and higher education institutions. Despite institutional commitments towards gender equality, there is an under-representation of women at full professorship (Grade A) and equivalent positions. Furthermore, women and men are unequally represented on key committees and other decision-making bodies. INTEGER's task is to address these and other imbalances through the adoption of Transformational Gender Action Plans (T-GAPs). These T-GAPs involve: increasing the visibility and leadership potential of women academics/researchers; monitoring and gender proofing of recruitment/retention and promotion policies and practices; ensuring gender balance on decision-making bodies/committees; providing mentoring programmes and training in gender awareness to overcome unconscious bias at all levels of the institution; setting targets for high level appointments; and promoting gender equality as a core value contributing to research excellence. The T-GAP process is informed by international good practice through peer mentoring with research institutions in the UK/EU and USA and alignment with the Athena SWAN Charter and equivalent award holders. In addition, an external evaluation team assesses progress and impacts of the T-GAPs in each organisation. The paper presents common and different approaches of designing institutional transformation, strategies for building alliances in the institution for effective implementation of the T-GAPs and how the processes can be evaluated." (author's abstract

The Level of Promotion of Entrepreneurship in Technical Colleges in Palestine

The study aimed to identify the level of promotion of entrepreneurship in the technical colleges in Palestine. The analytical descriptive method was used in the study. A questionnaire of 41 items was randomly distributed to the technical colleges in the Gaza Strip. The random sample consisted of (275) employees from the mentioned colleges, and the response rate were (74.5%). The results of the study showed that the technical colleges achieved a high level of promotion of entrepreneurship with a relative weight of 73.45%. The results of the study showed that there is a high level of promotion of entrepreneurship (risk, preparedness, proactive competition, innovation orientation) in the technical colleges in Gaza Strip. The field of competition came in first place with a relative weight of 76.65%. In the second place came the field (the trend towards innovation) and relative weight (74.96%). In the third place came the field of pre-emptive preparedness with a relative weight of 74.07%. In the fourth and last place came the field of risk and a relative weight of 68.39%. The results confirmed that there are statistically significant differences in the promotion of entrepreneurship in the technical colleges in Gaza Strip due to the college variable in favor of UCAS. The results confirmed that there is no statistically significant relationship in the promotion of entrepreneurship in technical colleges in Gaza Strip due to the variable level of employment. The researchers suggest a set of recommendations, the most important of which is to draw the attention of the technical colleges to the importance of promoting entrepreneurship, because of their role in reducing the problem of unemployment, the importance of linking technical education and promoting entrepreneurship to the Palestinian society in general and Gaza Strip in particular. The importance of urging decision-makers in technical colleges to promote interest in leadership and to put their own courses in all technical education programs in these colleges, as well as enhancing the technical, technological and technical capabilities of technical education and keeping pace with the latest international standards by providing the necessary material resources. There is a need to urge researchers to conduct further studies of the future which deal with the same variables of the current study in the field of entrepreneurship and applied to other sectors

The Application of the Principles of the Creative Environment in the Technical Colleges in Palestine

The study aimed to identify the creative environment of the technical colleges operating in Gaza Strip. The analytical descriptive method was used through a questionnaire which was randomly distributed to 289 employees of the technical colleges in Gaza Strip with a total number of (1168) employees and a response rate equal to (79.2%) of the sample study. The results confirmed the existence of a high degree of approval for the dimensions of the creative environment with a relative weight of (75.19%) according to the perspective of the employees of the technical colleges in Gaza Strip. The results of the study showed a high level of creative environment (fluency, flexibility, originality, sensitivity to problems) in the technical colleges in Gaza Strip, where the field (fluency) ranked first and relative weight (76.86%), in the second place came the area (sense of problems) and relative weight (74.89%). The field of elasticity came in third place with a relative weight of (74.59%). Finally, the field of originality came in fourth and final rank with a relative weight of (74.41%). The results showed that there are differences between the technical colleges in the principles of the creative environment in all fields and the overall degree except for the field of flexibility. The most available colleges in these principles were the university college of applied sciences, and that was the least of the Faculty of Al-Aqsa Society. The results showed that there were differences according to the age variable in the areas of creative environment only in the sense of problems for age groups (less than 30 years) and (from 40 to 50 years). The researchers suggested a number of recommendations, the need to enhance the dimensions of the creative environment in technical colleges by working to improve the faculties of fluency, flexibility, originality and sensitivity to problems. The need to work on continuity and improve aspects of the creative environment of the colleges and the creation of new and innovative ways to support and develop and support these aspects combined. Necessity of technical colleges to continue to develop the creative environment (fluency, flexibility, originality, sensitivity to problems) for employees by engaging them in specialized training courses for creative thinking and problem solving. Developing work procedures with new innovative methods that will accomplish the various tasks quickly and accurately, and provide the effort, time and costs. The researchers urged more future studies that address the same variables of the current study in the field of creative environment and applied to other sectors

Examining How Residential Colleges Inspire the Life of the Mind

Residential colleges in large, public research universities purport to create a small liberal arts environment with the resources of a major university, but little empirical attention has been paid to their claims of effectiveness. This study examined one facet of the liberal arts ideal, the development of lifelong learners. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was utilized to examine student characteristics, residential college environments, and cross-level interactions. Findings illustrate that students’ motivations, coupled with an ethos of academic challenge and faculty/student interaction in their residential college environment, were associated with developing lifelong learners. Findings and implications are discussed in the context of existing research

The Irish Research electronic Library initiative – levelling the playing field?

Purpose - The Irish Research electronic Library (IReL) is a nationally funded electronic research library providing online access to full text articles from thousands of peer-reviewed publications in a range of disciplines. This paper examines the opportunities that have arisen for academic libraries at a local level in terms of how they expose resources and promote the initiative. It discusses the challenges that have arisen as libraries enhance, or indeed introduce, value added services to their research community. It examines the results of an in-depth national survey which yielded invaluable insights into how Irish researchers were using library services. Finally, it reflects on the challenges libraries face in facilitating and nurturing research behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – In the first quarter of 2007, seven university libraries asked their researchers for feedback on how they use IReL resources and their awareness of the initiative in the form of a national survey. These results and in particular the feedback from DCU researchers are further analysed. Focus groups and visits to research centres also provided more in-depth analysis. Findings- This paper finds that a collaborative approach to the negotiation of a single national licence for seven academic libraries, with associated training and a discount for consortium contracts has been highly successful. However, it has also posed significant challenges for all libraries in terms of ensuring that the resources are fully exploited and that the necessary support structures are in place to facilitate the provision of appropriate services to the growing research community. Originality/Value –This paper will be useful to libraries planning services for fourth level researchers and in particular, services that promote access to online resources