Bureaucratic plagiarism

This paper identifies four types of failure to ascribe authorship accurately in college administrations: institutional anonymity, and three types of nominal authorship - ghost-written, rubber stamp and nominal direction. It argues that these failures to ascribe authorship accurately are a problem for the good operation of college bureaucracies as well as being a problem of principle and internal consistency

Four tiers

This paper posits a classifation of tertiary education institutions into four tiers: world research universities, selecting universities, recruiting universities, and vocational institutes. The distinguishing characteristic of world research universities is their research strength, the distinguishing characteristic of selecting universities is their strong student demand, the distinguishing characteristic of recruiting universities is their lower student demand, and the distinguishing characteristic of vocational institutes is their predominance of vocational programs. Yet there is one general characteristic that underlies the whole classification: positional value. The classification is put within a theoretical framework which generates tests of the classi?cation proposed in the paper

The neglected role of a neglected body: academic boards' role in assuring 'equivalent' standards

When asked to demonstrate that they set standards for their higher education qualifications which are equivalent to Australian and international standards, Australian universities typically refer to a range of measures, and many refer to the accreditation of their programs by vocational bodies or registration boards. However, writes the author, this is an inadequate assurance of academic standards

Regulating 'university' and degree-granting authority: changing of the guard

This paper describes the changes in the recognition of universities made or proposed in England, Australia and the USA since 2004, and posits a broad shift from the permanent designation of institutional types to the periodic recognition of qualification-granting authority. This is associated with increased private funding and operation of universities, which in turn is associated with a shift from elite to mass higher education

Do tiers affect student transfer? Examining the student admission ratio

This study considers whether formally segmenting 4-year institutions by admissions selectivity affects the admission of transfer students. It develops a new measure, the student admission ratio, to compare the admission of transfer students in formally and highly segmented systems, informally and less segmented systems, and in formally unified systems. The study finds that the segmentation of systems by admissions selectivity does not adversely affect transfer admissions. The study concludes by positing that the formal structure of a system is not so important for student transfer as the processes for implementing transfer policy, and it considers the implications of this for practice

Scotland's high road to lifelong learning: a foreigner's observations on the Scottish parliament enterprise and lifelong learning committee's final report on lifelong learning

The final report on lifelong learning of the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee is distinctive in being one of the few national lifelong learning policies of such breadth, which apparently express a deep and long-term national commitment to lifelong learning. The Committee's core proposal to make a standard basic entitlement to lifelong learning available to every citizen may have its greatest effect in increasing the demand for postcompulsory education from under-represented groups, since as the Committee observes, one of the challenges in redressing the relatively low participation of under-represented groups is to increase their aspiration to study at the highest level

Reverse transfer in Australia

This article considers national Australian data on reverse transfer - the transfer of students from bachelor programs or higher to sub baccalaureate programs, institutions and sectors. It finds that previous studies have overstated the prevalence and perhaps also the significance of reverse transfer. The data are not good, but the best conclusion is that reverse transfer in Australia is from 50% less to 50% more than upward transfer, depending on the concept and measure of transfer used

The missing link in Australian tertiary education: short-cycle higher education

The blurring of the boundary between Australian vocational education and training and higher education is leading to a reconsideration of the current structure of Australian tertiary education. This paper starts with the main overlap of the Australian tertiary education sectors, diplomas and advanced diplomas

Variations in the rate at which students cross the boundaries between Australian vocational and higher education

This paper considers the rate at which students are crossing the boundaries between Australian vocational and higher education. It finds that public universities admit a higher proportion of students on the basis of a vocational education qualification than do private colleges and that private colleges broadly do not admit a higher proportion of students from a low socioeconomic status background than public universities do

The Supreme Court of Victoria tries a bit of socio-legal analysis in reconceptualising the role of academics in Victoria University of Technology v Wilson and Ors

In a recent decision, Victoria University of Technology v Wilson & Ors, the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia decided against two academic defendants in a case brought by their university employer over the ownership of intellectual property. The case turned on whether the academics invented the property within the scope of their employment, and is interesting due to the court's finding that the comparatively recent commercialisation of Australian universities had reconstructed the nature of academic work. The court held that a full professor and a senior lecturer - a middle-level academic grade in Australian universities - had a fiduciary duty to account to their employer university for gains from business opportunities they learnt of in the course of their employment