Gate-keeping into the knowledge society : have we got it right?

University admission is generally a competitive process, with more applicants seeking entry to programs than places available. The undergraduate selection process typically requires the processing of large numbers of students, and the process needs to be transparent and efficient. Usually admission is primarily, if not solely, based on grades, obtained at school and/or in an external exam. Existing studies indicate that admission grades, while the strongest predictor currently available, are at best able to predict approximately 40% of the subsequent university grades (Adelman, 1999).This paper reports on the correlation between the grades used for admission and their subsequent university grades for approximately 7000 students admitted between 2003 and 2005 to a particular Queensland university in Australia. The paper reports that there are significant differences in the correlation between these grades and subsequent university performance across disciplines. Engineering and the physical sciences, for example, have a higher correlation than the social sciences. In addition, Queensland’s school certificate provides supplementary measures of five generic skills. The paper also examines the value of these measures in predicting university performance. University graduates are arguably the lynch-pins of a knowledge society. Selection methods must be good predictors of success at university and also continuation in careers that deliver optimum benefits for both the individual and the society that subsidised their study. The paper concludes that, while purely grades based admission is transparent and efficient for a university, it may not be particularly fair or effective

Transforming higher education : reconceptualising the instructional design model for the knowledge society

Higher education in the new millennium faces several major challenges. Along with an increased demand for a tertiary educated workforce, both the state and the student are demanding that the cost of this education be minimised. We are also faced with a demand for flexible learning from an increasingly mature age, part-time and off-campus student population. Elsewhere (Somasundaram, Bowser & Danaher, 2006), the authors have proposed three concepts as pivotal to achieving a society of lifelong learners: learning relationships; systematic learning; and learning resources and tools. Here we elaborate our conceptualisation and possible applications of systematic learning in promoting the concerns and interests of the contemporary knowledge society. Applying the principles of systems thinking (Gharajedaghi, 1999; Senge, 1990), the authors synthesise a process model of systematic learning taken from instructional design (e.g., Dick, Carey & Carey, 2005; Shambaugh & Magliaro, 2006). The synthesis adds two important elements not included in most theoretical instructional design models: accreditation and maintenance. An economic analysis of the synthesised model illuminates the constraints on transforming our higher education system caused by the scarcity of particular resources. A comparative case study of two methods of learning and achieving accreditation in accountancy simultaneously tests and illustrates the model. The authors contend that these resources need not be scarce and suggest how these bottlenecks can be disbanded. The paper elaborates on the solutions proposed by this analysis, which suggests answers to some of the challenges facing the transformation of higher education and the global knowledge society in the 21st century

The student departure puzzle : do some faculties and programs have answers?

University attrition prevention strategies are typically generic, centrally managed, whole of university strategies that have emerged from an examination of whole of university attrition data. This paper takes an intra-organisational comparative approach, through the examination of faculty and program attrition rates of students who joined an Australian university in the first term of 2004. The faculty with the highest attrition had a rate two and a half times that of the faculty with the lowest rate, and in programs with 40 or more students enrolled the program with the highest attrition had a rate over five times that of the program with the lowest rate. The paper concludes that investigating the causes of these differences will help in understanding student attrition. It also suggests that universities wishing to reduce student attrition may benefit from adopting situated strategies that take into account faculty and program differences

Decreasing attrition while increasing diversity : connections and contradictions in transforming marginalisation in an Australian contemporary University

This chapter uses the current focus on universities decreasing student attrition as a lens to explore the connections and contradictions faced by those same universities as they increase diversity and aspire to transform m arginalisation. The chapter draws on statistical data relating to Australian university students generally and to Central Queensland University (CQU) students specifically to illustrate some of the challenges and opportunities as universities seek to bring their own institutional strategies into alignment at the macro level with government socioeconomic policy and at the micro level with the individual goals and aspirations of students and other stakeholders.Findings presented in the chapter support the argument that CQU specifically and the Australian higher education sector more broadly have contributed to maximising the educational outcomes, and hence to transforming the marginalisation, of some minority groups, such as students from non-English speaking backgrounds and some residents of regional communities. On the other hand, relatively high attrition rates remain the norm for other groups, such as Indigenous students, those from isolated areas and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and for some groups not generally associated with minorities. For these groups, and for universities striving to increase their diversity by including such groups in their student cohorts, the groups’ marginalisation remains untransformed

Pathways to lifelong learning : transforming capitalist transactions into collaborative journeys

Using the principles of systems thinking (Gharajedaghi, 1999; Senge, 1990), the authors propose that three concepts are pivotal pathways to achieving a society of lifelong learners: the centrality of learning relationships, the design of systematic learning, and the tools used for learning. The authors examine the barriers in these pathways