This paper investigates the paradox of research productivity of higher-education institutions in the Arab Gulf Countries. Exploring the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the article fills the gap in the literature on the Gulf higher education research efficiency. Despite the considerable investment into higher education, UAE universities showed rather slow growth in research output. This puzzle

Faculty engage in several institutional activities typically categorised as teaching, research and service. Within those activities there are numerous potential tasks, and research denotes that faculty often bemoan this work which can lead to turnover and lack of commitment. We present the job crafting framework as one way to allow faculty to be active participants in increasing their work commitment

Using comparable legal information, and empirical data from over 2000 members of the UK's University and College Union and 2000 staff in universities of the European states, gathered by means of similar surveys, this paper is a comparative assessment of the de jure protection for, and the de facto levels of, academic freedom enjoyed by academic staff in the UK, when compared to their EU counterparts

This special issue expands the scope of a panel presentation at the Society for Research into Higher Education Annual Conference 2019 and makes two identified contributions to the field. First, drawing from existing literature, this introductory paper proposes three categorisations of employability as: outcomes approach, process approach and conceptual approaches. This moves beyond normative conceptualisation

This paper investigates leadership dynamics in research teams. It studies how principal investigators (PIs) and team members cultivate their relationship through the lens of leader-member exchange theory (LMX). Thirty-one in-depth interviews with both PIs and team members across 15 externally funded teams in the UK are analysed. The findings show that these relationships can be characterised along

One method for evaluating higher education performance is to conceptualize it as a production function represented as an input/output process. This paper proposes a performance evaluation of higher education institutions from the perspective of recent graduates taking as inputs students' cognitive abilities and tuition, and as outputs three we contend are relevant for recent graduates: starting salary

Through addressing four public universities in Egypt, the author of this paper aims to uncover the main barriers women faculty face when fulfilling their academic roles. The author employed a qualitative research method through conducting semi-structured interviews with 40 female academics. Moreover, he subsequently used thematic analysis to determine the main ideas in the transcripts. The author of

This paper critically explores the notion of academic citizenship, evaluates its importance and argues that faculty have shifted away from engaging in collegial activities to behaviour that is purposefully targeted towards the attainment of academic performance metrics. We highlight the significant implications and challenges for the academy of a gradual retreat from academic citizenship in an era

The paper explores the phenomenon of the local-worldly university. Why should we cultivate “the Difference” in everyday practices of the university? The author refers to the Derridean “différance,” to the idea of wonder (το θαυμα) and the Herderean concept of Heimat. By putting these terms in the university's specific context, the author asks questions about an autonomous space for thinking and experiencing

This paper complements and extends the literature analysing the relationship of global rankings on universities' strategies, missions, structures, and functions. Specifically, it examines the extent to which global rankings have influenced development strategies of one Chilean university through administrator's perception and changes in the strategic planning. Interview and documentary data were collected

This paper challenges the western concept of graduate employability as a measure of student success through a case study of a collaboration between pharmacy colleagues in universities in Nairobi, Kenya and Nottingham, UK. As Pharmacy programmes globally adapt their courses to a competency-based education (CBE) approach, we outline the implications of this for graduate success in Kenya. The Ministry

The marketisation of higher education is a global phenomenon in the new millennium as the universities are facing intense competition to manage their financial resources and maintain their academic growth and reputation. Pakistan is also influenced by the globalisation of higher education. In this context, this study is a genre analysis of the introductory pages of prospectuses o Pakistani universities

Various scholars have argued that higher education is becoming increasingly similar across Europe as a result of processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation, as well as the creation of a European Higher Education Area. While much of this body of work has focussed on governance, institutional structures and reforms related to teaching and learning, some have suggested that the subjectivities and

As a result of globalization and the digital revolution, the concept of creativity has become increasingly central to education policy and practice. On the one hand, the calls for creativity are driven by an economic imperative. The argument is that there has been a shift from an industrial‐based economy to a knowledge‐based economy to a creative economy. The calls for creativity are also driven by

Producing original knowledge is the foundation of scientific progress. Originality is associated with certain skills and practices that can be trained and socialised. This study investigates how inbreeding as a career practice influences the socialisation of originality. An analysis based on a sample of mid‐career life scientists in Japan finds that originality and associated practices are transferred

This paper illuminates how three distinct but complementary concepts can be used to explain the prevalence of inbreeding in some contexts and the absence or limited frequency of inbreeding in others. The concepts of internal and external labour markets can be useful in understanding the academic labour market conditions that may support or discourage inbreeding. The concepts of vertical fragmentation

The paper investigates the value of AACSB accreditation for business schools. The status of an accredited school decreases the asymmetry of information and the study aims to fill the gap if this market signal has a value beyond enhancing the quality itself. It is based on the international panel data of the AACSB Business Schools Questionnaire and shows that, on average, business schools demonstrate

Academic inbreeding is a phenomenon that has been studied mostly from the standpoint of its association with research productivity. The focus has been on knowledge creation outputs and outcomes, while little to no attention has been given to the association of academic inbreeding with knowledge creation strategies and processes in academia. This article focusses on the latter, confirming that academic

This article uses the example of Germany to elaborate on the historical development, the current practice, and recent debates on employability. Employability as an outspoken aim of higher education was only established in recent decades due to the introduction of Polytechnics, the expansion of higher education, and the Bologna‐Process. Despite the diversity of the higher education sector (e.g., universities;

Graduate employability is an economic concept that strives to link higher education and employment. Economics of education and labour market theories contribute to its definition and provide arguments on its drivers and barriers. However, available studies have focused on human capital theory, which addresses the resources with which graduates should be endowed but overlooks the insights from other

Although it is well‐established that female participation in study abroad programmes is higher than the male participation, less is known about how this gap has changed over time. Using student‐level data from the nationally representative surveys of three European countries (France, Germany and Italy), this paper begins by examining changes in the relationship between gender and participation in study

In the last three decades, the role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in employability skill development has been emphasised in UK national policy. Within the same time frame, internationalisation has emerged as a key strategy in higher education (HE), nationally and globally. However, the connection between the internationalisation of higher education and developing graduate employability is

This paper explores integrity dilemmas experienced by Russian academics in the context of building a world‐class university. Interviews with professors and managers of major research universities in Moscow provide critical insights into the organisational and attitudinal incongruities generated by a coercive state—a challenge that Russia has been unable to rise above following the collapse of the Soviet

This article provides a critical discourse analysis of how career is discussed on elite graduate recruitment websites. Building on previous work from Handley (2018, https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017016686031) and Ingram and Allen (2019, https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026118790949) this article draws attention to how career is constructed, first, as something which graduates consume and, second, as a ‘liminal

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, universities worldwide are going into ‘emergency mode’—radically transforming education by switching to online and e‐learning education. In the face of these emergent changes, many academic teachers who are unwilling to use e‐learning or who lack the appropriate competences are suddenly being forced to teach via electronic devices and the Internet. But how will this COVID‐19

Diverse influences on national higher education (HE) systems result in variability in organisational cultures in academic workplaces. We implemented the competing values model of organisational culture to explore the departmental cultures at Czech public universities and the workplace perceptions of academics from different cultures. The participants (n = 2,229) completed an electronic questionnaire

Early Warning Systems (EWS) in higher education accommodate student counsellors by identifying at‐risk students and allow them to intervene in a timely manner to prevent student dropout. This study evaluates an EWS that shares student‐specific risk information with student counsellors, which was implemented at a large Dutch university. A randomised field experiment was conducted to estimate the effect

Current literature on higher education (HE) performance only considers the production of graduates and not graduate employment. The latter needs to be factored into the HE production model as it not only measures the true impact of HE institutions (HEIs), but also provides policy implications on how resources should be allocated. Furthermore, the current literature on HE does not incorporate student

Australia has shifted its student mobility agenda since 2014 with a commitment to see learning abroad in the Indo‐Pacific region, rather than in traditional destinations such as anglophone countries, as a ‘rite of passage’ for Australian students' future life and career. While there has been rich literature on the impact of outbound student mobility from Australia to anglophone countries, critical

Graduate employability is now typically conceptualised in terms of the extent to which the capacities of individual students match the available employment opportunities. As a result, higher education is increasingly seen as an investment in a project of the self for economic reward. This theoretical study draws on critical realist perspectives to problematise existing understandings of employability

Studies on academic inbreeding have mostly focused on institutional inbreeding and its negative effects, whereas little research has explored its causes. We identify current explanations of the macro‐, meso‐ and micro‐level factors that sustain academic inbreeding as well as research gaps. We address a main research gap regarding what macro‐level factors contribute to academic inbreeding, by analysing

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between academic inbreeding in Portugal and research collaboration, using co‐authored publications as proxies. As previous research has shown that inbreeding is detrimental for research collaborations, it is hypothesised that academic inbreeding will lead to smaller research networks and, consequently, to fewer co‐authored publications outside the

Currently, we are at the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where the rapid developments in genetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and biotechnology are growing rapidly. It is expected that the majority of the children entering primary school today might end up working in jobs that do not yet exist. In such a fast-changing employment landscape, the ability

This study analyses the challenges facing Asia's academy based on major findings from the international survey which was implemented in seven selected Asian systems in 2012–2013. The study argues that the academics in these participating teams were concerned with demographic issues, academics' deteriorating working conditions, building both capacity and excellence in their academics, unsatisfactory

Technology is changing the way teaching and learning take place. The main purpose of this study is to investigate tertiary students' attitude towards integrating information technology (IT) in higher education. Using stratified random sampling, 180 questionnaires were distributed to students from six tertiary institutions in Mauritius. Exploratory Factor Analysis followed by multiple regression analysis

The study examines the relationship between Quality of work life (QWL) and job performance among the faculty of technical institutions in the state of Punjab, India. Data collected from a sample of 445 respondents through a structured questionnaire have been put to data analysis with the help of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 20). Four factors that are associated with QWL (i

Over the last few decades, the active promotion of or government acquiescence in a surge of private higher education (PHE) has become a common phenomenon globally. This study examines the specific contributions and pitfalls of private higher education institutions (PHEIs) using questionnaires, interviews and documentary analysis as data gathering tools. The findings reveal that private higher education

Technology, and Web 2.0 in particular, has been the focus of many universities’ efforts to respond to 21st‐century learners’ demands and the volatile nature of the modern workplace. Web 2.0, with the numerous benefits it presents, seems to fit the needs of a socially connected and information‐led society, but its integration in educational settings remains an intricate process. This paper examines

The article analyses the strategies of Hungarian higher education interest organisations against the encroachments on academic freedom by Viktor Orbán's governments. We contrast the 2012–2013 and 2017–2019 protest waves and find that innovations in strategy came from new organisations in both periods, whereas established ones were rather passive or opted for the status quo. However, in the second period

It is widely recognised that academic freedom and university autonomy in Turkey are currently under pressure. Many scholars have produced articles discussing the Turkish predicament, linking it to the recent authoritarian and populist turn of the country. This paper offers a different interpretation, arguing how academic freedom and institutional autonomy have been approached and practised in Turkey

There is a growing consensus in political science research that higher education systems are classifiable into stable distinct types that reflect dominant trends in government partisanship. There is also a large body of higher education research that argues that higher education systems are changing and converging upon a neoliberal type, which is not yet reflected in the political science literature

Internationalisation is an important component in the transformation of higher education globally. Since 2007, the Malaysian higher education system has had a strong focus on internationalisation in positioning Malaysia as a hub for higher education. Malaysia is a member of the ASEM Education Process (AEP) and an active participant in several initiatives focusing on mobility and quality assurance since

This paper evaluates the determinants of the expected returns on higher education among students of Russian universities accounting for the variation of the socio-economic development of Russian regions. Based on the longitudinal study, ‘Trajectories in Education and Careers’, it is shown that the average salary in a region is positively related to the individual estimates of expected salary after

Organizations including universities are operating in an increasingly volatile environment and they are in a state of constant change. To survive and thrive in this ever‐changing environment, building the capacity to adapt is essential. The basic purpose of this research was to identify and propose basic dimensions that help to envisage the adaptive capacity of public universities. To study universities

The study focuses on the issue of gender discrimination in pay among university faculty in Russia, a country with an exceptionally high share of female faculty in higher education. Using a comprehensive and nationally representative survey of university faculty, we found that although women in academia earn considerably less than men, gender inequality among university faculty is lower than in the

Searching for an academic position is known to be a stressful and often ambiguous process for applicants. During this transition from doctoral students to assistant professors, applicants seek any additional means to increase their chances of securing an academic appointment. This research draws on data gathered from a sample of recently hired business school professors for tenure‐track positions in

This paper examines students’ perspectives on the main transitional challenges experienced when commencing higher education. It explores which students are most affected by the transition and is the first paper to provide an overview of student recommendations to help improve the transition in an Irish context. The study involves large‐scale surveys and focus groups across four higher education institutions

In this field experiment, students were randomly assigned to virtual proctoring or to traditional on-campus examination to evaluate the effect, nature, and timing of implementation barriers for online proctoring in higher education. Virtual proctoring technology is credited to increase the accessibility of exams by enabling students to participate in exams at any time and place. The results show that

Instructional leadership demands educational leaders to become intensely involved in improving teaching and learning. While extensive research found this approach to be beneficial in school settings, it was insufficiently explored in higher education. Therefore, the current study explored how Israeli higher education leaders perceive their leadership role in relation to teaching and learning. Participants

Research has noted an increase in negative workplace behaviours in the higher education sector between leaders and staff. A component of this change has been attributed to the managerial shift associated with faculty leadership roles. Positions such as dean are now sometimes filled via evidence of management experience when traditionally these roles were awarded to senior academics. This paper argues

The emergence of Industry 4.0 has inspired education to undergo a transformation and change its delivery lens. To adapt to the expectation of Industry 4.0, Education 4.0 has built a new interface for each stakeholder. The roles of these stakeholders have been remodelled, which in turn profoundly influences the way a new‐age learner learns. The seamless union of the vision of Industry 4.0 and Education

Focus groups were conducted to explore prospective students' perceptions of tuition fees, maintenance loans and how these impact their decision to engage with higher education Views on rebranding of the term ?tuition fees? to ?student/graduate contributions/tax? and the introduction of differential fees for different courses were explored Concerns around high living costs of being at university featured

Little is known about how researchers in higher education institutions (HEIs) experience and respond to support received from their departments. The present study investigated how support for researchers’ autonomy (choice and self-expression), relatedness (through connections with colleagues), and competence (feeling effective in one’s work) influenced their attitudes towards an external assessment

This article argues that, as tutors, we are bound not only by the rules of contract law (i.e., to avoid breaching the terms of that which was agreed to), but also by our duty of care, and the principles of human rights law that protect the right to education. We must strive to avoid negligent acts and any potentially harmful practices or policies. Looking to recent litigation, we are bound also to

The purpose of this study was to identify and categorise factors that hinder Korean college student‐faculty interaction. Twenty‐one college students who had advising experience with faculty were interviewed. Concept mapping was used to collect, organise and interpret qualitative data through quantitative techniques. These factors were recorded on index cards, and 21 participants returned and sorted

In Germany enrolment in majors is of considerable interest to academic departments, because their budget depends on the number of enrolled students. Besides observed factors, we presume that unobserved latent variables influence the major‐choice decision of students. Using stated preferences data from a discrete choice experiment among students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration

Die Balance zwischen der adäquaten Beschreibung der Besonderheiten von Untersuchungsfällen, und der 2 | KOSMÜTZKY eT al. 1 | INTRODUC TION: CHALLENGING THE PATHS OF (QUALITATIVE) COMPAR ATIVE RESE ARCH International comparative research is one of the key methodologies within the field of higher education research and has become a growing type of research in recent years (Cantwell, 2020; Dobbins, Knill

Government‐sponsored student loans have emerged over the decades as a primary method of financing post‐secondary education across most North American jurisdictions. Despite this, the empirical literature examining the correlates of repayment difficulty and default in Canada has remained stagnant in recent years. This study taps into an underutilised data source—the 2013 National Graduates Survey—to

Interrogating the White Paper 3 of 1997 which upholds academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability, I make the case for justice through higher education using public accountability. I argue that the higher education system in South Africa is capable of fulfilling such a role in the context of extreme injustices but not without a critical engagement of the extent and causes of

The idea of a ‘third space’ located between academic and professional domains has proven useful in exploring changing academic and professional roles in higher education, including in online learning. However, the role of technology in accounts of third space activity remains under‐explored. Drawing on research into the introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) at three UK higher education