Higher education in Aotearoa New Zealand -- we have a problem. Maori and Pasifika academics are not given time to talk together about Maori and Pasifika student success. Often framed by 'the academy' from a deficit position, initiatives to address the 'problem' of Maori student and Pasifika student success is often ad hoc and disconnected, rarely…

Academic developers enter the field of academic development (AD) from various disciplines and at different stages of their careers. They bring with them their academic experiences, home disciplinary culture and presumptions about what AD is. These circumstances inform the initial professional identity for those working in what has been described…

This paper examines the application and efficacy of performance ethnography designed for adult professional learning. An ethnographic performance related to women in research leadership was constructed and performed in an executive tertiary leadership programme and the responses from the female audience/participants were investigated. The study…

In this article, we explore the extent to which 42 newer researchers, in the academic sub-field of higher education, were aware of, responded to and negotiated their careers in relation to higher education policies. Participants, who were mainly from European countries, tended to divide into two similarly sized groups: one that engaged with and…

In the complex and diverse region of Oceania, researchers often work across more than one cultural understanding. Thus, a researcher's position with regard to their research requires careful ongoing negotiation because position, when understood through relationality, is fluid. Negotiating position requires acute reflexivity of the researcher but…

This paper looks at ways in which methods used in literary analysis can contribute to higher education research. I start by describing a methodology commonly used in the analysis of literary texts, close reading or textual analysis, and outline how it can be utilised in conjunction with several theoretical approaches in the literary studies…

This study analyzed whether research collaboration patterns differ across higher education systems based on maturity of the systems, their language, and their geographical region. This study found that collaboration patterns differ across higher education systems: academics in developed systems are more collaborative than their colleagues in…

When higher education institutions seek to align their research goals with nationally driven imperatives, various members of the institutional community need to work in concert to achieve them. The identification of effective strategies and the development of a contextually appropriate research culture are fundamental elements to progressing…

Although there is much research related to the first-year student in higher education and first-year retention, a dominant focus of this has been on students' assimilation into higher education. However, there is a noticeable increase in higher education researchers who advocate for a more active role of institutions to adapt to first-year…

Could the challenge of mastering threshold concepts be a potential factor that influences a student's decision to continue in electronics engineering? This was the question that led to a collaborative research project between educational researchers and the Faculty of Engineering in a New Zealand university. This paper deals exclusively with the…

In order to enhance understandings of the international mobility of researchers and the implications of their mobility for knowledge production and circulation, we need to develop more sophisticated conceptual resources. Here we draw on and seek to develop ideas generated from literary theory and geography in order to highlight the links between…

This paper uses a discursive analysis to examine the experience of "inclusion" from several stakeholder groups in one university. The research team included disability support staff at the institution, external disability consultants and academic researchers. A critical focus group investigation centred on four groups: students who were…

This paper draws on the experiences of 20 academic developers as they examine the proposition that the organisation and work of academic development in higher education is fragmented. Academic development was seen to have neither the status of a field nor a profession, and there was recognised tension between an institutionally focused service…

Laboratory work is one of the main forms of teaching used in chemistry, physics, biology and medicine. For many years researchers and teachers have argued in favor of or against this form of education. Student opinion could be a valuable tool for teachers to demonstrate the validity of such expensive and work intensive forms of education as…

This book explores the wide range of contexts in which research into creating connections in learning and teaching may take place. Creating connections can encompass making links, crossing divides, forming relationships, building frameworks, and generating new knowledge. The cognitive, cultural, social, emotional and/or physical aspects of…