This research extends our understanding of research productivity by examining features of managerial practice and culture within university departments. Adopting a robust comparative research design, capturing both interview and survey data sourced from multiple stakeholders from New Zealand universities, we seek to identify factors associated…

This article asks whether institutional research could help improve the quality of student engagement by researching at sub-institutional levels such as in courses bridging students from school into higher education. In answer it argues two interacting propositions: one, that student engagement provides useful indicators of quality in higher…

The scope of institutional research (IR) undertaken in Australasian universities is progressively expanding. A traditional focus on student life cycle elements such as enrolment, retention and satisfaction has been complemented for some years now by other areas of focus including research performance and community engagement. More recently,…

This article examines the use of institutional research data on tertiary academic success of students in the first-year Biology program at the University of Canterbury in relation to their secondary school performance in English, Mathematics with Statistics, Biology and Chemistry. This study was commissioned by the School of Biological Sciences to…

This paper discusses demographic and study-related factors that contribute to completion of degrees in one university in New Zealand. Although much can be learned from nationwide and cross-institutional studies, it is important that each institution comes to an understanding of its own particular student population and the factors that impact on…

"Kairaranga" operates as a partnership between the Ministry of Education, Special Education, Resource Teachers: Learning and Behavior (RTLB) and the tertiary sector. The journal was published by and for RTLB from 2000 to 2003, but the partnership model has been in operation since Volume 5, Issue 2, 2004. After three years of…

Recent restructuring of research funding for New Zealand's higher education institutions is "outputs-driven." Under the Performance Based Research Fund, units of assessment of research quality are individuals, every degree teacher receiving a confidential score of A, B or C (if deemed "research active") or "R"…

Recent Australian and New Zealand studies on college student workload are reviewed. Most of the studies have viewed workload questions in the broader context of arrangements for teaching, learning, and assessment. A Monash University, Australia, study assessed the total amount of work done by students, the distribution of study time between…

Assessment is generally seen as one of the key challenges in the field of self-access learning (Gardner & Miller, 1999; Champagne et al., 2001; Lai, 2001; Kinoshita Thomson, 1996). Many researchers and practitioners point to difficulties with assessing language gains in an environment in which variables cannot comprehensively be controlled…

This article provides a critical discussion of the neoliberal reforms of higher education focusing on new managerialism and New Public Management. It also distinguishes between democratic and market accountability regimes, examining how the former arise from classical liberalism and the latter from neoliberalism. The article then examines…

Discusses the history of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research and the functions and research projects of its Early Childhood Unit. Discusses the relationship between research and practice in early child development and education within the context of the council's early childhood work. (RJC)

A study concerning performance indicators in five New Zealand higher education institutions had staff in administration, libraries, and an academic department identify appropriate measures of performance for mechanistic activities. For some activities, particularly at senior levels, mechanistic measures are found inappropriate and impractical;…

The relation between teaching and research is a defining feature of a modern university and of academic identity. Many universities claim a close relation between the two as well as a strong critical orientation. Yet the gap between claims and practice in higher education appears to be widening as government and institutional policies increasingly…

Essays on the present and future states of research and development (R&D) units in colleges and universities are collected. The essays served as discussion papers for an annual meeting of heads of educational R&D units in Australia and New Zealand. "The Political Situation of Teaching-Research Units," by Terry Hore, encourages…