Michelle Wallace

Australian academics and transnational teaching: an exploratory study of their preparedness and experiences

Australia is now the third largest provider of education to overseas students. Between 1994 and 2000 the number of overseas students taught by Australian universities increased by 150% to 107,622. It is estimated that 41% of the recent growth in international education has been in offshore enrolments, with each of Australia’s 38 universities now providing offshore education. This paper reviews recent Australian literature on transnational teaching and presents an overview of a study with academics who teach transnationally and who are drawn from nine Australian universities. The study covers the professional development and teaching experiences of these academics and their perceptions of the induction/orientation and ongoing professional development needed to support the delivery of quality trans‐cultural education offshore.

Australian academics teaching in Singapore: striving for cultural empathy

Within a framework of shrinking public funding for universities, competition for students and pressures for the internationalization of education, Australian universities have formed partnerships with Asian organizations to offer Australian degrees to fee‐paying students in their home countries. Teaching Asian students in Asia is complex, expensive and challenging for the university, its local partners, students and academics. However, Singapore and Australia have recently signed a free trade agreement and others may follow, thereby increasing the amount of teaching Australian universities undertake in Asia. Issues of education and cultural empathy have become more important than ever in this new environment. This paper discusses one international degree program and the way it is experienced by its Singaporean students and Australian academics as each group strives to understand the academic and cultural needs of the other. Singaporean students in the study reported a range of different learning styles and most preferred teaching and learning approaches that encourage deep learning. The Australian academics considered that these characteristics were similar to those of Australian students, but it appears that the way Australian academics facilitate student‐centredness is confronting to Singaporeans used to different teaching, learning and assessment methods. Some Singaporean students accorded local tutors less ‘expert’ status than the Australian lecturers, thus they placed low value on the tutorial assistance provided as a key part of mixed‐mode delivery of the course. Also, the Australian academics reported that they had difficulty finding culturally appropriate ways to ask for, and receive, critical evaluative feedback from the Singaporean students and tutors. In general, notwithstanding the challenges involved, the Singaporean students appreciated the opportunity to earn an Australian degree without having to leave Singapore, and the Australian academics found the experience of teaching in Singapore to be rewarding.

Managing and developing online education: issues of change and identity

When a workgroup of educators determines to develop an online teaching capability, a number of fundamental change issues become apparent. For the manager, the issues relate to effecting a change process that is inclusive, sustainable and strategic. For the educators, the issues relate to their pedagogy, work practices and the power relations of the group, challenging their identities as academics. This paper examines the learning and development of one work group engaged in innovation and critiques its processes and outcomes in the light of some theories of organisational and individual change and the construction of work identity. Recommendations are made for sustainable change in similar contexts.

Attracting and Retaining Staff: The Role of Branding and Industry Image

In increasingly competitive labour markets, attracting and retaining talent has become a prime concern of organisations. Employers need to understand the range of factors that influence career decision making and the role of employer branding in attracting human capital that best fits and contributes to the strategic aims of an organisation. This chapter identifies the changing factors that attract people to certain employment and industries and discusses the importance of aligning employer branding with employee branding to create a strong, genuine and lasting employer brand. Whilst organisations have long used marketing and branding practices to engender loyalty in customers, they are increasingly expanding this activity to differentiate organisations and make them attractive from an employee perspective. This chapter discusses employer branding and industry image as two important components of attraction strategies and describes ways companies can maximise their brand awareness in the employment market to both current and future employees.

Female administrative managers in Australian universities: not male and not academic

Women make up 65 per cent of the staff in Australian universities who do not perform academic work. While there is a growing body of research on women in senior management and the experiences of female academics in Australian universities, there is less literature on women working in the administrative stream, especially those in middle management. Using a national sample of 172 university female middle managers, the paper reports on issues for this under-researched cohort. Despite a prevailing Australian paradigm of equal opportunity and anti-discrimination, women commented on many instances of discrimination, masculine culture, inflexibility regarding their carer responsibilities, lack of recognition and opportunity and an academic/administrative divide that was gender inflected. A number of women also queried whether female managers should adopt masculine management styles. Despite indications from this research and the literature that gender issues are worse in other sectors, the numerous comments in this research paint a picture of continued male hegemony that devalues and marginalises administrative womens contribution in the management of Australian universities.

Policy and Organisational Discourses: identities offered to women workers

The National Training Reform Agenda (NTRA) (1989‐1996) was the first iteration of a series of reforms designed to make the Australian workforce more skilled, efficient and productive. This paper critically examines how women became “(un)known” in these policy texts in relation to work and training. It also examines contemporaneous practices in some workplaces that assigned certain work identities to women and examines how the women resisted or acquiesced to these assigned identities within the discursive field of the workplace. Comparisons of the positioning effects of policy and workplace practices are made and an argument is presented regarding the marginalisation of women within seemingly benign policy discourses and organisational practices.

Women on the move: the self-initiated expatriate in China

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the under-researched phenomenon of women, who of their own volition, are choosing to live and work in another country, as self-initiated expatriates (SIEs). Design/methodology/approach - – Drawing from a career constructivist position, the qualitative framework relied on primary data gathering through semi-structured interviews with 25 western professional SIE women living and working in Beijing. Findings - – The findings suggest that the SIE womens motivations for mobility and their career types and patterns are complex and varied. As an initial and tentative step towards developing a framework of female SIEs’ careers the authors introduce a typology of four career patterns. Research limitations/implications - – As an exploratory piece of research there is limited generalisability since the findings are presented from the perspective of a particular cohort of womens narratives. Practical implications - – There is a need to recognise the potential value of SIEs to MNCs particularly in light of the well-documented concerns regarding human capital. Companies risk losing this potentially valuable employee if the career opportunities, as well as compensation packages, benefits and support on offer, do not match the plans and expectations of the individuals concerned. Originality/value - – The study provides new insights into the nature and dynamics of the different career modes and configurations of SIE women. This is an important and appropriate research agenda for several reasons. First, there remains a paucity of research on female SIEs. Second, little is known about their career-related behaviours and expectations and the relationship between mobility and career. Thus, it is hoped that a study such as this will add to the emerging body of knowledge about an under researched yet growing number of the some of the most mobile human capital in the world.

Workplace training initiatives: implications for women in the Australian workforce

Examines the situation for women workers in Australia after a ten‐year focus on training. The National Training Reform Agenda is discussed and the position of women in the Australian workforce explained. Comparative statistics on workplace training and some qualitative studies that illuminate workplace practice are examined.

A decade of change in Australia's DBA landscape

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) in Australia through the lens of a changing higher education landscape. The paper reflects on issues raised in a previous analysis of DBA programmes undertaken a decade ago, and highlights persistent challenges and emerging opportunities for professional Doctorate programmes in the Australian context. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews were undertaken with higher degree research directors, deans of graduate schools, and DBA programme directors from all 18 Australian institutions offering the DBA in 2013. Quantitative data on enrolments, accreditation requirements, course structures; and demographics are contextualised within a qualitative view of programme purposes, student and institutional motivations, rationales and concerns. Particular focus is given to perceptions of the difference between traditional research doctorates (PhDs) and professional doctorates, especially the DBA. Finding...

Women and workplace training: power relations positioning “the other”

Abstract This article presents selected details from an empirical study that examined organisational practices in some Australian workplaces in relation to women and training. The background to the study was Australias Training Reform Agenda of the 1990s, which offered workers the possibility of significant gains in skill and occupational advancement. The particular focus of my study was training opportunities for women working in “ordinary” jobs, lower down in organisational hierarchies. Feminist poststructuralist theory informed an examination of gender power relations within four workplaces, particularly in relation to training. This theoretical perspective offered insight into how a range of discursive practices in the organisations positioned some women as certain kinds of subjects with low work affiliation and no career path and highlighted the impact of this positioning on womens training opportunities.