Higher Education

Haupt, John P.; Lee, Jenny J.

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01098-6

Given the disruptions COVID-19 caused to normal research processes, including international collaboration, this study sought to understand scientists’ experiences collaborating internationally during the pandemic on COVID-19-related research. Specifically, it explored US scientists' tie formation and reasons for international research collaboration with Chinese scientists. The study employed a sequential exploratory mixed methods design collecting interview and survey data from US scientists who co-published articles related to COVID-19 with Chinese scientists. The findings revealed the role of network mechanisms, such as transitivity, opportunity of contact, and homophily, in promoting relationship formation and maintenance. Moreover, they showed the greater role that bonding social capital played in helping scientists access valuable knowledge, skills, and resources to enhance their research potential. Lastly, they demonstrated how particularized trust based on prior interactions and experiences encouraged relationship formation and collaboration between US and Chinese scientists. Together, these results provide new insights in informing future policies and guidelines related to supporting international collaboration and, ultimately, shared pandemic challenges.

van Tienoven, Theun Pieter; Glorieux, Anaïs; Minnen, Joeri; Spruyt, Bram

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01096-8

PhD students come to work in academic environments that are characterized by long working hours and work done on non-standard hours due to increasing job demands and metric evaluation systems. Yet their long working hours and work at non-standard hours are often seen as a logical consequence of their intellectual quest and academic calling and may even serve as a proxy for their research engagement. Against that background, quantitative data from 514 PhD students were used to unravel the complex relationships between different aspects of time use and PhD students’ work engagement. While the results support the academia as a calling thesis to some extent, they also show that the relationships between long and non-standard working hours and research engagement are partly negated by the fact that the same working time characteristics lead to perceived time pressure and lack of time sovereignty, which in turn negatively affects their engagement. Moreover, the mechanism behind this negation varies across scientific disciplines. These subjective working time characteristics are the same alarm signals that are flagged as risk factors in academic staff for occupational stress, burnout, and work-life imbalance and thus cannot be ignored.

Deep, Pankaj; Adarsh, Tanvi

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01102-z

Science and Engineering education are jewels of higher education. In India, among the pioneers of premium technical institutes, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are structurally designed to deliver global knowledge capital with a state-of-the-art curriculum and rigorous standards. Their capability to positively impact the global scale is visible, yet they are internally challenged. The constant interplay of inclusion and exclusion impacts the progress and performance of students. The study specifically examines the role of the social identity of caste in generating accessibility and mobility barriers in IITs. Although the affirmative action policy serves as a gateway for marginalised identities like Dalits, IITs ecosystem preserves the privileges of upper castes. Through IIT Delhi fieldwork, an attempt has been made to check how the gaps in affirmative action policies result in the exclusion of the marginalised in higher education. Educational mobility is restricted for Dalits students who battle against the indifference and caste hegemony of IIT Delhi. The study contests the idea of merit and castelessness in IIT Delhi by contextualising cultural capital with caste discrimination in India. It displays a contrast between the theory and practice of inclusion in higher education. The findings are useful for tracing subtle or indirect forms of discrimination operating in IIT Delhi that contradict the Indian constitution democratic ethos of equality and social justice. The findings will assist public policy and professional institutes of higher education to devise an inclusive strategy beyond government-sponsored affirmative action for sustainable education development.

Postareff, Liisa; Lahdenperä, Juulia; Hailikari, Telle; Parpala, Anna

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01104-x

The exploration of higher education (HE) teachers’ approaches to teaching has mainly been done using quantitative instruments which have been criticised for being too narrow in examining the dimensions of teaching. Higher education approaches to teaching (HEAT) inventory is a recently developed instrument to capture the dimensions of HE teaching more broadly. Moreover, teacher self-efficacy has been shown to be an important element influencing approaches to teaching, but still, the research on it has been scarce. The aims of the study are thus (1) to validate the HEAT inventory and (2) to explore what kind of individual teaching profiles can be identified among higher education teachers and their relation to teachers’ self-efficacy. The results showed that HEAT is a valid instrument to measure various dimensions of approaches to teaching and that several profiles of approaches to teaching can emerge among HE teachers. These profiles also differ in terms of teachers’ self-efficacy.

Guigui, Daniel; Faas, Daniel; Darmody, Merike; Fhlannchadha, Siobhán Nic

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01103-y

Worldwide, HEIs strive to provide the best possible training for their PGRs, the next generation of researchers. PGRs engagement is crucial for a successful completion of their training, however, research on the experiences of PGRs is limited. Moreover, the number of international PGRs has increased steadily over the last decade, which poses the question whether international PGRs have different engagement levels compared to local PGRs. Therefore, thus study is aimed at filling this research gap by investigating the mechanisms that influence the engagement of these groups of students. The paper focuses on the dimensions of (1) students’ engagement with the supervisor, (2) their engagement within the department, and (3) their cognitive engagement, by taking a mixed-method approach that draws on the Irish PGR StudentSurvey.ie 2019 data and 14 semi-structured interviews conducted with PGRs at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 2021. The findings indicate that differences in engagement between Irish and international students are mainly influenced by perceived financial security and familiarity with institutional structures and environments, are mediated by their relationship with the supervisor, and ultimately influence the time available for engagement. Therefore, the findings will be relevant to policymakers and HEIs as they offer insights into how challenges for PGR students can be mitigated through supervisor support to encourage higher levels of engagement.

Huang, Yi-Hsuan Irene

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01106-9

English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is commonly adopted as a strategy for higher education internationalisation. While there are numerous studies on the teaching practices of EMI programmes, the relationship between EMI and structural inequalities has been less investigated, especially in “universal” higher education systems. To address the research gap, this study investigates the EMI practices of two Taiwanese higher education institutions (HEIs) under current government initiatives. Qualitative data from policy documents and semi-structured interviews are analysed with an institutional logics approach and reflexive thematic analysis. The findings suggest that while state, managerial, and academic logics jointly shape EMI strategies in the public university case, EMI practices in the private university of technology case are predominantly driven by market and managerial logics and challenged by academic logic. Furthermore, this study reveals the structural “stuckness” encountered by the private case. In Taiwan’s hierarchical higher education system, the promotion of EMI could result in widening horizontal inequalities among HEIs. More specifically, under the EMI grading certification scheme for students and the tiered award system for HEIs, the majority may be left behind whereas the few with linguistic capital are spotlighted. Therefore, this study concludes that in light of organisational conditions, policymakers should allow greater flexibility for HEIs to develop performance indicators appropriate to their students’ needs.

Shekhar, Prateek; Handley, Jacqueline; Ruiz, Aida Lopez; Bosman, Lisa

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01095-9

Recognizing the socioeconomic importance of STEM-based entrepreneurial initiatives, several entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) have been initiated to foster and incentivize the translational of academic scientific and technological research into commercially offered products. However, STEM-focused entrepreneurship continues to be challenged by diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, with limited research examining women STEM faculty’s perspectives in regard with EEPs. We argue that to develop EEPs that are inclusive to women, one of the foremost needs is to better understand their intentions behind engagement in EEPs. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate women STEM faculty’s intentions to engage in entrepreneurship education programs. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 self-identified women STEM faculty who have (n = 13), and have not participated (n = 19) in EEPs. The participants represented different STEM fields and were situated across multiple institutions in the USA. Five core themes emerged from analyzing the qualitative interviews using first and second cycle coding methods. These themes identify different intentions behind women STEM faculty’s engagement in entrepreneurship programming—translation intent, innovation intent, intent to engage students, personal intent, and entrepreneurial intent. Overall, the findings suggest that the singular “venture-creation” focus in EEPs does not sufficiently capture the varied intentions that inform women STEM faculty’s engagement in EEPs. Implications of the findings in regard with improving inclusivity in entrepreneurship program development and implementation, and entrepreneurship education research are discussed. We call for further research that examines how women STEM faculty navigate academic entrepreneurial pathways that include broader issues within the mainstream entrepreneurial ecosystems. We anticipate that continued research efforts paired with administrative implementations will assist in addressing systemic issues and contribute to the broadening participation of STEM women faculty in EEPs.

Bleiklie, Ivar

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01107-8

The paper deals with the future of Norwegian higher education as part of a Nordic project on higher education futures. To identify future scenarios for Norwegian higher education (HE), the paper uses the theoretical lens of historical institutionalism to focus on scenario building. Like in the other Nordic countries, Norwegian HE and research are characterized by easily accessible and free public HE provision, high participation rates, and a high level of investment in HE and research. However, the question is this: If we look back at the development of Norwegian HE the last decades, to what extent can we expect present developments to persist and to what extent can we expect more or less sharp breaks and deviations from past and present developments? Departing from an institutionalist position, two historically grounded visions and related scenarios are identified: an academic excellence scenario and a national service scenario. The scenarios reflect tensions between different visions of the shape, emphasis, and orientation of HE and research. The empirical focus is on the developments of HE along five dimensions: growth, systemic integration, academic drift, labor market relevance, and governance. First, the conceptual approach is presented, outlining the use of scenarios and an institutionalist approach to thinking about the future of HE. Secondly, the paper outlines the five trends regarding past and ongoing developments. Third, some ideas about future developments are outlined, before the conclusion is drawn.

Martín, Pedro; León Pérez, Isabel

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01112-x

Academic genres are not static, but they may change according to the values and demands of the particular discourse communities that shape them. This paper explores the research article (RA) abstract, a relevant informative and promotional genre that exhibits the prevalent rhetorical practices of a specific disciplinary community. From a diachronic perspective, our purpose is to examine how these practices have evolved over time. To this end, using a genre-based approach, we have analysed the rhetorical moves and steps of 180 RA abstracts published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, over a period of nine decades (1940–2022). The findings revealed that the abstracts have increasingly become more promotional in terms of the persuasive rhetorical strategies that the authors use to enhance the contribution of their research. This is seen in the fact that the texts of more recent decades present a growing number of promotional communicative functions, mainly the moves/steps that claim the importance of the research topic and state the implications or significance of research. This study can have pedagogical implications for English for research publication purposes (ERPP) practitioners and early career researchers who seek to publish in international medical journals.

Bernal, Gloria L.; Abadía, Luz K.; Álvarez-Arango, Luis E.; De Witte, Kristof

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01094-w

Low-income students’ preferences for higher education might depend on the uncertainty of financial aid. Using a time discontinuity design, this paper exploits the unanticipated cancellation of a nationwide Colombian merit and need-based scholarship, called Ser Pilo Paga, to study its consequences on students’ preferences for higher education. Preferences are measured using a discrete choice experiment administrated to 949 low-income high school students in 2018. The findings reveal that the scholarship’s cancellation reduced higher education ambitions among low-income students due to the decreased interest in both financial aid and high-quality universities. The effects were particularly concentrated on income-eligible individuals who were more likely to obtain the scholarship, as their choices for financial aid and high-quality institutions declined by 15 to 50% of the baseline preference.

Bui, Hong T. M.; Shoaib, Shandana; Tran, Ly Thi; Vu, Viet Ha Tran; Baruch, Yehuda

2023 Higher Education

doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01105-w

How do universities encourage academics to buy into a shared vision while often setting punitive targets in teaching and research? This article explores possible antecedents of a university’s shared vision and its relationships with academics’ research and teaching performance in the era of managerialism. This cross-country study of two large universities in the UK and Vietnam draws on data from multiple sources to uncover the key components of a university’s shared vision. A survey strategy was adopted. Data were collected from different sources, using a stratified random sampling technique from academics of different schools at those universities. A total of 431 survey responses from academics at these universities were included for analysis, employing structure equation modelling. It provides fresh insights into whether having a shared vision can benefit academics’ research and teaching performance. The findings of this study show that while achieving a high degree of shared vision may enhance research performance, it may do little to improve teaching performance. The study provides empirical evidence indicating that a shared vision emerges as strongly rooted within individual employees rather than managers, challenging the common belief that a shared vision emanates primarily from the top down. This article advances social exchange theory (SET) by showing the interdependence of workplace antecedents, personal attributes, interpersonal connections, and performance. It introduces a framework for the relationship between universities’ shared vision with its possible antecedents and with academics’ teaching performance and research performance. The article also discusses useful implications for higher education leaders, based on the findings of the study.