Niaz Ahmed Bhutto, Minahil Khaliq, Niaz Hussain Ghumro, Ume Salma Akbar
{"title":"Investigating the Impact of Determinants Influencing Students' Readiness for Digital Transformation in Academic Institutions in Pakistan","authors":"Niaz Ahmed Bhutto, Minahil Khaliq, Niaz Hussain Ghumro, Ume Salma Akbar","doi":"10.1111/hequ.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>It is crucial to assess the digital transformation readiness of students in order to develop knowledgeable, capable and qualified alumnus who can enhance the qualified personnel within a country. This study will help HEIs in examining whether their students have the skills they need to survive in the 4IR era. Data have been collected from Higher Educational institutions (HEIs) which were listed in QS-Ranking list. Purposive sampling technique was employed for sample selection and the respondents were students. For analysis, Smart-PLS4 and SPSS-24 were used. According to the findings of structural equation modelling, students' traits, technological understanding of the 4IR and organisational aspects have a big impact on how well-prepared they are for the 4IR. Additionally, organisational aspects also have influence on students' readiness. Additionally, the organisational dimensions also have impact on students' understanding of 4IR technology. Additionally, students' understanding of 4IR technology and organisational dimension has a big impact on their qualities connected to 4IR. Higher education institutions can help students do well in a digital learning setting by creating support services that are tailored to their needs and concerns. These services could include workshops on digital literacy or one-on-one coaching. Further, the study adds to our understanding of what affects student readiness by pointing out the specific problems students face and the things that help them deal with them. The results can be used to help create lessons that better incorporate digital tools and skills, making sure that students have the skills they need for an educational world that has become more digital. The study's conclusion has policy implications for HEIs, highlighting the necessity of institutional policies that support digital transformation. By giving faculty members the chance to grow professionally and by giving them opportunity to learn about and practise new pedagogical approaches and emerging technologies, HEIs could encourage faculty members to conduct research and innovation in their learning as well as pedagogical methods. This provides us with fresh perspectives on the strategic importance of students' readiness in encouraging HEIs to promote digital transformation. HEIs can encourage creativity and business, and working together across disciplines and organisational aspects like academic programmes, training, technical infrastructure and others is essential for putting students on the path to a better future through this study.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143115780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lions, Game Players and Niche Providers: Universities' Positioning in Funding Competitions in Germany","authors":"Georg Krücken, Nicolai Götze, Tim Seidenschnur","doi":"10.1111/hequ.70005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This research addresses two important developments in the academic field: First, universities are transforming into organisational actors, gaining more responsibilities and capacities for strategic action, and second, competition has reached a new level. An important driver of competition and universities' development towards strategic actorhood is funding contests in which actors compete with proposals over a limited timeframe with clear evaluation criteria. In Germany, funding contests are central to the crystallisation of a broader competitive positioning and universities develop different strategic approaches in relation to them. We focus on two large-scale funding contests to analyse universities' heterogeneous positioning strategies: The German Excellence Initiative (EI) and the Quality Pact for Teaching (QPL). We empirically develop three ideal types of universities in terms of strategic positioning (lions, niche providers and game players) and examine different strategic approaches taken by universities when relating to internal and external reference groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/hequ.70005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143115032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Challenges and Strategies for Academic Diaspora Engagement in the Internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions: Empirical Evidence From a Low- and Medium-Income Country","authors":"Mohammad Moshtari, Maryam Ghorbani","doi":"10.1111/hequ.70004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70004","url":null,"abstract":"<p>While the academic diaspora can serve as a facilitator of internationalisation for higher education institutions (HEIs) in low- and medium-income countries, anecdotal evidence on the engagement of the academic diaspora indicates that it is temporary, superficial and of little impact on the quality of research and educational programmes; it has mainly benefited HEIs by raising their visibility and university rankings, thus exploiting the diaspora rather in home countries than vigorously engaging them in academic activities and capacity building efforts. The present study builds on the boundary-spanning perspective to elaborate on the potential functions of academic diaspora as enhancers of HEIs' capabilities by enabling genuine partnerships between HEIs in developing and developed countries. Furthermore, using an explorative qualitative approach, the paper provides insights into the factors involved in the low-quality engagement of academic diaspora at the national, institutional and individual levels. Finally, several implications for HEIs' managers and policymakers are laid out to improve the quality and impact of academic diaspora engagement.</p>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/hequ.70004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143114785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Higher Education and Disability: A Systematic Literature Review and Agenda for Research","authors":"Jyotesna Maurya, Niharika Swaroop, Priya Sadar, Debananda Misra","doi":"10.1111/hequ.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This systematic literature review provides a synthesis of what issues within disability have been researched, how universities respond to the issues to be inclusive to disabled students and the role of higher education environment and policy, in doing so. The review is motivated by the emphasis on inclusive and equitable quality education and reduced inequalities in sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the increasing attention on universities' role in promoting social change, justice and mobility for marginalised groups. Based on multistep methodology that included preliminary search, database selection and keyword-based article retrieval, we conducted a descriptive thematic analysis of 204 research articles on disability in higher education. Our study advances existing literature reviews on the same topic by covering a much larger number of articles, including a broader set of disabilities than physical disability, uncovering a range of themes beyond students' experiences and including policy and managerial aspects corresponding to disability in higher education. We recommend future research areas that can fill the gaps in and advance existing research on disability in higher education.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143114411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Crises for Private Higher Education in Taiwan? A Conjunctural Analysis","authors":"Sheng-Ju Chan","doi":"10.1111/hequ.12586","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12586","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Private higher education (PHE) in Taiwan, similar to other East Asian systems, is a distinct sector that has played several significant roles. It experienced growth and prosperity during the massification of the entire higher education system. However, a multitude of emerging circumstances has ushered in dramatic changes and crises, impacting not only PHE but also the entire sector as a whole. These ongoing developments have the potential to fundamentally reshape the current components and structures of Taiwanese higher education. Therefore, we have adopted conjunctural analysis as a methodological approach to examine these forces and their effects on the evolving role of the private sector in the context of higher education system reconfigurations in Taiwan. Our findings reveal that PHE has faced a series of crises, encompassing demographic shifts, financial challenges, and legal complexities. The pursuit of greater “publicness” and the implementation of intervention measures through policy enactment and legal regulations have shifted the entire system toward a more “publicized” configuration. This new direction marks the onset of a new era in Taiwanese higher education.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143111998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alice Civera, Erik Lehmann, Michele Meoli, Stefano Paleari, Maria Sole Brioschi
{"title":"How to Protect the Taste for Science? Working Conditions in European Higher Education Systems","authors":"Alice Civera, Erik Lehmann, Michele Meoli, Stefano Paleari, Maria Sole Brioschi","doi":"10.1111/hequ.12591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12591","url":null,"abstract":"<p>When a pronounced taste for science leads researchers to self-select themselves in academia, higher education systems must be able to protect it. By relying on the economic theory of higher education, the international mobility and the sociology of science literature, we compare the working condition in the four major European higher education systems: the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy. Remuneration level especially its variable component is of paramount importance for all researchers. Job security in terms of tenure-track positions and habilitation process as well as the career length are relevant for early-career scholars, whereas the institutional prestige and the funding availability together with the disciplinary-centre approach as well as the language biases are significant conditions for international researchers specifically. According to the target, policymakers should rely on specific leverages to increase a country competitiveness.</p>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/hequ.12591","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143112033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Contextual Admissions: Normative Considerations","authors":"Joanne Moore, Anna Mountford-Zimdars","doi":"10.1111/hequ.12579","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12579","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Access to higher education is often competitive, and much attention has been placed on the question of admission decision-making in such high stakes situations. We identify various approaches to distributive justice and consider these under the framework developed by Pike distinguishes between ‘egalitaria’ (everyone gets the same); ‘necessitia’ (people get what they need); ‘desertia’ (people get what they deserve); and ‘marketia’ (the market decides what people get). Considering applicants in context is one approach to deciding admissions designed to enhance fairness and support social justice. This approach is practiced in a range of countries including the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan and operates under names such as Contextual Admissions (CA), Holistic Assessment (HA) or Holistic Review (HR). This thought piece considers the philosophical/normative and practical reasoning approaches that underpin CA. We use the case of English higher education to illustrate the political and philosophical debates, to highlight practical challenges and potential limitations and to identify further considerations for realising the benefits of contextualising university applicants.</p>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/hequ.12579","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143120658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluating the Impact of Contextual Offers in a Highly Selective Institution: Results From a Mixed-Methods Contribution Analysis","authors":"Jonathan T. Schulte, Jessica Benson-Egglenton","doi":"10.1111/hequ.12580","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12580","url":null,"abstract":"<p>English university admissions increasingly make use of contextual offers, where applicants with certain socio-demographic characteristics can be offered marginally lower entry conditions. This paper presents novel insights on the impact of contextual offer policy on one institutions' patterns of enrolment in 2022/23 via a mixed methods contribution analysis. We present evidence that the policy contributed to widening access for targeted students despite the institutions' small and highly selective intake. This effect appears to be driven by increasing applicants' likelihood of accepting an offer and allowing a small number of students to enrol despite narrowly missing standard offer criteria. While contextual offer policies thus appear to be an effective tool for improving targeted students' enrolment at an institution, further research is needed to understand the impact of contextual offers on student outcomes and experiences.</p>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/hequ.12580","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143119686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Olivier Guyottot, Alexandra Couston, Sebastien Tran
{"title":"The Impact of Coopetition on Student Recruitment in Higher Education: A Study of French Business Schools' Admission Strategy","authors":"Olivier Guyottot, Alexandra Couston, Sebastien Tran","doi":"10.1111/hequ.12587","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12587","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Student recruitment is essential for higher education institutions. There are various strategies to consider when organising student admissions and meeting recruitment objectives. Coopetition, which can be defined as cooperating with competitors, is one of them. Our qualitative study examines the elements at stake for French business schools that adopt a coopetitive admission strategy and the effect of coopetition on student recruitment. Our research indicates that coopetition has a positive influence on the number of applications received and leads to the standardisation of applicant profiles. Additionally, it reveals a significant disparity in recruitment performance between leading and non-leading schools. By applying a coopetition lens to HE admission, our work underlines how positional competition, reputation, legitimacy and soft power logic can explain why some French business schools keep on favouring coopetition for their admission despite its contrasted impact. It demonstrates that coopetition can have a negative influence on student diversity when admission is based on a selective model that depends on traditional meritocratic equality of opportunities. Finally, our study shows that coopetitive admission strategies reinforce the dominance of leading institutions by increasing the number of applications, thus improving their selectivity and helping them preserve their leadership.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143117834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Concept of Academic Quality","authors":"Leon Culbertson, Chris Lawton, Ian Robinson","doi":"10.1111/hequ.12589","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12589","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The paper outlines the history of the different uses of ‘quality’ in higher education. Emphasis is given to the United Kingdom, but consideration is also given to a range of international contexts. Three different uses of ‘academic quality’ are identified (the state-driven, sector-derived, and the traditional academic uses) and their relationship to fundamentally different priorities, values, criteria, purposes and practices is established. The notion of a concept as it applies in the paper is then explained before four alternatives to the thought that there is more than one concept of academic quality are evaluated and ultimately rejected. It is argued that those different uses of ‘academic quality’ are not minor changes in emphasis, but fundamentally different uses of the words rooted in different concepts of academic quality with different implications for measurement and/or evaluation. The identification of those three concepts of academic quality is then put to use in critically analysing the current situation in relation to quality in higher education, involving discussion of the implications of the operation of different concepts of academic quality and reflection on how we might revise our approach to thinking about academic quality as a result.</p>","PeriodicalId":51607,"journal":{"name":"HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/hequ.12589","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143118314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}