By Ian Dobson. This study explored the topic of university student activism. The main research question posed was: what are some of the elements that enable or constrain students’ activism? The Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice states that while activism is not well defined, it ‘is action on behalf of a cause, action that goes beyond what is conventional or routine’ (Martin, 2007, p. 19). More...

By Ian Dobson. For at least the last quarter century, policies designed to widen access to and participation in higher education have been largely predicated on notions of proportional representation or ‘changing the balance of the student population to reflect more closely the composition of society as a whole’ (Department of Employment Education and Training, 1990, p. 2). More...

By Ian Dobson. Flexibility is a key word in the contemporary higher education system in Australia. Flexible and diverse entry and exit points, as well as flexible forms of recognising learning, open up the possibility of attaining a university degree for students ‘…hitherto largely excluded from university attendance’ (Birrell & Edwards, 2009, p. 8). More...

By Ian Dobson. The first issue of Australian Universities' Review for 2017 (vol. 59, no. 1) is now available online. Members who have opted-in will received their paper copy in the post in the coming fortnight. More...

By Ian Dobson. The Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme-Tertiary Tuition (ITAS-TT) has provided Australian government funding for one-to-one and group tutorial study support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students attending Australian universities since 1989. It has been a central plank supporting Indigenous university students in their studies. More...

By Ian Dobson. A report into the humanities, arts and social sciences in Australia stated: ‘In an era when collaboration is encouraged by institutions and by funding mechanisms, the pattern of collaboration is becoming an important consideration’ (Turner & Brass, 2014, p. 69). This paper seeks to explore aspects of collaboration in specific humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) fields in order to identify the extent of collaboration, the countries Australian HASS authors are collaborating with, and to test whether collaboration is associated with higher impact as reflected in citations. More...

By Ian Dobson. Michael Calver's recent exhortation 'Please don't aim for a highly cited paper' (AUR, 57(1): pp. 45-49) is welcome and a timely reminder of the problems associated with seeking citations at any cost. While not disagreeing with the concerns he raises we offer another way of looking at citation-seeking; thereby outlining a reconsideration of its purpose. We suggest that citations indirectly help to shape the terrain of a discipline. More...

By Ian Dobson. Some years ago, Pierre Bourdieu (2003, p. 21) reflected that academia, was a failing ‘edifice of critical thought’ and ‘in need of reconstruction’. He saw a global hegemony of neoliberal ideas emerging largely unscathed by critique from these increasingly isolated enclaves. More...