Dr Ann Luzeckyj

1. Centre for Research in EDucation Supporting higher degree by research studentsso they are not ‘wastage’ but are ‘work-ready’:Considerations of higher education policy in practice Dr Ann Luzeckyj

2. Format of session • Introduction to discourses and ideas • How these discourses and ideas were identified • Policy documents • Online resources • Interview texts • Discussion of potential outcomes of policy implementation related to Bradley Review

3. Research context (& working definitions) Analytical tools: Normalisation, Discourse Context: Neoliberalism, knowledge economy Policy: Higher Education at the Crossroads Review  Backing Australia’s Future policy In practice (new discourses develop): Support for Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students legislated and regulated • Work-ready graduates, Wastage

4. Linking HE to KE The Higher Education Support Act (HESA) 2003 Object 2-1(c) signals the importance of higher education to the knowledge economy. It states, [t]he objects of the Act are... to strengthen Australia’s knowledge base, and enhance the contribution of Australia’s research capabilities to national economic development, international competitiveness and the attainment of social goals. (p. 3)

5. Support for HDR students • Legislated and regulated • Changes to HESA in 2003 incorporate Kemp’s recommendation to change the way universities are funded in relation to research students and place time limits on candidature • RTS Block grants: Performance based funding for HDR candidates is introduced • ‘enhance the quality of research training provision in Australia’ and ‘improve the efficiency and effectiveness of research training’ (HESA 2003)

6. Work-ready graduates • Generic capabilities / skills: Graduatequalities/ attributes • HECS debts • Meeting the needs of the knowledge economy

7. Reducing ‘wastage’ [o]nly 36.1 percent of doctoral and 18 percent of masters students are estimated to have completed the same, higher or equivalent courses within 4 years of full-time equivalent study and 2 years of full-time equivalent study respectively. (Martin, Maclachlan, & Karmel, 2001, p. 2) many postgraduate students take considerably longer than the minimum necessary time to complete their studies. The average time taken to completion is over four years in the case of a research masters degree and nearly six years in the case of a PhD. (Kemp 1999p. 32)

8. Changes within universities • 1999 Research Training Scheme saw the emergence of centralised units often called ‘Graduate Schools’ or ‘Graduate Studies Offices’ • To support HDR students’ timely completions & work preparedness

9. e-GSA: ATN online support • InfoSCHOLAR • LEAP • MORE • Maximising your career – career advise and support • Teaching @ University – for those who acquire part-time work as university tutors or teachers to develop skills in teaching at university • Support for supervisors – was linked to Supervisor Solutions – a national project

10. LEAP • 2001 the ATN DDoGS developed Learning Employment Aptitudes Program (LEAP) Five online modules, marketed as developing ‘Employability Skills’ • Project Management, • Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Communication, • Research Commercialisation, • Public Policy, and • Global Sustainability (which was added after 2003).

11. MORE • Modules on Research Education (MORE) focused on ‘research methodology and design skills’ helping universities support the requirements of the RTS by providing a research training environment to HDR students - accelerating completion rates. Topics are: • Ethics • Risk Management • Critical writing • Critical and creative thinking • Practice-led research in Creative Arts, Media and Design

12. e-GSA: ATN online support InfoSCHOLAR LEAP MORE Maximising your career – career advise and support Teaching @ University – for those who acquire part-time work as university tutors or teachers to develop skills in teaching at university Support for supervisors – was linked to Supervisor Solutions – a national project

13. InfoScholar • information literacy for e-research supports postgraduate students and staff as they develop advanced information literacy skills • modules were designed to support students in each phase of the research process including: • searching for literature to develop the research question; • searching for literature to write the literature review; • development of bibliographic management skills; • identifying places to publish; • etc

14. Interviews • Focus on Australian Technology Network (ATN) universities (Curtin, QUT, RMIT, UTS, UniSA) • 17 interviews with a Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic (PVC-A), 2 Deans & Directors of Graduate Studies (DDoGS); a Project Manager from the ATN and 5 Library Directors and 8 librarians who specifically worked with HDR students

15. Wastage • the government’s intention to reduce so called wastage, ...Minister Nelson brought in the RTS which focused on timely completions because there was attrition of fifty percent across the sector. • being driven partly by the funding imperative and the need for timely completions and the need to reduce wastage and attrition. • I think some of the management processes around higher education have come ... with the commercialisation ... such as really tracking how the PhD students are going for example, all that kind of stuff and I think probably that’s better than what used to happen, because people are expected, you know they are expected to perform. • ‘maybe people just puddled along and no one took much interest’ • [t]he emphasis on completions for higher degree research students means providing programs to support them which we were doing long before but have become, now, a much stronger part of the university strategy. That to some extent has helped us because it has meant that the university takes seriously some of the things we have been talking about for years, that they weren’t so interested in.

16. Production of work-ready graduates • …[the ATN] do share the vision about this... is to do with ultimately the employability of our research graduates, it’s about the ATN research training brand … and saying that doing a PhD at one of the ATN universities does involve connecting with this set of activities and resources and developing this set of capabilities and we’re seeking I suppose to define an ATN research training experience as we bring the e-Grad school into being. • [w]e’re honing up the skills that some of them [the students] bring in and giving them certification to indicate that they have those, rather than just claiming them. And then of course for the ones that don’t have work experience we’re also inducting them into what’s needed.

17. Changes to staff work • offer a range of support programs for research degree candidates... you’ll find that every other university has equivalent workshops and support strategies. • every single staff member and student expects everything to be on their, at their fingertips immediately. Uh, this puts a lot of pressure on the library, um, and how we serve them, and their expectations are quite high in some aspects. • [a]nd the value of it I think is that it pulls together not only library things, you know, presentation skills and how to do a poster and... all these other, the writing skills, things by the learning support network and things like that. So all of those things that postgraduate students are likely to need are all in one spot.

18. [i]n the early ‘90s the professional staff saw it fundamentally as the be all and end all of their existence to go to the reference desk and interact with the students. That seemed to be their raison d'être, it was a really big deal for them  that was the focus of their working life and I guess the other flip of that was a bit of collection development and then sort of a bit of user ed at the beginning of the year and if they were lucky they got invited back some time during the semester… In the late ‘90s when all the online learning stuff came, the whole notion of the role of the Library in supporting teaching and learning became a huge issue and now you would see at [this institution] there was all that stuff about information literacy that emerged at that time… I guess the whole, all the electronic resources were starting to really ramp up at that time, so our capacity to develop home pages that provided links to a huge array of information about Library policy and procedure, plus links to resources, all those things came together – and now I look back now and think our librarians hate going to the desk, they see that as an intrusion on their day, they have got way too many other important things to do…. I think that is a really interesting thing to reflect on in terms of how the focus of their role has changed so much in the space of maybe ten years.

19. The interview data reflects how neo-liberal, knowledge economy and related discourses that influence the interviewees’ work are normalised and become part of the their language and daily discussions. The interviews also reflected the way that these discourses are played out and have become embedded within the daily routines and functions of the interviewees (so that no other ways of working or thinking about work is possible). What was evident

20. FUNDING TO SUPPORT LOW SES PARTICIPATION TARGETS • In order to achieve greater national productivity as well as encourage social cohesion, Australia must break down the barriers that have led to an ongoing underrepresentation in higher education of students from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds (fromhttp://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Documents/PDF/Pages%20from%20A09-303%20Budget%20Fact%20Sheets-2_webaw.pdf). • HIGHER EDUCATION PERFORMANCE FUNDING • From 2012, the Government will introduce at-risk performance funding for universities (fromhttp://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Documents/PDF/Pages%20from%20A09-303%20Budget%20Fact%20Sheets-10_webaw.pdf). • STUDENT CENTRED FUNDING SYSTEM • The new system will result in reduced red tape for universities and less Government interference and will encourage competition in the sector to attract students (fromhttp://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Documents/PDF/Pages%20from%20A09-303%20Budget%20Fact%20Sheets-3_webaw.pdf). • MISSION-BASED COMPACTS FOR UNIVERSITIES • The Ministers for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Innovation, Industry, Science and Research will work together in consultation with universities to develop mission-based compacts that define an institution’s particular mission and describe how it will fulfil that mission and meet the Australian Government’s policy objectives (fromhttp://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Documents/PDF/Pages%20from%20A09-303%20Budget%20Fact%20Sheets-13_webaw.pdf).