Retired

This case study examined which outcomes stakeholders desire for Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) degree graduates at Swinburne University of Technology (SUT) in Australia and whether they find these outcomes among graduates. The four stakeholder groups were current BIT undergraduates, BIT graduates, academic staff of SUT involved with the BIT Program, and employers of BIT graduates. Of 351 questionnaires mailed out, 167 were returned. Among the findings were the following: (1) all stakeholders rated team skills, listening skills, and proficiency in solving workplace problems as highly important; (2) all stakeholders also agreed that preparation for further postgraduate study, specialist training, and understanding of mathematical disciplines were low priorities; (3) BIT students rated writing ability significantly lower than academic staff or employers did; (4) academic staff rated student accomplishment in logical thinking, listening skills, self-discipline, and independence lower than students rated themselves in these skills; (5) in most instances employers rated graduate accomplishment higher than academic staff did. Includes four tables and four figures which detail study findings. (JB)

The characteristics and attitudes of students and their reasons for enrolling were studied at a new institute of technology being established in Malaysia. The Swinburne University of Australia, in cooperation with Yayasan Sarawak, has established the Swinburne Sarawak Institute of Technology to provide industry training and trade/skills development programs and opportunities for Association Degree studies and certificate and diploma studies in Engineering and Business. A draft questionnaire was developed based on market research techniques. Questions were framed to relate to student experience while addressing the key issues targeted by the questionnaire. Responses were received from 81 students. Of these, only 15% spoke English at home, although the standard of spoken English in Sarawak is higher than that of the rest of Malaysia. Slightly more than half (53.1%) of the respondents indicated that the institution was their first choice for higher education, and 30.9% indicated that it was a second choice. Students ranked institutional factors in terms of their importance for the decision to enroll. The higher ranked factors included library facilities, availability of computed facilities, career training, international qualifications they could earn, the reputation of the faculty, and the programs offered. Factors of least importance in the enrollment decision were also identified. (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

The emerging importance of teaching quality assurance as an issue within Australia became noticeable during the latter part of 1991. Work has been going on prior to this but much of this was due to the initiatives of individuals and institutions rather than a more global involvement. Certainly the publication of the Higher Education Council’s Higher Education. Achieving Quality helped to push teaching quality assurance to the forefront. Since then other reports such as the one by Piper have helped to give the issue more prominence. The Federal Government’s funding initiative has certainly ensured that all institutions in the higher education sector should be giving high priority to quality assurance related activities within their organisation.

This case study examined which outcomes stakeholders desire for Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) degree graduates at Swinburne University of Technology (SUT) in Australia and whether they find these outcomes among graduates. The four stakeholder groups were current BIT undergraduates, BIT graduates, academic staff of SUT involved with the BIT Program, and employers of BIT graduates. Of 351 questionnaires mailed out, 167 were returned. Among the findings were the following: (1) all stakeholders rated team skills, listening skills, and proficiency in solving workplace problems as highly important; (2) all stakeholders also agreed that preparation for further postgraduate study, specialist training, and understanding of mathematical disciplines were low priorities; (3) BIT students rated writing ability significantly lower than academic staff or employers did; (4) academic staff rated student accomplishment in logical thinking, listening skills, self-discipline, and independence lower than students rated themselves in these skills; (5) in most instances employers rated graduate accomplishment higher than academic staff did. Includes four tables and four figures which detail study findings. (JB)

The impetus for the greater focus on generic skills development in tertiary education internationally has its roots in documents such as the Dearing Committee Report published in the UK in 1997. What are generic skills? Which ones are important to students, academic staff and potential employers? This study considers such issues from the perspective of various stakeholders of a Malaysian tertiary institution. Areas of convergence and divergence of stakeholder viewpoints are considered. Academic policy implications of the findings of the study are considered in the context of a South East Asian country.

The current government’s concern in the quality of tertiary education was triggered by public disquiet towards the deteriorating state of Australian tertiary education (Lindsay, 1992). This public perception of the tertiary education environment can be attributed to several factors. These include the trend towards mass tertiary education, a dramatic increase in demand for tertiary places as a consequence of high retention rate of year 12 students, economic rationalism, and the demand for public accountability in tertiary education as the national coffer goes deeper into the red. As a consequence, there is public demand for efficiency and effectiveness in the tertiary education sector. Student outcomes assessment is one of the processes that has been recently identified as being more relevant in indicating an institution’s performance and accountability.

The Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs has recently commissioned KPMG Consulting Proprietary Limited to undertake a review of costs of teaching and research training in Higher Education. In 1998, DETYA commissioned a study by Ernst & Young to develop costing methodology that advocated the use of Activity Based Costing. Accordingly the costing of Australian Higher Education has become a national issue. This study applies principles of Activity Based Costing to the discipline of Social and Behavioural Sciences undertaken as part of a pilot study within an Australian university. It presents analysis of cost data using three cost objects including Teaching and Learning, Research and Professional and Community Service. It concludes by proposing future enhancements to the methodology as well as considering possible future implications of the findings of the study.

The characteristics and attitudes of students and their reasons for enrolling were studied at a new institute of technology being established in Malaysia. The Swinburne University of Australia, in cooperation with Yayasan Sarawak, has established the Swinburne Sarawak Institute of Technology to provide industry training and trade/skills development programs and opportunities for Association Degree studies and certificate and diploma studies in Engineering and Business. A draft questionnaire was developed based on market research techniques. Questions were framed to relate to student experience while addressing the key issues targeted by the questionnaire. Responses were received from 81 students. Of these, only 15% spoke English at home, although the standard of spoken English in Sarawak is higher than that of the rest of Malaysia. Slightly more than half (53.1%) of the respondents indicated that the institution was their first choice for higher education, and 30.9% indicated that i...

In line with the national policy requirement to enhance quality assurance in higher education, Swinburne University of Technology (SUT) has, since 1992, funded several research projects which addressed quality issues. This paper is the outcome of one of those projects. The paper has two purposes. The first is to report a pilot network of exploring what outcomes the stakeholders of higher education regard as important for students to achieve as a result of their study at, and involvement in the activities of, the universities. The second is to look briefly at the data emanating from the pilot study to get a sense of the kinds of perspective’s which such an approach might yield in a properly focused, full-scale study.

Precis: It has been suggested by politicians, journalists and researchers that, as a result of the prolonged civil conflict in Northern Ireland, societal norms and values may have been seriously eroded and that the future may be bleak for Northern Irish society, whatever happens politically. This hypothesis is tested using levels of indictable crime as an index of such social disintegration. Comparisons of, and predictions from, levels of indictable crime in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England and Wales are made. Similar analyses are conducted on the cities of Belfast and Dublin. No evidence emerges to support the hypothesis.

... Discusses the importance of motivating factors, predisposing individual characteristics, and proximate situational determinants in the initiation and maintenance of the campaign of violence by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), as proposed by the author in his earlier ...

Acknowledgements My thanks are due to the Home Office for their financial support and to the many members of the Prison Service without v/hose assistance this study could not have been completed. I am deeply grateful to my wife, Sue, for her fortitude and understanding during my prolonged absences from home and for her generosity in undertaking to type a considerable portion of the manuscript whilst discharging her many other responsibilities as competently and cheerfully as ever. I am also indebted to Mary Boylan who completed the typing most efficiently. I would especially like to thank my supervisor, Neil Bolton, for his unstinting encouragement and lucid advice. Finally, I wish to thank all those men who volunteered to participate in this research and without whose trust and cooperation this study could not have been undertake;!.