Associate Professor Andrew Harvey
Associate Professor Andrew Harvey, Director, Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research, La Trobe University
Associate Professor Andrew Harvey is Director of the Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research (CHEEDR) at La Trobe University. Andrew has published widely in areas of higher education policy, including issues of access, retention, regionality, comparative international admissions frameworks, employability, and the experience of foster care students. In 2016 he led a national report on student equity and employability in higher education funded by the Department of Education and Training. Andrew recently co-edited a scholarly book on student equity, Student Equity in Australian Higher Education: Twenty-five years of A Fair Chance for All (Springer, 2016).
Abstract: Equity at the end of the student life cycle: strategies for success, completions and graduate outcomes
Universities are increasingly accountable for student outcomes. Quality Indicators of Teaching and Learning include graduate outcome data designed to drive enrolment decisions of prospective students. Performance-based funding has been introduced within the Indigenous Student Support Program, requiring universities to focus on success rates and student completions. The Australian Government is proposing to expand this model to mainstream funding, rewarding universities that record high completion rates and strong graduate outcomes.
There is a rising focus on the far end of the student lifecycle – completion, graduate employment, and postgraduate transitions. For universities, new trends and policies raise new institutional questions. How can attrition be prevented, and how can students labelled as ‘drop-outs’ be re-engaged and re-recruited? How might employability strategies support all students, including those who lack time, connections, or money to undertake work-integrated learning or extra-curricular activities? Which groups are at risk of poor outcomes, and what tailored strategies are required to support their employability and postgraduate prospects?
The presentation will address these questions with reference to recently conducted research around retention, performance-based funding, employability, and postgraduate equity.
Professor Linda Crane
Professor Linda Crane is Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine and Deputy Chair, Academic Senate at Bond University
Professor Linda Crane has extensive experience in leading learning and teaching, having eight years’ experience as an Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) in health professional education faculties across two universities including establishing the role in her previous institution.
Linda has also established an active research profile in learning and teaching having led National Strategic Priority Projects funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching in the areas of graduate employability and student experience. Recent research higher degree students have focussed on staff development and curriculum development issues reflecting Linda’s other major interests.
Wrap-up session
Professor Linda Crane will lead discussion of perspectives on the earlier sessions. Particular focus will be on themes that are common across sessions – with an emphasis on their relationships to student transitions and employability.
At the end of the session participants will be able to recognise issues relevant to transition and employability in their context and think about effective strategies to improve student experience in both domains.