Policy and Management in Higher Education

Research themes

This research program aims to develop a range of historical reflections, contemporary analyses, critical studies and forward-looking perspectives on:

• Higher and tertiary education policy and policy-making in Australia and beyond, including access, funding, marketisation and the political economy of HE.
• The history of higher education and universities in Australia, especially at critical points in the development of the sector and the nation, including the history of the University of Melbourne.
• Higher and tertiary education system governance, including government-institution relations, federal and state policy, legislation and the role of intermediary bodies in higher and tertiary education.
• Institutional governance, leadership and management in higher and tertiary education, including an understanding of the organisational cultures of higher education institutions and the influence of institutional rankings.
• How universities and their staff and students engage with external partners and collaborators, how knowledge is transmitted, exchanged and co-created and how this activity can be evaluated and measured.
• The role of tertiary education and research in regional innovation and the development of regional knowledge and capabilities.
• The changing higher education workforce, including academic and professional roles, careers and working conditions, shifting staffing patterns, the role and nature of doctoral education and the particular needs of early career and casual academics.

Research team

• Professor Chris Ziguras, Higher Education
• Associate Professor Gwilym Croucher, Higher Education Policy and Management
• Dr Ross Jones, Senior Research Fellow, Lead Project Editor, Indigenous History Project
• Dr James Waghorne, History of the University Unit