The Student Experience in Higher Education

Research themes

This research stream explores students’ experiences of contemporary higher education and the factors that affect the quality of their experiences and educational outcomes. Projects in this research stream adopt mixed-method approaches to examine questions about:

Students’ transition into higher education and their First Year Experience
The inclusion and engagement of students from under-represented groups
The experiences and outcomes of students from diverse cultural backgrounds
Student wellbeing and university experiences
Student engagement and connection in university life
The experiences of graduate researchers

Research group

Professor Chi Baik, Professor in Higher Education
Dr Tracii Ryan, Lecturer in Higher Education
Professor Raoul Mulder, Professor in Evolutionary Ecology and Higher Education
Associate Professor Grace Thompson, FFAM and Senior Academic Fellow CSHE
Dr Christopher Duffy, School of Mathematics and Statistics and Senior Academic Fellow CSHE
Associate Professor Wendy Larcombe, Honorary Principal Fellow
Dr James Waghorne, History of the University Unit
Dr Samantha Marangell, Lecturer
Dr Claudia Andrea Rivera Munoz, Research Fellow
Michelle Walter, Teaching specialist, Faculty of Education
Dr Dina Uzhegova, Program Coordinator
Boya Zhao, Graduate Researcher
Yan Zhang, Graduate Researcher
Jiadi Cai, Graduate Researcher
Ben Symon, Graduate Researcher
Mariyam Nazviya, Graduate Researcher
Lanwen Zhang, Visiting Graduate Researcher, Tsinghua University

Research projects

Projects
Student Wellbeing and Academic Experiences in Australian Universities
Student wellbeing and university experiences
Student and alumni experiences with the Ask Alumni mentoring program
A history of The Melbourne University Union
Pathways to success in international education
Elevating students’ diverse voices to improve the student experience in an uncertain future
Exploring students’ changing experiences of an internationalised university
The NUAUS Aboriginal Committee: Allyship and Indigenous Engagement led by students at The University of Melbourne
Promoting inclusive engagement among diverse young people

Recent publications

Arkoudis, S., & Marangell, S. (2023). The international student experience in Australia. In C. Baik & E. Kahu (Eds.), Research Handbook on the Student Experience in Higher Education. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Baik, C. & Kahu, E. (2023). What is ‘the Student Experience?’. In Baik, C. & Kahu, E. (Eds.). (2023). Research Handbook on the Student Experience in Higher Education. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Ryan, T., Marangell, S., & Baik, C. (2023). Examining mental health and wellbeing policies in Australian universities. In K. Coleman, D. Uzhegova, B. Blaher & S. Arkoudis (Eds.), The Educational Turn: Rethinking SoTL in Higher Education. Springer.
Ryan, T., Marangell, S., Symon, B., Waller, K., Rivera Munoz, C., Uzhegova, D., Arkoudis, S., & Baik, C. (2023). The student experience in times of major crises: Key lessons from an international scoping review. In C. Baik & E. Kahu (Eds.), Research Handbook on the Student Experience in Higher Education. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Waghorne, J. (2023). The ‘student experience’ in the history of English-speaking universities. In C. Baik & E. Kahu (Eds.), Research Handbook on the Student Experience in Higher Education. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Enquiries

For more information and interest in research collaborations, please contact Professor Chi Baik.