Trends in Australian higher education research: A general review

ABSTRACT

A general review is presented of Australian research in higher education over the past 20 years or so. Note is taken of the institutional and social circumstances in which the study of the field developed, the principal sources, some major findings and points at issue in current debate. Topics covered include participation, especially issues of purpose and equity, individual and group differences, retention in senior secondary school and related factors in transition, participation of women in higher education, the downturn of participation in the seventies and recent recovery, economics and student finances, and selective admissions. Studies of professional education are reviewed with reference to teacher education, medicine, architecture, and engineering and some important recent studies of curriculum and the learning process are reported. Major studies of the restructuring of higher education are covered briefly. Some observations are made on the relationship between policy related research and the policy process. The present stage of development of the field is seen as one at which scholars are beginning to move from problem-oriented interdisciplinary application of basic social science disciplines towards the cumulative development of knowledge.