International higher education

As mentioned in the last editorial, Perspectives is evolving this year, loosening ties with the AUA to become an independent journal. Alongside this, we have successfully recruited several new members of the Editorial Board and a new Associate Editor to work alongside the Editorial team. Undertaking this recruitment led by the Chair of the Editorial Board, Dr Matthew Andrews, was eye-opening to see the breadth and depth of reach that Perspectives has across the world. Applicants came from across professional services and academic staff in a range of roles and a variety of institutions and countries, and the panel was highly impressed with the calibre of the applicants. This is testament to the journal and the content that impacts practitioners working across the sector.

The second issue of this year contains articles written by authors based internationally from Australia to Ethiopia, Malaysia to the United Arab Emirates and the UK. This again is evidence of the reach of the journal and allows readers insight into the workings of higher education across the globe. While we welcome articles from all countries, it is important that we keep encouraging submissions from the UK particularly as the four nations have their similarities and differences within the sector. We would also like to see more articles focusing on specific areas of higher education, including human resources, finance and estates as well as more general student administration. If you are planning a conference presentation or working on a particular project or piece of work then practitioner papers, as well as academic articles, are more than welcome.

The first article in this edition comes from Ethiopia and author Wondwosen Tamrat who focuses on academic views of internal quality assurance within St Mary’s University. From 2000 onwards, the country has seen a rapid expansion of reforms in higher education and Wondwosen’s article examines how academic staff view internal quality assurance within a relatively new private higher education institution. It is interesting to note that halfway across the world, while there are clear benefits to internal processes, there are still frustrations with engagement, something I am sure we all witness regularly.

The next two articles focus on the impact of Covid-19 in different ways. Maytha AL-Ali and Adam Marks write about the impact of the pandemic on digital transformation. They examine the digital transformation maturity level and challenges in UAE higher education institutions in the aftermath of COVID-19. The article reiterates the importance of digital transformation in today’s digital economy and shows a gap between digital transformation maturity assessment and requirements. The authors then suggest a framework to address the identified gap. Josephine Chan Ie Lyn, Selvarani Suppiah and Lily Chan’s paper aims to provide a brief background on the higher education landscape in Malaysia and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the private higher education sector. They argue that there is a lack of capable technology management systems within Malaysian higher education. They conclude by stating in the post-pandemic world, private higher education institutions need to adopt innovative business models that prioritise the digital revolution and technology shift; the future needs of students and the industry and focus on strategic collaborations and partnerships with industry and community.

Naomi Clements, Sara Davies and Anna Mountford-Zimdars’ paper argues that to create a truly transformative and inclusive higher education sector in the UK, outreach practitioners and evaluators must work in collaboration with the higher education regulators to create a dialogue between policy and practice. They believe the creation of a professional body would provide a channel for the regulator to effectively create dialogue with practitioners and understand how to widen participation to benefit potential students and the sector.

The final article comes from Australia. Tim Corcoran, Ben Whitburn and Elizabeth Knight discuss the increasing number of students entering higher education with a disability and how institutions balance the inherent requirements of academic integrity and professional body requirements. The paper concludes that inclusive education can no longer be measured on purely enrolment statistics, but how higher education providers create opportunity for all learners to study and transition to employment. Rather than perpetuating homogeneity upon the world of education and work, the authors argue, higher education can utilise inherent requirements to increase social justice and equity.

There is a wide variety of topics within this edition from authors across different countries and different institutions and I hope that there is something to be learnt and understood from all of them.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joanne Caldwell

Joanne Caldwell is Co-Deputy Editor for Perspectives and is the Centre for Doctoral Training Manager at the University of Salford. She has just recently been awarded her EdD with a thesis focusing on professional services staff identity and their relationships with academic staff.