IngentaConnect Aligning Academic Activities: Implications for Teaching and Resea...

Abstract:

A problem situation that is at the heart of a New Zealand higher education institute applying for university status is meeting the requirement for sufficient academic staff with postgraduate qualifications. For this particular New Zealand higher education institute that was originally a teaching institution offering only sub-degree qualifications, the move to firstly offering degrees and secondly seeking university status has meant that employment conditions have shifted for many academics. In order to explore the multiple world views on the impact to the whole system of a significant number of staff upgrading qualifications whilst engaged in full-time teaching at the same time, views were sought from senior executives, heads of schools, human resource personnel and staff engaged in their own postgraduate study. Multiple conceptual models have been utilised to gain an understanding of this problem situation: Soft Systems Methodology (Checkland and Scholes, 1990, 1999) in both its original and its current form; complexity theory (McKenna, 1999; Merry, 1995; Stacey, 1996) and context-dependent cluster model (CDCM) (Fielden and London, 2001). These multiple conceptual models have all contributed to providing a basis upon which to compare multiple-perceived worlds with appropriate conceptual models upon which to base a future action plan.

Outcomes discussed are both positive and negative factors including: recognition, time, stress, employment contracts, senior staff expectations, family, collegial and institutional support and the integration of own study with teaching practice and content. Implications for alignment across institutional organisational levels and also for higher education outside of the university sector are also discussed.

Keywords: Teaching/postgraduate study nexus; higher education; New Zealand; systems models

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1007/s11213-005-4815-8

Affiliations: 1: School of Computing and Information Technology, Unitec New Zealand, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand, Email: kfielden@unitec.ac.nz 2: School of Accountancy, Law and Finance, Unitec New Zealand, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand,

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Aligning Academic Activities: Implications for Teaching and Research in a New Zealand Institute of Technology