Postgraduate Education in Higher Education (University Development and Administration)

This handbook brings together contributors from the United States, Australasia and Europe who use theoretical insights and empirical data to examine current practices as well as possible future directions of postgraduate education. A full range of postgraduate study options are explored, including PhD and professional doctorates, masters awards, and taught coursework programs. The contributions of key stakeholders to the delivery of postgraduate education are addressed, including students, supervisors and university administrators.

The external pressures that universities around the world are experiencing, including neoliberalism, the massification of student numbers, disruptive innovations, and external quality benchmarking, are considered in terms of the ways that they are prompting change in how postgraduate study is administered and delivered.

Many chapters contain specific recommendations to meet organisational and student needs, including for specific demographics such as international students or specific programs. The professional, employment, and information literacy needs of students and the professional development of supervisors and processes for examination are also considered.  

Ronel Erwee was a Professor in Human Resource Management in the School of Management and Enterprise in the Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts at the Toowoomba campus of the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, where she had previously been Head of Department, Head of School, and Director of the Australian Graduate School of Business. Professor Erwee supervised several successful candidates in the Doctor of Philosophy and the Doctor of Business Administration programs, and she was an elected member of the Executive DBA Council in the United States. Professor Erwee was a leading contributor to the development of a toolkit and framework to support new postgraduate research supervisors, under the auspices of the then Australian Office for Learning and Teaching. Professor Erwee was Senior Editor of the International Journal of Organisational Behaviour, and she served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Industrial Psychology. Professor Erwee’s publications reflected her research interests in postgraduate supervision, distance and online education, university leadership, knowledge management, strategic thinking, and business ethics. Professor Erwee was a member of the Executive of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, as well as a member of the Academy of Management in the United States. Professor Erwee was one of 30 Technical Advisors to the Constitutional Assembly in South Africa during the rewriting of its constitution. The University of Southern Queensland has established the Ronel Erwee Memorial Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Research Supervision in Professor Erwee’s honor.

Meredith A. Harmes teaches communication and also works in the enabling programs at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. Her research interests include modern British and Australian politics and popular culture in Britain and America. Her most recent publication in the Australasian Journal of Popular Culture was on race and cultural studies on American television. She holds an honors degree from the University of Queensland in political science as well as a Diploma of Modern Languages (German) from the University of New England and a Graduate Diploma of Journalism and a Masters of Public Relations from the University of Southern Queensland.

Marcus K. Harmes is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland’s Open Access College, where he is the College Research and Research Training Coordinator and Associate Director for Academic Development. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Queensland. His research outputs include works on popular cultural studies and higher education.

Patrick Alan Danaher is Professor in Educational Research in the School of Linguistics, Adult and Specialist Education at the Toowoomba campus of the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, where he is also currently Associate Dean (Research and Research Training) in the Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts. He is also currently Adjunct Professor in the School of Education and the Arts at CQUniversity, Australia, and Docent in Social Justice and Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He is a Series Editor of Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods, published by Palgrave Macmillan. He is co-author of seven research books: Teaching Traveller Children: Maximising Learning Outcomes (Trentham Books, 2007); Mobile Learning Communities: Creating New Educational Futures (Routledge, 2009); Identity and Pedagogy in Higher Education: International Comparisons (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013); Researching Education with Marginalized Communities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013); Contemporary Capacity-Building in Educational Contexts (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); Educational Learning and Development: Building and Enhancing Capacity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); and Online Learning Networks for Pre-Service and Early Career Teachers (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). His most recent co-edited research book was Social Capital and Enterprise in the Modern State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). His research interests include the education of occupationally mobile learners and communities; education research ethics, methods, politics, and theories; and academics’, educators’, and researchers’ work and identities.