This study examines the relationship between Generative AI (GenAI) usage and research self-efficacy (RSE) among Chinese doctoral students, a topic of growing importance as AI technologies become embedded in academic practices. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design, data were collected via a survey from 587 doctoral students across STEM and humanities and social sciences (HSS) disciplines. Hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses (PROCESS macro) were employed to examine predictive relationships and interaction effects. Results revealed that both the frequency and purpose of GenAI use significantly predicted RSE, with an augmentative approach - using AI as a critical thinking scaffold - emerging as the strongest positive predictor. Furthermore, perceived supervisor support and academic discipline moderated this relationship, with supportive supervision amplifying the benefits of augmentative use, and STEM students demonstrating a stronger link between frequency of use and RSE than their HSS counterparts. The findings underscore the importance of fostering critical AI literacy and providing supervisory guidance to maximize the psychological and scholarly benefits of GenAI integration. This study contributes to doctoral education research by empirically demonstrating how augmentative GenAI usage serves as a psychological scaffold that enhances research self-efficacy, and by identifying supervisor support and disciplinary context as key moderating factors in this relationship.
Financial insecurity is a significant challenge for university students, affecting both wellbeing and study participation. Guided by a socio-ecological perspective, this study examines financial insecurity among university students as a multi-level issue shaped by individual, institutional, and broader structural conditions. A cross-sectional survey examined the prevalence of financial insecurity among Australian university students and its associations with demographic characteristics, health, academic outcomes, and awareness of support services. An online survey was distributed via universities and national student networks (September-October 2024). Financial status was self-reported as adequate ('comfortable'/'just getting by') or inadequate ('struggling'/'severely struggling'). Descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and content analysis were used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data. Of 838 respondents (61% female, 64% domestic), 32% reported inadequate financial status. Independent predictors included international student status, Indigenous identity, disability, and living alone. Financial insecurity was associated with higher odds of perceived poor academic outcomes (OR = 5.5, 95%CI: 3.9-7.6), poor-fair self-rated health (OR = 3.0, 95%CI: 2.4-4.1), and food insecurity (OR = 8.4, 95%CI: 5.7-12.4). Awareness of financial support services was low, with dissatisfaction more common among financially insecure students (OR = 2.1, 95%CI: 1.9-4.1). Findings inform a series of recommendations for universities and policymakers to strengthen student support and address systemic drivers of financial insecurity.
Academic integration plays a critical role in promoting students' academic success. However, few studies have examined how different factors jointly influence the academic integration of academic master's (AM) students, resulting in insufficient support networks for their academic development. Drawing on Tinto's student integration theory and using Chinese AM students as the sample, this study explored how institutional research support (IRS), supervisor academic guidance (SAG), peer academic support (PAS), and cross-institutional graduate enrollment shaped students' academic integration. Using structural equation modeling, the study found that IRS, SAG, and PAS directly influenced academic integration. Specifically, IRS had a significant effect on the cognitive and affective dimensions but not on the behavioral dimension, whereas SAG and PAS significantly influenced all dimensions. Moreover, SAG and PAS fully mediated the relationship between IRS and academic integration, with PAS emerging as the stronger mediator. In the model where SAG served as a mediator, its effects on cognition and behavior were weaker among cross-institutional students. In contrast, in the model where PAS functioned as a mediator, its effect on behavior was stronger among cross-institutional students. These findings are critical for developing AM student-centered support networks and enhancing overall training quality.
Doctoral education in Sub-Saharan Africa has expanded rapidly, yet evidence on post-PhD career trajectories remains limited. This study examines employment outcomes, career pathways, and structural constraints shaping doctoral graduates' experiences in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. Using a mixed-methods design, the study integrates survey data (n = 154), key informant interviews (n = 27), and multi-stakeholder policy dialogues under the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund. Guided by identity-trajectory theory and academic precarity, the analysis explores how individual aspirations intersect with institutional conditions and broader structural dynamics. Findings show that while career advancement and research engagement motivate doctoral training, graduates navigate fragmented and uncertain career pathways. Academic employment is often characterized by low remuneration, limited research funding, and weak institutional support, prompting engagement in consultancy and externally funded projects. Policy dialogues highlight systemic gaps, including weak research ecosystems, limited industry linkages, and the absence of structured postdoctoral pathways. Alignment between doctoral training and employment is stronger in Kenya and Rwanda than in Ethiopia. The study demonstrates that doctoral career trajectories are shaped by interactions across micro, meso, and macro levels, providing comparative evidence and policy-relevant insights for strengthening doctoral training, research systems, and sustainable academic careers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Completing a master's degree on time measures higher education efficiency and drives national development. However, on-time completion rates in Sub-Saharan Africa remain critically low. In Tanzanian public universities, for example, fewer than 30% of students finish within the expected 18 to 24 months, delaying workforce entry and exacerbating skill shortages. While institutional barriers are well-documented, the recursive, relational dynamics between students and supervisors remain comparatively under-theorised. This study investigated these relational barriers and developed a model explaining how they interact recursively to produce sustained delays. Using a qualitative design, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 48 participants (students, supervisors, administrators). Thematic analysis, informed by sensitising concepts from Tinto's and Bean's models, exposed their limitations in explaining interactional delays. Findings revealed interdependent student-related (inadequate research skills and emotional burnout) and supervisor-related barriers (inconsistent feedback and limited accessibility). These recursively reinforced disengagement through behavioural feedback loops (fear -> avoidance -> neglect -> stagnation), forming the basis of the Dyadic Interaction Model for Timely Postgraduate Completion (TIM-PGC). The model reconceptualises timely completion as a relationally co-created outcome, shaped by feedback loops within a specific institutional context. It advances theory by integrating structural and relational perspectives and proposes context-sensitive interventions for resource-limited higher education systems worldwide.
Research misconduct in higher education is a global concern. Research integrity is vital for ensuring scientific research is trustworthy for the research community and public. Despite the importance of research integrity, research misconduct - breaches of scientific norms such as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and questionable practices - remains prevalent. This study explores academic researchers' perceptions of the relative importance of factors driving research misconduct. An online survey incorporating a novel application of a choice experiment was undertaken by researchers at universities in Australia, the United States and Europe. We adopted an inferred behavior approach to address self-reporting bias and, hence, the choice experiment focused on a hypothetical researcher. The results indicate that among the 11 factors varied within the choice experiment, researchers perceive misconduct as significantly more likely to occur mainly when penalties are lower, when there is lower likelihood of investigation into misconduct, and when the negative human/animal/environmental impact of misconduct is smaller. Three latent classes are also identified, revealing differences among researchers with respect to their judgement of the factors that drive misconduct. The findings of our study provide guidance for university policies and promotion of research integrity.
Although students' motivations for pursuing a PhD in elite, research-intensive, universities have been explored, little attention has been given to the motivations for pursuing a PhD at other types of universities, despite increasing enrolment in doctoral programmes across a broad range of universities. The current study addresses this research gap by examining the motivations of Chinese doctoral students in non-research-intensive (NRI) universities through the lens of self-determination theory. Based on interviews with 27 PhD students and graduates at NRI universities, this study involved a deductive-inductive thematic analysis, which identified a spectrum of regulatory styles that differ markedly from the intrinsic orientation often assumed in elite contexts. The findings reveal that for doctoral students in NRI universities, who are often first-generation attendees from non-elite backgrounds, a doctorate is primarily viewed as a credential shelter against labour market precarity. Three motivational archetypes were identified: (1) Stability Seekers, who prioritise educational continuity in safe and known environments; (2) Reality Accepters, who are driven by introjected regulation stemming from their 'family habitus' and rely on social capital (guanxi); and (3) Long-term Planners, who exhibit identified regulation and use specific resources provided by NRI universities as an instrumental platform mainly for supporting academic careers in the same type of universities. Some of these students exhibited amotivation, which manifested uniquely as 'institutional inertia', reflecting passive entry due to structural constraints and pressures. This study challenges the homogeneity of doctoral motivation theories and studies, showing that in NRI universities, students' pursuit of a doctorate is shaped by the tension between their individual agency and deep-seated structural anxieties. This research thus has implications for policymaking and academic support systems at NRI universities.
As a transnational higher education model, international branch campus (IBC) embodies a blend of global influence and local characteristics. It can also reproduce Western-centric assumptions about knowledge, culture, and credential value under certain institutional and discursive conditions. The hybrid and tension-filled nature of IBC offers students a complex educational experience that requires them to exercise agency in navigating their learning process. While research on IBC students' experiences is increasing, few studies have focused on their agency. Drawing on the notions of agency and third space, this qualitative study explores how Chinese mainland undergraduate students exercise agency at a Hong Kong institution's branch campus in the Greater Bay Area. Based on semi-structured interviews with 15 participants, this study finds that students have enacted agency through clear motivations and goals, adaptable self-reactiveness, and profound reflection on themselves and the IBC environment. The findings also show that Western-centric hierarchies can become salient in students' perceptions, while students may reinterpret and negotiate these influences through agency. These insights advance understanding of student agency within the transnational higher education context and offer implications for creating more supportive and inclusive IBC learning environments.
Industry-based placements, a core work-integrated learning (WIL) practice in higher education, rely heavily on supervisors to shape student experiences. Student under-preparedness and skill gaps, compounded by 'placement poverty', student personal pressures, and the rapid increase in international students, may pose growing challenges for supervisors. However, limited research exists on the supervisor experience, including support needs and challenges, and whether these may differ when supporting international compared to domestic students. This research examined health placement supervisor perspectives of student preparedness for and engagement in placement and reported supervisor support needs, using mixed methods consisting of an online survey (n = 51) and semi-structured interviews (n = 5). Participants came from nine health disciplines at an Australian university. Descriptive statistics were applied to quantitative data, while inductive thematic coding was applied to qualitative data. Findings indicate supervisors value placements but identify student preparation issues and the impact of personal pressures on engagement. The study also highlights potential benefits of enhanced supervisor preparation and support. These insights offer strategies to improve placement experiences and strengthen industry-university partnerships, ultimately benefiting student success and industry engagement across WIL programs.
Within the context of higher education in Australia, academic failure at undergraduate level has not been comprehensively investigated. This study sought to determine factors that predicted failure amongst undergraduate students after two semesters of study. Failure was defined as having a cumulative GPA below a passing grade. At the research site, factors included indigeneity, academic writing literacy, Faculty/college of enrolment, engagement with academic support services, gender, and language background. Amongst a variety of academic and non-academic factors, this study utilised results on a post-entry language assessment (PELA), which screened students according to their academic essay writing skills. The study was conducted over five semesters and comprised a multidisciplinary sample. This research equips university decision makers with a profile of students who may face difficulties navigating the rigours of tertiary education. It subsequently allows key stakeholders to allocate resources appropriately and effectively to respond to academic failure.
Developing research competence is essential for preparing student teachers to engage in educational inquiry during training and future practice. However, in developing contexts such as Nigeria, many student teachers report limited confidence in conducting research, especially in data analysis and methodology. This study examines how research attitude and perceived supervisory leadership styles (supportive and directive) influence student teachers' perceived research competence, with research intention tested as a mediator. Data were collected from 350 student teachers across three Nigerian universities using stratified random sampling. Structural equation modeling revealed that attitude and supervisory leadership both positively predicted competence. Intention partially mediated these relationships, underscoring its motivational role. Among the leadership styles, supportive leadership demonstrated a stronger direct and indirect influence on competence than directive leadership. While directive leadership showed a weaker indirect effect through research intention, this effect was not significant. Group differences indicated significant gender differences in attitude, competence, and intention. Females reported higher intention, while males showed stronger attitudes and competence. However, perceptions of supervisory leadership did not vary across demographic groups. These findings highlight the need to foster research motivation and positive supervisory relationships in teacher education while being attentive to gender-related differences in research development.
This study investigates how first-generation college students (FGCSs) in two elite Double First-Class Chinese universities recalibrate their academic and career goals through mesosystemic interactions during the early transition years. Drawing on 15 semi-structured interviews and 11 goal-formation timelines, we use reflexive thematic analysis to trace critical incidents and relational supports. The findings indicate a recurrent but not inevitable two-stage escalation of goals: students move from conservative or diffuse aspirations to structured exploration, and then to advanced commitments such as graduate study, research, or entrepreneurship. Three mechanisms - rule decoding (making tacit rules explicit), identity scaffolding (sustaining self-efficacy), and opportunity brokering (opening institutional gateways) - enable these shifts, with timing and urban-rural background shaping their effects. The study extends student agency theory by specifying how meso-level ties reorganize perceived action possibilities, maps the 'invisible helpers' and turning points that differentiate trajectories, and identifies design levers - such as transparent opportunity portals, structured peer-faculty pairing, and onboarding that decodes hidden rules - through which universities can make selective access more equitable.
While there is extensive literature on student belonging, there are aspects of the process of belonging that are still unclear. This longitudinal grounded theory study included 19 ICT students in their first year of undergraduate study, eight of their lead educators and four support educators in an Australian higher education institution. Employing Strauss' approach to grounded theory, and symbolic interactionism as an analytical tool, researchers considered the relational process of student belonging when learning online. The study found that students move dynamically between connection and disconnection and actively attempt to reconnect when disconnected. This finding significantly contributes to theories of belonging by explaining that the process of belonging is never secure, stable or established but actively maintained by students. This paper outlines how students may not wish to connect socially and can find it easier to maintain connection academically or professionally. As part of the process of belonging, students gain online signalling skills, find alignments with their preferred ways of signalling and actively work towards reconnection when disconnection occurs. We propose that student efforts to maintain connection depend on their ability to signal online. Implications for the resourcing of higher education online teaching and learning are discussed.
This conceptual paper introduces feedback fluency as a novel way of thinking about the long-term development of student feedback literacy. Feedback fluency is defined as habits and automaticity in generating and using feedback productively in varying sociocultural contexts. The theoretical foundations of feedback fluency emanate from academic literacies and sociocultural approaches to feedback research. Key feedback fluency features involve achieving the natural flow that comes with extensive repetition of three purposeful feedback practices: generating feedback information through feedback-seeking from different sources; attaining automaticity in processing information and making evaluative judgments across contexts; and deliberative use of feedback information for enhancement purposes. The progression from feedback literacy to feedback fluency represents a critical developmental pathway underpinned by socially and culturally appropriate study habits in working with feedback information. Student, teacher and resourcing challenges are surfaced, and ways of reducing them proposed. Implications for practice are exemplified through a practical example of a feedback-rich environment with sustained opportunities for self-assessment, peer feedback and feedback uptake. Future research possibilities include how students develop and evidence feedback fluency in diverse educational settings.
The possibility of learning anytime and anywhere has accelerated the importance of informal learning spaces (ILS) at universities. A study at four European universities examined (1) the usage of ILS on and off campus for different learning activities, (2) differences between sociodemographic groups with regard to the perceived satisfaction of ILS for focused and collaborative learning activities, (3) the influence of sociodemographic factors as well as availability and accessibility of ILS on student satisfaction with campus, and (4) perceived barriers in context of available and accessible ILS. Methodologically, a mixed-methods approach was integrated combining a quantitative student survey with qualitative focus groups. Quantitative data from 932 participants reveal that sociodemographic aspects, like gender, age, study degree or facing personal challenges, do not influence perceptions of satisfaction with ILS for focused and collaborative learning activities. As a key finding from the student survey, it can be summarized that availability and accessibility of ILS contribute positively and significantly to student satisfaction with campus. Beyond construction and design improvements of ILS, insights from qualitative focus groups with students and lecturers state especially the importance of organizational aspects, like providing better information and communication to enhance the availability and accessibility of ILS on campus.
Given the growing number of university students with mental ill-health, we aimed to provide an overview of students' awareness of mental health services, their mental health service use, barriers to accessing services and sources of health information. A subset of data from a large, Australian-based study of university student health was utilised (n = 14,880). Students with probable depressive disorder and/or probable anxiety disorder were included in the analysis. Proportions of those aware of mental health services, utilising services and information, and experiencing barriers were calculated. Adjusted logistic regression was performed to determine the odds ratios, p-values and 95% confidence intervals comparing international and domestic students across the outcomes. Of the 4,375 students, international students had higher odds of not being aware of the university-provided psychological service (OR: 2.76; 95% CI: 2.41-3.16; p < 0.0001) and lower odds of accessing services within the past 12 months (OR: 0.15; 95% CI: 0.13-0.18; p < 0.0001) compared to domestic students. Cost was the most frequently cited barrier and Google searches were the most popular source of health information. Overall, this study highlights the need for ongoing health promotion efforts by universities to enhance awareness of services and reduce access barriers.
Racism and sexism are discriminatory behaviours that are prevalent throughout society, and both have a negative impact on individuals. Further, the intersectionality of racism and sexism has a profoundly damaging effect on its victims. A vulnerable cohort illustrative of this intersectionality impact is female Chinese international students studying in Australia. This study will examine the case studies of four of these students studying at one Australian university. Using a risk management framework, we explore the complex relationship of power and prejudice exercised by male perpetrators relating to the impact on these students, which results in a threat to personal safety or attempted subjugation. This study advocates for stronger support services to be in place to help these students counter potential sexism-racism incidents or to provide post-incident care.
Education focused (EF) academic roles are increasingly common, reflecting the rising importance of teaching and educational leadership in universities worldwide. Yet in research-dominated cultures, EF staff often face challenges related to workload, career progression, legitimacy, and belonging. This article examines how Communities of Practice (CoPs) can address these challenges, based on an evaluation of an institution-wide initiative at a research-intensive Australian university. Semi-structured interviews with 28 CoP members explored the perceived effects of CoPs participation on teaching, professional identity, and institutional culture. Findings show that CoPs enhanced teaching through peer exchange, fostered belonging by reducing professional isolation, and strengthened professional identity and supported career development by validating EF expertise. At the institutional level, CoPs increased the visibility of EF contributions, generated purposeful projects, and supported more inclusive approaches to student learning. Persistent inequities in workload, promotion, and resourcing, however, limited the extent of change achievable through CoPs alone. By bridging literatures on EF roles and CoPs, this study highlights their dual function: as engines of collegial learning and recognition, and as mechanisms whose transformative potential depends on systemic support. These findings provide practical guidance for universities to support EF academics, strengthen career pathways, and embed teaching excellence within academic cultures.
There is a growing interest in transformative learning in higher education as it provides a unique lens for understanding how to prepare students to think creatively and act purposefully in shaping a more sustainable and equitable world. This study explores student experiences and perceptions of transformative learning within a four-year transdisciplinary combined degree in an Australian university. Drawing on Mezirow's, Grund et al.'s, and Hoggan's transformative learning frameworks, we analyse students' written reflections and semi-structured interviews on their experiences of significant cognitive, emotional, relational, and worldview changes experienced during the course of their four-year study. Students reported a range of transformative experiences, including shifts in the formation of their identity, changes to frames of reference, enriched relationships and enhanced capabilities. The study contributes to higher education theory and practice in three key ways. First, it synthesises transformative learning frameworks that are most appropriate for higher education contexts. Second, it offers a conceptual framework for understanding the kinds of transformative learning experiences that support the development of purposeful careers and meaningful lives. Finally, it calls for stronger links between transformative learning and transdisciplinary concepts and practices in higher education.
Student self-assessment is an important component of self-regulated learning. In higher education, the autonomy of young adults suggests that, without direction by curriculum or instruction, students will engage in self-initiated self-assessment (SISA). A cross-disciplinary semi-structured interview study was conducted at a research-intensive university in New Zealand with 36 students - 12 each from initial teacher education, nursing, and fine arts. Content analysis revealed a seven-step cycle - intention setting, criteria seeking, criteria calibration, feedback seeking, feedback deliberation, decision and revision, and submission and result - constituting the full process of SISA, labeled as Informed SISA. Based on the degree to which students engaged with the seven-step cycle, two further types corresponding to partial processes were identified: Intuitive SISA, driven by internal judgment without explicit criteria or external feedback; and Hasty SISA, marked by minimal engagement and a rapid progression from intention to submission. Disciplinary differences were also observed: while nursing and teaching students typically enacted informed SISA grounded in professional standards, art students were more likely to rely on intuitive SISA guided by self-defined criteria. The findings provide a framework for educators to recognize and support student-led evaluative practices, highlighting the role of disciplinary context in fostering self-regulated learning.
