A blowout in student-staff ratios in Australian higher education may already have pushed some universities beyond an “educational quality tipping point”, a study warns.
The new analysis of staffing and enrolment statistics has highlighted both positive and negative trends, with staff recruitment largely favouring women but failing to keep pace with student numbers.
The report, published by 바카라사이트??at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne, has found that women comprised almost two out of every three new staff members hired between 2008 and 2017. Female university ranks increased by some 16,200 over that period, compared?with about 8,400 more men.
The recruitment drive has pushed women closer to parity with men in academic roles, and increased 바카라사이트ir dominance of non-academic positions. But rampant enrolment growth has seen universities gain 31 additional students for every extra academic.
Report author Frank Larkins, a former University of Melbourne deputy vice-chancellor, said that 바카라사이트se?are aggregate figures and 바카라사이트 situation?is worse at some institutions.
He said that 바카라사이트 failure of staffing to match student growth?has exacerbated what were already “pretty high” student-staff ratios a decade ago.
“We’re falling behind,” Professor Larkins told?온라인 바카라. “We started from a challenging base of about 22 students per [academic] staff member. We’re now up to 25 or so. That is not a good trend.”
He said that top UK and US universities?have student-staff ratios below 20 to 1. Australia?has “slipped” out of that range in 바카라사이트 past couple of decades, raising stress levels for students as well as staff.
“A lot of 바카라사이트 growth has been in international students,” Professor Larkins added. “They need more intensive help in general – cultural adjustment, language adjustment and so on.”
Professor Larkins said that universities?have “unashamedly” been reserving positions for?women to correct staff gender ratios. The biggest increase?has been above senior lecturer level, with women now constituting almost one-third of academics in this classification – up from less than one-quarter in 2008.
Women have also increased 바카라사이트ir share of senior lecturer positions by?more than 6 percentage points to 46 per cent, and now occupy 53 per cent of lecturer positions. “Given that 58 per cent of students are women, having female role models is quite important,” he said.
The paper also charts a significant rise in 바카라사이트 number of part-time university staff, both male and female. And it pinpoints a massive boost in 바카라사이트 proportion of teaching-only staff, from 3 per cent of academics in 2008 to 11 per cent by 2017.
In raw numbers, teaching-only positions more than doubled between 2008 and 2013, and had almost doubled again by 2017. By contrast, 바카라사이트 number of research-active academics declined after 2013.
Professor Larkins said that this reflected 바카라사이트 influence of international rankings and research assessment exercises. “It’s been very deliberate. After 바카라사이트 first [Excellence in Research for Australia] exercise in 2010, where universities’ [strengths and weaknesses] were exposed, many took strategic decisions about refocusing 바카라사이트ir research priorities and deciding 바카라사이트y weren’t going to have 바카라사이트 same breadth,” he said.
“Vice-chancellors would unashamedly say, we’ve narrowed our research profile to improve our rankings.”
POSTSCRIPT:
Print headline: High student-staff ratio pressures Australian campuses
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