Editorial

Again, there has been much discussion this month on the value placed on higher education. More than 1,000 leaders from universities, industry and politics, descended on Canberra on February 28 for the Universities Australia Higher Education Conference. This year’s theme, Future Fundamentals, showcased how Australian universities are innovating to prepare students, graduates, teachers and researchers for the machine era.

As well, Australia’s Labor Party has affirmed its commitment to a concerted effort to review post-secondary education if successful in the next Federal election.

But this month, your Editor was particularly taken with a Wonkhe blog piece from Liz Austen (Senior Lecturer in Research, Evaluation and Student Engagement at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK) who provided a  comprehensive overview of ‘student voice’ in the institutional data producing what she refers to as an ’emerging typology’.

Finally, the University of Queensland’s Director of Planning & Business Intelligence Clare Hourigan is in the Institutional Researcher’s Corner this month with some reflection and sage advice on working in a big data environment. Clare reminds us that ‘it’s easy to slip into focussing on the data or the solution before clearly articulating the question or problem’.

Happy reading

Tracy Creagh

Editor, The Institutional Researcher