Dr Johanna Nieuwoudt

The Southern Cross University (SCU) Future Leaders Program, developed in partnership with The Hummingbirds Company, was established in response to the growing recognition of the importance of student engagement, leadership development, and institutional belonging in higher education. Contemporary research highlights that structured leadership opportunities can significantly enhance student capability, retention, and overall academic success. As universities face challenges such as declining student engagement and the urgent need to foster inclusive communities, SCU sought to bridge theoretical insights from educational leadership research with practical application. The program aimed to equip students with the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills necessary to assume leadership roles within both their disciplines and the broader university environment. Through evidence-based workshops and practical projects, the initiative provided a timely and intentional approach to empowering students to lead, strengthening their sense of connection amongst students, and cultivating transferable skills that extend beyond their academic journey. Of 71 students expressing interest, 33 participated in pre-learning activities and 13 graduated, reporting notable outcomes: 92% felt more confident in leadership roles, 85% improved their collaboration skills, and 88% experienced a greater sense of belonging within the university community, as measured by anonymous surveys and feedback forms.

The release of the Australian Universities Accord Final Report in 2024 and call for contextually relevant pathways to higher education continues the widening participation agenda that was introduced more than 50 years ago in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Enabling education continues to contribute to targets with the evolution of high school enabling programs. It is imperative, as the Accord suggests, that these programs support successful transition. Such programs thus require a pedagogical model for transition. This practice report adds to emerging research on high school enabling programs by exploring how an enabling transition pedagogy (ETP), an adaptation of Kift, Nelson and Clarke’s third generation transition pedagogy, underpins two Australian embedded high school enabling programs to support student transition to higher education. It explores how the curriculum principles of the ETP (and intersecting strategies) are implemented within the two programs and suggests future directions for the model.

This paper investigates the impact of institution-wide curriculum reform on a multi-disciplinary group of teaching-focused academics. Using the participatory action research method of co-operative inquiry, the study contributes several insights for supporting academic development during curriculum change. It highlights that teaching-focused academics place high value on student engagement as both a driver and consequence of their teaching during curriculum reforms. The inquiry also demonstrates how shifting perceptions of student engagement can precipitate concomitant shifts in academic teaching identities. We conclude that collaborative reflection is invaluable for developing identity, enhancing agency and assisting academics to navigate the complexities of curriculum reform.

University diplomas provide pathways into university study for a range of students, including a high proportion of students in so-called equity groups. However, there is a paucity of research investigating how university diplomas impact students and their academic lives. The current study used a mixed-method approach to understand how diplomas benefit students at a regional Australian university. Both quantitative and qualitative findings demonstrated that students found the diplomas to be beneficial for beginning their university careers and their overall academic success. Students reported that the holistic support offered in the foundational units and across the institution was integral to their success. Similarly, the flexibility in study options allowed them to attain an education while balancing additional responsibilities, such as work and family commitments. Students that completed university diplomas also went on to have higher success rates and GPAs in their subsequent bachelor degrees than students who had not completed a diploma. The use of a clear pedagogical approach in curriculum design is essential to support diploma students throughout their academic journey. This study adds support to the notion that diploma programs can help prepare students, particularly non-traditional university students, for success in academic study.

Diplomas offer an alternative pathway into university. Diploma students disproportionately include first-in-family or students with additional learning needs and may have lower levels of success and higher attrition than traditional university students. Thus, it is crucial to understand what makes these students successful. Grit is a strong predictor of success in bachelor students, suggesting it may be an important predictor in diploma students as well. However, grit has not been measured against academic success in this population. This study surveyed 50 diploma students from a regional Australian university and found that they have similar base levels of grit to bachelor students, and that perseverance (a dimension of grit) is most predictive of academic success. Grit increases with age, which may reflect a more mature motivation. Students who are employed may have reduced focus. Perseverance of effort, rather than grit per se, is the key trait to build in diploma students, offering an ideal target for intervention in first-year students.

This research investigates whether academic integrity (AI) can be strengthened through a holistic educative approach that combines compulsory modules on AI, pedagogy that challenges punitive approaches, and an embedded curriculum. We present quantitative and qualitative data from surveys and interview responses from students to investigate their experiences and perceptions of our approach. Qualitative data suggest students appreciate the educative approach and that it fosters agency in students. Most participants – even those who indicated they had been part of an AI breach process and students who knew someone who had been involved in the process – expressed that the process itself led to a greater understanding of AI generally and students felt they could address the issue for themselves and benefit into the future. Responses indicated students wanted to have a voice in the AI process. This research indicates that a holistic educative approach promotes students’ agency in relation to their academic work and frames AI as a positive and desirable aspect of students’ developing academic identities.

University students are often depicted as carefree young adults; however, many students struggle to manage the “normal” stresses of university life and may experience high rates of psychological distress. This study compared a traditional delivery model to a shorter delivery model (i.e., the Southern Cross Model) in terms of students’ psychological distress, their perceived time pressure, and academic performance. The results indicated a significant difference in academic performance and psychological distress between the shorter delivery model and the traditional delivery model, with students in this shorter delivery model experiencing lower levels of psychological distress and enhanced academic performance. No significant difference in time pressure was found between the delivery models. This study indicates that the Southern Cross Model may enhance students’ academic performance and help them to better manage the normal stresses of university life.

One Australian public university is radically changing the way it delivers higher education, introducing a 6-week immersive scheduling delivery model across all units and courses. Despite the emerging success of block and immersive models for raising the performance of diverse student cohorts, the design factors underpinning positive outcomes are underexplored. This paper presents a mixed methods study of the impact and value of student engagement with interactive and responsive online content modules and synchronous classes in an immersive scheduling model. The findings indicate that behavioural engagement with online learning modules has a positive effect on academic success and is a significant predictor of a higher final score. Qualitative data indicate several attributes of high-quality online learning modules that students appear to associate with engagement and deeper learning in the immersive model: interactivity, media richness, constructive alignment, flexibility and responsiveness. Synchronous class attendance did not impact final scores; however, students nonetheless valued the opportunity to form safe and supportive communities of inquiry during classes. This study demonstrates that in times of increasing demand for more flexible learning, immersive scheduling models that are founded on active learning principles and embed interactive, responsive, media-rich online learning modules can improve student engagement and performance.

Students transitioning to university are met with the challenge of how to manage their time. More non-traditional students are entering higher education and some traditional delivery models have adapted and changed to shorter delivery models, such as the Southern Cross Model, in an effort to better meet changing student needs. This study explores the time-use, perceived time pressure and academic success of non-traditional students in an Australian university enabling program in a traditional delivery mode compared to a shorter delivery model. Online survey data from cohorts in the two delivery models showed that over half of students always or often experienced feeling time pressure, though there was no significant difference between the two delivery models. The main reasons for feeling time pressure were the pressures of work/study and trying to balance work and family responsibilities. There was no significant correlation between time pressure and academic success across the delivery models, however for two subjects compared in this study academic success did increase in the Southern Cross Model overall. Moderate time pressure can enhance productivity and performance and the increased flexibility of the Southern Cross model may enable non-traditional students to balance competing commitments more successfully while achieving their academic goals.

Contemporary higher education pedagogies suggest there is a pressing need to innovate beyond didactic content delivery in standard 12-15 week teaching periods. This need has been intensified by the growing numbers of students from 'non-traditional' backgrounds in higher education, many of whom lead complex lives with competing responsibilities. Shorter delivery models are a promising alternative for heightening the success of diverse student cohorts; however, concerns about whether such models enable an equivalent quality of learning persist. The current study investigates the impact of the Southern Cross Model (SCM), a distinctive application of Technology-Enhanced Active Learning in a Shorter delivery model (TEALS), on students in an Australian university pathway program. Focus groups and institutional data provide rich insight into how the SCM can positively impact non-traditional students' learning and enable enhanced success and academic achievement. The study identified three key elements underpinning these outcomes: constructive alignment in a six-week term; the learning-centred design of interactive, responsive online modules; and respectful, dialogic teaching approaches. For the novice, non-traditional students in this study these elements led to increased focus and confidence and facilitated their transformations into critical, independent learners. This further resulted in increased pass rates and grade point averages (GPAs). The research indicates that the SCM, as a specific example of TEALS, can strengthen learning outcomes and empower non-traditional students for successful university study.