Biography and expertise
Biography
Professor Thomas Roche is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic Quality) and Dean of SCU College at Southern Cross University. He specialises in designing and managing quality university programs, with extensive experience supporting diverse student cohorts. He leads strategic education quality initiatives, including the Southern Cross Model, and has developed key frameworks for academic integrity and teaching scholarship. As Dean of SCU College, he oversees pathway programs that support entry for novice, international, and equity group students, ensuring they receive a transformative learning experience.
Professor Roche's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals
Research
Professor Roche's primary research interests are in Higher Education (HE) Teaching and Learning (e.g. HE curriculum design, immersive block models, HE pathways, non-traditional students in HE); Applied Linguistics (focusing largely on Additional Language Development (L2), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), University Direct Entry pathway programs, and Academic Literacies - including digital literacy).
Thomas recently co-lead the University's roll-out of the Southern Cross Model, a whole-of-institution transformation delivering better learning outcomes for students through immersive block learning.
In 2018-2019, he co-led the UECA National External Peer-Review initiative, the External Referencing of the ELICOS Standards and International Education (ERESIS) Project. The project's focus on developing benchmarking practices of institutional processes, curricula and assessment items against the 2018 ELICOS standards with 20 Australian University English Centres and 60 assessors using the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).
He has also published on Middle Eastern cultural studies with a focus on the language of dress in the Sultanate of Oman.
Teaching
Professor Roche has extensive experience teaching and managing higher education pathway programs for international and domestic students in Australia, and degree programs in Oman in partnership with The University of Queensland. He also conducts curriculum reviews, benchmarking, and quality assessments for universities in Australia and overseas.
Other
- Member of the Australian Government’s TEQSA Register of Experts
- University English Centres Australia (UECA) national committee member
- Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) - College of Reviewers member
- Student Success Journal. Inaugural Editorial Board member
Links
Organisational affiliations
Past affiliations
Highlights - Output
Journal article
Transforming lives: the power of an Australian enabling education
Published 11/2022
Higher Education Research and Development, 41, 7, 2426 - 2440
This study examines the impact of an Australian enabling program, underpinned by critical pedagogy, on students’ academic and professional success. Qualitative focus group data were collected from individuals who had completed an enabling program at a regional Australian university and progressed to undergraduate study. Quantitative data comparing the academic achievement of enabling and non-enabling students across a six-year period were also analysed. Together, the data present a compelling picture of the transformative power of enabling education underpinned by critical pedagogy. Students who completed the enabling program had higher success rates, grade point averages (GPAs) and retention rates than their non-enabling peers. They were also empowered to overcome limiting beliefs about their academic and professional potential, which in turn led to success in their studies and careers that they had not previously imagined possible.