Synopsis

The rise of an audit culture in higher education has had marked effects, notably in the Asia-Pacific. Since their introduction in the early 1990s, in the UK and Australia, academic audits have grown and become more detailed, demanding ever more time, energy and financial resources.

While research shows that such audits are msupported by both governments and institutional leaders (despite the latter recognizing how costly such processes are in institutional terms), research reveals that the effects of audit culture significantly distorts the academic mission, favouring research published in highly ranked international journals, at the expense of local journals, and enhancing gender differences in the profession. For an English language system that is increasingly integrated into the Asia–Pacific (Australia), with a diverse academic staff, the effects are complex, and not entirely uniform. But in China and Japan, studies also reveal rising pressure, albeit in distinctive ways. Overall, the effects have been to devalue collegiality, and re-shape academics into self-monitoring subjects.

Biography of Speaker

Professor Anthony Welch specialises in national and international policy and practice, principally in international higher education, and cross-cultural analysis and research. He has extensive experience in many countries and has published widely, contributing numerous analyses of issues such as cross-cultural interactions; rural education, comparative research methods in education; and practical reform affecting multiculturalism, indigenous minorities, international students, higher education reforms, internationalisation of higher education in the Asia Pacific, and changes to the academic profession.

Extensive international contacts with organisations such as the OECD, UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank, ADB, CEDEFOP (Europe), BIBB (Germany), IREDU (France), the Fulbright Commission, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT), has allowed Tony to contribute to major projects and reforms in various parts of the world. He has consulted to governments in Australia, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Europe, to foundations in the USA, and to international agencies, principally in the area of higher education reform.