Melbourne Graduate School of Education Centre for the Study of Higher Education

Professor Richard James

Professor of Higher Education and Centre Director, CSHE

Phone: +61 3 8344 7627

Fax: +61 3 8344 7576

Email: r.james@ unimelb.edu.au

Professor Richard James holds a chair in higher education and is a prominent researcher and commentator on higher education policy in Australia.  Since 2006 he has been the Director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education.  He is a Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders.

Richard has wide-ranging research interests in higher education that centre on the quality of the student experience.  His research program spans access and equity, the transition to university, student finances, student engagement, quality assurance and academic standards. He has published widely on the effects of social class on higher education aspirations and participation.  He has been the recipient or co-recipient of over $4 million in grants, including national competitive research grants.  He has published over 100 journal articles, book chapters, books and book-length reports and supervised 20 research students to successful completion, including 13 doctoral students. 

Much of his academic work is related to policy development.  Richard led significant national studies of equity and student finances for Universities Australia that were influential in the 2008 Review of Australian Higher Education.  In 2008 he co-directed the DEEWR commissioned project that developed the Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS).  He has recently been a member of the advisory group for the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund (LTPF) and the AUQA Advisory Group on Standards and conducted extensive policy development for the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council (IHEAC).

Richard’s research interests include studies of aspects of teaching and learning, including the assessment of student learning, the influences of disciplines of approaches to teaching, the teaching-research nexus and peer review of teaching. With CSHE colleagues he developed the framework, criteria and guidelines for the Australian Awards for University Teaching program of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).

Within the University of Melbourne he is the chair of the Teaching and Learning Development Committee of the University of Melbourne and chair of the Quality Assurance Committee for the Melbourne College of Divinity. He was a member of the Curriculum Commission that developed the ‘Melbourne Model’. He is the co-author, with Gabrielle Baldwin, of the Nine Principles Guiding Teaching and Learning in University of Melbourne and the handbook Eleven Practices of Effective Postgraduate Supervisors.

Working with Paul Briggs AM he led the creation of the Academy of Sport, Health and Education, the result of a partnership between the Rumbalara Football Netball Club and the University of Melbourne to establish an innovative educational institute for Indigenous people in the Goulburn Valley and remains a member of its executive.

Richard has presented a number of international keynote addresses, including in the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Vietnam and Malaysia.  He is presently working on a World Bank Project on higher education development in Vietnam. 

Recent papers and publications

Will the Bradley recommendations improve equity?, presentation at the opening forum of the National Centre for Student Equity, University of South Australia, 25-26 February 2009

Faculty of Education Dean's Lecture Series: Inaugural Professorial Lecture, (lecture recording)

Studying and working: A national study of student finances and student engagement, with Marcia Devlin and Gabrielle Grigg, paper presented at the EAIR Forum, Innsbruck, 26-29 August 2007

Implementing integrated strategies for enhancing staff motivation and satisfaction: The University of Melbourne approach, with Elizabeth Baré , paper presented at OECD/IMHE conference, Paris, 3-4 September 2007

Students and Student Learning in Mass Systems of Higher Education, Surrey, May 2007

Engaging with communities: Reconsidering strategies for access and equity in Australian higher education, Newcastle, August 2004

Understanding prospective student decision-making and the role of marketing in undergraduate education, 'Marketing Education 2002', Melbourne, 21-23 October 2002

Academic standards and the assessment of student learning: Some current issues in Australian higher education, Prague, 7 October 2002

The changing expectations of university students and the implications for learning, with David Beckett, Singapore, 13 July 2002

Equity of participation for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and rural and isolated areas, Submission to the 'Review of Australian Higher Education', 26 June 2002

How student perspectives challenge conventional marketing theory: The operation of the undergraduate market in higher education and the effects of application and selection processes, Invited presentation to the'Strategic Marketing for Higher Education Conference', 15-16 April 2002

Understanding prospective student decision-making and the implications for marketing strategies, 'Marketing Higher and Post-Secondary Education’, Sydney, 15-17 October 2001  

Students’ changing expectations of higher education and the consequences of mismatches with reality, OECD Programme in Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) ‘Management responses to changing student expectations’, Queensland, 24 September 2001

The selection of strategic system-level indicators to review the development of higher education, UNESCO Invitational Roundtable ‘System-Level Indicators for Higher/Tertiary Education’, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan, 12 June 2001

Rural and Isolated School Students and their Higher Education Choices. An equity report for the Higher Education Council, 1999

Which University?: The factors influencing the choices of prospective undergraduates. A report for the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, 1999

Non-traditional students and their university participation: An Australian perspective Paper presented at the '21st EAIR Forum', Lund University, Sweden, 25 August 1999

Helping prospective students make informed choices: Equity and quality in student decision-making Paper presented to the 'Education'99 conference', Sydney, 23-25 March 1999

Other publications and papers

Books and book-length research reports

JAMES, R., MEEK, L., HARMAN, G. HARRIS, K. Recommendations for an Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement.  Canberra: DEEWR. (2008)

JAMES, R. BEXLEY, E., MAXWELL, L. Participation and Equity. Canberra: Universities Australia (2008)

JAMES, R. BEXLEY, E., DEVLIN, M. & MARGINSON, S. Australian University Student Finances 2006: Final report a national survey of students in public universities.  Canberra: Universities Australia (2007)

JAMES, R. BEXLEY, E., DEVLIN, M. & MARGINSON, S. Australian University Student Finances 2006: A summary of findings from a national survey of students in public universities.  Canberra: Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (2007)

ALFORD, K. & JAMES, R. Pathways and barriers: Indigenous schooling and VET participation in the Goulburn Valley. 70 pp. Adelaide: National Council for Vocation Education Research ISBN 978 1 921170737(2007)

MOK, K. & JAMES, R. (eds.) Globalisation and higher education in East Asia.  Lancaster, UK: Marshall Cavendish Academic. 360 pp. ISBN-10 981210402X (2005)

HARRIS, K. & JAMES, R. Carrick Fellowship Scheme: Proposal for Selection Criteria and Nomination Guidelines (Confidential report to the Board of the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) (2005)

HARRIS, K., KRAUSE, K., JAMES, R., HOWARD, L. & GARNETT, R. Carrick Awards for Australian University Teaching: Proposal for Selection Criteria and Nomination Guidelines (Confidential report to the Board of the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) (2005)

KRAUSE, K., HARTLEY, R., JAMES, R. & McINNIS, C. The First Year Experience in Australian Universities: The findings from a decade of research. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training. ix + 105pp. (2005)

JAMES, R., HARRIS, K., KRAUSE, K., HOWARD, L. & GARNETT, R., Recommendations for an expanded program of Australian Awards for University Teaching (Confidential report to the Board of the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) xiv + 71pp. (2005)

JAMES, R., BALDWIN, G., COATES, H., KRAUSE, K., & McINNIS, C. (2004) Analysis of Equity Groups in Higher Education 1991-2002. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training. (2004)

JAMES, R. & BRENNAN, L. Indigenous students who withdraw before completing higher education: Expectations, experiences and outcomes.  (unpublished report)

JAMES, R., McINNIS, C. & DEVLIN,.M. Assessing Learning in Australian Universities, Australian Universities Teaching Committee 64 pp. (2002)

JAMES, R. Socioeconomic Background and Higher Education Participation: An analysis of school students’ aspirations and expectations. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service xi+67 pp. (2002)

McINNIS, C., GRIFFIN, P., JAMES, R. & COATES, H. Development of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service: x + 80pp. (2001)

JAMES, R. TAFE, University or Work?: The early preferences and choices of students in Years 10, 11, & 12.  Adelaide: National Council for Voc. Education Research: 60 pp.(2000) ISBN 0 87397 525 1.

JAMES, R., MILTON, J., & GABB, R. (eds) Cornerstones of Higher Education: Research and Development in Higher Education. Canberra: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia: iv + 122 pp. (2000) ISBN 0 908557-46-9.

McINNIS, C., JAMES, R. & HARTLEY, R. Trends in the First Year Experience in Australian Universities. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service: vii + 64 pp. (2000) ISBN 0 642 44864 7.

JAMES, R., BALDWIN, G. & McINNIS, C. Which University? The factors influencing the choices of prospective undergraduates. Canberra: Australian Government Pub. Service: xi + 90 pp. (1999) ISBN 0 642 23914 2.

JAMES, R., Wyn, J., baldwin, g., hepworth, g., mcinnis, c., & stephanou, A. Rural and Isolated Students and their Higher Education Choices: A re-examination of student location, socioeconomic background, and educational advantage and disadvantage. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service: xix +121 pp. (1999) ISBN 0 642 23871 5.

JAMES, R. & BalDwin, G. Eleven Practices of Effective Postgraduate Supervisors. Melb.: Centre for the Study of Higher Education & School of Graduate Studies: 46 pp. (1999) ISBN 0 7340 1622 0.

James, R. & Baldwin, G. Tutoring and Demonstrating: A Guide for the University of Melbourne. Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education: v + 80 pp. (1997). ISBN 0 7325 1067 8.

James, R. & Beattie, K. Expanding Options: Delivery Technologies and Postgraduate Coursework. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service: x + 109 pp. (1996). ISBN 0 644 45885 2.

James, R. & McInnis, C. (eds.) Transition to Active Learning: Proceedings of the 2nd Pacific Rim Conference on the First Year in Higher Education. Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education: v + 557 pp. (1996).

McInnis,, C. & James, R. First Year on Campus: Diversity in the Initial Experiences of Australian Undergraduates. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service: xii +159 pp. (1995).

McInnis, C., James, R. & Morris, A.  The Coursework Masters Degree: Growth, Diversity and Quality Assurance. Canberra: AGPS: x + 100 pp. (1995). ISBN 0 644 35684 7.

Chapters and Journal Articles