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Due to the limitations to the purpose and practice of both phenomenological and duoethnographic research methodologies, the purpose of this paper is to propose phenomenological polyethnography as a hybrid qualitative methodology, which would guide skilled researchers in conducting phenomenological exploration of an emergent experience as insiders.

This study is an applied a hybridization approach to phenomenology and duoethnography as two distinct qualitative research traditions.

Employing a poststructuralist perspective, researcher-participants with relevant difference co-investigate a phenomenological question together. Borrowing elements from both hermeneutic phenomenology and duoethnography, this methodology involves the consideration of a phenomenon, the use of authors with relevant difference who have both special insight into that phenomenon as participants and skill as qualitative researchers, the intentional collection of prereflective data while all researcher-participants are experiencing the phenomenon or immediately after, the subsequent reflection upon and interpretation of the phenomenon as it was similarly and differently experienced by the researcher-participants, and the description of both the essence and meaning of the phenomenon.

This new, hybrid qualitative methodology will enable researchers to more efficiently analyze and disseminate the research of insider knowledge on emergent phenomena in higher education and other settings.

As a new methodology, it may be used to investigate events and provide rich, thick description in a way not before seen.

In the higher education sector, the evaluation of learning and teaching projects is assuming a role as a quality and accountability indicator. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how learning and teaching project evaluation is approached and critiques alignment between evaluation theory and practice.

The emergent realism paradigm provides the theoretical framework with a pragmatic approach to mixed-methods data collection. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcripts of interviews with 15 project leaders.

Four key themes on project evaluation emerged: how evaluation is conceptualized, particularly the overlap, even conflation, between evaluation and research; capability building within the sector; resourcing in terms of time and money; and the role of an action-oriented approach to evaluation. The authors conclude that misalignment exists between evaluation theory and the practice of project evaluation and that this relationship can be further inhibited by a project leader’s perception of evaluation.

A series of strategies for developing capacity across the higher education sector for project evaluation are presented. These include the development and provision of: a time allocation for evaluation in future and ongoing project plans with procedures to revisit the project and assess impact; models of how to incorporate evaluation into the research cycle; constructive feedback on evaluation reports from the university funding body; and networking opportunities to disseminate learnings from project evaluations.

This study focusses on the under-researched area of evaluation of learning and teaching projects in higher education, providing research-based evidence for strategies to develop sector capacity.

Empirical studies in relation to employability development opportunities (EDOs) and university students’ enhanced employability are few, especially in Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent of university students’ engagement with EDOs and to empirically establish the extent of the relationship between these EDOs and students’ enhanced employability.

Data were collected from 600 final-year university students in Nigeria with the use of an adapted questionnaire. The 29 items on the questionnaire were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis in which 28 loaded under six factors which were used for further analysis.

Results indicate that at Nigerian universities students are engaging with all the EDOs to a moderately sufficient extent. Findings also show that there is a significant positive relationship between EDOs and students’ enhanced employability. Besides, considering the relative contribution of each of the EDOs to students’ enhanced employability, real-world activities make the highest contribution. Extracurricular activities were found to have no significant relationship with students’ enhanced employability.

Not all the EDOs are measured in the study.

Apart from empirically confirming the significant positive relationship between EDOs and university students’ enhanced employability, the study has established the relative contribution of each of these EDOs, which is a major contribution to the limited existing body of knowledge on university students’ employability.

The purpose of this paper is to map out and characterize existing health-promotion initiatives at Florida International University (FIU) in the USA in order to inform decision makers involved in the development of a comprehensive and a long-term healthy university strategy.

This study encompasses a narrative literature review on health promotion in higher education institutions and the identification and characterization of the various health-promotion initiatives associated with the subject of healthy universities at FIU. The characterization of health-promoting initiatives relied on the stakeholder analysis approach. Using the information obtained from this study, a map for promoting health initiatives with their location, capacities, leadership, and resources was established.

Most publications on health-promoting universities are limited to partial experiences’ reproduction. Self-financing health-promoting initiatives foster competition and work in silos. Gains of health-promotion interventions require governance, participation, and academic considerations. This study highlights the need for standards and minimum requirements for the mapping and characterization of health-promoting initiatives within institutions of higher education. The health-promotion strategy should fall within the university’s social responsibility policy.

This study helps identify organizational strengths and weaknesses and can inform decision makers seeking to establish policies and strategies as well as defining priorities and courses of action for healthy universities.

Many universities are in the process of changing their learning management systems to Moodle yet there is limited empirical research available on the impact of this change. The purpose of this paper is to explore the results of an initial pilot, which was conducted as the first stage of implementing Moodle at an Australian university.

The pilot study involved an online survey and a focus group with unit convenors teaching Open University Australia (OUA) units in Moodle.

The aim was to essentially test Moodle and eliminate any technological issues prior to the university-wide roll-out the following year. It was envisaged that this pilot would contribute to building capability and knowledge amongst staff members; however, it was unanticipated that this would be jeopardised by a wider and ongoing issue in higher education; namely, the casualisation of the academic workforce. The paper maps the accumulated knowledge of these unit convenors and how this knowledge is “walking out the door”.

The paper argues that an environment of insecure employment is a barrier to change management.