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Increasing numbers of university students in USA, UK and Australia are undertaking industry placements to gain workplace experience. However, outcomes are not always as expected. This paper aims to identify challenges for universities and host organizations in delivering quality student industry placement and presents strategies to achieve successful learning outcomes.

The reflections, evaluation and feedback data received from stakeholders, namely, university students, host organizations and faculty mentors in a large Australian university were used to formulate strategies.

Lessons learned from the authors’ experience in industry placement programs over 5 years with 180 students in 127 organizations indicate that careful planning and management of placements is needed to achieve successful learning outcomes.

Further research into the application of these strategies in other universities would be valuable.

Lessons learned and recommendations offered provide strategies to assist in planning and management of industry placements.

Given the growing popularity of work experience in university programs, this should be of interest to faculty and organizations.

The purpose of this study was to explore local and international business students' perceptions of their intercultural group work experience as a mechanism for developing intercultural competence and group work skills.

Using qualitative interviews, the group work experiences of 11 final-year undergraduate local and international students in a business program in a large Australian university were analysed.

The findings suggest that international and local students working together on group assignments create social and academic situations that result in “at best” limited positive intercultural learning and relationships. Differences in expectations, motivations, language fluency, trust and relationship issues were evident when students collaborated on group assignments. Thus, it appears that group assignments are potentially flawed mechanisms for delivering the goals of intercultural competence and group work skills in business students.

Although this exploratory study is limited in scope, the research has implications for pedagogical strategies, in particular, the use and design of group assignments and the preparation of students for working on group tasks in intercultural groups. It also has implications for developing effective learning mechanisms that lead to improved student intercultural competence, greater socio-cultural engagement and the academic success of international and local business students, as well as positive learning experiences for all.

The findings of this study are likely to be a useful resource for university staff considering the use of group work assignments for the development of intercultural understanding and competence and collaborative skills.

Australia has enjoyed two decades of growth in international student enrolments. This phenomenon, combined with the evolution of quality assurance policy frameworks, has stimulated interest in the social and academic experiences of international students and their educational outcomes. The Australian Universities Quality Agency's (AUQA) second round of quality audits assessed and reported on the performance of Australian universities in the area of “internationalisation”. AUQA findings and recommendations for required action send powerful messages to guide university priorities, practices and strategies in pursuit of quality enhancement in relation to student engagement. This paper seeks to address these issues.

This study uses a thematic analysis approach to explore “internationalisation” in 14 AUQA audit reports published between 2006 and 2010.

This paper identifies three key areas arising from AUQA audit reports that form a basis for discussion in this paper. These areas are: the social and academic engagement of both international and local students, and matters relating to English language standards and support. Observations arising from AUQA university reports direct attention to examples of initiatives that appear to be enriching the quality of the student engagement and indicate where further development may be required.

In seeking strategies for enhanced student experience, AUQA supports collaboration across universities in devising models for identifying student needs and creating mechanisms that bring about quality student experience, engagement and language outcomes. This analysis of the reports will likely assist those stakeholders working in universities who wish to identify successful approaches to promote the engagement of international students and refine existing useful and positive strategies in implementing and developing ideas in their own individual university contexts.

Analysis of the substantial text of AUQA reports have been underexploited by researchers to date. This paper is likely to be of interest to those stakeholders of international education in universities, not only in Australia but in other national contexts where international students are significantly represented.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the experiences of a large Australian Government department in the successful trialling of a formal reverse mentoring project for developing information technology (IT) competence in executives.

A case study approach was used to collect data from interviews with the organization’s project leader. Data were also sourced from relevant internal documents and appropriate literature.

The results suggest that formal reverse mentoring projects can have additional reciprocal benefits for both parties such as leadership development, knowledge creation and relationship building. Furthermore, it emerged that clear procedures, effective structures and time spent on participant preparation contributed to the project’s success.

Findings from a single case study may not be generalizable to all contexts.

This paper provides guidance to trainers and leaders in the planning and delivery of an innovative reverse mentoring project for IT competence and beyond.

This paper contributes to an understanding of leadership development through mentoring and offers practical assistance to leaders, managers and trainers.

Women came into the Australian banking industry to “fill in” for men and were left in lower grade, non‐career jobs on their return. For the majority of women, little has changed with respect to their status in the industry. They outnumber men in lower level clerical grades and perform the bulk of part‐time work. Very few women remain in the industry for a significant length of time, contributing to their under‐representation in management. Managers and women themselves need to be aware of the structural, attitudinal, and social barriers which effectively disadvantage full‐time and part‐time women in the branch banking system so that affirmative action programmes can be correctly focused. Makes a number of recommendations to address these problems.

Growing numbers of international students on Australian university campuses in the last decade have generated interest, change and quality challenges. Research suggests that the future success of Australian universities rests on their ability to meet the challenge of providing a stimulating and rewarding higher education experience for domestic and international students alike. The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) has sought, through its second round of quality reviews, to focus on the performance of Australian universities with regard to international activities. Specifically, this paper seeks to establish the “pulse” in relation to the issues and strategies aimed at the social engagement of international students as part of their wider experience on campus.

A thematic analysis approach was adopted to explore “internationalisation” in 14 AUQA audit reports published between 2006 and 2010.

The findings of the study have led to first, the development of a definition of social engagement as an aspect of the international student experience. Second, they identify the key contexts targeted by universities as being relevant to the social engagement of international students. Third, the findings focus on the strategies adopted by universities in enhancing social engagement.

Observations of AUQA university reports point to the need for further research concerned with student engagement with communities beyond the campus and also to explore online software as a tool for social engagement. One limitation of the study lies in the fact that, whilst many university reports allude to student experience questionnaires, the voice of international students in describing their own social experiences is not emphasised.

Together with a focus on social engagement from the student's own point‐of‐view, the findings of this study are likely to be a useful resource for university staff considering the contexts in which the social engagement of international students is targeted and the strategies they adopt.

Women in Management Review Volume 9 No. 1 of this journal contains five articles of interest. In the first, entitled “Power, Sex and Systems”, Virginia E. Schein examines the power‐related properties of professional and organisational systems and considers their influence on reactions to sexual harassment. It is argued that, when the socio‐cultural power model of male dominance operates within pluralistic/political professional and organisational systems, these systems can become breeding‐grounds for sexual harassment behaviours that are tolerated rather than told on. A contrast between careers within systems and less system bound jobs illustrates the influence of context on decisions to tell or tolerate.

A WEEK or two ago The Municipal Journal, in chronicling the opening of new libraries at Barrow and Bethnal Green, expressed the opinion that libraries “were having a new lease of life.” The phrase is a curious one, as we were not aware that libraries were in a state of senility, although we were vividly aware of their imperfections. It is, nevertheless, true that there has been unwonted library activity of late, and library matters now receive some real attention in the public press. The latter may be due in some measure to the recent publicity campaign of the Library Association. Still, that does not account for the fact that many places, hitherto not quite awake to the value of libraries, are now asking about them, as Sutton, Weymouth, Marylebone, Coulsoon and Purley, while others are pressing for development, especially in the direction of Children's Libraries.