De las controversias y de las acciones a que se refiere el artículo 105, mismas que

8.1

Introduction

This Chapter presents the results of an analysis of motivation records (letters and paragraphs in Faculty minutes) written by academics in support of students’ applications for alternative admission to Master’s degree studies at RU over the period 1999-2008. It draws together data gathered from the motivation records as well as the interviews in order to identify and explicate the attributes academics assume Master’s level students already possess upon entry to the degree. Potential evidence sources are then explored based on the attribute categories identified. Examples of anomalies in the implementation of the University’s AEG rules are presented before the chapter findings are summarised in the discussion and synthesis.

8.2

The Concept of Postgraduate Readiness

The concept and context of ‘graduateness’ - the skills, values and characteristics a graduate is expected to possess upon completion of a qualification - is discussed in detail in Chapter 4. The term graduateness is traditionally used in reference to graduates about to join the workforce as opposed to those proceeding to further study and increasingly, universities are drawing up lists of graduate attributes they expect students who have studied undergraduate qualifications at their institution to embody upon graduation.

A few universities, most notably in Australia, are also beginning to formulate ‘postgraduate graduate attributes’ which describe the more advanced graduate attributes which students who have completed a postgraduate qualification could be expected to demonstrate. The University of Queensland, for example, describes the “set of qualities, skills and abilities that a University of Queensland *post+graduate may demonstrate in addition to specific knowledge in the field studied” under five headings:

 In-depth knowledge and skills in the field of study

 Effective communication

 Independence and creativity

 Critical judgement

 Ethical and social understanding

(https://ppl.app.uq.edu.au/content/3.10.06-postgraduate-coursework-graduate- attributes, accessed 1 December 2013)

112 In another example, the University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Education expects postgraduate students, “according to different course contexts, to develop and demonstrate various attributes” under four headings:

 Disposition

 Cognition

 Communication

 Application

http://www.education.uwa.edu.au/students/postgraduate-attributes

In a document entitled ‘Graduate Attributes for Postgraduate Research’, CQ University in Queensland, Australia, sets out the skills and qualities graduates of Master’s and doctoral degrees will (sic) be able to demonstrate, under eight headings:

 Knowledge

 Thinking skills

 Research skills

 Communication skills

 Ethical and professional responsibility

 Self-management

 Technical skills

 International perspective

http://www.local.cqu.edu.au/academic_board/graduateattributes/Graduate%20Attribu tes%20for%20Postgraduate%20Research%2031%20May%202012.pdf

In effect then, various lists of graduate attributes have been developed to characterise students who have completed undergraduate degrees and are about to join the workforce, and various lists of postgraduate attributes have been developed to characterise students who have completed postgraduate degrees. However, the attributes expected of a graduate who wishes to enter postgraduate level study appear to be relatively unexplored in the literature.

The term ‘postgraduate readiness attributes’ is therefore used in this Chapter in order to differentiate the attributes relevant to undertaking further study as opposed to the attributes desired in graduates about to join the workforce (commonly referred to in the literature as ‘graduate attributes’) or attributes expected of those who complete postgraduate qualifications (postgraduate attributes).

8.3

Interviewees’ Comments on Postgraduate Readiness

The final question in the interviews undertaken in this study aimed to identify and explore the attributes which the interviewees felt could be expected or assumed of

113 someone who is about to enter Master’s level study, regardless of their formal or informal background. Before discussing the attributes themselves (See Section 8.4), it is worth noting some preliminary comments on the concept of readiness for postgraduate studies, extracted from the interview transcripts.

One academic felt intellectual initiative, curiosity and passion - and the ability to put these into practice - were essential qualities in preparedness for postgraduate study:

One looks for initiative, particularly intellectual initiative. In undergrad study you build the engine but in postgrad study you need to run it! The spark of intellectual liveliness is the motor running. You cannot be a lump of dough, awaiting instructions. You cannot passively climb the academic ladder. Many have writing and thinking skills but no curiosity or passion. One can get some going, others not. Often they say and do the right things but there is a vacuum. Critical thought often results in wafflers. You need to be able to DO at some stage. You must be able to move from conception to praxis. (Respondent 9)

Another interviewee felt it was important to “look at the 'whole person', not just here is a 'senior manager with five years' experience'. We should provide a range of criteria which takes the whole person into account” and added that some people could be regarded as scholars even without a formal education. (Respondent 2) A pertinent point was raised by one respondent who noted that graduate attributes were not necessarily the same for different levels of postgraduate study and that “the concept of graduate readiness to me would normally include having an honours degree.” (Resp. 4) In a similar vein, a Science Faculty academic felt “One must look at what one looks for in a graduate after third year, Honours, Master’s, PhD, and THEN look at the curriculum to see how that can be achieved.” (Respondent 12)

Whilst one interviewee felt the experience of “having gone through a qualification is more important than content” (Respondent 5), another pointed out that “the ability to succeed is hard to demonstrate if there is no academic qualification.” (Respondent 15)

Several interviewees commented on the practical challenges of measuring postgraduate readiness:

Academic acumen or capability can only be assessed by subjective judgement, based on the student’s motivation and interview. (Respondent 5)

Critical thinking skills is a nebulous concept. How do we measure this? (Respondent 11)

Graduate attributes are difficult to capture. It is done on an individual basis. One can pick up graduate attributes from interviews with applicants, not from their qualifications. (Respondent 13)

114 The lack of a framework, guidelines and/or criteria for assessing postgraduate readiness was also mentioned as problematic:

The question we should ask is “What do you need to be able to DO to undertake a thesis?”… The problem is that the motivation letter says this person is very good, but there are no explicit criteria or guidelines. BUT, there are no explicit criteria or guidelines [for graduate attributes] for formal admissions either! (Respondent 14) There should be an exercise or test set to measure 'current competence' rather than graduate attributes. For example, an essay or task which is assessed at a Master's level. We should also require a formal proposal which must be the basis on which the final decision is made. (Respondent 16)

More important than the possession of specific attributes, according to one respondent, was having the potential to develop such attributes:

Practical work is descriptive. Academic work is deeply conceptual. What is more important than possessing graduate attributes is having the potential to acquire the necessary skills and sophistication to do a Master’s. (Respondent 8)

In summary, a common thread running through the interviewees’ opinions on postgraduate readiness was that there is no ‘recipe’ or ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to identifying and assessing a student’s preparedness for undertaking Master’s level study. In addition, it seems that whilst guidelines and generic assessment exercises would be helpful in the process, the ultimate judgement on whether a student is suited to Master’s level study is best left to experienced academics’ professional wisdom on a case-by-case basis.

8.4

Interviewees’ Opinions on Graduate Attributes for Postgraduate

Readiness

As mentioned in the previous section, at the end of the interviews, all sixteen respondents were asked to consider the concept of ‘graduateness’, and share their thoughts on the attributes they would expect or assume of someone who is about to enter Master’s level study, regardless of the students’ formal or informal background and admission status.

One interviewee kindly provided a copy of a standard letter (Shackleton, 2009), which that particular Department sent to referees of potential doctoral students, saying the qualities referees were asked to comment on would be similar to those they would expect to find in Master’s level students (referees were not required by the Department for Master’s level applicants). The graduate attributes identified in this letter (which the referees were asked to assess the student on) were:

115

 Research competence

 Ability to work alone

 Ability to work under pressure

 Personal motivation, discipline, attention to detail

 Proficiency in quantitative studies and analysis of data

 Leadership capabilities and qualities

 General character and how work colleagues view him and his work

 Strengths and weaknesses regarding his abilities to design research protocols, execute the work and analyse the data (areas that may require support and attention from his supervisors).

After the interview transcripts were coded, several categories emerged which were based on an amalgamation of key words and concepts found during the course of this entire study. They represent my cumulative interpretation of the ‘attribute groups’ used implicitly or explicitly by academics in formal motivation records as well as when considering whether or not a student should be admitted to Master’s level study without the formal qualification requirements, as identified from the interview transcripts. The eight categories finally settled on for postgraduate readiness attributes were:

 Academic Record or Results

 Professional/Field/Work Experience

 Reputation or Contribution to the Subject or Field

 Research Experience or Potential

 Academic Capabilities or Potential

 Leadership or Multiplier Potential

 Personal Characteristics

 Other

Once the responses had been categorized, a quantitative analysis of the results was conducted, as reflected in Table 16. A total of 113 distinct postgraduate readiness attributes were captured in total from the interview transcripts. Of those, 50, or 44%, referred to the category “Academic Capabilities or Potential”, whilst the second most frequently mentioned attribute was “Personal Characteristics”, at 27%. Least cited were “Leadership or Multiplier Potential” and “Reputation or Contribution to Field” at 1% frequency respectively (see Graph 7).

TABLE 16: Attribute Frequency in Interview Transcripts

POSTGRADUATE READINESS ATTRIBUTE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Academic Ability or Potential 50 44%

Personal Characteristics 30 27%

Academic Record or Results 9 8%

116

POSTGRADUATE READINESS ATTRIBUTE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Other 8 7%

Research Experience or Potential 6 5% Leadership or Multiplier Potential 1 1% Reputation or Contribution to Field 1 1%

TOTAL 113 100%

GRAPH 7: Postgraduate Attribute Citing Frequency in Interview Transcripts

The actual attributes cited under each category are shown in Table 17 below: TABLE 17: Postgraduate Readiness Attributes Identified by Interviewees, by

Category POSTGRADUATE

READINESS ATTRIBUTE CATEGORY

SPECIFIC POSTGRADUATE READINESS ATTRIBUTES (including duplications)

1.

Academic Ability or Potential

*Ability to back up claims (not dinner table/street opinions without evidence)

*Ability to conceptualise and describe *Ability to deploy information

*Ability to make connections between disparate things *Ability to make critical arguments from passive information

*Ability to move out of the practice of doing, and reflect on their own practice 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Postgraduate Attribute Citing Frequency