Transforming higher education: A longitudinal study of change in an Australian university

This paper provides a brief overview of longitudinal case study research that focuses on the impact of change on academics in an Australian university. The research to date has been conducted primarily in two stages with a third stage under way as the university responds to the changes brought about by the Bradley review of Higher Education (2008). The Stage 1 research comprises doctoral research related to the impact of change on academics after the amalgamation of institutes or colleges of education to form a new university in 1991, post-Dawkins era. Five years after the completion of the doctoral research, a similar Stage 2 study was conducted at the same university and involved academics who participated in the Stage 1 research. Almost twenty years after its formation, the recently commenced Stage 3 research aims to identify the way in which the university and academics respond to the challenges presented in the Bradley Review of Higher Education (2008). Although this stage of the research is not yet completed, the paper outlines two initiatives that are indicative of emerging change processes within the university.