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Cited by 20Higher Education Governance and DevelopmentGlobal Education Systems and PoliciesEvaluation of Teaching Practices

The role of transnational networking for higher education academics

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Wakefield, Kelly, Dismore, Harriet·2015·Higher Education Research & Development
DOI 10.1080/07294360.2015.1024630
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Abstract

Amidst rapid socio-economic change, higher education (HE) academics across the world face major challenges to its organisation, finance and management. This paper discusses the role of transnational networking in higher education. Data from 40 interviews with geographically distributed academics engaged in learning and teaching transnational networks (TNNs) were analysed. The findings show that in an increasingly globalised higher education system, transnational networking goes beyond conference attendance to entail multiple combinations of offline and online activities. We do not think that current concepts of communities of practice or networks of practice accurately describe these phenomena. Instead, we suggest that these activities entail different and varying levels of tangibility, more accurately defined by us as TNNs. Moreover, we argue that the term ‘network’ in this context facilitates the individualistic pursuit of a career increasingly essential in a pressurised higher education environment.

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  • The networking behaviors and support structures for doctoral students remain an under-researched area.

    “However, the networking behaviors and support structures for doctoral students remain an under researched area (Goel & Grimpe, 2013;Wakefield & Dismore, 2015).”

    From Academic Conferences as Learning Sites: A Multinational Comparison of Doctoral Students’ Perspectives and Institutional Policy (2019) · cites this paper as Wakefield & Dismore, 2015

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says few studies have examined how individual academics engage in and experience networks, and Networked individualism (page unavailable) says studies of academic networks have been limited in scope. Those passages support a research gap concerning academics’ networking, but they do not establish that doctoral students’ networking behaviors or support structures are under-researched. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Cited by

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Authors
Wakefield, K., & Dismore, H.
Affiliations
University of Southampton (GB)
Corresponding author
Dismore, Harriet
ORCID
Dismore, Harriet
Venue
Higher Education Research & Development
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2015-04-24
Volume
34
Issue
6
Pages
1281-1296
ISSN
  • 0729-4360 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8366
DOI
10.1080/07294360.2015.1024630
OpenAlex
W2028821871
Cited by
20
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2
FWCI
8.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Higher Education Research & Development (publishedVersion)
  • PEARL (University of Plymouth) (submittedVersion)
  • ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Higher Education Governance and Development
  • Social Sciences › Education › Global Education Systems and Policies
  • Social Sciences › Education › Evaluation of Teaching Practices
Keywords
transnational networking, higher education academics, communities of practice, networks of practice, academic careers, globalization of higher education, academic professional development

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