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Postgraduate Education in Higher Education pp 1–20Cite as

Enabling Innovative Postgraduate Graduate Research: Critical Foresight and Strategic Considerations for University Leaders

Part of the book series: University Development and Administration ((UDAA))

Abstract

Innovative postgraduate research is an outcome that requires necessary preconditions to flourish in the higher education system. Neither the system underpinning postgraduate research nor the students themselves can make this happen. Rather, the worldviews and assumptions of leaders as decision-makers, who continually build, amend, and deconstruct higher education systems, are critical precursors to nurturing innovative postgraduate research.

There is almost universal agreement that universities are vital in shaping global, national, and local futures. The impact of universities is broader than their traditional remit and encompasses a full diversity of ecological, social, and economic outcomes.

Universities have a pivotal role in achieving a shift from traditional sources of wealth to new service models, radical innovation, and small and medium enterprise development.

Disruptions faced by society are also disrupting traditionally “slow to change” university institutions. This challenges university leadership. While many still regard the world as thriving in the information age, it has been suggested that we have already transitioned into a new age, the conceptual age. Universities will need to address this shift to economies dependent on conceptual workers through their education model(s).

A new profile of university leadership is rapidly emerging to enable the emergence of innovative postgraduate studies to meet the need of the conceptual age through initiatives such as embodied in “third-generation postgraduate studies”. The necessary paradigms needed by university leaders are outlined for this important aspect of higher education engagement to flourish to the benefit of innovation, the economy, and ultimately societies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Luke van der Laan

  2. School of Linguistics, Adult and Specialist Education, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield, QLD, Australia

    Jenny Ostini

Authors
  1. Luke van der Laan
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  2. Jenny Ostini
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Correspondence to Luke van der Laan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

    Ronel Erwee

  2. Tertiary Preparation Program, University of Southern Queensland Tertiary Preparation Program, Queensland, Queensland, Australia

    Meredith Harmes

  3. Open Access College Administration, Queensland, Australia

    Marcus Harmes

  4. University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

    Patrick Alan Danaher

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van der Laan, L., Ostini, J. (2018). Enabling Innovative Postgraduate Graduate Research: Critical Foresight and Strategic Considerations for University Leaders. In: Erwee, R., Harmes, M., Harmes, M., Danaher, P. (eds) Postgraduate Education in Higher Education. University Development and Administration. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0468-1_16-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0468-1_16-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0468-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0468-1

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Enabling Innovative Postgraduate Research: Critical Foresight and Strategic Considerations for University Leaders
    Published:
    20 December 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0468-1_16-2

  2. Original

    Enabling Innovative Postgraduate Graduate Research: Critical Foresight and Strategic Considerations for University Leaders
    Published:
    30 October 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0468-1_16-1

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