ICMS builds reputation in Academic Scholarship

In pursuit of building on an existing reputation as an industry leader within the Australian higher education landscape, the International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS) is taking steps to ensure continued scholarly engagement that positively impacts on students, faculty, and industry.

The recent appointment of Dr Betel Sekendiz (PhD) as Associate Dean (Scholarship and Civic Leadership) underlines ICMS’ focus and commitment to scholarship, as she drives the strategic approach ICMS has taken to build the institution’s academic profile and reputation.

“One of our strategic goals is the alignment of teaching, learning, and scholarship advances with our distinct disciplines and fields of study, which we are keen to share with wider academic and industry audiences to strengthen ICMS’s scholarly reputation,” ICMS DVC (Learning and Teaching) Dr Heidi Le Sueur (PhD) said.

“It is our ambition to build our position as a leader among private providers in Australia, known for educational excellence and scholarship with a strong industry focus, thereby reinforcing the value of our institution in the higher education sector and, most importantly, adding value for our students.”

What is Academic Scholarship and why is it important to ICMS?

TEQSA (2022) defines scholarship as “those activities concerned with gaining new or improved understanding, or appreciation and insights into a field of knowledge, or engaging with and keeping up to date with advances in the field”.

Dr Sekendiz explains how these activities are non-negotiable for higher education institutions of repute, but adds that sentiments around scholarship go far deeper than merely the acquisition and distribution of knowledge.

“I would argue that scholarship is an integral part of higher education. As Boyer (1990) says, scholarship is at the heart of what the academic profession is all about. Scholarship can also enable ICMS to make a positive and powerful impact on society,” Sekendiz said.

Good Scholarship is Impactful and Rigorous

“Good scholarship is impactful and rigorous. We invest time in scholarship not just because of status, ranking or prestige. We invest time in scholarship because it can bring a positive impact to the world we live in. If we can do this, individually and collectively, ICMS’ impact can be very powerful and sustainable.”

As Associate Dean (Scholarship and Civic Leadership), Dr Sekendiz’s mandate includes ensuring that ICMS can demonstrate evidence of informed teaching and professional practice, systematic support for scholarship, advancement and dissemination of knowledge, academic leadership and expertise, as well as engagement with employers, industry and communities. The ICMS scholarship framework guides this portfolio.

“Scholarship is important for ICMS as this work reinforces our commitment to critical reflective practice, and fosters continued staff engagement with contemporary insights,” Le Sueur said.

“Scholarly engagement is set out to enhance our contribution and advancements within our fields and areas of expertise.”

Academic Scholarship support

“My priority this year is to build a strong foundation for ICMS’ scholarship agenda by putting adequate infrastructure in place and strengthening the scholarship culture within ICMS,” Sekendiz said.

ICMS is supporting scholarship outcomes by staff via the introduction of a new funding and incentive structure for academic scholarship. This includes a new scholarship excellence award, seed funding and a scholarship support grant.

“I have also recently introduced the idea of scholarship clusters, where colleagues with shared values, interests and goals can support each other and work together. They will form the foundation for our scholarship culture and capacity building,” Sekendiz said.

At ICMS, the scholarship culture will be one that is driven by impact and communities of people, or ‘scholarship clusters’, with complementary purpose and skills.

Evaluating the impact of scholarship at ICMS

There are a number of ways to evaluate impact. These include longitudinal analysis, contribution and pathway analysis, and case-based and narrative analysis, where an impact case is made by triangulating multiple sources of evidence (Reed, 2018).

“Evaluation of impact is a rather complex topic,” Sekendiz said.

“When it comes to impact, it is important to start with the mission and strategic objectives of ICMS and it can then be decided the intention of the nature of impact and how that would be evaluated.”

Glassick (2000) suggests using the following six standards to evaluate the quality of scholarship:

• Clear goals
• Adequate preparation
• Appropriate methods
• Significant results
• Effective presentation
• Reflective critique

“We believe in our staff, and we’re certain that the professional development they undertake can make a real impact in terms of scholarship contributions. It’s all about making sure our teaching and learning methods, and scholarship practices are up-to-date, relevant for our stakeholders and aligned with what we specialise in at ICMS,” Le Sueur said.

Recent examples of Scholarly output at ICMS

Arash Najmaei and Zahra Sadeghiejad, (2023), “ChatGPT, AI-driven World and the New Reality of Online Education”, in Greg W and Ian O (eds), The New Reality – ISBN 978-0-6457289-6-5, Intertype, 2023

Orekat, F., Murray, G., and Le, A., (2023). Investigating visitors’ experiences at the heritage site of Sydney’s Quarantine Station, Proceeding of 2023 CAUTHE conference, Fremantle, Western Australia February 07-09, 2023

Nastjuk, I. (forthcoming). A Process-Based Approach to Information Security Investment Evaluation: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation – accepted for publication for the Americas Conference on Information Systems 2023.

Leonid Petrov (PG Dean) has given interviews to ABC Radio, BBC World Radio, SBS TV & Radio, TRT World TV, and Times Higher Education.

References

Boyer, E.L. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Glassick, C.E. (2000). Boyer’s Expanded Definitions of Scholarship, the Standards for Assessing Scholarship, and the Elusiveness of the Scholarship of Teaching. Academic Medicine, 75(9): 877-880.

Reed, M.S. (2018). The Research Impact Handbook. 2nd ed. Fast Track Impact.

TEQSA (2022). Guidance note: Scholarship. Version 3.0.