There has been much concern in the higher education sector recently about the well-being and the safety of slightly more than 200,000 international students studying in higher education in Australia. In recognition of the economic and socio-cultural value of the international student cohort, as well as the significant challenge and risk of studying away from family and friends in a foreign community, CQUniversity has focused for the last two years on improving social integration for over 5000 international students. These students are studying at CQUniversity metropolitan campuses in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney, which are popular destinations for international students. Initiatives to enhance social integration for these students were achieved in partnership with the local community, staff and other students. This paper reports the results of a survey of 446 CQUniversity international students who have had access to these enhanced opportunities for integration as well as a focus-group discussion with staff and students. Results determine the success of these initiatives from the perspective of students as well as key staff and identify further initiatives considered beneficial to supporting continuing social integration.

This paper reports on research conducted to understand key factors impacting the recruitment and selection of senior academic leaders in Australian universities. A key finding emerging from this research was an increasing reliance on executive search firms when recruiting senior academic leaders. This reliance is driven by a range of factors including an ageing and contracting pool of potential academic leaders, growing competition domestically and internationally and the declining attractiveness of academia as a sustainable career in the context of increased casualisation of the academic workforce. Concurrently, workforce planning and succession planning have not been a high priority for many universities. As a result, Australian universities are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit senior academic leaders without the use of executive search firms. These findings have significant implications for the higher education sector in Australia and warrant further research.

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