Australian Universities' Review - Monitoring International Interest in Transnational Academic Mobility to Australia - A Mixed-Method Approach

Oct 15, 2026

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Monitoring international interest in transnational academic mobility to Australia is examined through a web-based portal and a mixed-method design. Web analytics generate quantitative evidence identifying global regions showing the strongest interest in Australian academic career opportunities, supported by passive observations of notable patterns and the tool’s strengths and limits. Because the initial approach could not determine user nationality or demographics, an online questionnaire is introduced to collect additional quantitative and qualitative demographic variables, enabling a richer profile of prospective academics.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background

A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W Monitoring international interest in transnational academic mobility to Australia A mixed-method approach John L. Hopkins Victoria University In a recent study, the issue of transnational academic mobility of academic staff, considering moves to higher education institutions in Australia, was examined using a web-based portal that attracted interested parties from around the world with information about Australian academic career opportunities. Web analytics were used as the research mechanism for generating quantitative data that identified the regions of the world from where most interest was being generated. Passive observations were made, leading to commentary on the regions of particular interest, the effectiveness of web analytics as a research tool, and the strengths and limitations of such an experiment. Whilst this study highlighted some interesting trends there were a number of inherent limitations. To build on these findings, and to overcome the original experiment’s limitations, an online questionnaire was introduced to extract additional quantitative and qualitative demographic data. In utilising this mixed-method approach, a more detailed profile of those interested in transnational academic mobility to Australia, has been developed. A number of interesting new findings emerged about the characteristics of those looking at academic careers in Australia, and a more detailed depiction of the transnational nature, and multicultural make up, of the academic profession has been realised. Introduction Hopkins (2011) developed a mechanism for monitoring interest in transnational academic mobility to Australia that utilised web analytics, the collection, measurement, monitoring, analysing and reporting of web usage data, to identify the geographical locations of visitors to a website providing information about academic careers in Australia (Hasan, Morris, & Probets, 2009) . From a total of almost thirty thousand data points collected over a twelve month period, the highest level of interest was identified as being from users within Australia (12.7 per cent), followed by UK (8.4 per cent), [US.edu](US.edu) (3.2 per cent), New Zealand (3 .1 per cent), Canada (2 .3 per cent), Germany (1 .6 per cent) and France (1.1 per cent); with the site being accessed by users located in 46 different countries overall. Whilst the research succeeded in collecting a valuable set of data that highlighted the nations where the highest level of web activity was originating, a number of limitations were also identified. The results were restricted 24 Monitoring international interest in transnational academic mobility to Australia, John L. Hopkins vol. 55, no. 2, 2013 A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W in detail to simply the country that the IP address of the user was located in, so the actual nationality of that user could not be determined, and other details such as gender, age, qualifications and area of career interest were also unknown. This research now extends beyond the realms of the original experiment to incorporate an online questionnaire that was designed to extract details about the users’age,gender, country of birth,country of residence, current position, highest qualification, fields of academic interest, reason for interest in Australia, and other countries they would consider for an academic career. Background Universities, like many modern organisations, operate and compete for business on a global scale;‘Information technology; the knowledge economy; increased mobility for students, faculty, programmes, and providers; and an integrated world economy propel this internationalisation’(Altbach & Knight, 2007, p. 303), making it a topic of great focus and debate. The added dimension brought by educational internationalisation poses new challenges for academic institutions and opportunities for staff, where new factors and

FAQs

How was international interest in academic mobility to Australia first monitored?

A web-based portal provided information about Australian academic career opportunities, and web analytics were used to quantify interest by visitor location.

What limitations affected the original web-analytics experiment?

Results were limited to inferring location via IP address, so the users’ actual nationality and key demographics such as gender, age, qualifications, and specific career-interest areas remained unknown.

How does the study address these limitations in the extended research?

An online questionnaire is added to extract additional quantitative and qualitative demographic details, including age, gender, birth and residence countries, current position, qualifications, academic fields of interest, and reasons for interest in Australia.

Oct 15, 2026

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