Is there a discipline of higher education?

At a recent Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) meeting reference to the existence of a distinct discipline of higher education gave rise to a brief, challenging and inconclusive debate. For some the discipline was assumed without any need for reflection. For others the question certainly caused contemplation and scepticism.

'Higher education' can claim scholarly societies focused on 'the discipline', e.g. the American Association for Higher Education and the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Canada, HERDSA in Australasia. Research in the field is disseminated through a range of established national and international journals, e.g. Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education Research and Development and The Review of Higher Education. Centres with a focus on higher education exist in some Australian universities, including the Griffith Institute for Higher Education and the University of Melbourne's Centre for the Study of Higher Education. Conferences with a primary focus on higher education or a sub-set of that 'field' abound where the 'cognitive and social focus for research' is on teaching and learning in universities. While some of the student learning literature is generic there are also many examples of research highlighting the unique aspects of higher learning (as well as examples of learning processes specific to primary and secondary schools). A distinct and substantial body of literature, including what are considered by some to be standard texts, has developed over the past twenty years.

So, does this make higher education a 'discipline', and does such an identity matter? You be the judge.