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Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including "News blog: Jo Johnson asks TEF questions and gives 'polished non-answers,' " in the July 1, 2015 issue, "Backstage hands," in the June 25, 2015 issue, and "V-cs wanting to lead from the front are frustrated by a lack of followers," in the June 18, 2015 issue.

The article explores whether training schemes for higher education teachers in Great Britain could help improve student learning. Topics covered include the pedagogic subject knowledge of teachers, the constant evolution in terms of the teacher's understanding of what teaching consists of, and how training programs can offer teachers alternative teaching methods.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in the February 23, 2017 issue including "Young academics' research 'elegant but not interesting'," by Richard Robison, "The gift of tongues," by Jacqueline Dutton, and a review of Krishna Dronamraju's biography "Popularizing Science."

The article explores whether the quality of university teaching in Great Britain can be measured in a useful way. Topics discussed include systematic biases to students' responses to student feedback questionnaires, the tendency of higher education in England to focus on measuring the degree program experience of students instead of their experience of individual teachers, and the effectiveness of the U.S. questionnaire, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

The article explores the effectiveness of enhancing student engagement in boosting learning in higher education institutions. Topics discussed include the use of the National Student Survey (NSS) to measure quality of higher education in Great Britain, the efforts of some institutions to get the students involved in solving quality problems, and the participation of students in teaching and assessment initiatives as a part of educational innovations.

Part four in a series of articles on research into teaching and learning is presented. This article examines the pedagogic effectiveness of using lectures in universities. The author cites results of studies that confirmed the ineffectiveness of lectures compared with other methods for achieving educational goals. He also discusses some notable lecturers, Donald Bligh's book "What's the Use of Lectures" and alternatives to lecturing that have better record of generating learning hours.

The article highlights research on learning and teaching. The author says improving teachers or the curricula nor policy or organisational changes are not educational interventions that makes the most difference on student performance. Doing an extraordinary variety of things when they take notes or set about writing were found on most successful students. Harvard University researchers revealed understanding knowledge and what to do with it are crucial in effective studying.

The article offers the author's insights on the demand for contact hours and its impact to student engagement. The author states that the demand has emerged in the Key Information Set which includes a performance indicator on the proportion of students' time consumed in class. He says that some class contact hours has little to do with educational quality. He relates that some pedagogic systems used class contact which are better than others to generate effective independent study hours.

In the article, the author discusses the developments in teaching and learning in the international higher education sector. It examines the importance of class size in the students' performance and retention. It cites the adverse effects of large class size in learning, including cheating, hiding library books and antisocial behaviour.

The author discusses how higher education institutions and their managers are behaving as if they were in a market, a behaviour that is affecting quality whose effects are not those that one might hope for. He notes how the rapid increasing student intake on a program is associated with overcrowded lectures and less small-group teaching. He points out that programmes need stability and sudden changes can make things worse and damage quality.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including "Knowledge is not enough...," by Craig Mahoney in the July 14, 2011 issue, "Middlesex braces for 50% drop in Indian recruitment as sector fears a trend," by Terry Butland in the August 4, 2011 issue and "We need the IV leaguers," by Roger Watson in the July 28, 2011 issue.

The article discusses the implications of budget cuts in the Higher Education Agency (HEA) for pedagogy and teaching development in Great Britain. Analysis shows that financial problems will force economies of scale in teaching which later on would require the need to implement different forms of teaching to avoid a decline in the quality of learning. Other impact of budget cuts are few mechanisms to disseminate effective new practice, poorly targeted initiatives such as the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, as well as job cuts for staff.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles published in previous issues, including "Time to Rethink Dyslexia?" in the March 6, 2014 issue, "Public Interest Defence," by Patrick Ainley in the March 6, 2014 issue, and "Taxing Lectures Led to Sacking, Tribunal Told" in the March 6, 2014 issue.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to various articles published in previews issues including the editorial "That Sinkhole Feeling," and "Credit Transfer Ignored as Snobs Bow to 'Royal' Route," both in the November 28, 2013 issue, and"Beyond Belief" in the December 5, 2013 issue.