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The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 was commissioned by the Higher Education Authority and was published in 2011 under the chair of Colin Hunt. The National Strategy, along with policy implementation and review documents, makes some radical proposals for the reconfiguration of the HE landscape in Ireland with much of the focus on the restructuring of the non-university sector, particularly the fourteen Institutes of Technology (IoTs), while maintaining a "binary divide". The reform agenda has provided many challenges to the Institutes of Technology sector, and a policy trajectory approach to policy analysis is adopted to investigate the proposed changes to the Institutes of Technology sector. The tensions and shift in power dynamics are key elements to the process of reform in what is a contested space. These tensions are explored from the perspective of the Institutes of Technology sector through a process of critical discourse analysis conducted in the policy document and semi-structured interviews with key policy stakeholders. A historical policy review of the evolution of the non-university sector in Ireland, alternative models in the European Higher Education Area and alternative proposals to the Hunt Report are used as counterpoints to frame the analysis. The analysis revealed that while the Report was initially broadly welcomed, the proposals and their implementation are far more complex and contentious, and there is less cohesion, particularly in the Institutes of Technology, on how the sector can ensure parity of esteem with, and a distinctive mission from, the traditional university sector.

Gaining a more in-depth understanding of how research and knowledge can contribute to societal change is essential to the effective execution of any university's mission. At The University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), the RDI Fund provides grants to promote research that addresses national and regional development issues. This research is expected to generate societal impact but the pathways and processes through which knowledge from these projects leads to impact have never before been investigated. This case study of the RDI Fund is complemented by embedded case studies of selected RDI Fund projects and delves into the operational dynamics of knowledge flows and processes. In so doing, it exposes the need for a conceptual framework which captures the enabling and oppositional forces that support or inhibit effective and efficient knowledge flows in research to societal impact processes. Expanding on Meagher, Lyall and Nutley's (2008) model, my conceptual framework confronts the range of factors and forces at the micro, meso and macro levels, which serve as countercurrents to anticipated flows of knowledge. This research study thus calls into question the appropriateness of research impact measurement in contexts with fragile research ecosystems and underdeveloped linkages between knowledge intermediaries, as is the case in T&T. Processes and mechanisms for knowledge utilization and knowledge brokerage are vital to achieve sustained societal impact and thus, need to be enhanced. Moreover, this research study contends that a focus on the 'micropolitcs of research' as well as renewed emphasis on the 'enlightenment effect' of knowledge are essential to navigate and mitigate the oppositional forces present in research communities. By generating more effective and efficient knowledge flows, UWI researchers can strengthen the various pathways through which university research can contribute to societal impact in the Caribbean.

Upward communication of employee voice concerning suggestions and ideas is essential for success and learning within contemporary organisations. Research has identified that implicit responses by employees stifle voice, including pro-organisational change ideas, resulting in the loss of valuable organisational knowledge. The post-2008 Irish recession created an unprecedented period of change in the Irish higher education system. A document commonly known as the “Hunt Report” was introduced as the blueprint for proposed policy changes. This and subsequent policy documents in 2011/12 proposed substantial reform, requesting lecturers in Irish Institutes of Technology (IOTs) to engage in dialogue within their institutions and suggest how to consolidate the sector in a time-bound manner. This thesis examines the extent to which the self-censorship of pro-organisational voice by IOT lecturers is a consequence of current lived experiences and context. This small-scale exploratory qualitative study interviewed eight lecturers in IOTs during the consultation phase utilising a semi-structured interview process. Data was analysed utilising a thematic analysis approach. It employed implicit voice theories (IVTs) as a conceptual framework and a time and context sensitive lens of enquiry designed to enhance understanding. Lecturers reported cautiousness and silence due to underlying perceptions of negative consequences relating to voicing. This outcome is broadly predicted by IVT, yet notably an anomaly concerning voice pertaining to student welfare is highlighted. Lecturer discourse emphasises a deficiency in trust between themselves and management in addition to reporting feelings of despondency, fear and distance from the change process. Findings reflect challenges for organisational learning, change transition and development in the IOT sector and recommend the reinforcement of mutual trust-building initiatives amongst lecturers and management. These research findings contribute contemporary insights and understanding concerning latent voice and silence in Irish IOT settings and provide enhanced knowledge and awareness to those wishing to bring about practitioner-informed change.

Existing research has largely provided attention to the HE decision-making and choices of students embarking on their post-16 studies in sixth forms and 11-18 comprehensives, with relatively little attention paid to those in Further Education (FE). This doctoral thesis addresses knowledge gaps in our understanding of underrepresented FE students’ higher education (HE) decision-making and choices, paying particular attention to the reasons and influences informing these over the course of their post-16 studies. I question whether FE students approach their HE decisions and choices as individualised, or whether they are mediated by structural limitations, given the emphasis on students making the ‘right’ choices for themselves (BIS, 2011). To explore these research questions, I conducted a qualitative longitudinal narrative inquiry over a 16-18 month period with FE students in England, using a combination of paper and audio diaries, individual semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Applying Archer’s (2003, 2007, 2012) reflexive modalities, along with Bourdieu’s (1986) forms of capital to participants’ narratives facilitated the identification of enablements and constraints as well as different responses to structure, action and social mobility in their HE decision-making and choices. Numerous reasons and influences were identified, such as the influence of ‘known others’, biographical experiences, intrinsic interests, instrumental rationality, emotional investment in HEIs, attainment and competition, which varied in intensity for individual participants over time. This was also the case for structural constraints, namely an absence of economic capital, which students appeared to realise over time. Participants’ responses to reasons, influences and structural constraints were complex and influenced by their personal projects and reflexive modes. Where individualised approaches to choice-making were identified, these were thwarted by unnegotiable constraints, which were ‘masked’ by changes in reflexivity. WP programmes and initiatives acted as an enablement in aiding some participants to overcome constraints. Yet, only a minority of participants were involved in such programmes. These findings collectively convey that the majority of participants were unable to go where they preferred in their HE decisions, and, instead, had to decipher the ‘reasonable’ option when constraints related to economic capital were realised.

This research explores practitioners’ professional learning, and revised career expectations, as a result of undertaking the EdD. It considers the nature of professionalism, and the institutional conditions that support its development. A new model for conceptual analysis Ecological Positioning Theory is developed, and used. This hybrid model draws on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1979) and Harré and van Langenhove’s Positioning Theory (1999). Ecological Positioning is used to identify the various layers of engagement these EdD students experience in a working context, and articulate the subsequent, and movable, positions within these layers of discourse. Ecological Positioning was used as a framework to prompt semi-structured narratives relating to the macro/exo/meso, and micro-structures inhabited by the practitioners; to assist practitioners articulate their subsequent positions within them, and identify their emotional responses to this positioning. This qualitative data was then themed against the ecological systems identified by the respondents. What emerged in the findings was that for some the psychological contract with their employer (in terms of what is given and what is to be received) had changed, and that these changes were perceived to be impacting across the higher education sector. As a result, the terms of employment, subsequent professional identities of practitioners and ‘what it means to be a teacher and learner’ were also changing. Engagement with the EdD could be viewed as a response to what a higher education practitioner ‘should be’. This research has two main contributions to offer. The first is the presentation, and use, of Ecological Positioning to understand the experiential connections which link the personal, socio-historical and situational contexts in addition to considering the diversity and dynamics of academic life. The second is the time-bound snap shot of the experiences of a specific group of higher education teaching practitioners who, for various reasons, have undertaken an EdD.