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Academic development has played a significant role in creating university 'learning and teaching' as an object of policy scrutiny and intervention. While academic development is a new field, its practices have been productive of new learning and teaching regimes in both the global 'north' and 'south'. This paper explores the emergence of academic development as a practice and the agentic understandings of its actors in creating the academic development project in the face of global unevenness. The paper offers a critical account of the emergence of academic development practice in both the global 'north', drawing on the intertwined histories of the UK and Australia, and in the global 'south', drawing on the example of South Africa. In looking at the ongoing debates about academic development the paper argues that in constituting teaching and learning as its object, other more radical, feminist and critical pedagogies, which are capable of dealing with the power and curricula, were marginalised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of what it means to adopt a systems approach to strategic development. It arose from reflection on an ongoing case of an academic subject group from a UK business school, which has long been recognized for pioneering work in the field of systems thinking, using systems approaches in its own strategic development process. Critical reflection on this example led to a shift in focus from thinking about how systems methodologies can be used to augment the strategic development process to consideration of why strategic planning has become so important in higher education establishments, such as universities, and the raising of important questions about the ontological status of the strategic development process. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on universities in Great Britain and their attempts to become more international by expanding the number of foreign students. Internationalization requires three steps including design of the program, implementation, and evaluation. The English government encouraged growth through the 1988 Education Reform Act and the Future of Higher Education white paper that was released in 2003. The paper concludes that 74 percent of universities in Great Britain have a stated policy for increasing internationalization and that their model for grouping universities could be used for international businesses that wish to monitor their own growth.

Purpose - For many academics in UK universities the nature and orientation of their research is overwhelmingly determined by considerations of how that work will be graded in research assessment exercises (RAEs). The grades awarded to work in a particular subject area can have a considerable impact on the individual and their university. There is a need to better understand those factors which may influence these grades. The paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach - The paper considers relationships between the grades awarded and the quantitative information provided to the assessment panels for the 1996 and 2001 RAEs for two subject areas, built environment and town and country planning, and for three other subject areas, civil engineering, geography and archaeology, in the 2001 RAE. Findings - A simple model demonstrating strong and consistent relationships is established. RAE performance relates to numbers of research active staff, the production of books and journal papers, numbers of research studentships and graduations, and research income. Important differences between subject areas are identified. Research limitations/implications - Important issues are raised about the extent to which the new assessment methodology to be adopted for the 2008 RAE will capture the essence of good quality research in architecture and built environment. Originality/value - The findings provide a developmental perspective of RAEs and show how, despite a changed methodology, various research activities might be valued in the 2008 RAE. The basis for a methodology for reviewing the credibility of the judgements of panels is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconstructs the academic figure of Sraffa at the University of Cambridge as it emerges from his papers, his correspondence with the economists with whom he had special relations, and the official documents of the University, in particular in connection with his role in the Faculty of Economics and Politics, to which he belonged from 1927 to 1965. It presents a detailed examination of the various posts held by Sraffa at the University as Lecturer, Assistant Director of Research, Member of the Degree Committee, Examiner, Member of the Faculty Board, as co-founder of The Department of Applied Economics, Elector to the Chairs of Political Economy, Industrial Relations and Economics, Member of King's College and finally as Fellow of Trinity College. Moreover, the relationship with his fellow economists in Cambridge, in particular Keynes, Kahn, Kaldor and Joan Robinson is also examined and assessed. The broad conclusion of the paper is that Sraffa's relationship with Cambridge University was complex, contradictory and intense, and should be seen within the broader context of the ambiguous relations Sraffa had with academia in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the Third Workshop on Early Modern German History," held in London on the October 22, 2004. The third annual session of this successful venture, sponsored by the German Historical Society, the German Historical Institute and the University of Sunderland, brought over thirty scholars to Bloomsbury Square. The explicit aim of the workshop is to offer a cross-disciplinary forum to discuss new research on early modern German-speaking Europe. Following a general call for papers, co-organizers Michael Schaich and Peter Wilson selected ten speakers representing the rich spectrum of work currently in progress.

The British Isles includes five educational and tourism environments and jurisdictions which have much in common, particularly in terms of their underpinning tourism products. Their higher educational provision likewise exhibits some common features but also significant diversity. This paper addresses the development of tourism education within the colleges and universities of the British Isles, taken to cover the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) as well as the Republic of Ireland. The paper demonstrates the impact of jurisdictional autonomy on educational programmes, their underlying philosophy and structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an established part of the infrastructure of many higher education institutions in the UK and across the world, Mathematics and Statistics Support (MSS), was forced to move to an online setting as a result of restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With institutions offering limited online support prior to the pandemic, MSS practitioners were mostly unprepared to deliver online provisions. Survey data from May 2020 gives a first look at the immediate response of practitioners to online MSS. Interview data from January/February 2021 explores opinions after a period of reflection, and survey data from June 2021, over a year on from the initial sample, provides a direct comparison in opinion of online support a year later. This paper explores these three datasets, investigating the practitioner perspective and offers an overall reflection of how MSS practitioners' opinions of online support measures have changed from their "crisis-reaction" at the beginning of the pandemic to a more considered response as COVID-19 prevention measures are beginning to ease a year later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Higher education institutions possess a plethora of knowledge at the institutional, departmental and individual levels. Therefore, knowledge management plays a vital role in assisting partnerships to synergise knowledge and strengthen market competitiveness when working collaboratively. The purpose of this study is to identify and critically discuss the role of knowledge management concepts that support development of UK higher education partnerships. This knowledge management research was undertaken with the purpose of exploring components of behavioural constructs in assisting the development of successful partnerships between higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: This research embraces a qualitative methodology and makes use of an expert panel method to gather field data and assess the relevance, robustness and applicability of a conceptual model developed in the context of higher education partnerships. Guided by two research questions, the researchers elicited knowledge from eight experts, academics and practitioners, who had initiated and led partnership development between UK higher education institutions. The experts were invited and selected to attend the panel using the criteria of "Years of Experience in the Higher Education sector", "Job Positions and Experiences" and the "Partnership Scope and Impact". Findings: Depicting in a tree analogy, the conceptual model indicates that effective knowledge management will require higher education executives, managers and practitioners to centre on nurturing "tree roots" presented as behavioural knowledge management constructs and include institutional culture, trust, absorptive capacities and communication channels. The research findings elaborate on previous research and provide a categorisation of partnership outcomes between higher education institutions, explaining that partnership outcomes can be of an "Academic", "Marketing and Finance" or "Managerial" nature. Importantly, practical use of the model could be implemented using audit methods or benchmarking methods, whereby the categorised elements of the model are used as a criterion of assessment for audit teams. Originality/value: The conclusion extracted experiential insights to provide guidance as to how higher education executives, managers and practitioners can make use of knowledge management behavioural constructs and activities to assist collaborative undertakings in the higher education sector. This paper provided a new, modified, knowledge management higher education partnership tree, thus giving researchers and academic practitioners a holistic viewpoint of important partnership knowledge management factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses stakeholder analysis to examine issues of effectiveness and equity in the performance appraisal of NHS Consultants and academic staff in UK Universities. While the primary focus is on Consultants, the cases discussed show how many dilemmas in consultant appraisal are generic to the performance management of public sector professionals who enjoy significant autonomy and discretion in their work roles. Concepts of accountability and organisational justice are related to the philosophy and practice of performance management to produce a stakeholder systems model of consultant appraisal. The model enables performance appraisal systems to be considered in a holistic way; and confirms the benefit of stakeholder involvement at design, operation, evaluation and reporting stages. Conclusions from the paper address research agendas in performance management as well as the concerns of those involved in consultant appraisal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1962, the University of Edinburgh proposed that the area adjacent to its central campus should be designated as a Comprehensive Development Area, with the planner (and university senior lecturer) Percy Johnson-Marshall showing how historic tenements could be replaced by a new urban landscape of slab blocks situated on an elevated pedestrian podium above new roads, creating a seamless continuum between the university and the city. The proposals sit alongside contemporaneous 'paper' renewal projects, including SPUR's plans for Boston Manor and the proposals of the 1963 Buchanan Report. Drawing on the archive, the article explores the genesis of the scheme, the terms in which it was presented to the public, and the reaction it gained. It also considers how and why the proposals were abandoned in the early 1970s. At its core, the article reflects on the often messy processes which shaped urban renewal in 1960s and 1970s Britain, the continuities of the period, and the value of looking to the specific local factors which explain why particular approaches were taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why you should read this article?: • To familiarise yourself with the healthcare needs of overseas Chinese students • To understand the barriers experienced by overseas Chinese students when accessing UK student primary healthcare • To enhance your knowledge of strategies to increase access to healthcare services for this population Individuals from China comprise the largest cohort of international students in the UK, making up almost one quarter of those coming to the country to study. The large Chinese student population at UK universities means there are considerable numbers each year who require access to student primary healthcare. This article describes a literature and narrative review that aimed to critically review the evidence concerning whether the primary healthcare needs of overseas Chinese students studying at UK universities are being met. Three themes were identified: primary healthcare accessibility and potential barriers for overseas Chinese students; health-seeking behaviour and health needs; and cultural and spiritual foundations of health needs and trusted health-seeking frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the carbon emission disclosures (CED) and performance of UK higher educational institutions (HEIs) and the associated impact on their environmental reputation. The paper argues that HEIs possess distinct characteristics that make comparisons with profit-oriented companies problematic and misleading. Design/methodology/approach: The green score published by the People and Planet organisation provided the population for this analysis. All universities with a 2012 score were entered into the initial sample. The association between green reputation, CED and carbon performance was examined using a robust least squared regression model. The green score published in 2019 was then compared with this to confirm whether the findings still held. Findings: CED, carbon emissions and carbon audit were found to have highly significant determinant relationships with HEIs' green reputation status at a 1% significance level. Research limitations/implications: The impact of CED and carbon performance indicators needs to have a clear relationship with reputation to motivate HEIs to act and disclose. Originality/value: The study is distinct in investigating the impact of CED and carbon performance by UK HEIs on their environmental reputation. The study shows whether, and how, the HEI CED and carbon performances contribute towards their environmental reputation. HEIs have distinct characteristics from profit-seeking organisations and thus tailored research is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conference for Research in Dance and Drama University of Leeds Bretton Campus, UK, 11-13 April 2003 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the usage of institutional and non-institutional technologies to support learning and teaching in UK higher education. Previous work on disruptive technology and disruptive innovation has argued that users prefer simple and convenient technologies, and often repurpose technologies from designers' intentions; this paper evaluates its data in relation to this argument. The paper uses a structured observation as its research instrument; seven participants (three lecturers and four students) were given one of two tasks. Results showed the participants using a narrow range of technologies, and showed a preference for non-institutional over institutional technologies. The paper argues that there is a misalignment between the technologies provided by higher education institutions (HEIs) and the technologies used in practice by students and lecturers, and further argues that disruptive technology and disruptive innovation comprise a useful means of assessing the likely success, in terms of usage, of a technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents a study which examined the impact of the public funding of basic research, extending previous work done at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, East Sussex in Great Britain. Methodology; Basic research as a source of public information; Creation by basic researchers of new instrumentation.

This paper reflects on approaches to collaborative knowledge exchange projects between UK universities and the creative economy. It develops a preliminary account of cultural ecology as a systematic approach to producing impact in the creative economy. It argues that such an approach is a powerful way to aggregate micro-businesses and small and medium sized enterprises in a meaningful network of new relationships. The paper uses social network analysis software to begin to visualise the pattern of relationships that constitute the ecosystem. The paper reports on the work of the Research and Enterprise for Arts and Creative Technologies Hub, one of four Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative Economy established by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – During the last 20 years or so the changing environment in which universities operate has meant that commensurately more emphasis has been placed on marketing principles. In light of this emphasis, it is perhaps a little surprising that relatively little attention has been directed towards the processes by which universities develop their products, and the extent to which module and programme development processes are market informed and customer oriented. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a case study methodology to examine early stage new product development (NPD) processes in UK higher education (HE) institutions. Findings – The findings reveal some potential shortcomings in the early stages or fuzzy front end of NPD in universities. In particular, there appears to be a lack of staff incentives, financial or otherwise, to innovate and introduce new ideas relating to module and programme development. Research limitations/implications – The issue of sample bias needs to be factored into however, given that these six institutions proactively engaged with this process possibly indicating a recognition or impetus on their part to learn how new programme development could be better understood. That the vast majority of the sample were teaching dominant institutions is also an interesting consideration as this will have an impact on the imperative to improve new programme development processes in an increasingly competitive HE environment. Practical implications – The paper discussed some of the implications for the corporate governance structures of universities and also emphasized the need for cultural change. In this respect, one of the biggest challenges facing universities is to break down or erode the barriers, which exist between academic and non-academic staff and create a “level playing field”. Originality/value – As the authors enter an era of higher student fees, the question of value for money combined with an associated increase in the expectations of university stakeholders, will have potentially quite marked implications for universities. Accordingly, the future viability of some degree programmes and, perhaps, even the long-term survival of some institutions may be dependent on the adoption of the sort of changes identified in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International student mobility, especially at doctoral level, is a largely under-researched component of international migration. This is in stark contrast with the case of credit mobility where much research has been undertaken on Erasmus students. The aim of this paper is to remedy the situation by focusing on international doctoral students who chose to study at an elite higher education institution in the UK. By analysing the role of - local, national and international - schemes of funding in shaping individual mobility decisions, the author argues against the portrayal of international students as 'rational decision makers' in favour of a more contextualised approach to mapping the graduate student migratory phenomenon. By contrasting the 'entry channels' of students with their future plans - in terms of the nature of future career and geographic location - the author challenges the assumption that internationally mobile students are coming with the intention of settling down in their study destination. The study cannot uphold the view of international students as a 'migratory elite' either; although some postgraduate students are indeed from more privileged backgrounds, many individuals undertake international doctoral mobility with the explicit aim of capital accumulation. Last but not least, the paper strongly argues for abandoning the term 'spontaneous mobility' in student mobility research because a significant proportion of degree mobility does not occur spontaneously but is a result of organised schemes of funding. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to reform the way in which research is undertaken is clear, with reducing research bureaucracy and waste at the forefront of this issue for the UK government, funding organisations, higher education institutions and wider research community. The aim of this study was to describe researchers' experiences of the time, effort and burden involved in funding processes–namely applying for research funding and fulfilling reporting requirements. This was an in-depth qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with researchers who had experience applying for funding and/or completing reporting requirements for a UK health and social care research funder between January 2018 and June 2021. Following thematic analysis, five key themes were identified describing researcher experiences of key issues around time, efforts and burden associated with funding processes. These themes encompassed (1) issues with the current funding model for health and social care research, (2) time and effort involved in funding processes, (3) the need for a streamlined end-to-end process, (4) implications for work-life balance, and (5) addressing the need for better support and communication. The findings from this study describe researcher experiences of tasks in the research pathway that currently take considerable time and effort. It was clear that whilst some of this time and effort is considered necessary, some is exacerbated by inefficient and ineffective processes, such as perceived under-funding of research or lack of clarity with regards to funder expectations. This in turn contributes to unnecessary researcher burden, research waste and negative research culture. Better investment in health and social care research and in the researchers themselves who design and deliver the research, alongside improvements in transparency, streamlining and research support could ensure a more positive research culture, and improve the quality of funded research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widening participation has been a vehicle to facilitate access and support towards the successful completion of university studies for underrepresented groups who are less likely to pursue higher education. Yet, despite its widely accepted importance and adoption across countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, studies to date remain largely fragmented -- often employed through the lens of a single institution, or a particular priority group. Amidst this backdrop, universities and other higher education providers are increasingly probed as to their role in supporting social capital mobility, of which widening participation plays a vital component in delivering wider societal imperatives. In addition, the COVID-19 effect has worsened university participation and completion rates, as the global pandemic has placed vulnerable students (often those involved in widening participation initiatives) in more precocious conditions than ever before. Nevertheless, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic literature review comprising 102 journal articles that derive 15 meta-themes to provide a timely introspection of widening participation, show key trends over time, and chart future areas of investigation for scholars and practitioners in this space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to assess the degree of the income diversification of the UK higher education providers as a component of their overall financial resilience. In addition, we investigate a correlation between ranking, income diversification, and income size. The main research question is whether the higher ranking of the universities, in particular, is associated with higher income and higher diversification relative to lower-ranked universities. To measure income diversification using descriptive statistics, we use Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI), Corrected HHI, and Revenue Diversification Index (RDI). We covered a period of ten years, from 2010/11 to 2019/20. The findings reveal that a higher ranking of the universities measured by both ranking systems has been significantly positively correlated with the size of income and income diversification and negatively correlated with income concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The private higher education (HE) sector in the UK is subject to little oversight or regulation. Consequently, it remains a largely unknown quantity. Yet, the UK government is keen to foster the growth of private providers as a means of stimulating competition across the entire HE sector that will purportedly lead to 'a greater choice of more innovative and better quality products and services at lower cost' (DBIS 2016a, 8). We document the landscape of private higher education provision in the UK to assess whether private providers are likely to be able to perform the role envisaged for them by government. We analyse data for 802 private providers in the UK collected from provider's websites and other publicly available sources in 2017. A latent class analysis indicates that the sector can be broken down into four distinctive types of providers: (1) for-profit providers principally offering business/IT courses at sub-degree level (c.50%) (2) or at bachelors or masters level (c.10%), (3) not-for-profit providers offering other kinds of specialist provision at bachelors and masters level (c.27%), and (4) longer-standing for-profit providers including those with their own degree-awarding powers delivering courses mainly at masters level (c.13%). Three of the four provider types offer little in the way of traditional bachelor degree provision, and the most common provider type is subject to virtually no regulatory oversight and highly vulnerable to 'market exit'. These findings cast doubt on the capacity of private HE providers to replace or enhance publicly funded HE provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about various abstracts of several papers as published in the periodical. The paper "Does Doing Badly Encourage Management Innovation?," by Stephen Nickell, Daphne Nicolitsas and Malcolm Patterson presents an empirical analysis of the notion that firms introduce managerial innovations as a consequence of bad times, as in the pit-stop view of recessions. Authors first analyzed a dynamic model of the firm and conclude that a competitive firm operating in a perfect capital market may well devote more of its employees' time to reorganization and other productivity improving activities during periods where the real output price or productivity is declining. Another paper "Determinants of Degree Performance in UK Universities: A Statistical Analysis of the 1993 Student Cohort," by Jeremy Smith and Robin Naylor exploits a unique data-set matching individual-level data for the 1993 cohort of Great Britain university leavers to DfEE school-level data. Authors analyze the determinants of undergraduate degree performance using an ordered probit regression model and find that degree performance is influenced positively by A-level score, positively by occupationally-ranked social class background and is significantly worse both for students who had previously attended an Independent school and for male students.

This small-scale unfunded work considers what universities might do better in relation to the employment of autistic researchers and/or lecturers. It is informed by questionnaire responses from twelve UK-based autistic academics. Autistic colleagues were involved in the development of this paper, but it is authored by a non-autistic neurodivergent academic ally. Allyship is demonstrated in working alongside, rather than taking over from, autistic scholars with a view to contributing to improving their working conditions. Information was gathered in 2019 before the global pandemic. Thematic analysis of first-hand testimony underpinned by information from published sources revealed overarching themes. These point to obstacles to secure employment in higher education at every stage, from financing doctoral study, to recruitment practices, to navigating bureaucracy. Structures that are notionally designed to help appear somewhat impenetrable. Attitudinal barriers compound practical difficulties, whereas supportive cultures and practices reduce obstacles. Autistic scholars are networking through grassroots organisations such as PARC but have limited power to affect changes which would move the sector closer to compliance with the Equality Act (2010). Autistic scholars with doctorates, peer reviewed publications and research skills reported difficulties in securing and maintaining UK university employment which is a good match with their proven abilities. Practical, structural and attitudinal obstacles to flourishing in the academy were evident in the accounts of autistic academics. The term 'ableism' can be applied to systems rooted in the idea that there is a way of 'performing' employment and any variance is somehow less acceptable. Autistic scholars have much to offer academia and ableism can get in their way. Autistic-led initiatives such as the (unfunded) Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) provide some sort of grassroots supportive infrastructure for autistic academics. A supportive Universal Design (UD) informed approach to employment nurtures diversity. Universal Design is in keeping with expectations around non-discriminatory employment placed on universities by the Equality Act 2010 and has the potential to benefit a wide range of marginalised scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the engineering landscape is continually changing, and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a responsibility to design curricula that address the growing demands of various industry sectors. Likewise, the roles and responsibilities of an engineer are evolving; requiring a further broadening of the current engineering curriculum. As a profession, engineering draws upon broad interdisciplinary knowledge, and when training twenty-first-century engineers, universities should follow a more comprehensive teaching and learning approach, with a focus on both technical and soft skills including the integration of leadership into engineering curricula. However, the spectrum of engineering leadership is not well-defined. Leadership is one of the most widely sought-after skills in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industries; it is, therefore, clear that more investigation needs to be carried out into this area of engineering pedagogy. One of the most distinct gaps in the literature is that there is little or no consensus on what approaches should be undertaken to integrate leadership in engineering courses by those in academia. This paper seeks to shed light on some of these gaps, with the primary objective of the evaluation of the current state of leadership education using a nation-wide sample of BEng1 Electronic Engineering course structures and contents at Russell Group2 universities in the UK. It highlights the case study of the University of York, where there is a strong emphasis on the integration of engineering leadership and management skills within the current BEng Electronic Engineering course structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ‘spaces’ left over for Muslims to be ‘radical’ and the management of minority identities in light of their securitization in the UK. The paper considers a key site of this management of ‘radical’ identities: the university. The university works as prototypical case because of the ways in student activism and identity area prioridrawn together but also because of the prevalence of higher education among terrorists in the UK and USA. As a result, universities have been specifically targeted in counterterrorism and counter-radicalization measures. The paper reveals through student narratives how security discourses of ‘radicalization’ constrain their activism, university experience and identities. Yet, alternative identity constructions emerge that work against the moderate/radical binary. These narratives show how incomplete the process is of incorporating Muslims into the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper highlights the growing importance of interdisciplinary research at the intersection between higher education, creative industries and growth of regional creative economies. The paper not only focuses specifically on the UK context but also encompasses issues of further international interest and debate. It undertakes a review of existing literature on the cultural role of higher education institutions (HEIs) and points to recent research on HEIs' increasing importance for embedding creative graduates into a region. We not only illustrate how this area of research aligns with the concepts of the 'creative city' and the 'creative class' but also consider how talent attraction and retention processes include HEIs and art schools as part of a richer understanding of the creative economy as a contextualised production system. Furthermore, we investigate the role of HEIs as so-called 'third spaces' for creative knowledge transfer, which in recent years has become a popular cultural and higher education strategy to address the difficulties of feeding creative and cultural knowledge into the wider economy. The paper concludes by highlighting future avenues for cross-disciplinary research in three areas: communities of practice, local stakeholder management and a shared community agenda, to inform further policy and development in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much importance is now placed upon the evaluation of outreach interventions by higher education institutions (HEIs). Accompanying this focus are requests that HEIs prepare evaluation plans. Yet, whilst some now have plans in place, others do not. One of the challenges for those preparing such documents is that official guidance is not prescriptive in what these should include. Instead, institutions are asked to ‘build’ their own plans. Whilst there is a rationale to this approach, given the autonomy of HEIs, there is also a recognised value in the provision of case studies and the sharing of practice. Accordingly, this paper describes the framework developed by one institution in preparing its evaluation plan – a process informed by desk research. To assess the wider value of this ‘five-point framework’, the views of practitioners in three other HEIs who are involved in their own institution’s evaluation plans were sought. Evidence from these interviews confirms the value of the framework in terms of guiding the preparation of new plans and in informing existing ones. Whilst the paper lends support to the case for a structured approach to evaluation practice, it also acknowledges the limitations of planning and the need to recognise plans as working documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper examines the change agency of equality and diversity (E&D) officers with a specific emphasis on the role of extra-organizational influences and resources. The paper is informed by qualitative material collected through interviews with E&D officers from 20 higher education institutions in the UK. The paper offers an evidence-based analysis of the utility of extra-organizational mechanisms and intervention programmes for organizational E&D agenda and for the agentic influence of E&D officers. The paper contributes to both academic literature and policy-making. We present original empirical insights into the change agency of E&D officers by exploring the impact of extra-organizational bodies as potential mechanisms for support and influence. At the policy level, the paper provides evidence on the value of extra-organizational resources and tools that are produced by policy bodies in promoting progressive E&D agendas in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents findings from a scoping review of curriculum delivery methods for research teaching in undergraduate social work education. The review was conducted by a working group of the JUC SWEC research committee following the introduction of a new degree by the Social Work Reform Board. The paper draws on data from a mixedmethods study, in which five models of research teaching were identified by a qualitative study, together with findings, which mapped how commonly the models were adopted, from a survey of sixty universities of all four countries of the UK. These models are discussed in relation to anticipated learning outcomes: research-informed teaching; educated consumers of research; research-mindedness; research capacity and reflective practitioner researchers. It is less than a decade since the Economic and Social Research Council (the government research council for the social sciences) first recognised social work as a distinct discipline; in this period, social work educators have taken innovative approaches to underpin teaching and practice learning by research. The study implications are that a larger study should provide evidence for the learning outcomes associated with different approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers the first comprehensive analysis of the effect of changes in university rankings on applicant and institution behaviour in the UK. When their rank worsens, universities are found to experience small but statistically significant reductions in the number of applications received as well as in the average tariff score of applicants and accepted applicants. Although the effects found are stronger for certain types of students and institutions, they tend to be modest overall, and suggest that other factors play a more important role in attracting applicants to universities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses Basil Bernstein’s work on pedagogic discourses to examine a largely neglected facet of the history of vocational education – the liberal studies movement in English further education colleges. Initially, the paper discusses some of the competing conceptions of education, work and society which underpinned the rise and fall of the liberal studies movement – if indeed it can be described as such. The paper then draws on data from interviews with former liberal and general studies lecturers to focus on the ways in which different variants of liberal studies were, over time, implicated in inculcating certain forms of knowledge in vocational learners. Whilst it is acknowledged that liberal and general studies always represented contested territory and that it was highly variable both in terms of content and quality, the paper argues that, at least under certain circumstances, liberal studies provided young working-class people with the opportunity to locate their experiences of vocational learning within a critical framework that is largely absent from further education today. This, it is argued, can be conceptualised as an engagement with what Bernstein described as ‘powerful knowledge’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the viewpoint that student role identity, its dimensions and salience, impact strongly on student expectations of college-based higher education (CBHE) within the UK. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on doctoral research undertaken within the context of CBHE in the UK and is further supported through engagement with a range of pertinent literature. Findings - The paper suggests ways in which the individually constructed student role identity may impact on the expectations of the experience of CBHE. In so doing, the paper highlights the way in which expectations of higher education recursively influence, and are influenced by, perceptions and actions played out from within the student role. Research limitations/implications - The empirical research, from which the paper draws its theme, was undertaken in one large institution. The author recognises that a wider, longitudinal study would be beneficial in recognition of the diversity of provision in the CBHE sector. Practical implications - The paper proposes that greater awareness of the way in which students construct and moderate their perceptions and understandings of studenthood would be beneficial to a range of strategic considerations, such as promotional information, partnership activity, peer relations and the nature of pedagogies and learning architectures. Social implications - The paper foregrounds the political remit of CBHE as a progression route for "non-traditional" students, and considers the varied understandings of the meaning of the student role adopted by students attending colleges. Engagement with issues of multiple roles, identity salience and variable role porosity highlights social and pyschosocial issues faced by many such students. Originality/value - The paper considers role identity in the context of Kurt Lewin's conceptualisation of life space and uses this framework to highlight issues that may face students and colleges in raising awareness of student expectations. It challenges the homogenous conceptualisation of the term "students" through consideration of the psychic state at a given moment in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper charts the turn in the UK New Labour government’s (1997–2010) creative industries policy from an early focus on encouraging wider access to the arts to an increasingly instrumentalist emphasis on self-funding and the generation of wealth from intellectual property. The paper demonstrates the effect of this policy primarily through the case of the teaching of media and communications in UK universities. Focusing on the Skillset Media Academy Network, the authors ask whether this is both the best approach to teaching media and communications in UK universities and appropriate that many of these courses appear to be solely geared towards preparing graduates for jobs in the creative industries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the sustained increase in commodity price boom post 2002, concerns for resource-rich developing countries being locked into a commodity-dependent cycle, with little to no diversification of their economies have emerged. This paper examines the relationship between the commodities and the industrial sectors that may exist because of fiscal, consumption and production linkages between the two sectors. In light of these linkages, the policy options are discussed that would ensure that resource-rich developing countries can promote industrial diversification, using the resource rents and other gains that come from their commodities sector. The paper draws heavily on research conducted under the Making the Most of Commodities Program, run jointly by the Open University (UK) and the University of Cape Town (South Africa) in 2009-2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Triple-Helix model of knowledge-industry-government relationships is one of the most comprehensive attempts to explain the changing institutional frameworks for innovation and growth, especially in the regional and urban contexts. Since the 1970s policies have been developed across Europe to evolve this institutional landscape. Since the late 1990s, regional and urban development strategies have also sought to harness the growth potential of the cultural and creative industries to regional and urban economic development. However, whilst the regional and urban planning literature has examined the growth-promoting potential of universities very closely, their possible role in relation to regional and urban creative economic development has received less attention. This paper aims to begin addressing this gap by interrogating the relationship between universities and the regional creative economy using, as a starting point, a model of analysis suggested by the Triple-Helix theoretical framework. The paper finds that whilst universities possess often long and hidden associations with regional and urban creative activities-as hidden protagonists-there are important institutional and professional challenges in the possibility of their developing an explicit and sustainable role as new actors in the regional and urban creative economies. The paper identifies the nature of these challenges with a view to developing a clearer understanding of the system, policy and institutional realities that underpin the often complex dynamics of knowledge creation-practice relationships found in arts and humanities disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of the 2014 REF results in the UK is a timely reminder that many national governments have aimed to increase the research productivity of universities, by introducing performance-based research systems. This paper examines whether there is a relationship between attitudes to these research systems and research productivity, using interview data from three universities in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It concludes that attitudes are not strongly related to productivity, and that only a better understanding of system limitations will help to improve them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with the argument that within modern-day society, engineering has shifted from being the scientific and technical mainstay of industrial, and more recently digital change to become the most vital driver of future advancement. In order to meet the inevitable challenges resulting from this role, the nature of engineering education is constantly evolving and as such engineering education has to change. The paper argues that what is needed is a fresh approach to engineering education – one that is sufficiently flexible so as to capture the fast-changing needs of engineering education as a discipline, whilst being pedagogically suitable for use with a range of engineering epistemologies. It provides an overview of a case study in which a new approach to engineering education has been developed and evaluated. The approach, which is based on the concept of scholarship, is described in detail. This is followed by a discussion of how the approach has been put into practice and evaluated. The paper concludes by arguing that within today's market-driven university world, the need for effective learning and teaching practice, based in good scholarship, is fundamental to student success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose This paper aims to explore the reform and development of the MBA within pre-1992 and post-1992 universities in the United Kingdom with reference to New Institutionalism and field theory.Design/methodology/approach The methodology adopted the approaches of Navarro (2008) and Kars-Unluoglu (2016) that involved a web-based review of those pre-1992 universities listed in the Financial Times "top-100" MBAs, as well as a review of a regional grouping of four post-1992 universities.Findings The findings echo the work of Wilkins and Huisman (2012) who argued that British business schools were stratified into distinct organisational fields, each catering for their own market. While the pre-1992 universities are able to offer a wide array of electives and pathways to enable personalisation and specialisation of the curriculum, post-1992 universities appear to offer a more constrained curriculum offer. The reform of the MBA should be seen as part of a wider agenda of professionalisation.Research limitations/implications Albeit following on other research that used this research strategy, this web-based review would have benefited from closer interrogation of curriculum content through interviews with Programme Leaders/Directors. Future research should involve a larger sample from the post-1992 sector.Originality/value This paper provides an up-to-date analysis of the direction taken by British universities. It shows that the MBA market is differentiated with an elite focussed more catering for an international market than the post-1992 universities who still exhibit a commitment to their local market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student residence halls occupy 26% of the total area of a typical university campus in the UK and are directly responsible for 24% of university’s annual CO2emissions. Based on five years measured data, this paper aims to investigate the energy-related environmental and economic performance of electrically heated residence halls in which space heating is provided by two different types of electric heaters, that is, panel heater (PHT) and storage heater (SHT). Secondly, using statistical and machine learning methods, the paper attempts to investigate the relationship between daily electricity consumption and five factors (ambient temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, wind speed and type of day). Data analysis revealed that electricity consumption of both halls is mainly driven by ambient temperature only, whereas SHT residence has 39% higher annual electricity bill and emits 70% higher CO2emissions on a per square metre basis compared to the PHT residence hall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents aspects of a small scale study that considered student teachers' language and discourse around race and ethnicity at a university in the northwest of England. The first part of the paper critiques current education-related policy, context and practice to situate the research and then draws upon aspects of critical race theory and whiteness theory as frames of reference. In the research, 250 student-teachers completed questionnaires that invited responses to statements about race and ethnicity and this was followed by two semi-structured group interviews. A discourse analysis approach was taken to analyse the language used in the questionnaire responses and, in particular, the group interviews. Recurrent discursive configurations were characterised by language that signified othering, correct knowledge, personalisation and discomfort. Hesitations and silences during group discussions perhaps intimated thinking time and also maybe a reluctance to talk about aspects of race and ethnicity, and what was not said remains significant. It is suggested that a reconstruction of a teacher/educator subjectivity that fosters self-reflection on values and racial positioning, is needed in teacher education, alongside critical examination of the silences and discomfort surrounding race and ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English universities are achieving some success in attracting increasingly diverse undergraduate cohorts. However, there is compelling evidence that students from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds do much less well in their final degree classifications than their white counterparts, even when entry qualifications are taken into account. Known as the BME attainment gap,: too little attention has been given to interventions to try to address it . This paper describes how Kingston University has substantially narrowed the gap through an outcome focused institutional change programme. Drawing on race theory, the institutional programme used a multifaceted approach to change that involved: defining the scale of the problem; adopting a value added (VA) metric; engaging the university leadership and academic community; agreeing goals, interventions and outcomes/targets. Over a five-year period of collecting VA data on BME attainment, there is evidence of significant year on year improvement. We discuss the challenges of complex cultural change and the initial reluctance of staff to discuss issues around racial disadvantage, and highlight implications for higher education institutions, especially those in the UK seeking a sustained way to close differentials in attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical analysis of the Chartered Institute for Management of Sport and Physical Activity's (CIMSPA) transformative aspirations for UK Higher Education (HE) based Sport and Physical Activity Vocational Education and Training (SPAVET) provision. In doing so, we apply selected elements of Giddens' Structuration theory to offer an analysis of CIMSPA's structural properties (as rules and resources) and dimensions (signification, domination and legitimation). Illustration of CIMSPA's structural properties and dimensions was developed through adopting an institutional analysis strategy alongside a document analysis method. Publicly available strategic documents and web-based resources (N = 18) were selected and analysed using open-coding techniques. Our analysis shows how continued state-sanctioned decentralisation of the UK HE sector has led to CIMSPA becoming an increasingly influential transformative structure; attempting to use its structural dimensions and resources as a medium to gain and exercise power, to promote (signification) – market-orientated discourses, practices and pedagogies in HEI provision, (domination) – in an attempt to significantly influence regulatory control over UK SPAVET provision and (Legitimation) – create partnerships which normalise its position and message within selected UK HEIs. We conclude that whilst the transformative aspirations of CIMSPA offer a number of possibilities for the HE SPAVET sector, they also raise critical questions. The central issue requiring debate is how these aspirations shift dialectical control towards vocationally focused, market-orientated principles and away from the liberal educational, research-led principles of some current UK HE SPAVET provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most universities (bar profit-making institutions) are charities as a matter of law but, historically, have been exempt from charity law regulation. This paper considers the statutory reforms of 2006, which sought to level the regulatory playing field by appointing 'Principal Regulators' of such 'exempt charities' to promote compliance with charity law. Focusing on the university sector – where some universities are now registered charities (and regulated by the Charity Commission) whilst others remain exempt – it will note how the reforms have resulted in the application of significantly different degrees of scrutiny and accountability, both between individual universities and between universities and other charities. In part, this is due to the statutory framework itself but, significantly, is also attributable to the radically different approach taken by the Office for Students, which replaced HEFCE as Principal Regulator in 2018. Possible improvements in regulatory practice and statutory reform are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]