This interview-based study investigated the impact of two academic development courses about assessment. Participants learnt concepts and terminology that enabled them to better understand and communicate about assessment. The courses also stimulated critical thinking about assessment practices and conceptual change, with 'assessment for learning'…

In the context marked by increasing competition between nation-states and universities, expanding individualization, growing influence of nonstate actors, and the new reality of Brexit, this study uses narrative and numeric data to explore the rationales of U.K. higher education (HE) internationalization, specifically motives of attracting…

Higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to offer interdisciplinary education programmes; however, their implementation is not uncomplicated. Particularly where parts of a programme are delivered by different departments, academic development activities to change practices and develop a coherent interdisciplinary programme are…

Since the early 1980s, several Muslim communities have attempted to create indigenous Muslim American institutions of higher learning. Many of the first attempts failed to sustain their operations beyond a few years; and until recently, none could attain accreditation. Since early 2000, a second wave of Islamic postsecondary institutions has…

Individual instructor consultation is a common service provided by centers focused on educational development in higher education. The importance of this service has been reflected in its history, increasing demand, and strong anecdotal evidence to its effectiveness. However, the extant literature reveals that comprehensive assessment of…

As an emerging field within higher education, academic development remains fragmented, both as a field of theory and practice. In the vibrant, on-going debate about the theoretical foundations and directions of academic development as a nascent field, some relatively wide-ranging claims which have been made seem to be lacking in supporting…

Purpose: Representing both "central university administration" and academics, deans are increasingly being confronted with the competing managerial and academic values. Being able to manage the competing values is pivotal to the success of a dean. However, there is dearth of research studying this. Considering the for-profit private…

The idea of the research university as a key institution for social and economic development in knowledge-intensive societies has been adopted by the Ukrainian government after the fall of the communist regime. Establishing research universities is a long journey during which many things might happen. To understand this journey better in the case…

In a globalized world, universities face challenges adapting to changing environmental pressures and expectations of legitimacy. Studies on the topic have tended to focus on universities in North America and Europe, while Chinese universities have received less attention, perhaps due to their status as latecomers to global higher education. Based…

Purpose: The study aims to review the entrepreneurial and educational innovations in technology-enabled distance education in practical legal education (PLE) accomplished by a unit "on the periphery" of a strong research-led university. It also aims to examine the learning organisation (LO) attributes associated with this initiative.…

Since the late nineteenth century, China, as a latecomer to modernization, has prioritized Western learning. The first modern university was created in China in 1895 to serve such a purpose with little linkage to China's rich indigenous cultural traditions. Modelled on European and North American experiences and operating in a Confucian…

In this paper, we are concerned with how change agents go about and experience change implementation in higher education. We identified change agents and interviewed them about how they implement change. Empirical data was analysed using a theoretical framework of change. The findings suggest that change in the university is enacted through a…

Many higher education institutions are adopting learning and teaching approaches that embrace "students as partners". This can be met with trepidation by academic staff and students. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, through two UK-based institutional case studies, that a partnership approach provides an opportunity for staff…

Post-secondary institutions, especially those with a research focus, face a challenge in ensuring consistent and high-quality teaching, in part because many members of the teaching faculty have backgrounds in research instead of teaching. A common part of meeting this challenge is the presence of Centres for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) on…

In 2004, Ray Land produced extensive literature on the 12 orientations of academic developers. These orientations provided academic developers with a useful tool through which they have been able to better articulate their roles and their place in academia. We have used the orientations model to establish, compare, and contrast the identity of…