This article is based on the findings of an externally funded, mixed-methods research project conducted at one English university. This small-scale project aimed to examine leadership, barriers to becoming a leader and the support needed to overcome them, from the perspectives of disabled staff. An online questionnaire was sent to all 66 members…

Policies on international student mobility (ISM) have the capacity to structure both flows of students and the representations of globally mobile students through discourse. This paper draws on a text-based analysis of British policy discourses and secondary analysis of published statistics. It uses problematisation analysis to examine how…

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 is a nationwide initiative designed to assess the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). For the first time, REF 2014 introduced the wider impact of research, alongside the quality of research and the vitality of the research environment, into the assessment of research…

A study was undertaken to identify via questionnaire (42) and interview (6) academic staff perceptions of the impact on their practice of engagement with an institutional Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Scheme aligned to the UK PSF and leading to HEA Fellowship. This paper focuses on three key themes in relation to teaching and learning…

Underrepresented students are often constructed through deficit discourses and blamed for 'lowering the bar' in higher education (Burke, P. J. 2012. "The Right to Higher Education: Beyond Widening Participation." Abingdon: Routledge). If a student struggles, then that may be seen as proof of personal deficiencies--proof of her…

Official figures from the Home Office show an increase in mobility of the highly-skilled from the United Kingdom (UK) to other European countries. This paper analyses the social composition of intra-European mobile graduates from the UK in the context of recent political developments (Bologna-Process, European Higher Education Area). Using…

A significant gender imbalance remains at executive management level within higher education despite a number of initiatives to increase the number of women in the leadership pipeline and ensure they are better prepared for these roles. This article presents findings from a recent study on the appointment of deputy and pro vice-chancellors in…

Purpose: Using the example of an amalgamated secondary school qualification (International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme--IBCP), in which both vocational education and training (VET) and academic subjects are taught, the paper aims to discuss the use of skills and knowledge gained during the IBCP for post-secondary school activities.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the position of education for sustainable development in the UK Higher Education (HE) sector with respect to the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Higher Education Academy (HEA) Guidance for education for sustainable development (ESD). Design/methodology/approach: By means of a mixed-method…

There is growing international concern to regulate and assure standards in higher education. External peer review of assessment, often called external examining, is a well-established approach to assuring standards. Australian higher education is one of several systems without a history of external examining for undergraduate programmes that is…

This study, commissioned by the HEA and the QAA focuses on directed independent learning practices in UK higher education. It investigates what stakeholders (including academic staff and students) have found to be the most effective practices in the inception, design, quality assurance and enhancement of directed independent learning and explores…

Higher education is an increasingly competitive global market. Consequently, it is crucial that universities fully understand students' motivations in university selection. While past research mainly focused on university-level attributes, this study extends the factors used to evaluate different international universities to include both the…

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 is a nationwide initiative designed to assess the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). For the first time, REF 2014 introduced the wider impact of research, alongside the quality of research and the vitality of the research environment, into the assessment of research…

Digital technologies are being increasingly used in wider society including in educational settings. There are many examples that illustrate how universities embed technology enhanced learning within their educational provision. However there has been less research and evaluation of how these and other readily available technology based resources…

This paper outlines the research design, methodology and methods employed in research conducted in the context of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and focuses on the Heads of e-Learning (HeLs) perspective about Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) by campus-based UK institutions. This paper aims to expand on the research design and the research…