Over the course of the previous two decades, successive governments have attempted to attract students from diverse backgrounds as part of an overarching ambition to widen participation in Higher Education (HE). As part of those efforts, there has been a proliferation of Further Education Colleges (FECs) utilised to meet those ends. In 2021,…

A key purpose of the Foundation Year provision is to prepare students, often from a widening participation background, for their undergraduate study. Research has established that access to academic discourse and disciplinary knowledge is, to a large extent, dependent on students' academic language and literacy skills, including oracy skills.…

The transition to Higher Education, while often exciting, is demanding for many students. Successful transition necessitates learning the conventions of scholarly conversation, including how to read and create work in an academic context. Knowledge of academic literacy practices is an important part of this process but these discourses and…

High quality feedback is known to be essential for learning, yet in higher education it has been highlighted as a problem area in the UK by both the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and National Student Surveys. Furthermore, a recent study has shown that there is a fault-line between the highly structured guidance system that exists in…

The main focus of this article is our project of reimagining higher education for ourselves and our students using the central theme of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), which is inextricably linked to education in the present and in the future in many contexts. We argue that interdisciplinarity and interdisciplinary working are central and…

This paper discusses a student-centred learning and teaching approach, "Marketing Downloads", designed to support students in transition into Higher Education. The move from secondary to tertiary education can be stressful for students and it impacts on their academic performance, their social life and general sense of well-being.…

Capital expenditure at United Kingdom (UK) universities is rapidly rising, with new buildings erected on the premise that national and international competitiveness must be maintained. We examine students' engagement with and conceptualisation of university estate, and explore broader questions about the extent to which building design can…

There is a long history of universities perceiving residences as pivotal in the learning process. Over the last 50 years, the nature and efficacy of residential environments as an educational tool have been extensively researched. However, within some sections of the tertiary residential sector, in the United States, the United Kingdom, New…

Ever decreasing numbers of applicants arrive in language departments at UK universities. In the face of this decline, and against the backdrop of higher education languages departments being reduced across the UK, it is important to investigate the supply chain of languages undergraduates in the pre-entry sector. This article reports on a…

Evidence from national and international studies points to the lack of preparation for Higher Education (HE) as a major factor for student non-completion of courses. This paper reports the findings of a study designed to enhance potential students' understandings of the expectations of independent learning and assessment. It seeks to provide…

Research has highlighted the importance of social integration and a sense of belonging for facilitating an effective transition into higher education. This paper reports a case study of entrants to two geography-related undergraduate programmes who were given the opportunity to use bespoke social networking sites in the three weeks before formal…

Assumptions are often made about new lecturers in terms of previous experience, development needs and orientations towards the new role. Postgraduate certificate (PgCert) programmes tend to operate on the assumption that new lecturers are already familiar with the research element of their discipline, in a default transition from PhD to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine mechanisms for managing the transition from school/college/work to university for disabled students Design/methodology/approach: A research project using a case study methodology in a UK university department was conducted over a four year period. Findings: The paper finds that it is important that…

The role of universities in contributing to lifelong learning is likely to undergo significant change in the next few years as the higher education sector grapples with the government's overhaul of university funding. Opportunities for progression to university for those studying outside of A-levels are particularly uncertain in the emerging…

In the UK, Personal Development Planning (PDP) is now an important part of a student's time at university. Its aim is to help students develop skills that will help them at university and in the workplace. However, research has shown that students do not always engage with this element of the curriculum. The aim of this article is to report on an…