Universities across the globe are considering how to effect meaningful change in their higher education (HE) delivery in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting student learning preferences. This paper reports on a descriptive case- study of whole-of-institution curriculum reform at one regional Australian university, where more traditional…

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is based on a quantitative and accumulative understanding of time, which increasingly frames academic practices and notions of learning in higher education (HE). By example of a recent Danish policy reform, the article explores the connections between the ECTS, new institutional…

This article focuses on how 'problems' regarding quality in adult education are constituted as particular sorts of 'problems'. The analysis takes its point of departure in a poststructural analytic strategy called 'What's the problem represented to be?'. The material analysed consists of various policy documents concerning contemporary Swedish…

Through an ethnographic exploration of policy documents, this paper aims to expose how outcome-oriented education standards gained international hegemonic status in the Bologna Process. Taking inspiration in the concept of hegemony and by connecting the invisible power of hegemony to soft governance, the paper shows how the outcome-based modular…

This paper analyzes the phenomenon that reducing hours of EFL instruction to non-English majors in Chinese universities gets no response. It first depicts the phenomenon, pointing out that this phenomenon differs greatly from people's response to similar events that happened in the past. It then analyzes the complicated underlying factors from…

Based on a case study in Swedish municipal basic adult education this article addresses current policies for providing individualized and flexible learning, which have been reinforced in recent adult education reforms. Concepts from the organization theory of "action nets" have been used. Institutionalized procedures and a number of…

It is increasingly difficult to be a citizen, a family member or a worker, to be young or to be old, without the acquisition of new skills. And these are not simple skills; they are complex, creative, thought-provoking and challenging skills. Many more people are capable of acquiring and using these skills than have the opportunity to do so.…

This article investigates school mentors' perspectives on their role in training student-teachers following an initial teacher education (ITE) programme via a flexible learning route. The paper draws upon data gathered from focus groups and interviews to examine how mentors are redefining their role in response to the opportunities and challenges…