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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Various studies have investigated the views of higher education staff and students about sustainability, yet educational developer perspectives are under-represented in the research. This project gathered educational developer perspectives about sustainability in the curriculum. It sought to capture their views about a national sustainability…

This research aims to explore the development of private higher education and related policy changes in China in the light of Foucault's notion of governmentality in neoliberal China. Essentially it is a synthesis of macro-level and micro-level analysis. The researcher examines policy development in combination with wide social, political and…

The contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the contribution of higher education institutions in achieving these have been emphasized. This study sought to find out the extent to which university-based researches on ICTs addressed and impacted the three MDGs of gender…

This study examined the effects of foundation universities on the higher education system of Turkey through perceptions of academic staff in state and foundation universities. In this qualitative research, 15 members of academic staff were interviewed for their perceptions regarding a variety of issues about foundation universities. Analysis of…

The nature of academic development in contemporary universities has been a recent focus in the literature. Highlighting the diversity of practices that exist under its name, "academic development" has been described by some as an ambiguous project and a fragmented field, while others suggest a more coherent project, pointing out a near…

National and international developments in higher education and the resultant pressure on universities to demonstrate excellence, including excellence in research, had a far-reaching effect on faculties of education who had traditionally focused more on excellence in teaching than on research. In South Africa, as part of transformation policies…