Size is the big unspoken problem in UK higher education. Small providers are stifled. Large universities enjoy oligopolistic advantage at the cost of agility. This damages institutional diversity and dynamism: the sector's ability to absorb new concepts, to grow and renew itself. For the first time, this report provides a full picture of small and…

The relationship between teaching and research is a touchstone in thinking about higher education. However, the last 40 years has seen the "dislocation" of these core academic activities as a result of policy and operational decisions to distinguish the way they are funded, managed, assessed and rewarded. The activities of…

Considerable resources and intellectual attention have focused on seeking to raise the status of teaching in higher education over the last two decades. Initiatives at an institutional level have included the funding of pedagogic research, teaching awards and the creation of teaching professorships. In a broader context, the scholarship of…

The review of literature, so central to scholarly work and disciplined inquiry, is expected of the Ph.D. student, but how far along the road are they expected to travel? This article investigates the expectations of "the literature" in research and scholarship at Ph.D. level from the examiner and assessment perspective. The analysis…

This study investigates how learning to become a "researching professional" (Bourner, Bowden, & Laing, 2000) is understood by students undertaking a professional Doctorate of Education in one university in the United Kingdom (U.K.). This research is apposite given the present context for doctoral education both internationally and in…

This article addresses the challenges that Garnett suggests face higher education through the lens of Bourdieu. In taking up the challenge set by Garnett for higher education in the knowledge economy and responding to its powerful and primary artefact--intellectual capital--the article reviews and uses the analytical tool of Bourdieu's practice in…

Reviews the content of four well-established United Kingdom-based journals specializing in higher education over a five-year period, focusing on the particular nature of the four journals, what has been emphasized and what has been omitted in selecting articles to be published, and the current state of research and publication in higher education…

An analysis of the role and functions of the United Kingdom's newly-implemented Higher Education Statistics Agency looks at key features of the data collection and storage system, including its comprehensiveness, new record structure, capability for tracking individuals, data categories and coding, quality of data, and data accessibility. Despite…