This paper explores the ideological orientations of higher education (HE) researchers in the form of a visual map, including three principal 'islands' -- "Pragmatists Peninsula," "Reformists Rock" and "Dystopians Retreat." The development of the HE research field in general, illustrated by the last 40 years of…

The reinvention of the university as a research-focused institution has transformed the way in which research is defined in practice. It is now widely explained in terms of a narrow set of performative expectations. This paper draws on historical literature to trace the hollowing out of research from a broad, though often sceptical, conception…

Purpose: Academics are at the forefront of criticisms about so-called "fake news" considered to undermine evidence-based approaches to the understanding of complex social, political, and economic issues. However, universities contribute to the production of fake news through the legitimization of measures that promote student…

The effects of performativity in academic life are widely discussed and debated. Yet most analysis relies on conventional forms of empirical enquiry, notably interviews and questionnaires. The curriculum vitae (CV) is a comparatively neglected source of insight into the changing nature of academic life that offers a fresh insight. Drawing on the…

The core themes of research into higher education studies (HES) have previously been identified through quantitative approaches focused on publication patterns, but there is a lack of fine-grained, qualitative analysis about the development of the field. This paper provides an intergenerational analysis of the emergence of HES in the UK since the…

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…

This paper examines some of the ways in which subject review can contribute to the scholarship of teaching. Subject review was a quality assessment process conducted under the auspices of the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. A preliminary discussion considers the potential and pitfalls of using subject review as a basis for…