Student engagement and barriers to implementation: the view of professional and academic staff

Abstract

ABSTRACT The importance placed on student engagement strategies within higher education (HE) and the emphasis on sophisticated and expensive polices by universities has been well documented. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, the main aim of such resource intensive aims is fundamentally to attract students to their institutions. This study investigates student engagement (SE), focusing on both academic and professional staff opinions beyond academic engagement. Interviewing staff (n = 14) who have a role in SE including academic and non-academic engagement, two research aims were investigated namely: what engagement activities are offered and what are the barriers to effectively delivering them. Staff stated that barriers to engaging with their students included lack of resources, operational issues, staff buy-in, centralised structures and dis-jointed systems. Tensions were reported regarding strategic versus operational issues and lack of coordination between professional services and academic departments. Management implications suggested the need for senior leadership involvement and SE strategic planning and mapping of the student journey.