Where next for external examining? A view from UK higher education

Review question / Objective: a. Question • What kind of mental health services that international students can access in UK higher education? b. Objectives • to systematically search and identify the range of mental health services that international students in UK higher education can access. • to gather and display evidence on health care and services to maintain or enhance mental health conditions of mental health services in the UK. • to collect clusters of existing evidence and gaps to inform the potential literature review design. Background: Mental health is already a significant global issue in higher education (Alonso et al., 2018; Auerbach et al., 2016a, 2016b; Mortier et al., 2018). As the WHO argued, there is no health without mental health (DH, 2011; Prince et al., 2007; WHO, 2018, 2021, 2022a). Higher education students who are far away from home, lack social support and face language and cultural differences are the vulnerable populations in terms of mental health compared with home students (Blackmore et al., 2019; Forbes-Mewett & Sawyer, 2016, 2019; Minutillo et al., 2020; Sachpasidi & Georgiadou, 2018; Sherry et al., 2010). As a critical industry, UK higher education has the second-largest group of international higher education students globally (Department for Education & Department for International Trade, 2021; QS, 2019; QS Enrolment Solutions, 2021; Universities UK, 2021a, 2021b). However, compared with home students, international students are less likely to use mental health services in UK higher education. Attention to the mental health conditions of international students in UK higher education has more possibility to be improved in this country (HESA, 2021; Orygen, 2020; Quinn, 2020).

List of Illustrations Series Editors' Introduction Notes on Contributors Foreword by Christopher Hood Chapter 1: Coming to terms with governance in higher education, by Jeroen Huisman Part I: The Application of Governance Frameworks Chapter 2: Governance in Higher Education: An Analysis of the Italian Experience, by Gianfranco Rebora and Matteo Turri Chapter 3: Governance in German Higher Education: Competition Versus Negotiation of Performance, by Dominic Orr and Michael Jaeger Chapter 4: Governing Disciplines: Reform and Placation in the Austrian University System, by Claudia Meister-Scheytt and Alan Scott Chapter 5: Prometheus (on the) Rebound? Freedom and the Danish Steering System, by Susan Wright and Jakob Williams Orberg Chapter 6: Reform Policies and Change Processes in Europe, by Catherine Paradeise, Ivar Bleiklie, Jurgen Enders, Gaele Goastellec, Svein Michelsen, Emanuela Reale & Don F. Westerheijden Chapter 7: Policy Networks and Research on Higher Education Governance and Policy, by Lucia Padure and Glen A. Jones Part II: Variations on a Governance Theme Chapter 8: Effectiveness or Economy? Policy Drivers in UK Higher Education, 1985-2005, by Roger Brown Chapter 9: Good Governance and Australian Higher Education: An Analysis of a Neo-liberal Decade, by Leo Goedegebuure, Martin Hayden and V. Lynn Meek Chapter 10: Viewing Recent US Governance Reform Whole: 'Decentralization' in a distinctive context, by Michael K. McLendon and James C. Hearn Chapter 11: Mapping out Discourses on Higher Education Governance, by Antonio Magalhaes and Alberto Amaral Chapter 12: Irish Higher education and the Knowledge Economy, by Kelly Coate and Iain Mac Labhrainn Part III: The Invisible Hand of Governance Chapter 13: The Effectiveness of a Dutch Policy Reform: Academic Responses to Imposed Changes, by Harry F. de Boer Chapter 14: The Graduate System in Transition: External Ph.D. Researchers in a Managerial Context?, by Christine Teelken, Kees Boersma and Peter Groenewegen Chapter 15: Governance and the Autonomous University: Changing Institutional Leadership in UK and Australian Higher Education, by David Smith and Jonathan Adams Index

This study aims to investigate the issues and challenges facing information technology implementation in higher education, from which the study seeks to compare key factors influence implementation decisions between Chinese and UK higher education. The study adopts a mixed method approach by using survey and in-depth interviews to collect primary data. The study found that Chinese and UK Universities encounter barriers, some are similar but others are different when deploying e-learning technologies. The key barriers are faced by UK institutions are mainly technical literate, lack of time and financial resources, and legal issues; whilst traditional mind-set; government support, teaching methods and market demand are the key barriers faced by Chinese institutions. The similar barriers faced between UK and Chinese e-learning deployment include the organizational capability and technical constraint. Based on the findings, the study called the attention of government policy makers and associations to provide necessary support to both UK and Chinese higher education institutions on their deployment of e-learning technologies. The research identified that technical constraints and organizational capability are common issues, this means that investment on technical expertise in e-learning technologies and further funding to provide training and human resources, are required from both institutional and governmental level, to help support the successful deployment of e-learning technology in higher education.

This article posits the idea of the ‘fictive entrepreneur’ and the ‘fictive student’ to explore how the historical masculinisation of entrepreneurship has informed UK policy and higher education (HE) approaches to entrepreneurship education, and the implications of this for female students. Using a Bourdieuian perspective, discourse analysis is employed to critically analyse policy and research documents and identify entrepreneurship discourses that construct both a ‘fictive entrepreneur’ that students should aspire to become, and a ‘fictive student’ who will benefit from HE entrepreneurship education. It argues that rather than being gender neutral or meritocratic, these discourses of entrepreneurship are saturated with gendered meanings which position HE students and entrepreneurs in potentially damaging ways.

Introduction: The research and teaching of French linguistics in UK higher education (HE) institutions have a venerable history; a number of universities have traditionally offered philology or history of the language courses, which complement literary study. A deeper understanding of the way that the phonology, syntax and semantics of the French language have evolved gives students linguistic insights that dovetail with their study of the Roman de Renart, Rabelais, Racine or the nouveau roman. There was, in the past, some coverage of contemporary French phonetics but little on sociolinguistic issues. More recently, new areas of research and teaching have been developed, with a particular focus on contemporary spoken French and on sociolinguistics. Well supported by funding councils, UK researchers are also making an important contribution in other areas: phonetics and phonology, syntax, pragmatics and second-language acquisition. A fair proportion of French linguistics research occurs outside French sections in psychology or applied linguistics departments. In addition, the UK plays a particular role in bringing together European and North American intellectual traditions and methodologies and in promoting the internationalisation of French linguistics research through the strength of its subject associations, and that of the Journal of French Language Studies. The following sections treat each of these areas in turn. History of the French Language There is a long and distinguished tradition in Britain of teaching and research on the history of the French language, particularly, but by no means exclusively, at the universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Oxford.

This article explores the concept of academic freedom and whether it is under threat in US and UK higher education. How is ‘academic freedom’ protected by the law in each country? What are the threats to ‘academic freedom’—from government micro-management of universities, from commercial sponsors of university research, from managerialism/corporatism within university governance, from political correctness on the campus, from alumni-donors and the funders? Specifically, is academic freedom within UK universities challenged by recent anti-terrorism legislation; and in the USA by the neo-conservative ‘Academic Bill of Rights’ campaign? The conclusion is not pessimistic concerning the viability of academic freedom in both countries, but counsels wariness in watching out for threats if another McCarthy era is to be avoided.

This exploratory paper considers the current state of UK HE branding, in particular, conceptualisations and approaches. It is driven by calls in the literature for clearer understanding and application of branding in Higher Education (HE).Objectives of the research, drawn from literature, were to explore conceptualisations of branding in the UK HE sector, as well as current challenges to branding concepts/ practice in UK HE. The methodology was based upon depth interviews with fifteen opinion leaders and opinion formers, specifically Heads of Marketing or External Relations in UK HE. Findings suggest that branding is a key issue for UK universities, but an overall conceptual model for brands in the HE sector remains challenging, although parallels with corporate branding are drawn. However, simplistic adoption of corporate branding does not offer a clear solution, and the requirement for a conceptual framework particular to the sector is evident. In exploring conceptual frameworks, experiential branding and internal branding are discussed as possible approaches that may offer a route for differentiation that universities seek. Whilst developing a clear conceptual model is the key challenge identified, limited and variable understanding of the branding concept and limited genuine differentiation around which to build a brand were also notable challenges. Overall, significant branding opportunities and challenges in a changing sector are discussed. Conclusions argue that corporate branding, experiential branding and internal branding literature all have a degree of applicability, but clearly further empirical work is needed to advance this important field.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The number of international students in the United Kingdom’s (UK) higher education (HE) sector has significantly increased, yet research on pedagogical frameworks for these students remains limited, particularly within the context of private business schools. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the application of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) for international students in a UK HE private business school. CRP is a pedagogical framework that supports students’ intellectual, social, emotional, and political development by integrating their cultural backgrounds into teaching practices (Ladson-Billings, 2009), emphasising the importance of aligning teaching content and students’ cultural backgrounds (Yu, 2022). Using qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed through thematic analysis with a deductive coding approach based on the three tenets of CRP: academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness. Findings suggested that participants, who were lecturers, were drawn to tenet 2, cultural competence, but also indicated challenges to incorporate CRP principles for international students within the UK HE private business school context. Contrary to the original CRP framework, findings in this study suggested that students and institutions, along with lecturers, should share the responsibility for students’ academic success. Unlike CRP in the United States (US) context, participants hesitated to discuss social issues with international students in the classroom. Given the challenges identified in this study, further study is necessary to reconceptualise CRP for international students, not only within UK HE private business schools but across the broader UK HE landscape.

ABSTRACTUK Higher Education (HE) is going through a process of unprecedented change, where large numbers of its student body now come from internationally diverse contexts. These students come from different cultures, backgrounds and educational systems which influence the way they interact, learn and engage with UK HE. Key participants in this engagement and interaction are UK HE academics, who play a significant role in the development of the international student teaching and learning experience. This paper aims to investigate this role and investigate the academic expectations and perceptions of 22 academic tutors across 3 UK HE Business Schools. Within this context the paper will explore how academic knowledge and understanding of international students influence their pedagogical approaches; the participants in the research each had a minimum of three years’ teaching experience. Data were analysed using template analysis through the lens of an interpretive approach. The findings indicate that more needs to be done to support the integration of international students in UK HE.

Narrative Time

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Higher Education (HE) Trial Scanning Licence has been implemented to varying degrees across UK HE institutions. The UK HE community has sought to share expertise in the technical, practical and compliance issues associated with the licence since its introduction. The University of Warwick Research and Innovation Unit (RIU) conducted a survey of scanning practice which revealed different approaches and levels of scanning in evidence. This, taken with the CLA's own data about how the licence has been used, presents a picture of how UK HE Institutions are providing electronic extracts to their students. Issues such as who is using the licence, how much they are scanning, what the nature of that scanned content is and how they are creating scanned extracts, reveal much that can help those considering whether and how to use the CLA HE Trial Scanning Licence.

In recent years the rhetoric of flexibility has become increasingly influential within the UK’s Higher Education (HE) sector. In reports, such as that of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (NCIHE, 1997), in Green Papers such as the Learning Age (DfEE, 1998) and its Scottish equivalent, Opportunity Scotland (Scottish Office, 1998), in university mission statements, in course advertisements, prospectuses and brochures, in all these places and more, exhortations of flexibility have emerged almost unchallenged. Indeed, flexibility became one of the buzz words of 1990s academe.Where discussions of flexibility exist (Edwards, 1997; Schuller et al., 1998; Johnston, 1999) they have hitherto often been limited to contextualisation accounts, rather than attempting critiques. This article digs deeper by looking at various aspects of flexibility within UK HE. It suggests that by examining notions of flexibility as they were developed in labour market theory during the 1980s, it is possible to gain greater understanding of current discourses of flexibility in HE. It further suggests that notions of core and periphery taken from the labour market have their parallels in UK HE. Finally, it argues that thus far UK HE can be characterised as having an inflexible core which limits flexibility to the more peripheral areas and discusses the merits of some forms of inflexibility.

ABSTRACTToday’s global society creates an environment characterised by complex problems, solutions to which require transcendence of traditional discipline-based boundaries, and new forms of knowledge-sharing. Higher education (HE) has a central role in interdisciplinary knowledge creation and dissemination, reinforced by funding councils, professional bodies and government policy. That notwithstanding, there is currently no recognised best practice approach to interdisciplinary working in UK HE institutes. The aim of this paper is to develop a best practice model to facilitate interdisciplinarity within the UK HE sector, focusing on teaching and learning and the student learning experience. Based on the results of an exploratory and empirical enquiry, a HE Interdisciplinary Model (HIM) of best practice is proposed. The HIM is informed by the development of four themes and six ensuing enablers from a synthesis of perceived barriers, possible facilitators and potential solutions to interdisciplinarity within UK HE. However, further research is necessary to validate the proposed model.

In a recent systemic review of research on Disabled*1 students in Higher Education (HE), Kutscher and Tuckwiller (2019) highlighted the lack of any intersectional examination of disability and argued that research examining the intersections of disability and gender, race, sexuality, et cetera. are urgently needed. In the UK, a House of Lords Committee released a report that highlighted the many disadvantages still faced by Disabled students in UK HE, highlighting issues around access, support, and performance –finding that there is an attainment gap for Disabled students in UK HE (Hector et al., 2020). This article uses intersectionality as critical social theory (Collins, 2019) in the examination of the success (or otherwise) of Disabled women in HE in the UK. Defining “success” as completing a degree and attaining “Good Honours”, the aim is to identify how the success of Disabled women students in the UK compares to non-disabled women, Disabled men, and non-disabled men. The findings suggest that there are intersectional disadvantages for Disabled women students; suggesting that there is an attainment gap for Undergraduate students and differences in the likelihood they continue and gain their intended award at postgraduate taught level. This paper is the first to examine the intersectional effects of gender and disability in UK HE students, and as well demonstrating this it highlights areas for future research.

This article maps the history of antiracist pedagogies in UK Higher Education (HE). The article presents the argument that we are currently in a ‘post-decolonial’ phase following the increasing traction of recent decolonising movements, particularly in the wake of the resurgence of Black Lives Matter UK in the summer of 2020. UK HE institutions have co-opted the language of decolonisation and have sought to address staff and student concerns through liberal/ neoliberal initiatives that do not address the colonial roots of inequities in these institutions. Yet, there is a longer history of antiracist pedagogy in UK HE, and the legacies of this continue to be called upon for continuing antiracist pedagogical work today. Crucially, neoliberalism and anti-Blackness are identified as key concerns in the contemporary context. This history will be significant for scholars of education, as the article provides analysis of key case studies of antiracist pedagogical approaches employed in the UK HE context, as well as scholars across fields who wish to implement antiracist and other radical pedagogies into their teaching practice.