Students In England Research Articles

The relationship between Rose Anna Shedlock (c1850-1878) and Emile Roux (1853-1933).

The famous French scientist, Emile Roux, was previously discovered to have been secretly married to an English woman, Rose Anna Shedlock, one of the first women medical school students in Britain and Europe. Emile and Rose most likely met while in medical school in Paris, although for very different reasons, neither graduated. It was previously suggested that Rose left medical school after only a few years, although we present new evidence that that she was still a medical student four years later when she would have been near completion. Regardless, Rose moved back to England prior to taking her qualifying exams, where we found she lived at a girl's boarding school where one of her sisters was head mistress. In the following year, Emile travelled to London where he and Rose were married in a quiet civil ceremony. Soon after the wedding, Emile returned to Paris where he began working as an assistant to Louis Pasteur. In a tragic twist of fate, Rose died a year later in Madeira, which we have now noted was within days of when Emile performed his breakthrough experiments that led to the creation of vaccines in the laboratory.

The Development of an Academic Literacies Programme for Students in Britain and Beyond

Richmond’s Academic Literacies Programme (ALP) is a content-based form of instruction for university students which teaches critical reading, research skills, content synthesis, and writing and presentation skills. It is designed to empower all students to research and write effectively throughout their undergraduate studies. This article is a quantitative case study review of a British-American university’s ALP, examining student feedback across academic disciplines on specific taught ALP skills and comparing their improvement from 2014 to 2022. Chi-squared goodness-of-fit tests showed students valued research, critical reading, academic writing, essay structure, understanding academic honesty, using tutor feedback, and referencing skills; however, survey development and recommendation reports were not meeting student needs in their majors and so were removed from the programme. In comparison, in a follow-up review conducted in 2022, the skill of identifying research gaps was not effectively used or applied. However, independent group testing found the usefulness of skills at the lower learning level improved from 2014 to 2022, as did the application of skills at the higher level. This study concludes that ALPs are valuable for all university students beginning higher education research, regardless of first language or degree course.

Reflections on Sixth form education: a weight worth bearing?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to share experiences of attending Sixth Form (SF) and to provide reflections on coping, stress management and support for an underresearched cohort of students in Britain. This will be the first in several papers dedicated to the experiences of Sixth Form (SF) students and the need for more research into this area as well as the exploration of the sources of stress that SF students may face.Design/methodology/approachReflective, narrative first-person approach with supporting literature and own research over the master’s thesis of the author and current PhD research.FindingsKey reflections are SF education lacks support for students who may feel undersupported. Many things other than academics are occurring in this time of life and can become problematic to the students if not supported. Students experience a myriad of changes across this time period but are left behind the author’s support and revision systems that cater to General Certificate of Secondary Education students but are unable to provide support for SF students.Social implicationsSocial implications are focussed on building awareness and research into the support needs and sources of stress for SF students.Originality/valueThis paper is one person’s experience with the institution of SF and the expectations, challenges and sources of stress that the author experienced. This paper contributes to the exploration of this underresearched cohort of students.

Knowledge and Skill Development Through Intercultural Virtual Exchange

Virtual exchange (VE) has been increasingly applied to foreign language education in the last two decades. The pandemic has compelled scholars and practitioners to adopt various forms of VE alongside language teaching and learning. The current study is based on one VE project between university students in Britain and China over a duration of eight weeks in the academic year of 2021-22. It draws on literature in VE relating mostly to English and other European languages, and mainly on the theoretical framework of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Both quantitative and qualitative data are analysed to investigate how VE impacts the development in knowledge and skills including ICC and how issues can be addressed in the context of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. As we ease out of the challenges caused by the pandemic and other global relations, VE should not just be the contingency replacement of a physical exchange into China, but also become a necessary preparation for a new norm of blended mobility.

Research Perspectives on Students in Britain and Ireland, 1800-1945

Historians of Britain and Ireland have long been interested in universities and students. They have acknowledged the importance of these institutions and individuals within the history of elites, the history of the state, intellectual history, the history of science, of social movements and of politics and political thought. Yet, for many years much of this research has centred around higher education institutions themselves rather than the student body that they cater for. Following the expansion of the higher education sector and the growth of the student movement in the 1960s the quantity and quality of literature on British and Irish students, rather than the institutions that they studied at, has grown substantially and has become a burgeoning historical field. This article surveys the development of this historiography and the key research perspectives on students in Britain and Ireland from 1800-1945, focusing on five thematic areas: student culture, student representation and politics, student life during war, students race and empire, and student women - to track the progress, development and connections between the different strands of this historiography over the past fifty years and to offer insights into potential avenues for further research.

Mobility, race and the politicisation of Indian students in Britain before the Second World War

ABSTRACT Indian students in Britain before the Second World War were a sizeable social group who exerted noticeable influence on Indian nationalism and on British institutions and society. The politics of race and empire were mediated through British schools and universities in this period with consequences for Indian students, and their peers. This article discusses the ways in which Indian students were socially segregated in Britain, including facing a colour ban in some parts of the country, and the consequences of this racial prejudice. It argues that the mobility of colonial students during the time of empire not only had a personal effect on their lives, but encouraged them to become politically engaged in the politics of metropole and empire, engaging in nationalism, socialism and the female suffrage movement in both Britain and India.

Investigating language identities of international postgraduate students in Britain: a qualitative inquiry

ABSTRACT This paper explores eight Kazakhstani postgraduate students’ reflections of their international educational experiences in the UK after their immediate re-entry into Kazakhstan. Special focus was on their language identity development after their one-year stay in the UK. It was informed by Benson et al.’s ([2013]. Second Language Identity in Narratives of Study Abroad. London: Palgrave Macmillan) three-dimensional model of L2 identity: (a) identity-related aspects of L2 proficiency, (b) linguistic self-concept, and (c) L2-mediated aspects of personal development. The qualitative data collected from a written narrative and three subsequent rounds of individual semi-structured interviews suggest that most participants had lofty goals in the first period of their study abroad. They gradually became aware that full immersion in the host country could take a long time, and accordingly, they set concrete goals. The analysis of the data also revealed that the participants exercised their agency in displaying their development of sociopragmatic competence and a global citizenship identity, by respecting different opinions and accepting cultural differences. Nevertheless, some of them experienced racism based on their usage of English and presumed ethnicity. This study underlines the significance of introducing pedagogical interventions in all phases of study abroad to avoid student sojourners’ unrealistic or impractical goals and empower their language identities.

The Effectiveness of Contemporary Islamic Scholars in Tackling Pornography Addiction: A Case of Muslim Students in Britain

In the contemporary era, fatwas mostly contain derivative information from classical texts such as the Quran and Hadith. Fatwas are used to tackle pornography addiction while it may lack productivity in spreading innovative solutions among Muslim students. Failure to provide solid Islamic pornography rehabilitations and disfavouring to speak openly on pornography does not stop the prevalence of pornography among Muslim students. Therefore, the purpose is to explore the prevalence of pornography, its effect on Muslim students, and strategies to overcome pornography addiction. Through SPSS analysis, the numerical data shows that both Muslim male and female students view pornography regardless of its prohibitions. Some Muslim students are engaged in maladaptive behavior, affecting their spirituality, religion, and overall well-being (Ademola, 2017). The study, therefore, suggests alternative awareness programs to support Muslim students to overcome the struggles of pornographic addiction that is often too tempting to resist. Dealing with pornography per today's context perhaps will diminish the statistical rate of Muslim students watching pornography.

Shifting learning strategies and future selves of Arab postgraduate students in Britain: a qualitative inquiry

ABSTRACT This paper explores Arab postgraduate students’ situated experiences and their actual and dynamic use of learning strategies at a UK university. The qualitative data collected from a written narrative and five subsequent rounds of individual semi-structured interviews suggest that most participants initially clung to their ‘aschematic’ future selves as they articulated relatively distant goals without employing the appropriate learning strategies to get to them. They anticipated achieving native-like proficiency in English and forming meaningful friendships with locals once they were in the host environment. In response to the changes in assessment mode and the practice of some influential actors, however, the participants gradually began to articulate proximal goals until they visualised their ideal self and embraced the appropriate strategies. The findings of the current study underline the significance of introducing pedagogical interventions in all phases of study abroad to avoid student sojourners’ maladaptive behaviour, such as the setting of unrealistic or impractical goals, and deepen their language and intercultural learning. Directions for further research are also suggested.

Weak multiculturalism and fears of cultural encroachment: Meanings of multiculturalism among young elites in Britain

While politicians and scholars have debated the meaning, value, and purposes of multiculturalism for decades, less attention has been paid to the views of a broader group of Britons. In this paper I analyze the meaning of multiculturalism for elite university students in Britain. Many British leaders spend their early adulthood in elite universities. Do they hold the same conceptions of multiculturalism that scholars, the media, and politicians espouse? And, do they express strong support for multiculturalism (as they understand it) as discussions about political division in Britain assume? This paper answers these important questions by analyzing 67 in-depth interviews with undergraduates at Oxford University. I find that students define multiculturalism as a diverse array of ethnic groups living in the same society. Most simultaneously report little impact on their lives. Still, a significant minority express concerns about a perceived lack of integration and impingement on traditional British culture. These findings demonstrate precarious support for multiculturalism even among those who express more tolerant, inclusive understandings of British society related to immigration and Brexit in opinion polls.

How is ‘racism’ understood in literature about black and minority ethnic social work students in Britain? A conceptual review

ABSTRACTThis conceptual review interrogates a body of literature concerned with black and minority ethnic (BME) social work students in Britain since 2008. This period has coincided with an increasing focus on diversity in Higher Education, but also lower prominence being given to race in social work. In social work education, there has been increased attention to the needs and experiences of BME students. While most of this literature acknowledges racism, what constitutes racism and how it can be understood usually remain implicit. This review aimed to explore influential concepts in the literature and the ways these affected how racism is understood and identified. A search was carried out for articles in peer-reviewed academic journals between 2008 and 2018. In this article, we discuss four recurring concepts of racism in this literature: subtle racism, institutional racism, cultural difference and pedagogical solutions. The article analyses the assumptions underpinning these concepts, and the implications for how racism has been understood and investigated in this literature. The subsequent discussion calls for a more reflexive approach and identifies questions that future research could explore, which could lead to improved understandings of racism in social work education.

Fighting for “Justice”, Engaging the Other: Shi’a Muslim Activism on the British University Campus

While Shi’a Muslims remain in the minority in Europe, including within universities, the past decade has witnessed the growing profile of Shi’ism on university campuses, especially in Britain. In particular, there has been an emphasis on campaigns that prioritise notions of justice, equality, and human rights. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted amongst Twelver Shi’a students in Britain between 2013–2018, this paper examines the forms of Shi’a activism currently being articulated on university campuses, especially those that explicitly seek to engage non-Muslims and spread awareness about Shi’a Islam. On the one hand, such practices constitute a form of self-representation for Shi’a students who would otherwise feel marginalised within the university space; while on the other, they promote a particular version of Shi’a Islam that both frames it within the European context and that also contributes to the sectarianisation of the contemporary Shi’a subject. While the forms and resonance of Shi’a student activism arguably only have meaning within the context of contemporary Europe, we argue that the discursive contours underpinning such activism ultimately transcend such national and cultural boundaries and contribute to a reinterpretation and reimagining of Shi’a sectarian identity for the modern age.

Number of EU research students in Britain drops from pre-referendum high

Downward trend in postgraduate enrolment stokes fears of a brain drain in the country's pipeline of promising young scientists. Downward trend in postgraduate enrolment stokes fears of a brain drain in the country's pipeline of promising young scientists.

Visitors from Other Cultures: Views of Muslim Overseas Students in Britain

The UK is currently the second most popular destination for international students worldwide yet there is very public uncertainty as to whether Muslim students should be encouraged to come here. There has been much discussion in the media but, apparently, no one has thought of consulting these students themselves, with the result that there is relatively little available research on students from the Islamic world as a whole. What are their common motivations for studying in UK? What if anything do they admire in British culture and what do they find difficult here? Our general conclusion is that our participants make sense of their sojourn in UK as a learning and growing experience, ultimately empowering. For Britain these students and their families are a particularly lucrative source of income, but their presence could be made (even) more beneficial if our universities are prepared to invest extra time and money in engaging with them. We need a shift to a bidirectional exchange model where overseas and local students can all benefit. Muslim groups on campus should be helped to raise their profile to counter feelings of rejection and dispel the potential impression that the Islamic community is secretive or unwelcoming. We believe that such cultural exchange can only be positive and this study has shown that there is probably more goodwill than many imagine.

Service user and carer feedback: simply pass/fail or a genuine learning tool?

ABSTRACTSocial Work Students in Britain are required to submit feedback from Service Users and Carers as part of their Practice Learning portfolios. The purpose of this is twofold—to demonstrate evidence of the student’s ability and to provide information for the student to reflect on and learn from. Members of the Service User and Carer Advisory group attached to a Social Work degree course believe this represents an opportunity for users and carers to influence future social work practice. In reality however, does this feedback actually make a difference? Group members reviewed user and carer feedback contained within student portfolios submitted during one academic year. They found that whilst there were some excellent examples of constructive criticism, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive towards students. The findings raised questions about how gathering Service User and Carer feedback is viewed and undertaken. Is the feedback seen more as a pass/fail issue or as an opportunity to learn from? Could there be better ways to gain constructive feedback for students? What conditions enable students to learn from the feedback that is gathered? This paper starts to explore these questions and suggests ideas for further research and training.

Locating exile: decolonization, anti-imperial spaces and Zimbabwean students in Britain, 1965–1980

Exile is usually cast as a time of hardship, narrated through tropes of nostalgia and loss. Yet it is not always experienced and remembered in this way. This article provides a counterpoint to the familiar nostalgic lament by exploring the narratives of Zimbabwean students ‘in exile’ in Britain during the country's liberation war of 1965–1980, who looked back on their stay in the imperial heartland as a time of opportunity and excitement. They recalled their own youthful militancy, the optimism of liberation movements before independence and invoked the conviviality of joint political campaigns with British-based allies. The article explains their up-beat recollections by locating exile in transnational socio-political spaces created by Rhodesia's contested sovereignty, focusing on exiles' relations with mainstream liberal-left solidarity organizations, with Caribbean/black British groups and the liberation movements' own transnational networks. By locating exile in this way, the article extends two hitherto disconnected bodies of scholarship – on southern African nationalisms in the making and British decolonization and postcolonial cultural politics. It highlights how Zimbabwean students helped foster liberation movements' international standing and their influence on post-independence ideas of status. The article also offers a new vantage point on Britain's re-racialized cultural politics, as performed in middle-class spaces on student campuses and internationalist campaigns. Zimbabwean students' accounts of exile in Britain can thus do more than reveal the inadequacies of generalisations about a singular exile condition. Their narratives of the opportunities and sociability of exile in Britain reveal the occlusions of narrow military versions of southern African liberation history, while adding new, transnational dimensions to historical geographies of decolonization, urban cosmopolitanism and the African presence in 1960s and 1970s Britain.

Thinking about and working with archives and records: a personal reflection on theory and practice

Looking back over a career that has lasted 40 years (so far) the author reflects on developments in his own thinking and the influences involved. Not least amongst these are: the British public records tradition which predominated at UCL when he studied there; the American historical manuscripts tradition which was in the process of aligning with strands of postmodernism when he held visiting fellowships in the USA; the reconfiguration of Records Management in sub-Saharan Africa in response to public sector reform in which he was involved as an advisor; and the experience of teaching postgraduate students in Britain and overseas. The author’s publications have appeared in a wide range of journals and as monographs, some of them published overseas. Here he draws together the common strands that connect them. Finally he argues that hermeneutic techniques and the concept of fiduciarity deserve to be given serious consideration in debates about archive and records theory.

Does the Value Circle Exist Within Persons or Only Across Persons?

This study tests whether the Schwartz (1992) value circle exists within individuals, not only across individuals, thereby providing evidence for the within-person rationale underlying the value circle. We analyze responses from five samples (a representative sample in Britain, a general population sample in the United States, and university students in Britain and Iran) varying in value measures of the Schwartz value theory (SVS, PVQ40, PVQ21). An unfolding model is used to map each person's value profile into a two-dimensional space representing both persons and values. In all samples, clear value circles were found, with values ordered around the circle largely according to the theory. The model also represents most individuals well. The value circle exists within individuals, providing strong support for the underlying within-person rationale for the Schwartz (1992) value theory. The unfolding analysis allows identifying which persons fit the model less well and in which way, identifying how meaningful subgroups differ in their value profiles, and testing whether meaningful subgroups have different value structures. The model opens up many new possibilities for research linking values to other variables.

‘I don’t see how that makes me a gori (White girl)’: The multiple and problematic identities of academically successful Pakistani students

This paper1reports on research that sought to explore how educational settings influence the educational experiences, identity development and academic attainment of students of Pakistani2heritage, as they progress to higher education (HE). Research has highlighted the continued attainment gap that exists between White and minority ethnic students in Britain (Strand, 2014). Locally, in a West Midlands authority3, public examination and National Curriculum assessment data in 2012, demonstrated, despite improvements, gaps in achievement for Pakistani students, who were identified as a group at risk of underachieving. The study focused on students at a Russell Group4university, as much research showed that very few British Pakistani students managed to gain entry into more prestigious, pre-1992 universities (Bhatti, 2011; Gillborn, 2008). The research took a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of five Pakistani students, through semi-structured interviews. Five superordinate themes were abstracted from interview data and one of these themes, ‘multiple identities’, is presented and discussed here and illuminates the complex and multiple ways in which educational institutions influence the educational experiences of Pakistani students.

The Impact of Communal Intervention Programs on Jewish Identity: An Analysis of Jewish Students in Britain

During the 1990s, Jewish communal leaders in Britain reached a consensus that Jewish education, in the broadest sense, was the principal means of strengthening Jewish identity and securing Jewish continuity. This belief motivated considerable investment in communal intervention programs such as Jewish schools, Israel experience trips, and youth movements. Twenty years on, it is pertinent to ask whether, and to what extent, this intervention has worked. The Institute for Jewish Policy Research’s (JPR) 2011 National Jewish Student Survey contains data on over 900 Jewish students in Britain and presents an opportunity to empirically assess the impact such intervention programs may have had on respondents’ Jewish identity by comparing those who have experienced them with those who have not. Regression analysis is used to test the theory based on a set of six dimensions of Jewish identity generated using principal component analysis. The results show that after controlling for the substantial effects of Jewish upbringing, intervention has collectively had a positive impact on all aspects of Jewish identity examined. The effects are greatest on behavioral and mental aspects of socio-religious identity; they are far weaker at strengthening student community engagement, ethnocentricity, and Jewish values. Further, the most important intervention programs were found to be yeshiva and a gap year in Israel. Both youth movement involvement and Jewish schooling had positive but rather limited effects on Jewish identity, and short-stay Israel tours had no positive measurable effects at all.