Higher Education Funding Council For England Research Articles

Enhancing employability through hospital placements for Biomedical Science students

Collaboration between Universities and hospitals has provided the National Health Service (NHS) with many excellent Biomedical Scientists through the placement year scheme. Here, we document the number of students joining the placement scheme and the number and type of hospital departments offering student placements over a 10-year period.
 Prior to 2012, students were able to join fully-funded placements through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Since then, there has been a fluctuation in numbers completing a placement year at the University of Essex, but the employability of these graduates remains consistently higher than our 3-year graduates. We demonstrate the positive impact of completing a placement year in an NHS hospital laboratory for students, and the contribution to university metrics in good degrees and graduate outcomes as well as the provision of much needed, qualified biomedical science staff to hospitals.

Poverty's Effects on the Ability to Engage with Education Actively

The research investigates and understands how poverty creates risk and affects the ability to actively engage with education using a case study from an alternative provider's perspective—the research considered case study methods where data was collected using the qualitative research approach. The collection of data used data triangulation (focus groups and interviews of the students and senior staff members) using open-ended questions at the undergraduate level. The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel to assess the impact poverty has on educational attainment. Different ethical aspects and challenges were considered during the research process to ensure anonymity, confidentiality, power, and authority. Based on the case study research, the institution developed their five years strategic plan, which submitting to the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and also Office for Students (OFS) for their approval. The institution also introduced the Employers' Forum, which will continue to be effectively utilizing to enhance the student experience and retention and progression rates. The research only considered one case study institution and thus was limited to the data set. The research could have produced a comparative study if more institutions were choosing with a more significant data set.

Unknown knowns: implicit epistemological hierarchies in the evaluation of widening participation activities

Comparing guidance documents issued by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Office for Students (OfS) over the course of 15 years, I argue that the introduction of a new higher education regulator in 2018 caused a shift in the positioning of widening participation evaluation in HE policy. I suggest that the resulting changes have significant implications for the configuration of key evaluation stakeholder groups and that these reconfigurations, in turn, have implications for the epistemic relationships at play in the evaluation process. In particular, the way in which a mode of evaluation is framed by policy can determine who has the power to shape dominant definitions of meaningful evidence and whose situated forms of knowledge are considered to constitute robust evidence. The ongoing tension between positivist and post-positivist approaches can be eased, I argue, by focusing on the role of delivery practitioners as producers of evidence about 'what works' in their own contexts. I conclude by drawing on other practice-based disciplines such as social work and nursing to suggest that we might learn from work that is already advanced in these areas, which appears to have found a balance between evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence.

Understanding perceptions and expectations of studying radiotherapy: mature students compared to school-leavers

Introduction: Recruitment and retention for pre-registration radiotherapy courses in the U.K. has posed a difficulty for workforce planning within cancer care for many years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ,9 ,10. Mature students have traditionally made up a high proportion of students, but there has been a large decline in them starting the course since 2017 11,. There is a broad understanding of the market for mature students in general 12, 13, 14, but little research on why mature students choose radiotherapy specifically. This study explores mature students’ views on radiotherapy as a course and a career, in comparison to the views of students who had joined the course straight from school. Method: A focus group of mature students and one of school-leavers all from one institution were conducted with semi-structured questions. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded by one researcher. Ethical approval was obtained via Sheffield Hallam University. Results: Both groups were attracted by hands-on learning, close patient care of cancer patients and secure job opportunities, but were concerned by the physics content. School-leaver students expected a traditional University experience, where mature students were expecting a more structured training course. Mature students required more detail on the practicalities of placement living and location as they were more limited. Both groups felt disappointed in the job opportunities from before the course compared to starting it, but it was a more of a concern for mature students due to their settled lives. Mature students were more anxious about their choice to study radiotherapy and were more interested in the ability to plan, as they had made an active choice to return to education, where school-leavers were going to go to University at this point anyway. Conclusion: More detailed information on the course and the job prospects may help mature student recruitment and retention. Similarly, policies which allowed for more job security earlier in the course should be looked at. These ideas should then be put back to prospective mature students in further research. Numerical References 1 Department of Health (DoH) (2000) Meeting the Challenge: A Strategy for the Allied Health Professions. The Stationary Office. London. 2 Department of Health (DoH) (2017) Smaller and Specialist Allied Health Professions Final Report. The Stationary Office. London. Retrieved from https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Smaller%20and%20Specialist%20Allied%20Health%20Professions%20Final%20Report%20-%20June%202017.pdf 3 Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) (2018) Strategic Interventions in Health Education Disciplines. Retrieved from http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/2018/201802/HEFCE2018_02.pdf 4 Hutton, & Eddy. (2012). How was it for you? What factors influence job satisfaction for band 5 and 6 therapeutic radiographers. Radiography, Radiography. 5 McNamara, J. (2010). The recruitment and retention of therapy radiographers. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 17(5), 225. 6 Probst, H., & Griffiths, S. (2007). Retaining therapy radiographers: What’s so special about us? Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice, 6(1), 21-32. 7 Society of Radiographers (2009). Improving Student Retention: Guidelines and Good Practice. Retrieved from https://www.sor.org/printpdf/book/export/html/5971 8 Society of Radiographers (2017). The College of Radiographers Research Priorities for the Radiographic Profession. Retrieved from: https://www.sor.org/learning/document-library/college-radiographers-research-priorities-radiographic-profession 9 South West London Strategic Health Authority (SWLSHA) (2006) Student Recruitment and Retention Guide for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiography. Retrieved from https://www.sharedsolutions.net/app/download/5779480454/Student+Recruit.++Ret.+Guide+2006-02-09.pdf 10 Wharton D, Green D. Therapeutic Radiography Students—Why Become One? An Investigation of Motives Behind the Choice to Become a Therapeutic Radiography Student and Some Implications of These Motives for the Profession. Research Report. Leeds: Cookridge Hospital, 2000. 11 University and Colleges Admission System (UCAS) (2017) End of Cycle Report. UCAS. London 12 MillionPlus and National Union of Students (2012). Never Too Late To Learn. MillionPlus. London. Retrieved from http://www.millionplus.ac.uk/documents/Never_Too_Late_To_Learn_-_FINAL_REPORT.pdf 13 MillionPlus (2018). Forgotten Learners: building a system that works for mature students. MillionPlus. London. Retrieved from http://www.millionplus.ac.uk/documents/Forgotten_learners_building_a_system_that_works_for_mature_students.pdf 14 Office For Fair Access (2017). Topic briefing: mature and part-time students. Retrieved from https://www.offa.org.uk/universities-and-colleges/guidance/topic-briefings/offa-topic-briefing-mature-learners/

Financial Support of Higher Education Development in Ukraine and the UK

AbstractThe article deals with the financial support of higher education development in Ukraine and the UK. It presents the expenditure of the consolidated budget on education between 2007 and 2017 in Ukraine and the expenditure on education services per student in the UK. It highlights the funding of research in higher education in Ukraine. It describes the personnel potential of higher education institutions in Ukraine. It specifies the existing problems in the research sector of higher education in Ukraine. It indicates that research activities of the UK universities are at a high level since about one-third of research done by the UK universities is regarded as leading in the context of the world’s research community. The article also considers the salaries of teachers and lecturers in different regions of the UK. Based on theoretical analysis of scientific and pedagogical sources one can conclude that teacher salary in the UK is quite high and differentiated. In addition, they employ other ways to differentiate teacher salary there. Indeed, teachers receive praise for their own professional growth and practice through a dialogue with their leader. It is found that the UK universities receive financial support from the funds administered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) (except for colleges of further education). The expenditure on higher education per student in the UK is significantly higher than that in Ukraine. Due to the fact that salary differentiation stimulates teacher work, this important indicator must be implemented in Ukraine.

The (music) educator as producer

Music technology has been an active part of the Higher Education (HE) curricula for several decades but it is perhaps the last few decades that have witnessed the proliferation of courses at tertiary level, or at least certainly in the United Kingdom. The recently formed Office for Students (OfS) in the United Kingdom replaces HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) although the remit is somewhat different for this new entity. The OfS is very much a regulator working on behalf of the consumers (students) and not the universities; education is probably the last of the sectors in the United Kingdom to fall into line with this practice since utility and other companies which have had such regulation for years. This brings into sharp focus the view of education as a service industry and the position of education more generally in HE in the United Kingdom. This takes place in the suggested context of a falling number of students engaging with music at schools, sixth form, and further education colleges as a consequence of changes to government policy and the content of the curricula. This article begins by examining music in education and highlighting the current issues. It draws upon recent reports about music in schools before examining the value of music, and especially music technology, in the curriculum. Questions around employability are set out and some key findings from a phenomenological study are presented to educators. Finally, some signposts are set out for future work in this area.

REF impact and the discipline of politics and international studies

On 22–23 November 2016, the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) at the University of Warwick hosted a lively conference on research ‘impact’, a key component of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)—the periodic peer review in UK Higher Education to evaluate the quality of academic work, in turn determining how nearly £2 billion of annual research funding is allocated among competing institutions. In contrast to many other conferences and workshops about impact, a feature of REF that has generated much fevered commentary across the university sector about the public value of academic research, our event was tightly focused on impact as it relates to the discipline of Politics and International Studies. Featuring presentations from a range of academic and non-academic constituencies—including journalists, government officials, and representatives from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE),1 the creator and (at the time of writing) controller of the REF—conversation was particularly timely, owing to the publication, a few months earlier, of the eagerly awaited Stern Review on the future of university research assessment. This special issue contains selected papers from the conference, with the goal of shedding light on how the discipline as a whole, but also its varied composite parts, is responding to the impact agenda in the lead up to REF2021, now looming close on the horizon. We are grateful to the contributors for their participation and for opening up many new facets to the ongoing dialogue about impact.

The landscape of professional doctorate provision in English higher education institutions: Inconsistencies, tensions and unsustainability

This article reports findings from a recent research project, commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which explored the current landscape of professional doctorate (PD) provision in English higher education institutions (HEIs) (Mellors-Bourne et al., 2016). Given the absence of a clear definition by the Quality Assurance Agency for England of the characteristics that distinguish PDs from practice-based doctorates and the doctor of philosophy, this paper makes a timely contribution through considering the inherent characteristics of PD programmes. The paper presents an overview of the state of play of PD programmes currently available in HEIs in England, highlighting how the proliferation of PD titles and programmes, and inconsistencies between the various programmes, has resulted in confusion about what PDs are, the contribution they make, and the value they add to professional practice. Consideration is given to the tensions created through the expansion in the number and types of PDs available, and the implications of these tensions with regard to the future sustainability of PD programmes in general and in relation to the professional doctorate in education (EdD) in particular.

Lessons in learning gain: insights from a pilot project

‘Learning gain’ has become an increasingly prominent concept in debates about the effectiveness of higher education across OECD countries. In England, interest has been heightened by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)’s major research initiative on learning gain, launched in 2015, and by the new Teaching Excellence Framework which assesses learning and teaching and student outcomes. HEFCE’s novel research initiative has funded a set of experimental projects across the English higher education sector for the first time. This paper presents preliminary findings from one such project at the University of East Anglia (UEA). The project trials and evaluates three approaches to identifying and measuring learning gain using data from cohorts of students across different discipline areas during 2015–2016 and 2016–2017. It builds upon previous work carried out at UEA in developing self-efficacy assessments and applying concept inventories. Student marks provide a simple comparator as a third approach to measuring learning gain.

Risk management of the English universities after the 2008 financial crisis

ABSTRACTThe objective of the paper is to identify whether the global financial crisis in 2008 re-shaped risk management in the English universities in order to avoid future financial turbulence and manage risk in uncertain and insecure environments. The paper examined changes in the risk management mechanism of the English university system between 2008 and 2014. The study focused on the state-university nexus, scrutinising the regulation and policy instruments of an English higher education funding body, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) (1992–2018).The paper argues that the 2008 financial crisis neither reshaped the risk management mechanism in the English university system nor changed the state-university relationship. The effect of the financial crisis on the risk management mechanism in the university sector was neither structural nor dynamic. The development of the English risk management system, which was well under way before 2008, was not noticeably accelerated by the subsequent financial stringency.

Setting the scene for the REACT programme: aims, challenges and the way ahead

This paper provides an introduction to the two-year programme REACT (Realising Engagement through Active Culture Transformation), funded by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) from July 2015 to July 2017. REACT has at its core three institutional student-engagement initiatives and these are described in order to give a background context to the joint foci of the programme: ‘student engagement’ and ‘hard-to-reach’ students, both of which terms are considered as complex and problematic. The paper lays out the aims and ambitions of REACT, considers the many challenges of interpreting them in practice and highlights how this multi-streamed programme has developed across three core Universities, in collaboration of twelve further Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from across England. It also describes the three core strands of the programme: the ‘Collaborative Development Programme’, the’ REACT Research Project’, and ‘Dissemination’, each of which was of importance to planning and heavily influenced programme outcomes.

Realising Engagement through Active Culture Transformation: An Introduction to the REACT Programme

The REACT programme was designed to make a significant impact on student engagement and the student experience in the Higher Education (HE) sector in England and Wales over a two-year period, from July 2015 to July 2017. The focus, in particular, was on the engagement of so-called ‘hard to reach’ students, and the programme included: investigation into the term ‘hard to reach’ and a consideration of which students are characterised in this way; a formal research project looking at links between student engagement, retention and attainment; and a development programme as a collaboration between fifteen UK universities. Outcomes from each of these were disseminated at a final conference at the University of Winchester in May 2017, where practice and findings from the programme as a whole were shared. The programme also included the creation of a website of case studies and tools for use by the sector. The programme was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and was formally evaluated by an external team from GuildHE.

Precise measurements of the dipole moment and polarizability of the neutral exciton and positive trion in a single quantum dot

J.D.M. would like to thank the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Cambridge Common- wealth Trust (CCT), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada for financial support.

Establishing the Role and Impact of Academic Librarians in Supporting Open Research: A Case Study at Leeds Beckett University, UK

ABSTRACTThis practical article presents findings of a small scale study undertaken at a large U.K. University. The purpose of the study was to encourage academic engagement with Open Access (OA) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) mandate with the measurable impact being increased engagement with the Repository and dissemination of research while circulating information to the wider community. In order to promote research, a series of “Focus on” webpages were created aligned to a particular theme and were then disseminated via social media. It was anticipated that by potentially increasing access to research outputs, academic staff would be motivated to make their work available following OA models and use the institutional repository (IR) as a means to achieve this. The main drivers for the study were the Finch Report, the HEFCE Policy for open access in the post-2014 Research Excellence Framework and the institutional strategy for research. Data was collected through a statistical analysis of both the “Focus on” pages and journal article downloads via the IR, with results indicating increased engagement with the IR making research openly accessible.

Food Innovation Network

Food Innovation Network

The role of EcoCampus in addressing sustainability in UK universities

Universities are key drivers of sustainable development and are well-positioned to contribute to the sustainability agenda. Universities in the United Kingdom (UK) are themselves large and influential organisations, and because of their size, can have a significant impact on the environment. Their challenge, however, is to practice what they preach and to manage their own estates and procurement decisions to reduce their impact on the environment and meet carbon reduction targets. In the UK, higher education (HE) sector Scopes 1 and 2 carbon CO2e emissions have, over recent years, been falling considerably short of the emission reduction targets set by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in all but a few institutions. Setting sector specific targets, therefore, does not guarantee success in addressing climate change. However, in those institutions adopting the EcoCampus management system approach, Scopes 1 and 2 carbon CO2e emissions have fallen by up to 5% over the latest reporting period (2013/2014–2014/2015). This contrasts with the increase in emissions from those institutions who currently do not have a certified management system and are currently at the bottom of the People and Planet University League Table. (This is an independent league table of UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance). Environmental management systems (EMSs) are increasingly being used by organisations to improve their environmental performance. EMSs deliver many benefits such as reducing resource use and pollution, complying with relevant environmental legislation, managing risks, improving corporate reputation and saving costs. The aim of this research was to assess the carbon management performance of universities in the UK and China and relate this to the level of uptake of EMSs in these universities. The results of this research informed the development of the EMS support and awards programme called EcoCampus. EcoCampus addresses the challenges faced by universities in reducing their carbon emissions by developing an EMS in simple stages with support in a variety of different forms. This self-financing programme has now been operating successfully for over ten years. During this time, EcoCampus has worked with over 60 universities and colleges in the UK. Eighteen participants have currently achieved the highest phase of EcoCampus and certification to the international EMS standard ISO14001. There are currently 40 universities, one research institute and three colleges enrolled on the various phases of the EcoCampus programme. There are five universities from the Russell Group including Cambridge University, Imperial College London, Nottingham University, Newcastle University and University College London. The EcoCampus programme is highly successful in the UK and there is growing interest from international universities wishing to join the programme. Seven of the top ten universities in the UK’s People and Planet University League Table are EcoCampus members. All the top ten universities in the League Table have shown a reduction in their carbon emissions. In contrast, the ten institutions at the bottom of the League don’t have a certified EMS and have increased their carbon emissions. By identifying the benefits of an EMS, particularly in relation to carbon management, it is hoped that this paper will encourage organisations to develop, implement and operate an EMS. This should lead to a more sustainable sector able to lead by example.

Open Access and Research Assessment in the United Kingdom

Beginning in April 2016, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will require that all journal articles and conference papers are deposited in a subject or institutional repository immediately at the point of acceptance for publication and made Open Access as the earliest possible opportunity, subject to publisher embargoes. This requirement is a prerequisite to journal articles and conference proceedings being weligible for submission to the next Research Assessment Exercise (REF). This new association between Open Access and research assessment is rapidly leading to a large-scale transition to Open Access in UK-based universities. This transition will bring many benefits, but the scale of UK universities’ Open Access operations brings a number of challenges to the implementation of this requirement. This poster will examine some of these challenges and explain how a number of universities are dealing with them.

Where do we go from here?

In June 2015, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) proposed a lighter touch quality assessment regime that would place greater reliance on institutions' own governance arrangements. In July 2015 the Minister for Higher Education announced a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) parts of which appear inconsistent with HEFCE's proposals. In August the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) responded to HEFCE's proposals envisaging some developments to its present quality assessment arrangements. This article analyses the key issues and principles that will supposedly govern the design of a new quality assessment regime from 2017. It proposes points of reference against which to evaluate the proposals for that new regime; these are whether the approach to review that is adopted: a) differentiates between institutions on the basis of their capacities to manage their responsibilities; b) shows the regulator's willingness to trust institutions to discharge their responsibilities (with verification) and willingness by institutions to accept their responsibilities; c) adopts an approach to risk and its management that is forward-looking and enables pre-emptive actions to forestall negative outcomes; and d) makes greater use of metrics that are interpreted by experts qualified to make judgements on academic matters.

Study expectations of different domiciled Postgraduate-Taught students in a UK post-1992-institution

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the notable findings of students with different domiciled status. There is a lack of research and understanding of how prior study experiences and the expectations of new students that are due to embark on an MSc by coursework level (also known as postgraduate-taught [PGT]) can impact on their study and ability to persist and succeed. The research available has mainly been confined to post-experience surveys. By identifying prior study experiences and study expectations, education providers in higher education institutions can use these insights not only to attract more students but to improve retention rates and the overall student experience. The research undertaken in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing at a London-based, post-1992 institution aims to provide valuable data and insights into this nationally and internationally neglected area. Design/methodology/approach – New taught postgraduate students provided data on their previous study experiences, study expectations, opinions of postgraduate-level study and demographic data via a hard copy questionnaire which was distributed and completed during the orientation period in September 2012. It was entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and a range of tests were run on the data. Findings – The findings in this paper and the project in general will be further explored and investigated as a result of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) awarding a major grant to the post-1992 university to undertake research into these areas amongst nine similar English universities. Research limitations/implications – As the research was conducted over a one-year period, the findings are based on the limitations that such a time and financially limited project can offer. The institution at which the research was undertaken is a post-1992 institution that has high concentration towards teaching functions. The findings in this paper and the project in general will be further explored and investigated as a result of the HEFCE awarding a major grant to the post-1992 university to undertake research into these areas among nine similar English universities. Originality/value – The research highlights the similarities and differences in prior study experiences and expectations of studying at PGT level between the UK-, the European Union- (EU) and Non-EU-domiciled respondents. The research offers potentially important findings for similar institutions that are currently looking to develop and expand their PGT provision.

Publishing between profit and public value: Academic books and open access policies in the United Kingdom

Abstract Since Cambridge University mathematician Timothy Gower’s public boycott of Elsevier kicked off the so-called ‘academic spring’ in 2012, activist calls for open access academic publishing and the expansion of the scholarly knowledge commons through new digital technologies have only intensified. These have had direct, dramatic and fast-evolving impacts upon governmental policy, as well as debates about the public value of research, in the United Kingdom. However, the bulk of the attention in this context thus far has been given to journal articles and academic publishing companies like Elsevier that specialize in periodicals. Comparatively little attention has been given to the effects of these open access policies and discourses upon academic books and their publishers, even though the largest university press in the world, Oxford University Press, and the largest higher education textbook publisher, Pearson, are both UK based. This article, therefore, will explore how, precisely, the open access movement in the United Kingdom is affecting academic book publishing, with potentially global consequences. I begin by tracing the contemporary origins of open access back to open source software initiatives and exploring their recent impact upon Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) policies. Then, I look at open access initiatives and other strategies in response to shifts in policy and public discourse within the two overlapping yet distinct fields of academic book publishing, (1) scholarly book publishing and (2) higher education textbook publishing, and find unintended consequences potentially resulting in less openness and equitable access to knowledge production and consumption. Ultimately, I will contend, the open access movement in the United Kingdom risks further concentrating control of academic book publishing within a few powerful institutions, such as well-endowed elite universities and those businesses whose profits rely upon managing, manipulating and repackaging the information freely available in the digital age.