UK Higher Education Institutions Research Articles

Graduate entrepreneurship education in the United Kingdom

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the progress made by UK higher education institutions (HEIs) to deliver the enterprise education agenda. The key areas for research included the type, content and delivery methods of graduate enterprise education being offered in the UK.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was e‐mailed to 123 HEIs in the UK, together with a brief introduction stating the purpose of the research. These were followed up by telephone calls to request responses.FindingsThe paper finds that provision of entrepreneurship education is varied, with both entrepreneurship and innovation courses on offer. Entrepreneurship education is most often offered at postgraduate level and on a part time basis. Overall, delivery methods proved to be more traditional than anticipated, with few instances of action learning or the use of technology to support learning. There were differences between pre‐ and post‐1992 HEIs, and little attention was given to topic areas evident in relevant UK policy initiatives.Research limitations/implicationsSupports entrepreneurship education, key capacities need to be addressed within HEIs, at senior and other levels, so that graduate enterprise embodies the entrepreneurial spirit and delivers the expected results of governmental focus and intervention.Originality/valueThis is one of the first surveys to explore how enterprise education is delivered within UK HEIs.

An exploration into factors that impact upon the learning of students from non-traditional backgrounds

UK higher education institutes (HEIs) have widened participation of students from non-traditional backgrounds. These include students who are aged over 21, students in paid employment, and those with non-traditional qualifications, perhaps from other countries or access courses. This has led to a need to explore factors that might impact upon the learning of such students. A greater understanding of such factors might better enable HEIs to provide all students with opportunities to study accounting. The participants in this study are first year students studying accounting at a post-1992 UK university, which has a high proportion of students from non-traditional backgrounds. A series of interviews with such students and the lecturers who teach them explores what engages and what detaches them from learning when studying accounting. The study suggests factors, such as employment and other commitments away from university and the student's relationship with the university, which might impact on how students engage in learning. The Note discusses the findings with reference to Lucas's (2003, A National Teaching Fellowship Project: Introductory accounting: Achieving relevance interest and understanding, available at: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/bbs/research/research/ntfs/Jan03.pdf accessed 21 August 2004) call for research in the area to be more qualitative and Reay et al's. (2001) Sociological Research Online, 5(4), consideration of Bourdieu's concept of institutional habitus and its influence on HEIs.

Changing Research Perspectives on the Management of Higher Education: Can Research Permeate the Activities of Manager‐Academics?

AbstractThe paper considers whether, and if so how, research evidence can permeate the world of higher education (HE) management in publicly funded institutions. The paper explores the author's experience of two recent research projects (1998–2000 and 2004) on aspects of managing UK HE institutions and issues arising from the preparation of the HE element of a third study of leadership and public service change agendas in education and health during 2004. Despite the topicality in education and other public services of debates about evidence‐based practice, there is little indication that this debate has permeated HE management qua management. The paper utilises Bourdieu's work on academics and social and cultural capital to explore why manager‐academics may resist taking the findings of research seriously in relation to their own work. It is suggested that, where there is reluctance to learn from research, this may reflect the changing nature of HE, the status of HE research as an academic field and form of academic capital and the relative paucity until recently of training in management for most UK manager‐academics.

Teaching pigeons to dance: sense and meaning in entrepreneurship education

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the philosophical and conceptual understanding of entrepreneurship education through borrowing and applying conceptualisations of education from education theory to bring deeper meaning to approaches to entrepreneurship education in UK higher education institutions (HEIs).Design/methodology/approachThis paper identifies existing theoretical and conceptual frameworks from adult education and applies these to the phenomenon of entrepreneurship education as a sense‐making tool from which deeper insights and understanding are gained.FindingsAs a conceptual paper the “findings” relate to the unearthing of the inherent drivers and values to the design and delivery of entrepreneurship education in UK HEIs. Applying education theoretical frameworks enables presentation of a purposeful and guiding framework for effective curricula design in entrepreneurship thereby enabling coherence and cohesion of approach and achievable outcomes. Furthermore, the paper maps the purpose and role of educators against a segmented framework to draw out distinctions across contexts and to present the need for a clarification of the role of the educator in the entrepreneurial learning process. This enables a discussion of the development needs of entrepreneurship educators for the UK.Practical implicationsOverall, the paper presents implications for HEIs in how they conceive of and introduce entrepreneurship education; educators and the role they perform in effective entrepreneurship education and curricula designers in developing meaningful “fit for purpose” offerings across the diversity of the entrepreneurial opportunity environment.Originality/valueThis paper further builds on a significant gap in the extant knowledge and literature for enhancing understanding in the development of the field of entrepreneurship education within higher education in the UK.

The Implementation of Progress Files in Higher Education: Reflection as National Policy

Progress files, involving personal development planning (PDP), are becoming a feature of many higher education systems internationally. In the UK they will become mandatory for all undergraduate students from 2005. This presents a major implementation challenge, because while reflection has been a cornerstone of practice in some areas of higher education for a considerable time, its generalisation as national policy changes its discursive location. The paper presents findings from a case study of the implementation of PF in one UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). It reports on how staff in one institution understand PF in the context of national policy, and on how they interpret the challenges they face in facilitating reflection for all students. The paper argues that pedagogical innovations take on a different meaning when applied to the system as a whole.

An illuminative evaluation of skills rehearsal in a mentorship course

In response to national and local initiatives for health care education and the need to assure excellence in clinical placement learning and subsequent fitness for practice, one UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) developed an interprofessional mentorship course for health professionals. The aim of the course was to enable students to develop advanced knowledge and critical awareness of mentorship. The course integrated theory and practice through mentorship skills rehearsal as one of the teaching methods and is the key focus of this paper. Qualitative methodology was employed to evaluate the process of learning through the skills rehearsal component. The curriculum documentation was analysed and, one month after completing the course and in three focus groups participants described their experience of learning through simulation. A semi structured interview schedule was used. The findings revealed that all participants used unhelpful as well as constructive behaviours that potentially influenced the reliability of their support, supervision and assessment of learners. The participants' shift in belief that the role of the mentor was a fixed concept to a perspectival and value laden concept was evident. This new understanding illuminated the participants' problem solving strategies for understanding valid and reliable assessment.

SCONUL Research Extra

SCONUL Research Extra is a cooperative access and borrowing scheme for staff and research students in UK and Irish higher education institutions. Under the terms of the scheme, eligible researchers may visit any participating library and register as an external borrower. The scheme is run on behalf of SCONUL, the Society of College, National and University Libraries which represents the directors of the library and information services in all the universities of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and in most other UK institutions of higher education, and the directors of the national libraries; it is for all institutions in membership of SCONUL able to lend library materials and, with 158 institutions signed up, it is now the largest reciprocal borrowing scheme in the UK and Ireland, serving almost the entire membership of SCONUL.

Mind the gap

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to review the debate on the purpose, focus and necessity of UK undergraduate marketing education. Design/methodology/approach – Assumptions in this debate are challenged by the collection and analysis of interview data from practitioners, alongside additional data from UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in respect of their current marketing programmes. Findings – The results indicate that there is a large degree of commonality between the offerings at UK HEIs, and that some significant gaps between the teaching offered by the academy, and the knowledge and abilities required by practitioners do exist. Research limitations/implications – The data sets have limitations of depth and scope. Further research is needed in which the details of marketing education and the requirements of marketing practice are examined more closely, and at levels other than undergraduate, and in countries other than the UK. Practical implications – This paper should be of interest to marketing programme managers, and also to marketing module co‐ordinators as a basis on which to consider the future development of their educational practices. Originality/value – The collation of data about marketing modules offered by UK HEIs will be of interest to most marketing teachers. Further value will be obtained if this paper is used as part of the re‐engineering of a marketing programme.

Think global, teach local

This paper presents aspects of good practice in international teaching. The paper incorporates a review of literature on international teaching, quality assurance in collaborative provision, and selected literature from the Human Resource Management field on expatriate workers. Primary data have been drawn from two sources. Qualitative data have been gathered in relation to a one‐semester exercise involving 24 colleagues in a 12‐week teaching period in Israel. Secondly, qualitative data have been gathered from key informant interviews with colleagues with experience of shorter teaching periods overseas. The paper identifies aspects of good practice, and presents issues for further research. Key findings include the need for careful selection of staff, cultural sensitivity in both delivery and content of programmes, and particularly effective working relationships between visiting lecturers and local staff as key to effective classroom performance. Finally, UK higher education institutions, while urged to ‘think global’, should ensure that they ‘teach local’, meeting student needs through cultural sensitivity and appropriate pedagogy.

Advanced Research Training in Human Geography: the Scottish Experience

Formal research training is integral to research degrees in human geography completed in UK higher education institutions today. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has been the driving force behind the formalization of research training. Arguably less well known among the ESRC research training recommendations is the stipulation that postgraduate research students complete advanced research training. This paper will draw upon the authors' experiences of the collaborative ESRC/Royal Scottish Geographical Society Advanced Research Training for Scottish Postgraduate Human Geographers. A detailed account of the advanced research training provision will be given, followed by staff and student reflections on the training. The paper concludes by considering what advanced research training offers to the PhD process and future developments in advanced research training.

An Analysis of Higher Education Staff Attitudes in A Dynamic Environment

Since 1980 the staff student ratio in the UK has halved. This has been contributed to, amongst other factors, by the massification policy of the UK government. The requirement to publish, the view of students as consumers, an increase in managerialism, and reduction in real pay levels as well as the threat of compulsory redundancies have also been changes which have affected the attitudes of staff. As a result of these factors, the experience of both academics and students has deteriorated, and this is likely to continue. This paper uses survey data from three higher education institutions, which indicates a reduction in the satisfaction of staff over a number of years. Interviews with key informants and a literature review also support the view that levels of stress are increasing amongst academic staff within UK Higher Education institutions.

Leadership best practices for sustaining quality in UK higher education from the perspective of the EFQM Excellence Model

PurposeTo deepen the understanding and to encourage further research on leadership best practices for sustaining quality improvement in UK higher education institutions (HEIs).Design/methodology/approachThe literature on leadership provides the theoretical context for the survey of quality managers from 42 UK HEIs. A mix of questionnaires, interviews, and hypothesis testing, was used to explore the critical factors for effective leadership and to obtain descriptive accounts of leadership best practices, which led to the development of a conceptual framework for effective leadership for academic quality.FindingsIdentifies and categorizes leadership practices into “weak”, “good”, “best”, and “excellent” on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness of each practice in sustaining academic quality improvement. It provides a conceptual framework for improving “weak” leadership practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe exact nature of the association between “effective leadership” and sustainable “levels of academic quality improvement” has not been explained. This requires further research. International generalization of the findings would require the sample size of 42 UK HEIs to be extended to include institutions from other countries with similar education systems – such as the USA and Australia.Practical implicationsAcademic quality planners will become more aware of the need to improve the tasks and activities constituting leadership processes. The emphasis on a structured approach to self‐assessment of leadership performance has the potential to reverse the ranking of leadership second to processes in UK HEIs.Originality/valueIt provides explicit definitions of “weak”, “good”, “best” and “excellent” leadership practices, which UK HEIs adopting the excellence model developed by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) may find useful in the assessment and improvement of leadership performance towards academic excellence.

Occupational stress in UK higher education institutions: a comparative study of all staff categories

The higher education sector in the UK continues to experience significant change. This includes restructuring, use of short‐term contracts, external scrutiny and accountability, and major reductions in funding. In line with this, reports of stress at work in higher education institutions have also increased. The study reported here was carried out using a stratified random sample of all categories of staff (academic and non‐academic) from 14 UK universities and colleges. Levels of occupational stress were measured using the ASSET model. The results showed that the most significant source of stress for all higher education staff (irrespective of category of employee) was job insecurity. In comparison to the normative data, staff also reported significantly higher levels of stress relating to work relationships, control, and resources and communication, and significantly lower levels of commitment both from and to their organization. However, they also reported significantly lower levels of stress relating to work‐life balance, overload and job overall, and lower levels of physical ill‐health. Significant differences were identified between staff working at Old versus New universities and by category of employee. These results support the growing evidence that universities no longer provide the low stress working environments they once did.

Research capacity in complementary medicine

A report by the House of Lords in 2000 suggested that the dearth of research capacity in complementary medicine (CM) should be remedied by creation of centres of excellence.1 The UK Department of Health, however, decided on a different strategy and currently funds 9 isolated postdoctorate fellowships at various UK institutions of higher education, each supervising one PhD student. The costs of this exercise are about £2 million. For roughly the same amount of money, my unit has during the past eleven years hosted 33 researchers (this figure excludes my current staff). Of those who came and left, 17 were from the UK, 2 each from Germany, Japan, Korea and Sri Lanka, the rest from other countries. 17 held paid employment while the rest had honorary positions. 26 researchers continued CM research after leaving my unit. An independent analysis has suggested that my unit is the most productive research centre of CM in the world.2 These data, I believe, indicate that sponsorship of centres of excellence is the most effective way to generate research capacity in CM.

Commercial and Corporate Activities of New University Business Schools

Commercial and corporate activities and the income they generate are of increasing importance to all UK higher education institutions. For new or modern university business schools in particular, the falling unit of resource attaching to undergraduate student teaching income and the virtual disappearance of research revenues as a result of the poor results in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise have combined to produce a scenario in which commercial activity is likely to be an increasing priority as business schools attempt to remain effective and solvent. While there has been considerable research into management development in general, there has been very little research into the structuring and operation of commercial activity in new university business schools. Indeed, what research there has been into university commercial activity has examined all UK universities at a level of aggregation that makes it impossible to determine levels of business school commercialization, let alone the level of individual performance. The research presented in this paper focuses on the commercial activity of new university business schools and reveals findings about the nature and choice of strategy, product portfolio, delivery, client expectations, organization and management structure. The evidence suggests that many business schools have a considerable way to go if they are to grow commercial revenue in what will be an increasingly competitive and volatile market.

Rules versus Discretion in Committee Decision Making: An Application to the 2001 RAE for UK Economics Departments

The question of rules versus discretion has generated a great deal of debate in many areas of the social sciences. Recently, much of the discussion among academics and stakeholders about the assessment of research in UK higher education institutions has focused on the means that should be used to determine research quality. We present a model of committee decision-making when both rules and discretion are available. Some of the predictions of the model are tested empirically using the UK RAE 2001 results.

Developments in the Evaluation of Work-Based Learning

UK higher education institutions are now expected to be able to demonstrate that they are adhering to the Code of Practice for the Assurance of Academic Quality and Standards in Higher Education in Placement Learning. The responsibility for ensuring that a placement provides an adequate opportunity for its intended learning outcomes rests with the educational institution. This paper draws on the author's experience of the management and evaluation of placements in the construction sector. In recognition of the increasingly global nature of the business, a placement programme has been developed to meet the particular challenges of students operating in multidisciplinary and multicultural environments. Participation in the European Commission's Leonardo da Vinci Vocational Training Programmes and pilot projects has enabled the identification of further criteria for evaluating and disseminating experience gained in work-based learning across the frontiers of language and culture. However, the paper also identifies problems peculiar to the UK market for construction professions and higher education programmes in construction-related disciplines. A study by Northumbria University highlighted challenges for both industry and higher education arising from economic pressures on students and the positioning of construction-related courses in the higher education market. Given the global nature of the construction business, it is clear that there are significant benefits to be gained from taking a global view of relevant issues.

Developing a digital preservation strategy at Edinburgh University Library

Digital preservation poses an increasing cause for concern in UK higher education institutions. This paper provides a general overview of the development of a digital preservation pilot project within a university library, including the future integration of the METS and OAIS standards. It also considers how it is planned to automate these digital preservation practices in Edinburgh University Library's new digital object management system.

Investigating the classroom applications of computers on EFL courses at Higher Education Institutions in UK

This paper begins by documenting the positive contribution of English as a Foreign\\Second Language (EFL\\ESL) to computers in language learning and teaching and then proposes a general framework, applicable in a range of contexts, for investigating their pedagogical applications in the EFL\\ESL classroom. The paper then reports on a study which examined the impact that computers are having on the delivery of EFL courses at British Universities. The findings of a national survey based on questionnaires are documented and quantitatively analysed. These established three kinds of information: what kinds of courses are run; which kinds of computer applications are being used; the attitudes of those responsible towards the current use of computers on these courses. These questions raise a number of issues primarily regarding the role of computers in English for Academic Purposes.

Higher education – IT as a catalyst for change

This paper is based on a review of current literature and addresses issues relating to communication and information technology (C&IT) provision in UK higher educational institutions from a number of perspectives. Suggests that potentially technology can improve the learning environment, but may not yet be the best medium for all situations.