The higher education systems in Ireland and the UK have seen several decades of remarkable change, particularly with the development of mass higher education. Yet the economic recession is creating a turbulent environment for higher education systems which will pose new challenges for universities. In this article, Michael Shattock argues that…

Universities are often enjoined to "get" with the "real world". In this article, Mary Evans gives an account of interpretations of literary realism in order to consider the "coercive realism" of the contemporary university. The prevailing assumptions that universities must contribute to the "real" world are damaging the complexity of the process…

This article considers humanities teaching as a vital space where students might develop their capability as "practical reasoners". The importance of this for self-development, but also for society and democratic life, is considered, while the economic purposes which currently dominate higher education are critiqued. An example is taken from the…

Performing arts courses within the university sector retain a necessarily strong practical focus as they prepare graduates for work within a highly competitive environment. However, the reality for graduates is a world in which performance is only one component of the myriad activities required to build a sustainable career. This article reports…

This article addresses the impetus for joining and maintaining writing groups in academe. The authors consider the motivations and purposes for organizing and forming such groups. Revealing the complexities of writing both as profession and in pursuit of the profession, they analyze their experiences as collaborative writers. They examine the…

It is argued that Humboldt's original definition of "scholarship" ("Wissenschaft"), as well as Humboldt's concept of the purpose of a university, continue to be relevant--with appropriate adaptations. They should be extended to include not only a unity between the practice of teaching and learning and research into teaching and learning, but also…

By exploring the role of student identities in shaping attitudes to learning, this study asks how design students draw on experience to work across theory and practice. It explores how a specific group of design undergraduate students in a UK university perform on two distinct learning experiences on their course: work placement and dissertation.…

Middle Eastern Studies, modern foreign languages and Islamic Studies have been recognized by the UK government as strategically important subjects in higher education. Motivated by government concerns about lack of knowledge about the Middle East and the radicalization of British Muslims, this designation has complex implications for the teaching…

The last three decades have been marked by significant expansion of music education within higher education, the outcomes of which can be seen in the increased numbers of students studying music and in the diversity of activity and purpose within music courses. This article interrogates the relationship between stylistic diversity and music…

This article seeks to further dialogue between the disciplines of English literature and Higher Education by offering a different approach to examining the practice of graduate supervision--a comparison of three fictional narratives: two recently published novels and one ongoing online comic strip. It considers what these narratives reveal about…

A model of curriculum development that enables students of architecture in the developing nation of Taiwan to draw on their own life experiences in formulating their own architectural education is proposed. Such an ideology recognizes that while education certainly includes the acquisition of the technical skills needed to ply one's trade, its…

This article considers the transition from school to university in Music and Music Technology, continuing the discussion of transitional issues which began in Volume 2 of "Arts and Humanities in Higher Education". The focus of the article is a survey of undergraduates, examining areas that were key to their first experience of studying for a…

This article describes the process of design and implementation of GALACTICA ("Greek And Latin Accidence Consolidation Training, Internet-Centred Assessment") in support of the University of Oxford's Classics Faculty language consolidation classes. The context and aims of the previous paper-based "assessment" system are considered (being unusual…

The article identifies some key findings in pedagogical research over recent decades, placing them within a framework of logical curriculum development and current practice in quality assurance and enhancement. Throughout, the ideas and comments are related to the practice of teaching classics in university. (Contains 1 figure and 3 notes.)

A survey was carried out in 2006 of all the UK universities where Classics and Ancient History degrees are taught at undergraduate level. The results reveal that nearly half of these courses include at least one dedicated gender module, and that the great majority also have gender embedded in the content of modules dealing with other topics.…