Background: As universities in many countries engage more directly with industry, the learning emphasis has moved from the student experience to the work-readiness of the graduate. This focus on the student as potential worker is expressed through graduate attributes: particular sets of employability skills developed by institutions and embedded…

Background: Literature draws attention to the relationships between the initial experiences of students as they begin their higher education and how they fare subsequently. In Portugal, the new student's reception is ritualised by tradition, and involves the organisation of an entire integration ceremony (known as "praxe") proposed…

Background: This article considers the impact of pupils studying for entry-level qualifications on their intentions of remaining in education. Such qualifications are intended to re-engage young people who are performing below expected levels and give them the opportunity to learn at a pace that suits them. Purpose: This article specifically…

Background: A "learner identity" can be broadly defined as how an individual feels about himself/herself as a learner and the extent to which he/she describes himself/herself as a "learner." The literature suggests that those from non-traditional backgrounds may struggle to adapt to a university environment with all its related…

Background information: During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, West Germany witnessed a reversal of gender differences in educational attainment, as females began to outperform males. Purpose: The main objective was to analyse which processes were behind the reversal of gender differences in educational attainment after 1945. The theoretical…

Background: the belief that women and science, including mathematics and medicine, are incompatible has had a long and complex history and still often works to exclude women from and/or marginalise them in science. Purpose: this article will seek to explore gender and educational achievement through investigating how such gendered presumptions…

Background: Academic and pastoral support is fundamental to the achievement of a high-quality student learning experience. Aim: This study reports on full-time undergraduate students' views on the effectiveness of academic and pastoral support in one higher education institution. The intent of the study was to explore how academic and…

Background: Cloud computing has recently received interest in information systems research and practice as a new way to organise information with the help of an increasingly ubiquitous computer infrastructure. However, the use of cloud computing in higher education institutions and business schools, as well as its potential to create novel…

Background: This paper is the product of a two year investigation into the contribution of post-16 education to community cohesion. The investigation took place between 2010 and 2012 and was funded by the University Centre at Blackburn College in England. Fieldwork was undertaken in three East Lancashire colleges and focused on students aged…

Background: Measuring the student experience is becoming increasingly important in higher education in the UK. Student experience surveys are used as indicators of quality and form the basis of rankings of higher education institutions. They are also used by them as tools to assist their quality enhancement initiatives. However, these surveys…

Background: An equitable and democratised higher education system should, in principle, be permeable to the flow of populations with different social and/or cultural backgrounds, allowing access to any parts of the system. However, despite the democratisation efforts that took place in Portugal after the 1974 revolution, and although the student…

Background: Budgets for teacher education programmes have been substantially reduced as a result of the global economic crisis. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the teacher education budget cutting processes and procedures for universities in Romania versus one university in the United States. Sample: The data were collected from…

Background: Interest in the role of metacognition has been steadily rising in most forms of education. This study focuses on the construction of a questionnaire for measuring metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive regulation and metacognitive responsiveness among students in higher education and the subsequent process of testing to determine its…

Background: Integrating 3D virtual world technologies into educational subjects continues to draw the attention of educators and researchers alike. The focus of this study is the use of a virtual world, Second Life, in higher education teaching. In particular, it explores the potential of using a virtual world experience as a learning component…

Background: Concept-mapping and interview techniques are used to track knowledge and understanding over the duration of PhD study amongst four students and their supervisors in the course of full-time research towards their PhDs. This work is in contrast to much PhD supervision research and policy research that focuses on supervisory styles and…