The paper analyses the Portuguese academics' perceptions about changes in their research activities and modes of knowledge production. Quantitative data gathered from an on-line national survey have been used to develop this analysis. Results reveal that the majority of academics declared that they were not involved in knowledge and…

This paper attempts to propose an alternative policy frame for higher education policy by demonstrating the inadequacy of the market approach adopted by the 2011 English higher education policy in addressing the economic and social agenda, and by reframing higher education as a mechanism that selects and distributes talents to vocational sectors…

Governments in the UK and many other countries have long sought to promote the diversity of their higher education institutions. However, diversity is hard to define, harder to measure and even more difficult to compare between countries. Most empirical analyses of the diversity of higher education systems use categorical variables, which shape…

Although not new, the concept of internationalisation, the inclusion of intercultural perspectives and the development of cross-cultural understanding, has gained particular currency and support across the United Kingdom (UK) higher education sector over the last decade. However, within the academic literature, as well as within institutional…

This article explores the important role played by higher education in broader skills and economic development policies in England and Scotland. It places the often divergent policy experiments and structural developments in these two countries' higher education systems within an international policy context and explains why England and…

This article focuses on the relevance of undergraduate business and management higher education from the perspectives of recent graduates and graduate employers in four European countries. Drawing upon the findings of an empirical qualitative study in which data was collated and analysed using grounded theory research techniques, the paper draws…

Official figures from the Home Office show an increase in mobility of the highly-skilled from the United Kingdom (UK) to other European countries. This paper analyses the social composition of intra-European mobile graduates from the UK in the context of recent political developments (Bologna-Process, European Higher Education Area). Using…

Employer support for employees who are studying part-time for higher education qualifications constitutes a form of indirect employer engagement with higher education institutions that has contributed strongly to the development of work-related skills and knowledge over the years. However, this form of employer engagement with higher education…

This paper investigates forms of collaborative doctoral programmes that enable employer engagement in innovation and skills development. Collaborative doctoral programmes exist in different national contexts for the development of the science and technology human capital. Such programmes are also seen as policy tools that enhance relationships…

Many new graduates are finding it difficult to obtain graduate-level work and impossible to break into the sectors they were aiming at. In order to address this, higher education institutions are examining the methods they use to enhance student employability and deploying various measures to grow and strengthen this activity, with an increasing…

This article discusses mechanisms, enablers and barriers for knowledge transfer in university-industry collaboration projects involving companies, students and researchers. Data is collected through 35 qualitative interviews with Danish and Norwegian representatives from the above categories. All respondents have been involved in collaborative…

This article chronicles the key challenges facing Ethiopia as it embarks on an ambitious, ideologically-driven and aggressive expansion of its higher education system in an effort to address its national goals of economic growth and poverty reduction. It is argued that the urge for higher education expansion has placed undue pressures particularly…

This paper investigates whether students' personal happiness is different from student satisfaction and considers if this may have consequences for university policy and management. It does this by comparing happiness and satisfaction in two cohorts of students from two United Kingdom universities. One is a distinctive research university and…

This paper examines changes and developments in institutions' internal governance during the last decade, identifying points of continuity in the policy and political environment in the United Kingdom as well as points of difference. External drivers are discussed as part of the increasingly dynamic and volatile operating conditions for…

The last decade has seen an acceleration of change in the way British universities have been governed, led and managed. This has substantially been driven by the instability of the external environment, which has encouraged a greater centralisation of decision-making leading to less governance and more management, but it is also a consequence of…