This article focuses on an exploratory study, undertaken in 2009-2012, which explored student transitions from a foundation degree (level 5) into the third year of a BA honours degree (level 6). Direct entry students and staff from an early years programme at a post-1992 British university and second-year foundation degree students and staff from…

A body of literature asserts that group work can be beneficial in enhancing learning and in developing specific skills among students. This research builds on the literature and on Gardner's (2006a) five notions of mindsets: disciplined, synthesising, creation, ethical and respectful, as a descriptive framework to explore and understand the…

Team supervision of PhDs is increasingly the norm in Australian and UK universities; while this model brings many improvements on the traditional one-on-one research supervision, it also introduces new complexities. In particular, many students find the diversity of opinions expressed in teams to be confusing. Such diversity in supervisor feedback…

This paper presents a study of students' experiences of joint supervision practices and supervisors' professional work in doctoral education in one department of a Finnish university. A qualitative methodology was used to explore students' experiences of joint supervision practices and an inductive protocol was used to analyse the…

The number of full-time students engaging in part-time employment during their studies at university continues to rise, both in the UK and in other countries. The majority of previous studies in this area have adopted a quantitative research design, using a survey. Findings from such studies have tended to focus on demonstrating what students are…

This article focuses on one strand of community engagement: community-based learning for students. It considers in particular Interchange as a case study. Interchange is a registered charity based in, but independent of, a department in a Higher Education Institution. It brokers between undergraduate research/work projects and Voluntary Community…

This article examines the student experience for a particular cohort, namely the joint honours students, at a post-1992 university in the United Kingdom. These students are enrolled in degree courses that combine two subjects at one university. Little attention has so far been given to such students whose experience is decidedly different from…

In this paper we describe findings from a research project in the South West of England that enquired into the impact of the changing requirements of programmes leading to teaching qualifications in the FE sector. We utilise the metaphor of "learning journey" as a heuristic to discuss the professional formation of student teachers in…

Higher education is considered by some to be synonymous with learning gained in an institution named as a university. The credentials gained from learning in such locations allow the holders to enter into the elite, which reproduces social exclusion to the benefit of that elite. In England, policy reform has opened up access to higher education to…

The relationship a doctoral student develops with his/her advisor is a crucial aspect of doctoral training across disciplines; but research suggests that many such relationships fall short of a successful apprenticeship or mentoring ideal. Because disciplinary cultures and structures vary considerably, what makes for a successful advising…

To date, there appears to be a paucity of literature regarding the student experience on university-based foundation courses. There is some thought that such non-traditional, diverse groups of students might present problems during the learning and teaching experience and some students appear to have little insight into what foundation courses…

Successive studies of the international student experience have documented a lack of contact between host and visitor despite its value for language and cultural learning as well as satisfaction with the stay. In spite of the rise in international education, there is a lack of literature on the domestic student perspective. This article redresses…

This paper reports on the adjustment of East Asian Master's level students who came to study at a campus-based university in the UK during 2004-05. International students face challenges in respect to language proficiency, academic expectations and social participation. In this longitudinal study the experiences of a group of students from East…

Universities capture and use student feedback to improve the student experience, but how should information from national scale surveys be used at local and institutional levels? The authors explored the UK's National Student (Satisfaction) Survey (NSS) data relevant to science and engineering programmes using percentages of students who were…

This research focused on the early experience of students entering an undergraduate course in a post-1992 university that is committed to widening participation. Using Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital and habitus as a theoretical framework, data were collected from students using an online questionnaire and small-group discussions during the…