At a time when rankings and the production of data on higher education systems multiply, this article questions the actors' configuration linked to the transformation of statistical indicators into frames used to read the inequalities of access to higher education. Who says what and with what results? Who is responsible for making social facts…

The field of knowledge mobilisation (KM) addresses the multiple ways in which stronger connections can be made between research, policy and practice. This paper reviews the current situation around knowledge mobilisation in education. It addresses changing understandings of KM, considers some of the main issues in conducting empirical research in…

The general aim of the present study was to explore how head teachers (N = 683) for older students and head teachers (N = 250) for younger students in Swedish compulsory schools describe handling procedures of special education issues in their schools. Two questionnaire surveys on such issues were conducted during the spring term of 2008 among…

The study focuses the stability of friendships of students with special educational needs in regular schools, compared to regular students. The sample consisted of 114 students (M age = 14,4); 22 students (19.3%) were identified by the school as SEN students. The results show that on average, SEN students had fewer stable friendships than their…

Recent years have witnessed considerable growth of research on the benefits of adult learning. Much of this is UK-based, and draws on evidence from large scale longitudinal data sets. Overwhelmingly, these studies have found clear evidence of economic, social and individual benefits as a result of participating in adult learning. While these…

Contrariness of the kind manifest in the literary output and general disposition of the nineteenth century English essayist and journalist, William Hazlitt, has much to teach contemporary intellectuals working in the academy about how better to be critical, offering important lessons on the necessity for self-consistency and independence of…

This paper reports on a qualitative study that explored the challenges experienced by nine emerging scholars of teaching at a research-intensive university in South Africa. It details three problem areas encountered during the process of becoming scholars of teaching: (1) negative perceptions about the work and related reward concerns, (2)…

This paper offers insights into learning experiences in inclusive classrooms, gained by giving voices to pupils about their perceptions of themselves and their opinions on classroom climate. A positive response pattern is identified concerning academic and social dimensions of schools, while the overall picture concerning the dimension of…

This article examines current debates surrounding British higher education funding from a political economy perspective, drawing on "positive" and "institutionalist" political economy. Adopting the lens of political economy enables a critical assessment of the use of terms drawn from economics by many higher education decision-makers. Current…

Higher education is a field of study. It does not have an integral cognate discipline that defines its extent and borders. Contributions to understanding higher education come from, among others, sociologists, historians, political theorists, economists and students of science policy and cultural studies. These were the disciplines whose exponents…

Through his early studies of the character of adult schools and community colleges in California, Burton Clark launched a set of ideas, sociological and educational, that served as baseline concepts in the study and practice of American higher education. His book "The Open Door College" ranks among the classic accounts of a type of…

This article explores the context, contents and impact of Burton Clark's two books devoted to the concept of "the entrepreneurial university". It describes the widespread influence of the entrepreneurial idea particularly in Europe and discusses its relevance a decade or so after its first formulation. It argues that "Creating Entrepreneurial…

The work of Burton Clark extended over more than half a century--and also from its original base in sociology to embrace wider inter-disciplinary studies. His identification of the major research themes in higher education continues to be valid, despite the substantial changes that have taken place in the scale, structure and values of the system.…

"The Academic Life: Small Worlds, Different Worlds" represented an impressive investigation of the largest and most complex national academic community in the world, which seriously attempted a detailed representation of the variations in its form. Its ethnographic orientation to understanding the internal academic life through exploratory…

In "The Higher Education System", Burton Clark provides a model for the organisational analysis of higher education institutions and systems. Central to the model are the concepts of knowledge, beliefs and authority. In particular, Clark examines how different interest groups both inside and outside the university shape and subvert the management…