Institutional Research (IR), as a concept, has been gaining traction in the UK and across the world, as evidenced by the growing number of European, African, Australasian and North American associations, communities, conferences and publications. This paper stresses the need for high-quality (Institutional) research behaviours, aligned with and…

Four academic deans investigated when and how they used interpersonal/negotiating skills to function effectively in their positions. For two full weeks, the deans coded their on-the-job interactions during scheduled meetings, informal meetings, spontaneous encounters/meetings, telephone calls, and select email. Analyses revealed that the…

Traditionally in Arab public universities, presidents are appointed by government authorities. Recently, in uprising Arab countries universities' presidents have been elected by universities' faculty members. Neither traditional nor self-governance pattern succeeded to modernise Arab universities. Reforming patterns of governance is…

Internationalisation has transformed the higher education landscape around the world and has dramatically changed itself. Some question whether the change is for better or worse given some of the unintended consequences of internationalisation such as commercialisation, diploma and accreditation mills, international rankings and the great brain…

Student Engagement is the investment of time, effort and other relevant resources by both students and their institutions intended to optimise the student experience and enhance the learning outcomes and development of students, and the performance and reputation of the institution. As such, it has affective, behavioural and cognitive dimensions,…

Higher education institutions are facing increasing pressures to review their curriculum (Uchiyama and Radin 2009). The expectations of stakeholder groups, including students, parents and families, governments, employers and society in general have become increasingly explicit and targeted (Bamber et al. 2009). Universities are expected to play a…

This paper discusses a way of thinking about disability which has emerged out of the UK Disabled People's Movement over the last three decades in opposition to the preceding medical model of disability which viewed disability as synonymous with problem. Disabled people are increasingly challenging the notion that their embodiment is inherently…

Massification of higher education has not been able to solve societal issues in the UK to the extent originally envisaged. Whilst universities have achieved increased student numbers and widened participation from various societal groups, those coming from socially disadvantaged groups can still often have a very different experience of university…

The two big events in higher education during 2010 were the implementation of the Equality Act, and the introduction of a new dispensation on fees and funding. The former is intended to promote equality, the latter is premised on the need for economy. In this article, the author focuses on the effect of the latter on the former. He considers this…

The nature of higher education in further education colleges is poorly understood, even though it is central to government policies on expansion, diversity and widening participation in English higher education. One reason has to do with scale. Another has to do with complexity. A final reason has to do with their status as further education…

As the author's contribution to a series marking the Golden Jubilee of the Association of University Administrators, he reflects on changes in quality assurance over the past twenty years and speculates on what the future may hold for quality as the association moves into a new and very different competitive regime. He begins by discussing the…

There has been a resurgence of interest in good practice in university governance. This may be due to a number of high profile vice-chancellor (and governor) departures, and especially the crisis at London Metropolitan University, where the Vice-Chancellor resigned in March 2009 following overclaimed public funding as a result of inaccurately…

Foundation Degrees (FDs) were launched in 2000 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). One of the key reasons for their introduction was a belief that this new work-based higher education (HE) qualification could help meet employer demand for people with higher technician/associate professional-level skills. According to the Higher…

This paper, the first part of an edited version of a Keynote Presentation delivered at the AUA Annual Conference, Queen's University Belfast, on April 11, 2006, describes the fate of UK higher education during the course of the last parliament and identifies New Labour's two successive and contradictory higher education policies. The author…