This paper explores fit as an important theoretical construct in the study of doctoral education and doctoral student development. We discuss how research based on three types of fit (person-environment fit, person-culture fit, person-vocation fit) may provide critical insights into the doctoral student experience, and offer a framework based on…

This article represents a cross-sectional study of undergraduate students across two north-west university business schools in the UK. A purposefully designed questionnaire was collected from 350 students. The student experience was described in the form of hand-written narratives by first and final year students and had been identified by the…

Student dissatisfaction with feedback is widely acknowledged in Higher Education. This has resulted in investigations that have offered suggestions for improving student satisfaction levels. This article examines one area of student concern by focusing on the feedback that students receive on examinations. The article reports the findings of…

With the increasing adoption of work-integrated learning (WIL) as a feature of curricula, the idea of student satisfaction takes on a new dimension--students' experiences on placement are not routinely under the control of university academic staff, yet universities will ultimately be held responsible for the quality of students'…

This four-year mixed method longitudinal study utilises data collected from four cohorts of Outdoor Education (OE) students to compare "fresher" and "graduate" identities and to explore the impact of identity on graduate employment. Findings demonstrate that compared to other programmes, and the university as a whole, OE…

Doctoral supervision continues to be an interesting pedagogical site. As the university changes, so do the expectations and circumstances for doctoral education, including supervision. Although it is unhelpful to overstate the homogeneity of the doctoral student body of the past, there is no doubt that global and local changes to higher education…

The focus of the paper is to consider the ways in which the cultural complexity inherent in multinational student groups is thrown into relief when participative methods are used. Participative approaches are a means of encouraging students to learn from each other's ideas and experience and, from a critical perspective, as supporting…

There are no universal, precise, or explicit criteria for completing a doctoral degree successfully. Researchers and practitioners have pointed out how difficult and time consuming the supervision of graduate student research can be. When students in doctoral programs complete their degrees via distance delivery, supervision of graduate students…

The existing literature on indicators of an optimal learning environment for high-ability students frequently discusses the concept of challenge. It is, however, not clear what, precisely, constitutes appropriate challenge for these students. In this study, the authors examined an undergraduate honours course, Advanced Cell Biology, which has…

The retention of students presents a challenge to approved education institutions (AEIs) globally. Nursing student attrition is of particular concern owing to the high non-completion rates and financial costs. A survey approach was used in an AEI in the north of England to explore the views of five cohorts of pre-registration student nurses on…

This quantitative study measures change in certain factors known to influence success of first-year students during the transition to higher education: self-efficacy, autonomous learning and social integration. A social integration scale was developed with three subscales: "sense of belonging", "relationship with staff" and…

There has long been the suspicion amongst staff in Art & Design that the ratings given to their subject disciplines in the UK's National Student Survey are adversely affected by a combination of circumstances--a "perfect storm". The "perfect storm" proposition is tested by comparing ratings for Art & Design with…

In Sweden, technology-mediated participation has increased in tertiary education, which has led to changing conditions for its delivery. However, one part has proven more resistant to change, technology-mediated or not: the supervision of students' undergraduate dissertation work. This article presents a study that analyses technological…

This article makes a contribution to the existing and extensive literature on the international student experience by reporting on the incidence of racism and religious incidents experienced by international students at a university in the south of England. Out of a survey of 153 international postgraduate students, 49 had experienced some form of…

This article explores motivational changes of first-year students enrolled on German degree courses at two major UK universities. It reports on the qualitative data obtained by a longitudinal mixed-methods study, and focuses on the interplay between students' motivation and the higher education learning environment. In particular, the article…