Ernesto Macaro is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, UK. He was the founding director of the EMI Oxford Research Group (formerly the Centre for Research and Development in English Medium Instruction) in the Department of Education. His research focuses on second language learning…

The importance of reflection in higher education, and across disciplinary fields is widely recognised. It is generally embedded in university graduate attributes, professional standards and course objectives. Furthermore, reflection is commonly included in assessment requirements in higher education subjects, often without necessary scaffolding or…

Responding to the recent work of Andrew Gamble, the article discusses the extent to which the British situation can be described in terms of crisis. It suggests that an essential element of crisis is that of political and social contestation, and explores the terms on which contestation is taking shape in and around British education.

The article argues for the participation and involvement of students in developing learning spaces within higher education. In early childhood education there is a strong emphasis upon rights, democracy and planning learning through listening to young children. Taking inspiration from this, the study explores the use of participatory approaches in…

In a recent article in this journal, Vorster and Quinn offered a set of recommendations on how academic staff developers can advise university lecturers on decolonising their curricula and methods. Their main advice was to integrate more African cultural elements into their teaching. However, Vorster and Quinn's advice is rather general. In this…

The COVID-19 pandemic brings to the fore strengths and weaknesses in many public policies, including higher education. There are at least three separate but related areas where institutions of higher learning have been stressed by COVID-19: financing, issues related to the logistics of learning, and inequality. These problems are especially…

In this commentary, we discuss the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on Vietnamese universities and policy makers, paying particular attention to the growing appreciation for the merits of e-learning and related technology-based educational modalities. Some possible avenues for the adoption of e-learning in Vietnamese HE institutions in a…

In defining quality of higher education, competences achieved by graduates are interpreted as essential criteria. There are two political processes in education dealing, among other issues, with competence development: the Bologna Process in European Higher Education Area and a global process--the United Nations (UN) Decade (2005-2014) of…

Design thinking is becoming more commonly used as a collaborative, problem-solving approach in higher education outside design disciplines. With the pivot to remote and online learning in response to Covid-19 and lockdown measures, many educators have had to rethink their practice and collaboration in design thinking, without the usual recourse to…

According to a recent study, institutions of higher learning in South Africa fail to a great extent to integrate the key management functions that are fundamental to effective quality management. This article argues that the effective promotion of quality of a university's core business depends to a large extent on the ability of an institution's…

It is believed that the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)--i.e., inquiry into learning--has the potential to further deepen the ability to question, learn, and act together--especially when it is understood and enacted through the values and practices of democratic civic engagement (DCE). The authors provide a brief example of what they…

This paper assesses the growing UK private sector in education and questions whether it is, as its supporters suggest, a valuable addition to an already diverse national system. An earlier "Perspectives" paper (Woodfield et al 2011) explored the emerging partnerships between public and private sectors. This follow-up explores the roles…

Due to COVID-19, almost all educational institutions were temporarily closed across the globe. As a result, many educators have focused on delivering courses through emergency remote teaching. Preparation for remote teaching was itself a great challenge. In this reflective paper, I have presented my own experience of preparation for emergency…

This paper was invited as a commentary on the keynote paper for this special issue by Simon Marginson and Lili Yang. The paper begins by noting the importance of a fully balanced approach to comparison in higher education, that gives equal value and weight to Sinic and Anglo-American views by adopting a transpositional approach and also…

This article presents an interview with Gilberto Garcia Batista, who is professor at the University of Pedagogical Sciences. The interview is conducted by Annette Hestres García, a doctoral student at The Pennsylvania State University in the Dual-Title Lifelong Learning and Adult Education/Comparative & International Education and Women's,…