The literature on internationalisation of higher education usually focuses on the student perspective, with intercultural competence often featuring as a graduate attribute. However, given the high proportion of international teaching staff in UK higher education institutions, more attention needs to be paid to intercultural competence of…

Assessment and feedback have been intensively studied to promote effective learning. However, less attention is given on its role in self-directed learning (SDL) context. Despite being recognised as a powerful educational tool, critical examination of SDL and assessment and feedback literature reveals that these bodies of literature rarely…

There is much debate concerning students' evaluation of teaching and several academics discredit the validity and reliability of student comments. Student feedback would be a good source of information for academics to improve their teaching, while earlier studies indicate that the academics do not always make use of student feedback in their…

Evidence suggests that many higher education institutions have difficulty in managing student expectations around assessment and feedback, particularly on the clarity of criteria and the fairness of outcomes. Because of its importance students also have strong emotions linked to the process, as do those who teach them. This research sought to…

Despite previous literature strongly criticising the use of student evaluations of teaching (SETs), it is unlikely that the frequency of SETs will be decreased for university instructors. However, little attention has been given to how we can make SETs work as a tool for improving teaching effectiveness. This research explores how faculty members…

This paper investigates what postgraduate research students at varying stages of candidature across all disciplines in 15 of Australia's 39 urban and rural universities perceive to be the qualities of an ideal supervisor. Students completed an anonymous survey resulting in the online submission of 698 surveys. This paper focuses on the penultimate…

Higher education assessment policies aim to please all, creating confusion for staff and students. This study reports on staff and student conceptions of assessment and the students' experience of the assessment regime over their Biomedical Science degree. There was a general alignment of staff and students views of assessment for 19 of 27 items…

While a large body of research considers factors enabling or constraining academic development in colleges and universities, comparatively little scholarship has considered the roles students might play in supporting positive change in staff teaching practices. This article explores one potential avenue by which such change might play out,…

This paper builds on an earlier study that developed a 10 question framework for improving the quality of criteria sheets (also known as rubrics) used in Master of Education programmes. To test that framework 15 rubrics were independently evaluated by seven teachers using the above mentioned framework. Raw data from the evaluations were collated…

This article examines the evolution of assessment policy and practice in technician-level vocational education. Using the example of an advanced-level BTEC National programme in Engineering in one college in the UK, the article highlights how the origins of current assessment practice lie in genuine concerns since the late 1950s about the…