Social anxiety in learning is prevalent amongst traditional-age students and has a marked effect on their engagement with higher education. It receives little attention from academic or support services and there is a presumption that students will manage their anxieties. Yet it is unclear what psychosocial resources they might bring to this task…

This article presents detailed findings from the qualitative or interpretive phase of a mixed-methods case study focusing on the professional identities and lived experiences of research among six lecturers working in different capacities across the field of education in a "teaching-led" higher education institution. Building upon the…

"Student Transition Project, University of Derby, Derby, UK." Whilst there is a significant consensus, in the literature, that student transition to HE plays a major role in future academic performance and success, there is, as yet, no broad agreement as to how best to support students during this process. Theoretical accounts of…

There is general agreement in the literature that international students are more likely to plagiarise compared to their native speaker peers and, in many instances, plagiarism is unintentional. In this article we describe the effectiveness of an academic writing development programme embedded into a Biological Sciences Taught Masters course…

As the UK sits on the verge of a major change in the financing of both universities and students, this study seeks to capture and analyse attitudes to money, borrowing and debt among contemporary young undergraduates. It reports findings from a qualitative study of 62 individuals in the second term of their first year at university, these being…

This article presents empirical research exploring adult returner students' patterns of learning via qualitative analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews. Interviewees' comments shed light on the relation between patterns of learning on the one hand, and study skills, epistemological issues and attitudes to peer interaction on the other.…

Providing feedback on draft essays is an accepted means of enacting a social-constructivist approach to assessment, aligning with current views on the value of formative feedback and assessment for learning (AFL). However, the use of this process as a means of improving not only content but also students' academic writing skills has not been…

The number of full-time students engaging in part-time employment during their studies at university continues to rise, both in the UK and in other countries. The majority of previous studies in this area have adopted a quantitative research design, using a survey. Findings from such studies have tended to focus on demonstrating what students are…

This paper reports on data collected during an evaluation of two higher education courses designed to attract mature entrants aged between 21 and 60 to undergraduate degree programmes. Employing an evaluation design informed by a critical realist approach, the study utilised a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the outcomes…

Non-traditional students entering Higher Education (HE) via university-based foundation courses often encounter significant personal risk upon their return to study, and this can be exacerbated by a lack of understanding of the academic demands of HE at the point of entry. As part of a wider qualitative, grounded theory study of the effect of…

Increased awareness and improved tests have contributed to the identification of rising numbers of dyslexic students entering higher education in the United Kingdom. Nearly half of these students are not diagnosed until they start their HE courses. Studies of experiences of dyslexic students diagnosed as children exist; however, there is little…

Higher education institutional assessment policy is dominated by summative assessment regulation, with little emphasis on the role of formative assessment to improve student learning. Yet the challenge for academics is to integrate more formative assessment practice into what many see as already overloaded curricula. It is questionable whether…

To date, there appears to be a paucity of literature regarding the student experience on university-based foundation courses. There is some thought that such non-traditional, diverse groups of students might present problems during the learning and teaching experience and some students appear to have little insight into what foundation courses…

This study explores whether randomly assigning group membership enhances the student learning experience. The paper starts with a critical analysis of the approaches to student learning within higher education and how these approaches conflict with findings from applied psychology on group behaviour. The study adopts a serendipitous qualitative…

This article originates from a longitudinal study of management and accounting practices in the English higher education sector. The processes of strategic management and strategic management accounting in several English higher education institutions were investigated, from planning to assessment, and their meaning to members of staff. The study…