Professionalising outreach and evaluation work would enhance the quality and rigour of provision, benefit widening participation students and achieve regulatory requirements (Bowes et al. [2019]. "The National Collaborative Outreach Programme End of Phase 1 report for the national formative and impact evaluations." Office for Students;…

To protect human subjects to the fullest extent possible, stakeholders must make time to reflect as well as engage in continuous-improvement efforts regularly using a rigorous framework. At one completely online university that primarily grants graduate degrees, stakeholders informally expressed complaints relating to various policies and…

In 2011, David Willetts issued a White Paper with the title "Students at the Heart of the System". In 2011 the headlines were, inevitably, about the new tuition fee regime which, it was hoped, would change the thinking of university leaders so that they focussed less on research excellence and more on the needs and aspirations of…

The unprecedented geopolitical and economic shifts across the world have triggered much debate over the re-thinking of internationalisation of higher education (IoHE). This article discusses how a deeper understanding of the knowledge economy paradigm contributes to re-thinking IoHE, and how it reshapes the relations between the west and the rest…

In 2011, Southampton Solent University, a post-1992 university in southern England, introduced a new marking scheme with the aims of changing marking practice to achieve greater transparency and consistency in marking, and to ensure that the full range of marks was being awarded to students. This paper discusses the strategic background to the…

This article outlines some of the policy issues currently faced by research-based universities in the Netherlands. The focus is on four leading universities (University of Amsterdam: UvA; Free University of Amsterdam: VU; Leiden University; and Delft University of Technology: TUD). The author visited these institutions as part of a Study Tour…

Largely unknown to most of the world, Kyrgyzstan has a flourishing higher education (HE) sector, with more universities per head than other countries with similar populations. Kyrgyzstan is also a major regional importer of international students in Central Asia. This paper opens up this understudied country in three ways: first, through a brief…

The discourse on internationalisation has undergone a transformation in recent years, particularly in the sphere of education, where the term's centrality has long been undeniable. This discourse has evolved from a focus on internationalisation's increasing importance in education to a mounting critique regarding the process's utility and…

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 critical for…

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…