Purpose: This study aims to assess "learning opportunities" provided to undergraduate students, from level three to six, in higher education (HE). A knowledge gap was identified within the current practice relating to learning opportunities for built environment (BE) students in HE. The study focussed on the themes under section two of…

Purpose: The issues in the current Built Environment Higher Education (BEHE) curricula recognise a critical need for enhancing the quality of teaching. This paper aims to identify the need for a best practice in teaching within BEHE curricula and recommend a set of drivers to enhance the current teaching practices in the Built Environment (BE)…

Purpose: This paper aims to critically examine the quality of professional doctorates (PDs) from the perspective of programme supervisors in terms of how quality assurance provisions have to meet their expectations. Design/methodology/approach: The study employed an interpretative approach, using semi-structured interviews and online…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to outline the ways in which staff of a post-1992 UK university set about enhancing the student experience, at a time when the institution had poor student evaluations as demonstrated by the UK National Student Survey and other indicators. Using a range of interventions led by the PVC (Academic), a concerted…

Purpose: Final year students attending British universities now complete an annual questionnaire to assess their views on their learning experiences of higher education (HE) from a variety of perspectives. They undertake this process as part of the National Student Survey (NSS). These data are then collated and an annual report with associated…

Purpose: The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to engage with the definition of quality as "excellence" and to show why this could be regarded as unhelpful and misleading; and, second, to suggest some factors which contribute to a "cultural divide" between quality assurance specialists in universities and their colleagues…

Purpose: The paper aims to describe research undertaken in two post-1992 universities into staff perceptions of and reactions to the rhetoric of the national quality agenda in the UK as expressed by bodies such as the Quality Assurance Agency and the discourse about quality implicit in that agenda. The research examined how academic staff engaged…

Purpose: The paper seeks to deepen the understanding of university lecturers' perceptions of quality. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs a literature review to establish a robust analytical framework and the use of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a random sample of 20 lecturers in a range of UK universities. The interview…

Purpose: The paper seeks to explore the effect of academic culture on the implementation of the European Foundation for Quality Management's (EFQM) Excellence Model in UK universities. Design/methodology/approach: A literature review reveals several aspects, which collectively define the academic culture in UK universities. These aspects were…

Purpose: To investigate, in the context of university education, the relationship between the congruence of the quality values held by the students, the teaching staff and the university senior management and the level of student satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: The research was carried out within a large Business School in a major UK…