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: This study aims to investigate the aspects of perceived quality differences that influence student satisfaction when the mode of learning is changed from the traditional classroom to online distance learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This study used an online survey for data collection by distributing…

Purpose: This paper seeks to propose the use of specific strategic management tools for identifying opportunities for gaining competitive advantage in the business core curricula offered at colleges and universities. Design/methodology/approach: A brief review of the literature on business core curriculum innovation and change is examined, and…

Purpose: This paper aims to present the opinions of teaching staff at Spanish universities regarding the relative importance of a number of quality factors, and perceived levels of development of those factors in the context of their work. Design/methodology/approach: The paper takes an empirical approach, with the opinions of teaching staff being…

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: In the USA, as elsewhere, there is an ongoing need to improve quality in higher education. Quality improvement models from business have not been widely embraced, and many other approaches to accountability seem to induce minimal compliance. This paper aims to contend that learning communities represent a viable alternative in the quest…

Purpose: This paper seeks to explore satisfactory and unsatisfactory classroom (student-lecturer) encounters in higher education from a student's perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The critical incident technique (CIT) is used to categorise positive and negative student-lecturer interactions, to reveal quality dimensions of the lecturer,…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine students' perception of end-of-semester Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET), and to explore the extent to which SET are biased by non-instructional factors. Design/methodology/approach: A survey questionnaire about the end-of-semester SET was designed and administered to 819 students selected from…

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 argument is that good and bad teaching are asymmetrical. Eradicating what is readily thought of as bad teaching does not leave behind the purse gold of good teaching. Good teaching is that which promotes student learning. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between bad teaching and good teaching in graduate…