Paul Cowley

The degree apprenticeship was introduced in 2015 and touted as one of the biggest developments in the higher education sector in several decades (Rowe et al., 2016). A key aspect of the rationale for its introduction is the critical need for the UK to produce more commercially aware graduates. This approach is dependent on collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and key stakeholders such as employees, employers and professional bodies. HEIs need to be effective in how they identify potential partners and opportunities; in addition to identifying new partners, the HEI will seek to establish the partnership with the partner organisation, this involves identifying the relevant skills gap (s) and developing the appropriate academic content, material, schedule and platform of learning to meet stakeholder needs.
These challenges have presented HEIs with a number of questions to be considered. In particular, is it the role of the academic staff to identify commercial opportunities and then to build and maintain those relationships? If it is the role of academic staff, then how are they being managed and developed in order to carry out these seemingly less academic but more commercial activities? Through a series of semi-structured interviews with an academic responsible for leading a newly developed Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) at a UK university, the project has sought to investigate some of the opportunities and challenges experienced during programme development and delivery. Respondent feedback suggested that the degree apprenticeship represents a meaningful and dynamic delivery model but that any benefits must be balanced against some of the issues and anxieties potentially experienced by staff when transitioning into their new roles.

The emphasis on the teaching quality of university lecturers in the UK has become an emergent theme in UK education policy over the last 40 years. Prior to this shift in emphasis, it was seen as acceptable for an academic to be solely an expert in their particular subject area. A key theme to emerge from the policy interventions regarding teaching quality is the issue of teacher training processes for university lecturers. The purpose of this paper is to examine these policy developments against the research evidence regarding the subsequent impact of the policy on academics at both practitioner and institutional level. The paper finds that policy rhetoric would indicate an enthusiasm of successive governments to ensure meaningful training programmes for academics, e.g. Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCEHE); this has been further supported by the introduction of professional bodies during this time period, e.g. Higher Education Academy (HEA). When contextualised against practitioner experiences and institutional interpretations of government policy the paper concludes that this is a problematic task due to the fragmented approach of UK higher education institutions in adopting these policies but also the varying research methods used to examine the topic area.

The UK has several overseas territories around the world. As part of this commitment, the NHS has key responsibility for the education of the local population regarding key issues associated with mental health. This commitment has seen a rise in the number of UK educators who have settled in a variety of overseas locations. This can present several challenges for these expatriates in adapting to the new living and working cultures they are faced with. This paper will seek to examine the experiences of an expatriate educator over the course of two years. Information was gathered through the use of several semi-structured interviews during 2015-2017. The primary focus of the study was to identify and examine the key motivators and challenges with a view to identifying key traits, needed in the adjustment to new working and living contexts.

Flipped classroom pedagogy has become popular in several different disciplines. Key advantages being the increased level of lecturer and student interaction, which can have a positive impact on students’ motivation, engagement and performance. However, there is limited evidence regarding such impact within business and management education. In order to explore best practice regarding the implementation of this pedagogy; action research was adopted to evaluate students’ motivation, engagement, satisfaction and performance in a postgraduate research methods module, focusing on different cohorts (2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17). The flipped classroom approach was delivered in 2016-17 using Socrative quizzes reinforced by in-class activities and support via Whatsapp, Viber, PowerPoint with narrations, Youtube / TED videos and online reading materials (before and after the classes). This was compared to the 2015-16 cohort when a blended teaching approach was adopted and the 2014-15 cohort when a more traditional teaching style was used.
Many challenges were acknowledged when the flipped approach was adopted. Compared to results in 2014-15: students’ motivation, engagement, satisfaction and performance were improved significantly when a more blended teaching strategy (2015-16) was used. However, there were no significant differences between this blended teaching approach (2015-16) and the flipped classroom approach (2016-17) in terms of students’ motivation, engagement and performance; according to the feedback from questionnaires, focus groups and their performance results. Although students’ satisfaction of the module was improved in 2016-17. Moreover, influencing factors of an effective use of flipped classroom were identified and evaluated according to the students’ perceptions and performance. Additionally, this research developed an evidence-based conceptual framework to help educators to design curriculum with rigorous evidence-based teaching strategies.

The advancements in mobile phone technology over the last decade, has enabled educators and students to adopt smartphones in their teaching and learning. However, historically the utilisation of digital devices in the classroom were not prevalent as a pedagogical tool within Higher Education. The uncertainties surrounding the impact of these devices on students’ engagement and performance have been a phenomena within educational and teaching practices. Although these portable devices can be powerful learning tools, whether students from diverse cultural backgrounds, age groups, disciplines, and study levels can accept and engage with these tools in the classroom requires further exploration. As such, this research investigates students’ expectations and perceptions, considering the use of smartphones within the classroom from a UK university. Mixed methods approach was adopted with both questionnaires (n = 48) and focus groups (n= 6*2). Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to examine the differences in perceptions among grouping variables of continents, age, subject of study, and year of study. Moreover, regression analysis was adopted to explore the impact of the influencing factors on the effectiveness of the use of smartphones. Finally, principle component analysis was applied to evaluate how these factors might be correlated according to the responses from the questionnaire.
Results showed that:
(1) The use of smartphones has a positive influence on students perception of their engagement and performance; (2) there is no significant differences in students’ perceptions when they come from different continents, age groups, year of study and subject of study; (3) support from the software / websites, their interface design, students’ awareness of peer performance, and learning styles appear to have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the use of smartphones according to students’ perception; (4) The appropriateness of the type of the tasks students required to do on their phone, the length of time they spend on the phone, and the amount of tasks required are correlated according to the responses.
Additionally, the conceptual framework for implementing smartphones in the classroom within Higher Education, is developed accordingly to both the questionnaire and focus group results.

International students potentially experience stress in a number of areas whilst studying in the UK; encountering a range of challenges and adjustment issues. This research found that WeChat (a Chinese social media app) has helped Chinese students to address key communication barriers and study challenges within their university experience. This has led to an increase in their motivation in undertaking learning activities; as well as impacting on issues of engagement, performance and retention. Focus groups were conducted with Chinese students ranging from year two undergraduate to postgraduate level. Questionnaires were used to collect data in order to evaluate the influencing factors of the students’ engagement and motivation when WeChat is deployed. Results show that social media can facilitate lecturers to achieve student-centred pedagogy within the blended e-learning environment. Moreover, effectiveness factors regarding the use of social media within higher education are identified to support the development of curriculum design and communication methods. The study seeks to make suggestions regarding the implementation of social media for international students within higher education according to the needs, education settings and cultural backgrounds of the “always-on” generation.

The emergence of international education in UK higher education is seen as a mutually beneficial arrangement for both students and institutions. Higher education institutions benefit through the financial gain of recruiting and retaining international students. International students benefit and are attracted to study in the UK through various ‘pull and push’ factors. This paper explores the expectations and experiences of international students whilst undertaking a UK university degree. It seeks to identify how international students’ expectations and experiences correspond with the expectations, systems and cultures of their chosen university. This examination is underpinned by a review of both the key barriers to learning faced by international students and the support systems the university has in place to combat these problems. A study of first year international students from different countries studying business and management courses at a post’92 university in northern England has examined the key issues. The findings show a convergence and divergence of student expectations, needs and actual reality at the university. The study notes that a failure to communicate or manage this possible gap can be problematic for both the student and the institution, resulting in a possible ‘culture’ or ‘academic’ shock for the learner. The aim of this study is to examine the key motivators and barriers relevant to international students in the UK with a view to providing examples of effective teaching and support strategies at the university.