Purpose: This paper aims to examine the development and piloting of a novel European framework for community engagement (CE) in higher education, which has been purposefully designed to progress the CE agenda in a European context. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed framework was co-created through the European Union (EU)-funded project…

This article argues that students' attitudes and dispositions can be important enablers or blockers to effective internationalization of the curriculum in higher education. Using a case study of teaching African studies at a Dutch Liberal Arts and Sciences college, this article shows that students have mixed explicit attitudes toward the subject…

Opportunities for academic libraries to enrich their products and services through facilitating open education (OE) in higher education are presented in an overview of good practices. A case study of open textbook publishing was performed at TU Delft to study how these products and services could stimulate educators to adopt OE. A simplified user…

This study explores how engineering academic teachers perceive their practical knowledge on learning and feedback. Academic teachers and education directors of different disciplines in an engineering university were interviewed. Responses were analysed using the matrix method and cross-case analysis. Five different profiles emerged that provided…

Prior analyses of face-to-face contacts in collaborations have focused on one substitute only. Instead, we analyse various potential substitutes for face-to-face contacts in collaborations. Based on 45 interviews with academics from five leading European universities of technology our findings show that face-to-face contacts are closely…

Purpose: This paper aims to learn how sustainability and the circular economy were being integrated into the curriculum of a Dutch university and to transfer that knowledge back to a US university business school curriculum. Given the resistance toward integrating sustainability into the US business school curriculum, the Dutch university served…

The purpose of the architectural design studio is that students learn to think and act like designers. However, communication between teachers and students seems to be problematic. Teachers barely seem to explain how designers work, which may be confusing for students. To learn professional reasoning processes and strategies, different teaching…

The aim of design education is that students learn to think and act like designers. However, the focus in the design studio is mainly on the design product, whereas the 'why and how' of the design process are barely addressed. A risk of learning by performing real-life tasks without addressing the skills involved, that is, without receiving…

This report and the accompanying online repository (https://sfdora.org/dora-case-studies/) bring together and analyse case studies in responsible academic career assessment. The case studies are intended to serve as inspiration for institutions planning to become or already engaged in a complex review process, and to provide potential pathways of…

Background: Over the past few decades, higher education institutions worldwide have experienced substantial changes, including: massification, internationalisation and increasing demands for exceptional instructional quality and research quantity in environments that have also seen heightened competition for students, faculty and resources.…

In higher education, students often write an undergraduate thesis and receive one-to-one or small group support. During mentoring, 10 teachers ideally diagnose students' research skills, to be able to adapt their support to students' needs. In this study, we aimed to answer the question of how mentors apply the diagnostic phases of a diagnostic…

This paper addresses one of the major confusions in the study and practice of problem-based learning today, namely the use of the term "problem-based learning" to refer to both the small-group tutorial method pioneered by McMaster University and Maastricht University in medical education, and the problem-oriented project-work method…

The early history of Utrecht University (founded 1636) reflects an emerging public sphere (Habermas's "bürgerliche öffentlichkeit") of a major town in the Netherlands. This public sphere was a contested field among the different groups establishing and administering the university: university professors, town magistrates and…

This article addresses academics who innovate in higher education and their characteristics. We undertake a qualitative case study of six individuals who implemented disruptive and transformative pedagogical approaches and curricular practices in their departments and/or at their institutions. Our findings point to six common…

Internationalization has been an important concept in higher education over the past two decades. The way that internationalization is manifest has consequences to academic disciplines, including geography. A new system of liberal arts colleges in the Netherlands has created opportunities for interdisciplinary education, representing a departure…