Within the Higher Education sector in the UK, it is acknowledged that the area of 'Assessment and Feedback' receives consistently poor levels of satisfaction from students when they complete module level feedback, course level feedback and the National Student Survey (NSS). There is evidence to suggest that this problem is pronounced within…

In this paper, we look at the results from the recent Teaching Excellence Framework (2017), which were made publicly available in June 2017. We offer some initial analysis and commentary, look at the primary reasons for providers being awarded Bronze, Silver and Gold, and look at some providers close to the borderline for their award. We…

Summative and benchmarking surveys to measure the postgraduate student research experience are well reported in the literature. While useful, we argue that local instruments that provide formative resources with an academic development focus are also required. If higher education institutions are to move beyond the identification of issues and…

In this paper we report the outcomes of a national survey of academic development staff in a range of UK HE Institutions to consider the approaches adopted to evaluate teaching-related continual professional development (CPD). Despite the increasing drive towards accountability, the majority of respondents undertook no benchmarking to establish…

While mainstream schools have seen an increasing focus on performance and attainment in recent years, this focus has often been resisted by special and alternative educational provision in the United Kingdom. However, concern is now growing about the low levels of achievement for children and young people educated outside mainstream schools. This…

The aim of the paper is to report some of the research findings from a workshop held at an International Professional Doctorate Conference. The workshop aimed to elicit the views of attendees surrounding the following questions: How do you currently measure the impact and outcome of your professional doctorate programme(s)? What tools, frameworks,…

Like its 2008 predecessor, the, 2014 Research Excellence Framework was a high-stakes exercise. For universities and their constituent departments, it had zero-sum implications for league table position in a way that the 2001 exercise did not, and "post facto" it is having a significant effect on investment and disinvestment as…

This paper shares a practice of encouraging critical analysis in science students by comparing mobile applications and peripherals to traditional tools to record physiological variables such as heart rate and blood pressure. A progressive series of case studies is described with learning outcomes mapped to the benchmark statement for Bioscience…

Since their emergence a decade ago, global university rankings have become a powerful force in higher education internationally. The majority of research studies on global rankings have examined the effects at institutional and national levels. This study offers a valuable perspective on the ways rankings (and other international benchmarks) are…

The implementation of authentic learning elements at education institutions in five countries, eight online courses in total, is examined in this paper. The International Virtual Benchmarking Project (2009-2010) applied the elements of authentic learning developed by Herrington and Oliver (2000) as criteria to evaluate authenticity. Twelve…

This article considers the recent change to Ofsted's inspection criteria, which now includes a judgement on schools' engagement with parents as part of the overall Leadership and Management judgement. The article argues that this is the correct place for this judgement, linking effective parental engagement with the development of a broad and…

The benchmarking framework developed in this study is specifically designed for higher education institutions to consider when developing environments to encourage entrepreneurship among their students, graduates and staff. The objective of the study was to identify key success factors of Graduate Entrepreneurship Incubator Environments (GEIEs)…

The English Funding Council has announced its intention to invite tenders for the contract currently held by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), and the Australian government is promoting a Bill to curb the activities of the equivalent body, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. This article compares the two…

This study explores responses to rankings from a group of staff working as education partnership facilitators for a professional intermediary organisation, the British Council. The study adopts an activity systems perspective from which to view the contexts in which rankings are encountered and the range of practices used to reduce tensions…

This review examines applications of quality management (QM) in language education. QM approaches have been adapted from methodologies developed in industrial and commercial settings, and these are briefly described. Key aspects of QM in language education are the definition of purpose, descriptions of principles and practice, including various…