Inspired by a desire to improve the student experience, this paper reviews primary research carried out into the use of formative feedback within a Business School at a "new" university in the UK. The research adopted a qualitative approach with key objectives to gain staff and student perspectives on the role and practice of feedback…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which term-time employment influences two specific aspects of the student experience in higher education: working collaboratively and preparing for entry into the graduate labour market. The paper also aims to consider the extent to which the students are able to appreciate the…

The landscape of higher education (HE) has dramatically altered in the past 30 years and it continues to evolve and change. More students are entering HE and attending university or college on a global scale than ever before. Supporting and enhancing the undergraduate student experience across the student lifecycle, from first contact through to…

Colleges and universities that provide both further and higher education are a key component of government policies to expand participation in English undergraduate education. The opportunities for access and progression made available by these organisations are regarded as central. At the same time, the division of further and higher education…

The UK, with its obvious advantages such as a good range of universities offering many different courses, and the opportunity to increase competence in English usage, has become one of the most popular countries for Chinese students. However, Chinese students who want to come to the universities in the UK to study have to meet the entry…

This study describes the theoretical rationale underpinning the design and implementation of a career-related activity as an optional element of a virtual residential school. The activity comprised an interview with a practising chartered psychologist recorded as an MP3 audio file, which was subsequently supported by an asynchronous discussion…

Against the backdrop of a massive expansion in higher education, the number of students in higher education (HE) experiencing mental health problems is increasing, which poses a significant challenge to HE institutions in terms of how they best respond to students with mental health needs. This paper considers the implications of such developments…

This paper draws on a small-scale qualitative study of the lived experiences of gay male students in their final year of undergraduate study at a UK university. In contrast to the narratives almost universally reported in academic literature, anti-gay victimisation and harassment were not experienced or framed as dominant discourses in the stories…

Academics are now expected to manage increasingly demanding research, administrative, and teaching obligations. These demands in practice mean that the pressures to balance teaching and research duties render cultivating links between the two activities a less-than-intuitive process. The author describes the difficulties faced by academics in the…

This paper is based on a small-scale study of the minority ethnic student experience at a small mainly "white" university in the south of England. Students described their experience as broadly positive but suggested clashes of values in some areas of campus social life. Where the curriculum explored notions of culture, students valued…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual model of student satisfaction with their higher education (HE) experience, based on the identification of the variable determinants of student perceived quality and the impact of those variables on student satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction with the overall student experience. The…

This paper uses a methodology that synthesises an Academic Literacies approach and Critical Discourse Analysis to explore student experiences of feedback on written assessments in two higher education institutions. The qualitative analysis of student interviews is oriented around three topics: (1) the socially situated meaning of feedback; (2)…

Although there is a growing interest in the victimisation of university students, the issue of student offending has been largely overlooked in the criminology and education literatures. Based on a self-report study of 1215 undergraduate students at UK higher education institutions, this article explores the level and nature of student…

Based on the analysis of interviews with children, this article links what we know about the way in which they learn with their views of creativity. Whilst pupils have a crisp view of the nature of creativity, which links them to well-established philosophical views, this contrasts both with the vaguer notions of the term and with their experience…

Research within the area of the sociology of physical education (PE) recognises that it is a subject which reinforces dominant ideologies about gender. The gendered nature of PE appears to continue into General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinable PE, as the proportion of boys being examined in GCSE PE compared to girls is nearly…