University rankings have become an increasingly important aspect of academia in recent years. These rankings, which evaluate universities based on a variety of factors such as research output, graduation rates, and reputation, provide valuable information for students, educators, and policymakers alike.

Many candidates undertaking high-stakes English language proficiency tests for academic enrolment do not achieve the results they need for reasons including linguistic unreadiness, test unpreparedness, illness, an unfavourable configuration of tasks, or administrative and marking errors. Owing to the importance of meeting goals or out of a belief…

Purpose: After the concepts of first-class universities, first-class research disciplines, and first-class undergraduate education, China's Ministry of Education (MOE) proposed a new concept of first-class undergraduate major programs and also proposed policy initiatives for relevant selection and funding. This article provides an in-depth…

Widening participation in England has been framed around two primary needs; raising attainment and raising aspiration. Whilst aspiration is complex, policy definitions often frame it in narrow economic terms and see access to higher education as primarily about developing a workforce, the underlying logic being that to improve social mobility that…

This paper critiques the emergence of micro-credentials in higher education. It argues that micro-credentials build on the discourse of employability skills and 21st century skills within human capital theory, and that they increase the potential of human capital theory to 'discipline' the HE curriculum to align it more closely with putative…

In this commentary, authors Frank Fear and Lorilee R. Sandmann reflect on their 2001-2002 "Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement" article "The 'New' Scholarship: Implications for Engagement and Extension" reprinted in this 20th anniversary issue of "Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement."…

This article critically reviews the methodologies and methods that have been used for the evaluation of physical learning environments. To contextualize discussion about the evaluation of learning spaces, we initially chart the development of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) for non-domestic buildings. We then discuss the recent evolution of POE…

In response to the lecture format coming under "attack" and being replaced by online materials and smaller tutorials, this paper attempts to offer not only a defence but also to assert that the potential value of the lecture is difficult to replicate through other learning formats. Some of the criticisms against lectures will be…

Higher education research is a developing field internationally, attracting more and more researchers from a great variety of disciplinary backgrounds within and beyond higher education institutions. As such, it is an arena within which a wide range of theories, methods, and methodologies are being applied. As an expanding multidisciplinary area…

Recent policy in England has advocated the introduction of fast-track degrees to provide an alternative, shorter route to a bachelor's degree. It has been argued that this will widen participation in higher education and increase labour market flexibility by providing an option in which undergraduates spend one fewer years out of the labour…

This study explores the implications of higher education on earnings in Finland. The challenges as well as opportunities of obtaining a university degree as compared to graduating from polytechnics are evaluated using the REFLEX (The Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society) data. As a Nordic country, Finland is known for its educated…

The central purpose of China's modern higher education has been to combine Chinese and Western elements at all levels including institutional arrangements, research methodologies, educational ideals and cultural spirit, a combination that brings together aspects of Chinese and Western philosophical heritages. This, however, has not been achieved.…

Between 1963 and 2009, there have been 13 published studies offering empirical evidence on biology fieldwork in schools and colleges in the UK. This paper considers the evidence from these studies relating to work with 16-19 year old students undertaking academic study beyond the compulsory years of schooling; advanced ("A") level. It…

Purpose: This paper sets out to argue that the strategic implementation of technology is implicated in a range of crises or socio-economic disruptions, like peak oil, climate change and the rising environmental costs of energy consumption. It aims to argue that institutional technological implementation is contested, complex and should not be…

Over the past two decades, higher education in advanced capitalist societies has undergone a process of radical "reform". A key element of this reform has been the introduction of a number of accounting-based techniques in the pursuit of improved accountability and transparency. While the "old" accounting was to do with stewardship, the "new"…