Social acceleration, the rapidly increasing speeding up of the pace of life, has been described and theorised by contemporary social theorists including Paul Virilio, Ben Agger, Thomas Hylland Eriksen, and Hartmut Rosa. While these theorists use illustrations from education, and others such as Foucault and Adam have considered the relationship…

In this article, I pick up established critical explorations of the role and use of theory in higher education research, focusing on the theoretical affordances of the work of Bruno Latour, one of the architects of actor-network theory. Actor-network theory is increasingly widely used within education research, although Latour has moved away from…

Ronald Barnett's modern classic "Realizing the University in an Age of Supercomplexity" (published December 1999), has had a crucial impact internationally on the field of Higher Education research and development since the book was published now nearly 20 years ago. Bridging an academic oeuvre across almost 30 years with close to 30…

Reference to Knowledge Exchange (KE) in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has become common place, reflecting the continued changing role of universities within society. Arguably, KE draws together notions of HEIs as purveyors of knowledge, with students helping to create a tripartite relationship with HEIs and the wider community as well as…

Students as partners (SaP) has seen an increase in focus as an area of active student engagement in higher education. Many complexities and challenges have been shared in this evolving field regarding inclusivity and power. We discuss, in this dialogue, insights that can be uncovered by exploring SaP through a feminist lens--illuminating the fact…

I am grateful for this opportunity to reflect on the field of Social Foundations of Education (SFE), in part because it affords an opportunity to advance an historical analysis of the trajectory of the field different from what we provided when my colleagues and I sent to press the "Handbook of Research the Social Foundations of…

Resting on social exchange theory and the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework, this research examined the causal relationships between high-performance work practices, climate for engagement, job engagement, and job performance in the context of Vietnamese higher education. A multiphase, multisource data collection method was applied to 394…

This paper contributes to discussion of theory application in higher education research. We examine 59 empirical research papers from specialist journals that use a particular theory: activity theory. We scrutinise stated reasons for choosing the theory, functions played by the theory, and how the theory is valorised. We find that the theory is…

Social reproduction theory identifies schooling as a primary means for the perpetuation of the dominant class's ideologies, values, and power. The ability to access college is so closely tied to these constructs that it contributes to this dominance and marginalization. Social stratification is not only mirrored in higher education, but the…

Student engagement has become problematic following the rise of mass and universal forms of higher education. Significant attention has been devoted to identifying factors that are associated with higher levels of engagement, but it remains the case that the underlying reasons for student engagement and, indeed, the notion itself of "student…

Over the last two decades, a sense of awareness has arisen that universities are facing important challenges. This article focuses on the challenge that could be broadly termed as "the digitisation of academic work", yet without assuming that this digitisation would be an explanatory factor clarifying the precise nature of contemporary…

This article utilizes critical social theory to illuminate structures of inequality that undergird certain practices of internationalization in higher education institutions, particularly in U.S. institutions. We demonstrate how such theory can be productively employed to analyze three key dimensions of contemporary internationalization: 1) a…

The emphasis of this paper is on the derivation of design principles from qualitative analysis of student reflections based on their participation in authentic, collaborative and technology-mediated activities. This paper reports on the initial phases of a design-based research project at a comprehensive university in South Africa where the…

This theoretical paper analyzes the relationship between critical feminist theory and emancipatory education as it relates to transformative educational practices. The first section will discuss how the author understands critical feminist theory by looking to Chela Sandoval's theoretical framework of oppositional resistance. The author discusses…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to critique constructively and complement the Talloires Declaration with a focus on social and cultural elements that shape action. These elements are important to achieving the needed response to the environmental issues that the Talloires Declaration highlights. While the Talloires Declaration has been…