Organizations around the world are seeking to maximize their success and sustainability to survive in today’s rapidly changing world – by improving the quality of their products and services, responding to clients’ needs, and maximizing customer satisfaction. Quality, in turn, needs to be well managed to guarantee good services or products. This research enhances the understanding of Quality Management in the context of Higher Education (HEI) generally, and Community Colleges (CCs) specifically. It studies the service quality situation and the application of Quality Assurance Standards (QAS) in ten CCs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It demonstrates the correlation between QAS and service quality, and the influence that QAS have on service quality. In terms of management, this research presents an overview of the Saudi National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment’s (NCAAA’s) application of QAS in CCs, and in relation to SERVQUAL. It specifies the Students’, Faculty and Top managers’ perceptions of service quality and clarifies the application of QAS in CCs in KSA. It identifies the service quality gaps in a sample of CCs, specifies the most influential QAS on service quality in KSA, and provides policy recommendations for stakeholders in CCs and Higher Education (HE) in KSA. In terms of methodological contribution, this research determines how to measure the application of quality management and service quality status in the HEI context. It examines the application of SERVQUAL in the HE context and suggests the modifications needed. Then it examines the application of mixed methods, to get the best of the qualitative and quantitative methods and avoid the shortages of each. Unusually, SERVQUAL was applied on three categories of this research: Students, Faculty and Top Managers, since they represent the main categories of internal stakeholders in HEI. Students are customers, and Faculty and Top Managers are the service providers: Faculty delivers the service and Top Managers lead the whole process and represent the decision makers. In terms of theoretical contributions, this research investigates the literature on service quality, SERVQUAL, Quality Management, Resource Based View (RBV), CCs internationally, and CCs and HE in KSA. It uses RBV theory to differentiate between the performances of CCs, which can be applied to HEI generally. It then suggests an approach, in the light of RBV theory, to understand the reasons for low performance of CCs; how to analyze the situation and determine the reasons for low performing CCs and solutions which can be applied to all other HEI. It clarifies the picture of HEI generally, and CCs specifically, in KSA from the perspective of quality management and service quality application. It provides clearly evidenced policy recommendations derived from empirical data, and recommendations for stakeholders and researchers on what needs to be done, according to the findings. This research is very useful for those who are interested in QM, HE, CCs, and service quality in relation to assurance standards, mixed methods and SERVQUAL adapted to higher education. Through the literature investigated, data gathered, methodology followed, the results and findings reached, and the link is established between the implementation of quality standards and perceived outcomes, this research makes a significant and useful contribution to knowledge. It provides valuable research for institutions in KSA and similar contexts: Arabic Gulf Countries, Arab States or other countries in the world.

This thesis examines the integration experiences of a case-study group of international students undertaking postgraduate research degrees at a UK university. It places a deep focus on their individual stories, and situates these within the academic and policy discourses of integration, which are found to have a lack of consideration in terms of the integration of international students. The study uses key understandings of social capital to examine how the participants have mobilised the resources embedded within their social networks to enable their interaction and participation in society beyond the university campus. The specific aims of the research are to examine the nature of the social networks and social interactions of a case study group of international students, to decipher how their experiences relate to the discourses of integration, and to analyse how their integration experiences relate to the network theory of social capital. The study is qualitative, and uses interpretative phenomenology as a guiding framework to analyse and present the data. Three distinct methods of data collection were used:Ego-network mapping, sit-down interviews and walking interviews. The situated case study was conducted in an ethnically diverse town in the north of England, which has been a significant factor in the participants’ experiences. The findings show that the majority of the study’s participants have each developed a substantial social network during their time in Britain. They have an even mix of co-national and international friends, and some have developed co-national friendships with British people with ancestral links to the their home country. Indeed, a substantial finding from this study, is that the ‘host’ community is seen as both the settled ethnic minority communities within which the participants interact, as well as the conveniently diverse nature of Hill town. The participants are strategic and often use rational choice when forming friendships, in particular when seeking friendships with ‘local’ people for help with language and local cultural knowledge. Despite the consuming nature of their research, all participants acknowledge that they have to impose their own limits on how much time they spend working on it each day and look for ways to break up their routine and break free from the grasp of their studies, which leads to their interaction and participation in the wider society. The way they do this allows the study to interrogate key terms found in the integration discourse, such as ‘shared’ British values and sense of belonging, as the participants view the British ways of being and doing in a relative way. Nonetheless, they often show certain elements of integration that might be expected of permanent migrants such as an engagement with the local community or a wish to give back something to society. The study also reveals a certain resilience when faced with issues such as perceived discrimination or explicit racial abuse in the street. The study expose a sense of appreciation as the participants are able to easily recreate their consumption habits from their home countries, owing to the presence of international chains as well as the multi-cultural nature of Hill town. In addition, the fact that the participants themselves all have some previous experience of working in different countries or for international companies means that they can be described as natural transnationals, and there is evidence that they become a useful social contact for others who arrive in Hill town. Finally, there is strong evidence within the participants’ accounts that they mobilise the social capital resources from their social networks to find information, accommodation and employment.

My first major contribution to knowledge is that practically, I modified the European (EU) framework (2012) by introducing a 3x3 best practice model to advance policy and strategy of entrepreneurship in the higher education sectors. My second major contribution is that theoretically, I used evolutionary resource-based view (RBV) theory to analyse all-encompassing factors influencing how universities co-evolve with their external environment to become more entrepreneurial which has been predominantly utilised as an internal analysis only. An evolutionary view of resource-based theory argues that variation in universities' approaches towards entrepreneurialism is underpinned by their resources and capabilities. Therefore, this research draws on the evolutionary perspective of RBV to explore both internal and external factors. Thereby extending RBV with a taxonomy of factors. My third major contribution is that conceptually, I utilised the strategic corporate entrepreneurship (CE) as a complementary concept to explore how entrepreneurial practices are configured in university settings. This is essential because CE has widely been used to advance the understanding of entrepreneurial activities within established and large private firms only. The strategic view of CE argues that an organisation might not have developed a new business but understand how to explore opportunities in a highly turbulent environment involving multiple actors. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive analysis into the classification of and strategy types behind why some universities are high in entrepreneurial activities than others and how coordination of such activities results in heightening entrepreneurial edge. While branding the activities into classifications, I extend CE with local, national, EU, and international levels of impacts of the entrepreneurial engagement and strategy types. Therefore, the integration of RBV with CE is important to advance our understanding of why and how some pre-1992 (established/old) and post-1992 (new) of the 'self-defined' universities are considered 'entrepreneurial'. Thus, have implications for strategy and management practices. The study develops a 3x3 practical model that can shape strategy, practice, and policy of entrepreneurship in university settings. This is essential because there is a lack of clarity in terms of how the seven components of the entrepreneurial university identified in the EU framework applies to the UK context. Therefore, this qualitative case study research is underpinned by an integrated lens of both RBV theory and CE concept to explore how fifteen (15) UK self-defined entrepreneurial universities are responding to the policy impreative 'becoming more entrepreneurial'. Through the combination of qualitative methods, thirty-two (32) key informant interviews were complemented with document analysis and participant-led visual methods. In contrast to the findings of the EU framework, my analysis generated three taxonomies of factors, three classifications of characteristics, and three typologies of the entrepreneurial university. In doing so, it highlights some policy and practice implications including having a cohesive and coherent strategy and how well-coordinated entrepreneurial activities enhance competitive position in today's higher education marketplace. Consequently, it offers valuable experience for university leaders and managers to deliberate on their strategies and management practices for entrepreneurialism. As such, the primary beneficiaries of the research contributions are universities and the secondary include funding councils, higher education policy planners, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), practitioners, and researchers.

Critical thinking is the most commonly listed of British university graduate attributes. However, its assessment in graduate students’ work in the disciplines remains underexplored in the literature. In the university, critical thinking is assessed within a disciplinary context and is synonymous with distinction or excellence. However, the discourse of ‘generic skills’ currently dominant in higher education has served to dissociate it from this base. The result is a single, generic understanding that may obscure crucial differences. Indeed, the often ignored question in discussions of critical thinking in student writing is ‘critical thinking about what?’ Karl Maton argues that overlooking ‘the what’ is prevalent in higher education research more broadly, resulting in what he terms ‘knowledge blindness’ (Maton, 2014c, p. 3). Knowledge, and its recontexualisation and reproduction in the curriculum, and teaching, sit at the heart of university practice. However, what knowledge practices are assessed as ‘critical thinking’ has remained mostly obscured in higher education research. The effect of ‘knowledge blindness’ is an unclear articulation of practices considered as ‘critical thinking’ in student writing in the disciplines. It is the central concern in this study. The primary aim of this study was to bring into view what is recognised as enacted or demonstrated critical thinking practices in student writing in different disciplines by disciplinary assessors, with the purpose of informing pedagogy. The study was motivated by the problem of having to teach ‘critical thinking’ in writing in a professional capacity without clear writing directives from the disciplines. Coupled with this is lack of empirical evidence of demonstrated ‘critical thinking’ practices in student writing in published literature, evidence that might have guided my teaching practices. The research employed a qualitative case study approach that drew on the expertise of senior lecturers’ ‘habituated’ (Bourdieu, 1990) or ‘cultivated gazes’ (Maton, 2014a), as they assessed Masters-level essays in two different fields of practice: Political Science and Business. A single broad question anchored the study: • What practices are assessed as ‘critical thinking’ in student writing tasks? It was conceptualised as the Bourdieurian question: • What are ‘the rules of the game’? The research design comprised three phases: mapping and profiling of University and programme documents where critical thinking is conceptualised, and selection of participants; piloting interviews and analysis of student essays; actual interviews and analysis of student essays. The explanatory framework used for the study drew primarily on Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) Semantics. Genre theory based on Systematic Functional linguistics was also used as a framework for initial organisation of student essays. The study brought into view four key findings of critical thinking that pertain to the movement of knowledge across texts, having the right stance, using the right theory, and being able to master the right forms of knowledge. First, analysed in terms of Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory Semantics, more successfully ‘critical’ students in Political Science and Business moved knowledge smoothly across their texts in ways that resemble ‘waves of meaning’ – or what in LCT is termed as semantic waving. These successfully critical thinking texts created bigger waves, demonstrating greater semantic range. Less successful texts moved knowledge across the pages in ways that did not flow as smoothly and produced smaller waves – or less semantic range. Second, in the Political Science thinking task, a particular political stance was preferred over others, revealing a value charging or ideological preference of one political argument over another. A key finding, therefore, was that stances are unequal: some are more privileged than others. Further, while the personal stance was irrelevant in Political Science, it was a requirement in the Business task. A third key finding is that there is a hierarchy of theories in Political Science. Some theories are seen as having more power to solve political problems than others, and are hence more preferred. The fourth key finding is that there are differences in the forms of knowledge that students are required to master. The Political Science thinking task required a mastery and weaving together - termed semantic weaving in LCT - of more complex and abstract knowledge forms, or rhizomatic codes, with more complex and context-dependent knowledge forms, or worldly codes. The Business thinking task required mastery and semantic weaving of simpler context-independent knowledge forms, or rarefied codes, with simpler context-dependent knowledge forms, or prosaic codes. This study argues that teaching critical thinking in writing involves being able to see and analyse knowledge – their movements across texts, their forms, and knowing how disciplinary stances and theories are differentially valued in different fields of practice. There are three contributions to knowledge in this thesis: empirical, theoretical, and methodological. The findings, presented as a set of ‘rules of the game’, provide empirical insights into critical thinking practices in student writing currently unavailable in the mainstream literature about student writing. The findings provide ‘thicker’ descriptions and ‘thicker’ explanations of knowledge practices which also contributes theoretically to writing literature. The utility of Legitimation Code Theory Semantics to see and to analyse knowledge as meanings in texts, along with Systemic Functional Linguistics genre based theory as an organising principle, also makes a unique methodological contribution.

<p> <i>Background:</i> Online learning is now at the forefront of education, making a college degree more accessible than ever before. With online enrollments at an all-time high, quality instruction is essential to the sustainability of the institution and ultimately affects student enrollment and retention. Research exists on the effectiveness of syllabus design and the use of inventories, but the gap in the existing literature lies in combining the two. </p><p> <i>Purpose:</i> The purpose of this mixed methods study was to analyze possible relationships between syllabus design and student achievement, student engagement, student satisfaction, faculty instruction, and faculty satisfaction. </p><p> <i>Research Design:</i> An Online Syllabus Inventory (OSI) was developed as an evaluative and instructional tool and served as the independent variable for syllabus design between administration of control and experimental courses. </p><p> <i>Data Collection and Analysis:</i> This mixed methods study synthesized quantitative and qualitative data gathered from 28 online courses and 379 students. Data sources included student analytics from a learning management system, course evaluations from a student information system, and feedback from study participants. </p><p> <i>Findings:</i> In the domain of student achievement, a significant difference was found between two control and experimental courses. In the domain of student engagement, a significant difference was found in six courses. Among the sample, course-level factors were found to be significantly different in the domain of student satisfaction. No significant difference was found among instructor-level factors.</p><p>

<p> Student retention is important to higher education institutions (Shoemake, 2017). Nursing programs strive to choose admission criteria which identify students who show the best chance of successfully completing the program and passing the National Council Licensure Examination (Bremner, Blake, Long, &amp; Yanosky, 2014; Chen, Heiny, &amp; Lin, 2014; Knauss &amp; Wilson, 2013). The crisis of a nursing shortage, compounded by the void retiring nurses place on healthcare industries, creates the need for nursing programs to graduate more qualified nurses (Kubec, 2017; Mooring, 2016). The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate factors which influenced completion of a practical nursing program. Quantitative data included admission and demographic criteria. These data were analyzed to identify if differences existed when compared to program outcomes including completion and licensure. A statistically significant difference was found in both program completion and first time passage of licensure exam rates between practical nursing students who held healthcare certification and practical nursing students who did not hold a healthcare certification, with the former group completing the program at a higher rate. To address the quantitative phase of the study, interview questions were constructed using Jeffrey's (2015) nursing universal retention and success model. Then, responses to the questions were obtained from a student focus group of six currently enrolled students. Following an analysis of the qualitative data, two themes emerged: theory and practice and navigating the journey. Based on findings, further research of nursing program completion and licensure is recommended to assist recruitment, application, and programming practices of academic institutions.</p><p>

<p> College student success outcomes have become increasingly significant to many stakeholders as student attrition has proven costly for students, institutions of higher education, and the economy (Foss, Foss, Paynton, &amp; Hahn, 2014; Jobe &amp; Lenio, 2014). Historically, a positive relationship between college students who live on-campus and retention has been found (Astin, 1993; Bronkema &amp; Bowman, 2017; Chickering, 1974; Pike &amp; Kuh, 2005; Schudde, 2011; Soria &amp; Taylor Jr., 2016; Walsh &amp; Robinson Kurpius, 2016). However, commuter students now make up most of the current college student population (Skomsvold, 2014). The purpose of this mixed methods study was to advance the understanding of the commuter student phenomenon within the context of the institution. Quantitative data included first- to second-year retention rates and six-year graduation rates for the three most recent cohorts of commuter and residential students at one Midwest university. The first- to second-year retention rate was 63.21% for commuters and 66.07% for residential students; the six-year graduation rate was 35.07% for commuters and 33.68% for residential students. There were not statistically significant differences in the first- to second-year retention rates or six-year graduation rates of commuter and residential students. Qualitative data were gathered using student focus groups and faculty interviews, including 16 and nine participants respectively. Responses were reviewed through the lens of Strange and Banning's (2015) campus ecology model, and four themes emerged: getting from here to there, the double-edged sword of convenience, independence, and it is who we are. Based on the findings, higher education leaders should continue to observe and assess student groups within the context of their own unique institutions. </p><p>

<p> Currently, the same criteria are being used for admissions into nursing programs in one school of nursing in the Northeastern United States. To date there are no statistically significant data to correlate these criteria with successfully entering the nursing profession. Due to the nursing shortage, limited number of seats available in nursing programs, low nurse retention, and high nursing school attrition rates, it is necessary to use an admissions process designed to select the candidates who are most likely to succeed on the NCLEX-RN, and enter into the nursing profession. A latent class analysis was used, and revealed that the ideal candidate was found to be an individual who is either an optimistic, full-time student, who earned a high ACT score, and had a career prior to enrolling into the nursing program, or was an optimistic, part-time student, who earned a low ACT score, and had a career prior to enrolling into the nursing program. A survey provided further insight and the responses indicated applicants who self-reported that they: have good judgment, seek out challenges, are capable of anything, are professional, are optimist, need to utilize what is learned, are ethical in nature, are able to recover quickly for failure, are motivated by intrinsic factors, are self-directed, complete what they start, have a sense of team-awareness, admit to mistakes, are resilient, have a sense of spiritual well-being, and possess leadership qualities, ultimately entered into the nursing profession. </p><p>

Higher education domain has a direct impact on individuals and society in general and particularly regarding the socio-economic status and economic growth of any individual or a country. Despite recent changes in job market orientation for hiring employees without higher education degrees, higher education sector is required globally to provide training, knowledge and skill to achieve the globally stated goal of attaining economic growth and sustainable human development. This research focuses on the importance of higher education to primary beneficiaries (student, parents, and higher education institutions personals), explores defined goal of higher education, and assess the effect of external environmental factors that influence higher education sector sampling Bahrain public higher education in a single case study. Through an exploratory qualitative research, the researcher used a case study approach with semi-structured interviews to assess different beneficiaries' views of the importance of higher education to bridge the gap between different perspectives on shaping the goal of higher education. An abductive approach was followed to conduct this research as this topic requires both observing the research topic as well as qualifying an established theory. This approach allowed the researcher to gain new insights to understand the relationship between the environmental factors and higher education goal. The research assesses the factors influencing higher education to be utilised as moderator to develop a conceptual framework based on Means-end theory of decision-making combined with the dynamics of OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act) model of decision-making. Key findings of the pilot study conducted in one of Bahrain's public higher education institutions (HEIs) and another case study on one of the leading higher education institutions in Bahrain revealed a gap between higher education beneficiaries' perspectives on higher education and demonstrated the importance of the revision of the overall structure and implementation of policies concerning higher education sector in Bahrain. Empirical findings highlighted some main areas where there is a huge gap between what is planned and implemented. Through comparing results of previous studies, the researcher concluded that each environment has its own effect on higher education goal definition which in turn affect the attainment of higher education benefits and the definition of its attributes.

There has been a significant increase in interest in the development of Educational Leadership in recent years, not least in the school sector. However, little research exists on how leaders in higher education have learnt to lead, particularly those in ‘middle-leadership’ positions such as heads of faculties and departments. This study explores the journey to leadership of eighteen leader-academics within six chartered and statutory universities in the south of Wales and the west of England. Semi-structured biographical interviews were used between November 2005 and April 2006 to secure academics’ perceptions of their own life history, including the significance of their formative years, career trajectories, motivations, training and less formal learning, to equip them with the necessary attributes to lead. The findings show that the nature of leadership for middle-level leaders in higher education is complex and demanding and requires a combination of management and leadership skills. Formal professional development for leadership was relatively uncommon. The majority of what leaders do is learnt, self-taught and acquired throughout their life history. The influence of critical incidents and significant people has a profound effect on how leaders have learnt to lead. This study captures insights which should inform the future research agenda in higher education and highlights the possible inadequacies of formal leadership development for leader-academics in higher education. The challenge is to bring the informal processes of learning gained throughout a leader’s life history into a meaningful context for professional development. By doing so, training and development initiatives can be brought into the leader’s real world in a structured way to become more relevant and productive to those who participate. Strategies include the establishment of formal mentoring systems, encouraging the formation of networks and providing guided critical reflection on practice, whilst promoting opportunities for collective articulation and sharing of experiences. A suggested framework for integrated leadership development is proposed to enable middle-level leader-academics to experience more planned and meaningful development. This should then enhance those aspects of leadership which have been acquired through individual life histories and consequently should better equip them to support, manage and lead their faculties.