Exploring more effective use of a teaching restaurant facility examines the costs and investigates the outputs, both te~ching and economic, from si~ different university teaching restaurant case studies. The literature identified two distinct views on teaching restaurant provision. Gamble (1994), 'the changing emphasis of European management skills from traditional craft skills to management skills, the outcome being a more business orientated hospitality manager as a team facilitator rather than someone with traditional skills'. Gamble's argument proposes that at undergraduate level students should be required to learn mana.gement related skills and not hospitality operational skills of the type normally associated with a teaching restaurant whilst, Guerrier and Lockwood (1990) argue 'there is a need for specific research into knowledge and competencies which hospitality employees require in order to be effective in their work', supporting the argument for retaining such skills as a prerequisite for working effectively in the industry.

The primary purpose ofthis research was to investigate the relationship between perceived learning styles ofthe eLearners and their preference of eLearning website features. The secondary purposes ofthis study was to research various models oflearning styles for examining learning styles and eLearning website Systems for studying eLearning website feature preferences ofthe eLearners. A broad research question was undertaken: What impact (if any) does an eLearner's learning style have on their preferences for specific features in an eLearning website system? To follow an exploratory line of investigation three research questions were used to examine the broad question: 1) How can an eLearning website system be meaningfully selected to study eLearning website features preference? 2) How can an eLearner's learning style be meaningfully categorised? 3) How do learning styles impact the eLearner's preference of eLearning website features? ·Unlike Research Question 1 and 2 that· were examined by mainly literature review, Research Question 3 was studied using a full-fledged empirical cycle involving setting up hypotheses, conducting a survey and analysing data using statistical methods.

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‘Good educational practice’ is difficult to define generically, because it is always context-dependent. It must therefore be locally defined and developed, rather than be ‘transferred in’ from elsewhere. This principle of local adaptability replaces notions of practice ‘transfer’ with one of practice which is developed more locally and democratically. Such practice nevertheless draws on networks which transcend contextual (e.g. departmental) boundaries. Thus development can happen locally, but local definitions of good practice remain open to valid models from elsewhere. In the context of educational practice in higher education, the research problem can be characterised as how to reconcile good practice from one context with new practice being developed in another. This problem is addressed using a case study of the implementation of Personal Development Planning (PDP) programmes in a postgraduate institution. It uses action research to engage academic staff (including the author) in participatory activities across the institution, to propose a model of the process of good practice development. This model draws on a metaphor of viral transmission to explain how academic communities exposed to forms of practice may adopt, reject, or adapt them. The model is integrated with a framework of educational development orientations to suggest how receptivity to new practice may be enhanced at different phases of the adoption or development process. This can be achieved by prioritising different features of the relationship between members of the academic community concerned. Notwithstanding the role of PDP as a case study in the research, the primary focus thus falls on practice development in new contexts generically, rather than on ‘good PDP practice’ specifically. The study presents a novel model of academic practice development, which exploits and responds to the varied aspects of academic community relationships, enabling innovators to overcome cultural and structural obstacles to new practice.

This thesis examines the educational experiences of international students from Russia and Palestine who studied for Masters degrees in the UK. I investigate how these students value their UK Masters degrees and how this valuing is reflected in their shifting identities. I identify an entrepreneurial discourse of international education in the UK and in the national brand for UK education marketing overseas, Education UK, and I suggest that this discourse constructs students as entrepreneurial beings and frames students' value judgments and identities during their educational trajectories. My theoretical framework draws from theories of discourse and identity to establish this entrepreneurial identity and to analyse how students' value judgments and identities shift and become more multi-faceted during their educational trajectories. The empirical work for this study consisted of interviews with 28 graduates of taught Masters degrees from UK higher education institutions several years after these individuals had returned home to Russia and Palestine. My analysis of students' value judgments and identities is based on their recollections of the three stages of their educational trajectories: their experiences pre-study, in-study and post-study. My research findings suggest that these students embark on their international education with highly entrepreneurial motives that reflect the discourse of international education. However, as their educational trajectories proceed, and students narrated their in-study and post-study experiences, there are subtle shifts in their va1ue judgments and identities as they go beyond this discourse and as personal and trans formative aspects of this international experience become more significant. In conclusion, I argue that the emphasis on the economic benefits of international education on the part of policy makers and marketers of international education risks ignoring the more complex outcomes and value of international education and could potentially impact the UK's long-term success in the international education market.