A great deal of scholarly research describes substantial shifts in higher education policy over the past fifteen to twenty years. Against the backdrop of a global knowledge economy, governments and supranational organisations are seeking to harness higher education more closely to economic goals. Trends associated with this shift include the rise of target-driven, performance-based governance structures, as well as increased private tuition and research funding. The adoption of policies in this vein can be seen worldwide, but there is still a great deal of national unevenness. Much of the commentary and analysis of these trends is critical/normative, perceiving them as unwelcome moves away from the sector's traditional missions and towards an excessive instrumentalism of university activity. There is, though, relatively little research that empirically explores student perspectives of how universities operate - perhaps should operate - or how students make decisions in relation to higher education. This study involves in-depth, semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students at two research-intensive universities, one in Germany, the other in England. These countries have responded to knowledge economy discourses in somewhat contrasting ways, and the conditions in which universities and their constituents are situated differ accordingly. Applying a theoretical model based on a form of socio-historical neo-institutionalism, actors' - in this case students' - action is seen as the result of an internal relationship between three areas: personal understandings of context, identity, and decision-making rationales. Each of these themes is explored and then combined through the participants' accounts to develop overlapping but also somewhat distinctive images of studenthood. This thesis seeks to show how, and how far, this is attributable to differences between the national university systems. Within this, evidence will be presented to show how this is mediated at the (nationally-embedded) university level, as well as through individual sense-making.

This thesis examines the extent to which, individual and contextual effects determine educational participation in England. It is composed of two large scale projects that examine both post-16 and higher educational (HE) participation. The first explores the factors that influence the propensity to stay on in post-16 education for one cohort of young people in England. This is based on a combined individual-level data set drawn from three sources: the National Pupil Database (NPD); the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC); and Census data, which provides information on geographical areas, in particular LSOAs and wards. The second analysis examines the determinants of HE participation in four different ways. The first explores the propensity to succeed during the UCAS application process, by comparing UCAS applications with final university admissions; the second examines the determinants of distance travelled to higher education; the third, the likelihood of attending a Russell Group university; and the final strand examines propensity to study a particular subject at university. This second project is based on a unique data set provided by the Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS). Individual-level variables including attainment, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status and term of birth, are modelled, as well as contextual variables, to assess their influence on educational participation. When significant contextual variance is found in the models, higher-level variables such as neighbourhood deprivation and school mean GCSE scores are included in the modelling process in to attempt to understand, what it is about schools, neighbourhoods and local authorities that make a difference to outcomes for young people. The aforementioned data structures and the research questions are inherently multilevel, with processes acting at the individual, school, neighbourhood (LSOA and ward) and local authority level. Consequently, a multilevel model approach is adopted that analyses participation simultaneously at multiple scales. This research suggests that there are important processes acting at the individual and contextual level none more so than individual attainment level, but once this has been accounted for, significant effects remain according to: ethnicity, socio-economic status and gender. Further, once these individual level differences have been taken into account, significant contextual variance remains, largely at the school and local authority level. Importantly, despite the focus and indeed preferential treatment in the HE applications process by student's place of residence, so called 'neighbourhood effects' are of very little consequence in determining participation in post-16 education.

I did not think I would produce myself in/scripture such as this - of my scrapbooking endeavours. The pages of the Scrapbooks were awry. The punched holes did not match up in places. The edges overlapped in places. Scrappy (re)presentation, in one view. Yet through another's lenses and in alternative words, this work: cultured descriptions of three kinds of experiences: lecturing/teaching in a college of Further and Higher Education between January 2003 and August 2006; bingeing and purging behaviours; creating an understanding of who I was/am as a daughter.

The focus of this thesis is an exploration of students' engagement with academic literacies. The study is based on interview data, visual material and objects brought to these interviews by five students on an Education Studies undergraduate degree course. Drawing from the theoretical frame of New Literacy Studies, academic literacies are broadly defined as socially situated literacy practices. The focus is on how and where ‘academic literacies’ happen and how these literacies interact with personal histories and students' broader socio-cultural experience. Three themes: journeying, identity and emotional concerns, have been identified. The themes highlight the complex, nuanced and socially-embedded nature of the participants’ academic lives. In particular, Bakhtin’s notion of chronotopes is drawn on to illuminate the patterning of experiences in time and space. The findings provide insights into students’ broader literacy practices moving beyond the current focus on academic writing within the academic literacies field.

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The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the experiences and lived realities of non-traditional students in higher education. In particular, students who are both mature and working class, and have progressed from further education. Further education, particularly access courses, are considered to be the non-traditional route into HE. The first chapter is an exploration of the history of higher education from its traditional elitist origins to modern day widening participation. The second chapter is an examination of further education and the access course, which has partly enabled the widening participation drive. I demonstrate that non-traditional students who have no history in the field of HE, and have progressed through the access course route, undergo a unique and profound experience in which they re-shape their identities and their perceptions of themselves. I use the theoretical framework of Bourdieu's theories of habitus and cultural capital to explore the concept of class and educational success and failure, and why, according to Bourdieu, some classes succeed in education and some do not. However, my research findings do not support an uncritical application of Bourdieu's theory; rather that one's habitus can change to accommodate new practices. The findings of the research are based on interviews with ten participants, all of whom are or have been mature working class students in HE. Following thematic analysis of the interview data, five themes emerged, revealing the journey and transformations that my participants had undergone. During the final chapter of the thesis, I explore the participants' subjective realities and, located between a critical and interpretative paradigm, situate their lived experiences of being mature working class students in the academy. I conclude this research with a discussion of my most significant finding: that more needs to be known and understood about the unique experiences of non-traditional students, in order that they feel better accommodated, and that the institution can work towards achieving full inclusivity.

The thesis is about assessment for learning. It aims to examine the gap between theory and practice in assessment for learning through a case study approach. By examining closely the assessment practice in one higher education institution in the UK, the thesis presents a number of original contributions to the literature, knowledge base and practice of assessment for learning. The thesis challenges the established literature in assessment for learning and proposes that the literature should move away from the dichotomised view of summative and formative assessment. The thesis also highlights the lack of an explicit theoretical underpinning in assessment for learning and proposes that the social constructivist approach should be made more explicit in the assessment for learning literature. With the case study demonstrating that lecturers often take a surface approach towards assessment for learning principles, the thesis proposes that dialogue needs to be seen as the common thread in assessment for learning. By understanding that assessment for learning is about a process that involves meaningful dialogue between 1) tutors and tutors, 2) tutors and learners, 3) learners and peers and finally 4) learners themselves, lecturers will be presented with a new knowledge base to re-consider their assessment practice. The case study also reveals that lecturers from certain disciplines found the notion of assessment for learning aligned with their disciplines more readily. This finding together with the contributions to literature and knowledge base will present a new perspective towards assessment for learning and look to inform practice that will result in a deep approach to assessment for learning.

This study describes research on an undergraduate part-time blended learning programme within the former Information Systems Institute at the University of Salford. This research is based on the interpretive philosophical paradigm and examines four cycles of action research. The question being addressed in this research is: ‘How can blended learning be used to deliver a programme?’ In answering this question three overlapping perspectives were taken, as outlined below: 1) Concept of blended e-learning: This research suggests that a better term for ‘blended learning’ is ‘blended e-learning’. A Fine Structure of the Blended E-learning Concept comprising learning and learning context is proposed. This concept incorporates three nodes associated with learning: face-to-face facilitated learning, e-facilitated learning and selfstudy; and three nodes associated with the learning context: learner, pedagogic beliefs and the programme related issues. 2) Pedagogy in blended e-learning: This thesis identifies the three Key Issues of Blended Elearning Pedagogy, these are: communication, social interaction and assessment. Drawing on these issues, the thesis extends the Skeleton of Conversation to the Blended E-learning Skeleton of Conversation. 3) Pragmatic implications of blended e-learning: Building on the Fine Structure of the Blended E-learning Concept, three areas of pragmatic concern are identified as the Bermuda Triangle of Blended E-learning. These are the learning related nodes: face-to-face facilitated learning, e-facilitated learning and self-study. Both students and staff on blended e-learning programmes need to be aware of the Bermuda Triangle of Blended E-learning. For students, the awareness can be integrated in the learning to learn element within the Blended Elearning Skeleton of Conversation; for staff, the awareness can be achieved through staff development.