This thesis explores the role of foreign cultural capital, that is, Western knowledge, skills, dispositions and qualifications obtained through various modes of UK international tertiary education in facilitating social reproduction and mobility. The focus is on Malaysian young adults from middle-class backgrounds. It offers a critical exploration of the intricacies and contradictions surrounding the applicability of Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital in explaining occupational and status distinction across different geographical and socio-relational contexts in Malaysia and the UK. Drawing on interviews with three samples of Malaysian students and recent graduates of UK tertiary education, I explored the anticipation and experiences of the rewards and disadvantages of undertaking international education in the UK and Malaysia. I investigated the planned and executed strategies to secure superior employment and status. I studied the intersection of class with age, ethnicity, gender, nationality and religion in structuring educational and occupational choices, practices and experiences. I explored perceptions and feelings of worth that surrounded planned and actual practices of translating cultural capital to economic and social privileges. Studying overseas in an elite UK university was believed to offer the most privileged opportunities to gain better quality education, experience a higher valued culture, lifestyle, social mix and physical landscape in the West and independently embark on a journey of personal growth and self-discovery. Graduates who studied physically in the UK were generally confident of their labour market and status advantages and saw themselves as more knowledgeable and globally exposed than those pursuing UK education in Malaysia. The latter believed that their relative labour market strengths lay in their enhancement and appropriation of more common local cultural capital in the forms of local knowledge, interaction skills and cultural sensitivity. Flexible and moderate personalisation of foreign and local cultural capital embodied in the self, alongside appropriate deployment and adornment of the physical body, provided the solution for the participants to overcome the relative limitations of the knowledge, skills and dispositions acquired through their respective modes of UK studies. Age, ethnicity and gender were perceived and experienced as significant factors shaping inclusion and exclusion in the Malaysian labour market. Nationality and ethnicity were the significant factors for labour market inclusion and exclusion in the UK. There was a general desire to convert enhanced cultural capital into occupational and status opportunities that allowed for work-life balance, personal contentment, religious fulfilment, emotional security and contribution to society. The thesis contributes to problematising the taken-for-granted singularity of cultural capital practices, showing that their associated benefits and shortcomings do not transfer smoothly across different place, situational and interactional contexts. It challenges the assumption that the scarcity and exclusivity of foreign cultural capital bring labour market advantage in the home context and it highlights the functional value of more common local cultural capital. It accounts for instrumentality and deliberateness in capital accumulation strategies as well as casts light on the principles, values and preferences which set limits to strategies of maximising material gains. It pieces together the practices, relations and feelings occurring at different points of the academic and occupational trajectories for the diverse Malaysian foreign student and graduate middle-class. It essentially adds depth and complexity to the investigation of intersecting individual, socio-relational and structural factors that shape perceived possibilities and experienced actualities of middle-class social reproduction and mobility among Malaysian students and graduates of UK international education. The thesis has important policy implications for the development of an equitable opportunity system in Malaysia and the socially responsible marketing and provision of international tertiary education in Malaysia and the UK.

This thesis addresses the learning experiences of Libyan students studying master’s courses in different disciplines at a UK university. It is a story of students who came to the UK at a particular point in time after civil war and from ongoing conflict. This study uses communities of practice (CoPs) theory as a conceptual framework to highlight the significance of the knowledge and skills that are developed through social interaction with colleagues and tutors within the master’s course and the effects of that on Libyan students’ learning and identity. The aims of the research are to investigate Libyan students’ perceptions and perspectives of their experiences in the United Kingdom higher education (UK HE) system; to explore Libyan students’ perceptions of their previous educational and socio-cultural experiences on their acculturation and learning; to evaluate the nature of the interaction between Libyan students and their colleagues; and to consider their perceptions of identity and change. The study was qualitative and interpretive, examining Libyan students’ expectations, perceptions, perspectives, experiences and aspirations of the UK HE system. Semi-structured interviews and observation were the main sources of data. The findings reveal that Libyan students encounter a number of challenges in the new learning environment. Some of these challenges are common to all international students such as unfamiliarity with the UK HE system, currency and confidence and the challenge of independent study; other challenges such as concern about the environment and lack of security might be attributable to the consequences of civil war and ongoing conflict and specific to this group of Libyan students. Among other things, the findings indicate that there was antagonism, avoidance of interaction, fear and distrust between the Libyan students themselves owing to tribal loyalties and political divisions that relate to the consequence of the initial and ongoing conflict within Libya. This limited integration, hindered mutual engagement and undermined the support that might have been expected between fellow Libyans. However, despite the alienation and schism within their own community, Libyan students joined multicultural classes to create new communities of practice and to interact and share activity with other international colleagues. The findings also reveal that participation in multicultural classes and mutual engagement with international colleagues assisted the Libyan students to acquire the essential components of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and to complete each other’s competence (complementary contribution). They acquired knowledge and skills through social interaction in shared activity with their colleagues and tutors within the master’s community and through employing individual strategies and techniques. Finally, the results also indicate that participants modified some aspects of their Libyan traditional cultural values, temporarily while in the UK. Religious values, however, which are core aspects for all Libyan students’ identity did not change despite the impact of living in a new socio-cultural context and being members of the master’s community, nor did they appear to inhibit integration and socialisation with their host and international colleagues. Published papers see appendix 9.

The UK higher education sector is currently undergoing changes that will impact on the way students learn in the future. National, European and global education policy discourses underline the importance of higher education to the development of an active citizenry and as a way of sustaining economic growth. Corresponding to the rise of higher education on the political agenda there have been huge increases in the numbers of students going on to university education in the UK and further afield. These two aspects have placed a brighter spotlight on the problems the sector faces and change is stated to be necessary and desirable in order for higher education to fulfil its role in society. The growing political will to devise clear linkages between those individuals who benefit from a university education and those who pay for it, advances in information communication technologies, and the related requirements of the knowledge society, form the receptive landscape for moves towards private higher education in the UK. This thesis focuses on the particular phenomenon of corporate or private enterprise providing higher education in competition with government funding-dependent, so called public universities. The activities of private higher education, or independently-funded, non-state dependent higher education providers in the UK suggest that as the relationship between state and the academy goes through significant changes, these providers have become a sensitive issue. Different parties view the activities of private providers in very different ways; however they are viewed, the activities of these providers are a hot topic in higher education at present. Despite this interest, there are only small amounts of information available about this subsector of HE provision, or about the experiences of staff and students working at these companies. This thesis attempts to address this point by offering an overview of the current situation, referring to quantitative data and with a qualitative investigation. Whilst the concept of private versus public in the higher education sector in the UK is increasingly complex, and the context of a speeding up in the transformation of the sector means it is difficult to paint an accurate picture of such a fast moving object of enquiry, the thesis will attempt to shed some light on the activities of corporations in the higher education sector in the UK within the global context.

This thesis examines the nature of the relationship between the educational environment of UK universities and the graduate labour market through the lens of correspondence theory. This theory was developed by Bowles and Gintis (1976), who asserted that there is a structurally reproductive relationship between the conditions of education and labour. One of the key aims of this research is to test the usefulness of this theory to contemporary UK higher education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 students and key staff members in the Law faculties of three different status universities; Elite, Old and New. The interviews covered a number of key topics including class sizes, relationships between students and staff, career preparation and routines of working. Documents outlining the nature of the courses (e.g. prospectuses) were also collected and analysed. These data revealed that at Elite University, subject specific knowledge is the primary purpose of learning and the students encounter an intense working environment but are afforded high levels of autonomy. At New University, the educational experience for students is much more structured, with much less pressure on students to perform and a central focus upon employability. Old University occupies a position between these two universities, offering a form of education that encourages some autonomy within a structured teaching environment and values both employability teaching and subject specific knowledge. The significant differences between the teaching and conditions at these three universities reflect characteristics associated with different levels of graduate work thus indicating the continued analytical value of the correspondence theory.

There is a perceived increase in the use of internal and external indicators and measures of quality within UK universities, such as the National Student Survey and The Times HE league tables (Bryde and Leighton, 2009). This has resulted in the adoption of more corporate styles of management involving increased control (Melo, Sarrico and Radnor, 2010). This has also been referred to as a New Public Management approach (Hood, 1995). The purpose of this management approach was to rationalise government bureaucracy to a more efficient and effective state via the introduction of market mechanisms to implement policy decisions (Van Thiel and Leeuw, 2002). This policy approach was observed in the introduction of student fees and the requirement for performance data to enable informed decisions for prospective students. This has resulted in a period of turbulence within higher education, as organisations attempt to find their place within this new regime. The aim of this research is to explore this phenomenon using an action research project. This has a dual purpose; to enable the improvement of the situation of a particular higher education institute and also provide data to develop substantive and potentially generalizable theory. The theoretical perspective used is interpretive involving exploration of the perceptions of stakeholders within the case study organisation. Data were collected using participant observations and interviews. The data were analysed using a form of grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006), both initial and axial coding. The analysis produced a conceptual framework to demonstrate understanding of the context, consisting of the following categories; direction; deliver, dialogue and develop. The emergent core category relates to the impact that performance indicators, created by policy, have within an organisation. The findings have added to the organisational development and performance management knowledge domains by the production of an interpretive, substantive framework that can be used to articulate understanding of an organisational sub-unit responding to transformative policy change.

As diversity in UK Higher Education Business Schools increases, the focus on ethnically diverse student achievement, experience, and attainment becomes prominent. This thesis investigates the role of Business School academics and Business School institutions in shaping a pedagogical process that is culturally responsive, to support the changing needs and expectations of ethnically diverse students. In order to achieve this the thesis introduces the five-pillar framework, which has been specifically designed and developed to help academics develop consistent pedagogy for ethnically diverse students. In order to investigate this in more detail, the research undertook a constructionism approach and employed the use of methodological tools including interviews, memoing and document analysis. By the end of the data collection process twenty-two rich interviews had been collected. The findings of the research where quite clear that the development of pedagogy is inconsistent across academia and training support and guidance is needed to help academics develop their skills and confidence in creating pedagogy for culturally diverse students. In addition, it was identified that many institutions could provide more support in creating policies and procedures which reflect the changing reality of ethnic diversity in UK higher education. Institutions could also do more in supporting academic staff with finding a balance between research, teaching and administration and hence allow for more time to create culturally responsive pedagogy. Finally, this research advocates the implementation of a cultural consciousness in UK higher education which moves away from culturally responsive teaching and towards culturally responsible teaching.

Those who teach in Higher Education in the UK face with the growing internationalisation and diverse landscape of the sector as well as an obligation to provide students with opportunities for personal, professional and academic development. Whilst a great deal has been written about both internationalisation and Personal Development Planning (PDP), a structured and supported process, which is intended to enable individual students to reflect upon their learning and plan for their future (QM, 2000), relatively little is known about international students' perceptions and experiences of such development and planning. This thesis aims to explore issues that are under-represented in the literature, experiences, perceptions and meanings of personal development and PDP among international students, and cast some light· on the complexities of individuals' development and growth. It employs a broadly phenomenological perspective, attending to individual representations and understandings of a small group of culturally diverse students in one university setting, captured with the use of qualitative research methods (concept maps and interviews). Methodologically, it attends to the researcher's specific insider/outsider positioning and highlights reflexivity as the key feature of the research process. It documents the research journey in a transparent and conscious way, evidencing the methodological experimentation and the development of the researcher. This research raises key questions about uncritical application of concepts such as PDP as well as other pedagogic practices in increasingly diverse classrooms that are underpinned by Western philosophical and scholarly traditions. It challenges a narrow perspective of personal development as centred on agency, individuality, self-promotion, independence and personal achievement and gain by inviting a consideration of personal development and learning as socially constructed processes with a wider range of purposes than traditionally articulated by PDP. It also challenges the perception of international students as 'bearers of problems' and 'empty vessels' and contributes to the shift in the literature from the rhetoric of blame and deficiency to the rhetoric of resource - respectful of students' experiences and knowledge. Whilst not claiming generalisability from a small sample of participants, this project nonetheless has broader implications for researching and teaching across cultures, raising awareness of complexities of multicultural education. In this research I focus on students' ideas of personal development (PD) and personal development planning (PDP). By looking for things that support, not hinder their personal, professional, social and academic development I am able to offer some insights into students' conceptions, beliefs, experiences, hopes and aspirations and suggest ways of improving educational practice (especially in terms of PDP).

This thesis explores the university experiences of the daughters of single mothers who are first-generation students in the United Kingdom. Data was collected during spring and summer of 2013. Participants were recruited through flyers, email, and social networking sites. Participants were sought who met the following criteria: they considered themselves to have been primarily raised by their mother (or their mother raised them alone for about five years or more during their childhood); they were current or recent undergraduate university students at any university in the UK, any mode of study (full or part time), and any age (traditional age or mature students); and they were first-generation students (the first in their family to attend university, which includes students whose siblings might have gone to university). A preliminary 30-question, online questionnaire was completed by 110 respondents. Among the survey respondents, 26 participated in qualitative, semi- structured interviews. After the interview, participants were encouraged to engage in reflective writing. Data was explored through a thematic, theoretical, and autoethnographical analysis. This research examines intersectionalities of gender, socio-economic class, race, and family status as they shape the students' identities and their university experiences. The theoretical and conceptual frameworks upon which this study is built include feminist theory, intersectionality theory, and the concept of social exclusion. The findings from this study contribute to the existing literature within the area of widening participation and social identities and illuminate the ways that single mother families are constructed by the media, by politicians, and in society. Additionally, this study bridges the gap between the existing literature on the experience of single mother families and the existing literature on the experiences of students in higher education, providing a deeper understanding of access, participation, and inclusion of this specific population of students as yet unexplored within existing research.

This research is a case study of the quality improvement process in an English further education college. It examines the way that staff involved in the design and operation of the quality system shape the process in a part of the education sector that struggles with issues of performance. The case is placed into the context of an unstable policy environment, where further education colleges have been subjected to frequent bouts of government intervention and a funding regime that is unfavourable when compared to secondary schools and universities. The contribution to knowledge of this thesis is that it addresses an under-researched area of further education by viewing the quality process from the perspective of the governors, managers and professional staff responsible for its design and operation. As such it addresses a problem where a lot of attention has been given to teaching staff who experience the quality process or to macro studies where the focus is on outputs in the sector. However, less attention has been paid to the governors, senior staff and quality teams who assess teaching and learning in colleges. The data for the case study were gathered over a two-year period between 2010-2012 and include interviews with college staff, senior staff from OFSTED and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and staff from a second college, used to help verify the findings. In addition to this, documentation for the quality system was gathered including inspection documents and policy documents. The data were analysed in order to surface traits of social and organisational practice that address the problem of operating a quality system in an environment that is highly resistant to systemisation and predictability. The findings are presented as 'fuzzy' generalisations supplemented by guidance in the form of design principles. The thesis provides an empirically grounded description of key elements of the relationships and the surrounding sociotechnical system that were found in the case. The design principles augment the case study and provide guidance on how a combination of trust relationships, resilience of processes to disruption and flexibility of application provide a background for the quality improvement process at Stretchford College, which was rated as 'Outstanding' at the time of the research.

The research investigated the perspectives of the management team on strategies in managing a British college with a mainly South African market, namely Blake Hall College (BHC). The study aimed to identify teaching methods used at the college to be competitive in the distance education and higher education market. The approach was qualitative. Eight participants were purposefully selected and interviewed by means of an interview schedule that focused on management and teaching methods in particular. Information was also collected on quality assurance and cooperation between BHC and other higher education institutions. The results illustrated the influences of institutional growth and progress, maintenance, management structure and leadership, quality control, collaboration and communication. Regarding teaching methods, the advantages and disadvantages of distance education and face-to-face methods were illuminated. Participants also described a number of innovative teaching methods used. From the aforementioned, recommendations were made for surviving the competitive higher education market. / Educational Studies / M.Ed (Educational Management)