The starting point of this thesis is the idea in the literature that the main objective of NPM is to apply strategic direction to public organizations (Truss, 2006) that could help to achieve economic and cost-cutting objectives (Boyne, ibid.). Achieving these objectives is, in part, based on applying management reform (Hood, 1995) through a focus on performance management, the setting of quality standards, the adoption of a philosophy of enhancing value for money and the replacement of the allegedly traditional bureaucratic structure of management based on satisfying organizational members’ interests and demands a more market- or competition-based set of arrangements. In UK higher education institutions (HEIs), human resource management (HRM) has had a major influence by orchestrating these changes to achieve organizational effectiveness (Brown, 2008). Thus human resource professionals must address these changes when planning and carrying out their roles and programmes. This thesis proposes that there are two models that can be adapted to public sector organizations, such as universities: Stakeholder Satisfaction (SS) model and Instrumental Rationality (IR) model. Stakeholder Satisfaction model is concerned with balancing the demands and interests of different stakeholders and members. It is related to political, social and communicative forms of rationality as a base to achieve Organizational Effectiveness (OC). The HRM role in this model seems to focus on operations and people to satisfying members’ interests (Employee Champion role) and to perform administrative activities (Administrative Expert role). Instrumental Rationality model is seeking to achieve economic goals. The OE perspective under this model is related to technical and economic rationality. HRM within this model is concerned with achieving strategic orientation in an organization (Business Partner role). I argue that applying New Public Management (NPM) may influence public sector organizations to move from the Stakeholder Satisfaction model to the Instrumental Rationality model. Similarly, this might well be accompanied by HRM departments in universities shifting their main focus from the role of ‘Employee Champion’ to that of ‘Business Partner’.

This study explores cross-cultural adaptation in the context of European student mobility. It shows how the individual journeys of sojourners can be extremely varied, and are affected by internal and external factors, such as motivations, expectations, personality, coping strategies, skills, characteristics of the environment, and chance, among others. This longitudinal qualitative study follows a cohort of 21 Italian university students from before their departure to a number of European destinations, to their return back home. The data collected was in the form of interviews and weekly “diary-tables”, used to create graphs representing the ups and down of the individual experiences. In terms of the research findings, I have shown how the complexities of the adaptation process can be adequately understood within a model that caters for that complexity, while showing that this type of experience can be situated within the perspective of life changes. Anderson’s (1994) model seems particularly suitable in this context. I have also shown that European student mobility has changed since it was set up in 1987, and that increasing numbers of mobile students, the rise of instruction through the medium of English in many HE institutions, globalisation and technology, have changed the landscape within which these students move. Finally, I have shown how residence abroad does not necessarily bring enhanced intercultural skills, although these can be encouraged by providing the students with the concepts and language to describe their experiences, and opportunities for reflection before, during and after the experience abroad. This is the area in which HE institutions in Europe can play a significant role.

This thesis argues that excellence is emancipatory in the sense that it promotes individual and collective transformation and it traces this idealized concept back to Aristotle and the concept of eudaimonia (Aristotle: 2009). This is the idea that excellence promotes happiness and well-being; it enables human beings to flourish and live to their full potential. In short, the thesis is about the potential of higher education to transform lives, in particular those of young people. Thus the fundamental premise of the thesis is that a legitimating principle of English higher education is excellence defined as the Hellenic ideal and that excellence is emancipatory. The thesis operates from the perspective of Critical Theory and operationalizes the theories and concepts of Habermas. It argues that the political discourse of excellence – the economic imperative of competition - eclipses emancipatory excellence in discourse but that in the lifeworld of the university this transformational concept of higher education remains unaffected as a legitimating principle, despite recent government reforms. In a further subsidiary argument, the thesis argues that the emancipatory interests of the university, particularly those of social science are inextricably linked to those of wider society (Barnett: 1994; 2; Habermas: 1977; 1978; 1988) and that this critical normative claim can be realized in an ideal speech situation. The thesis argues that the ideal speech situation already exists in the scientific-public validation of Critical Theory geared at world construction (Strydom: 2011; 158) but that a space for a new discursive event exists in the wider public community of knowledgeable social agents (Bohman: 1999; 475; Nowotny: 1993; 308). This thesis is argued for using material from in-depth, semi-structured, conversation-led research interviews which were conducted with senior administrators, higher education policy specialists and academics across the English higher education sector.

The study was undertaken in the online environment of the English language learning course in one of the institutions of higher education that deliver all its courses entirely online: the Syrian Virtual University (SVU).A proliferation in the use of computer conferencing tools (both video and audio) in language learning has taken place. The use of these tools, together with the relatively "traditional" asynchronous text-based ones, allows educators to cater to different learning needs and language skills. Such tools may require the implementation of new teaching approaches according to the nature of the tool and the pedagogical objectives of using the tool. Synchronous tools are a new medium for course delivery. It is not known if these tools can efficiently support English language teaching and learning when used by virtual learners and tutors together with other elements of the online environment. The purpose of the qualitative case study was to explore the nature of an online environment using integrated tools, and how different elements of the online environment such as content free tools and web-based materials are currently used by learners and tutors. Opportunities and constraints of these tools as well as learner and teacher experiences with these tools and materials were included in the study. Factors that hinder/facilitate language learning using these tools was described and analysed. Data analysis involved qualitative content and thematic analysis. The key findings show that the online environment did provide students with the opportunity of experiencing multiple approaches: self study where students worked alone on the interactive materials and received computer feedback, and learning through audio conferencing where they worked with each other and with the teacher to receive human feedback. These two approaches met different language learning needs, i.e., student's needs for independent learning, and their needs for social learning. It also met the needs of students who were less capable of working independently, especially those who did not have the necessary proficiency in English for working alone. These students had the opportunity to have support from the teacher and from other students. The use of multimodality offered many opportunities for language teaching and learning, but at the same time, there were many constraints that need to be addressed in further research.

The thesis explores the origins of government concerns about the quality of UK higher education during the 1980s and traces legislative processes leading to the reform acts of 1988 and 1992. It demonstrates close links between higher education reforms and Conservative policies in the rest of the public sector and shows how quality assurance was used as an instrument of regulation to increase government control over the universities during the next decade. These developments coincided with the rise of a higher education ‘market’ in which quality assessment scores were translated into league tables to attract students as ‘customers’. The narrative then shows how the issue of student fees increasingly came to dominate the Labour government’s thinking from 1997 onwards and became a major theme in debates leading to the higher education act of 2004. The chronological narrative based on historical accounts and contemporary documents identifies four successive phases of quality assurance between 1992 and 2004. This is combined with a qualitative study which uses a constructivist approach to build up a picture of the unsettled period that followed the introduction of quality assurance systems into universities. A wide range of views from contemporary literature were supplemented by a series of ten semi-structured interviews with individuals who played significant roles in these events and reported their experiences in their own words. The narrative traces the growth of a quality ‘industry’ in higher education and a longrunning ‘quality debate’ among those affected by its impacts. Difficulties of defining ‘quality’ and the political desire for quantitative measurement led to the adoption of unsuitable methodology, emphasising accountability at the expense of improvement. This turbulent period was characterised by a recurring pattern of rising protests from academics which culminated in political intervention and subsequently further change. The thesis analyses the effects of quality assurance on university staff and students and on the developing discourse between higher education and the state. Summarising its impacts in a balance sheet of pros and cons leads to the conclusion that though concerns about quality were justified and some form of regulation was necessary in the expanded and diverse sector, the results of audit and assessment revealed little cause for concern about the quality of UK higher education. Furthermore, though quality assurance produced some benefits in the organisation of courses, staff development and information for prospective students, there was little evidence of benefits to teaching itself. Thus, quality assurance failed to deliver the government’s own aim of value for money, and the effort and time 3 required by the universities could have been put to better use; less insistence on regulation could have given academics more freedom to pursue improvements in teaching. A brief epilogue reflects on the status of quality assurance in 2015 and warns that separate plans for reform announced by HEFCE and the current government risk repeating old mistakes.

This thesis reports a study of academic identity in two English universities of different type and status during the period 2012 to 2013. It explores the effects on academic identity of policy developments which have reconfigured the relationship between academics, students and government since the late 1970s. These developments have resulted in a change to the university working environment from one in which academics enjoyed relative autonomy in their academic practice, to one in which work is increasingly directed by externally imposed performative and marketised priorities. The most recent policy developments were introduced by the 2010 UK Conservative Liberal Democrat Coalition Government and included major changes to the funding of university education in England. This has resulted in the withdrawal of government funding for non-laboratory based disciplines, the tripling of tuition fees to £9,000 per annum, and the transferal of the burden of funding from the state to students. Within this context this thesis aims to provide insights into the impact of performative and marketised policies on academic identity. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty academics in the arts and humanities disciplines at two contrasting English universities: a ‘new’ university, which was a teaching-intensive and locally focussed Post-1992 institution; and an ‘old’ university, which was a research-intensive and globally focussed Pre-1992 institution. These universities were chosen because they represented contrasting types of English university in a stratified system. Anthony Giddens’ theories of structuration and identity formation have been adopted as a theoretical framework to underpin the research design and subsequent analysis. His theory of structuration has been used because it allows investigation of the relationship between structure and agency in academic identity formation in the contemporary university. Several themes emerged from the interview data, highlighting common threads as well as divergences between the academics in the two different universities. It was found that all the academics are able to construct positive narratives of academic identity within the performative and marketised environment. These findings challenge a body of literature which presents a pessimistic view of the opportunities for academic identity formation in the contemporary environment. However, this positive identity is sensitive to environmental influences, with a key point of divergence for the two groups of academics being the freedom and opportunity to engage in scholarly research at their respective universities. Within this policy environment some academics in the teaching-intensive university were therefore faced with the choice of adapting their academic identity or of fostering a feeling of inauthenticity. These findings have important implications for universities and government in terms of the implications for academic practice, the relationship between academics and students, and conceptions of the purposes of higher education.

This study explores the potential use of mobile learning in higher education with a focus on student and academic staff requirements of a potential mobile application. The research examines the stakeholders’ new technology acceptance behaviour within a post-1992 university and examines how new mobile technologies are able to contribute to enhancement of the learning experience of students and additionally the roles of educators in facilitating enhancement of the learning experience. A post-positivistic paradigm has been used to explore a wider view of the stakeholders’ (academic staff and students) understanding of the new technologies and the potential benefits of mobile applications. An electronic questionnaire was sent to over 900 undergraduates for their views on the use of new mobile technologies and in what ways these could be used to support their learning needs. This was followed by individual interviews and questionnaires to academic staff (n=44) to identify whether they would be interested in the use of mobile applications in their teaching and learning. The research explores the learning, concepts, theories and models which influence mobile device adoption and proposes a mobile application that has the potential to support teaching and learning. The data collected provides an invaluable insight into the potential use of a mobile learning platform at the University’s Faculty of Business. The participants describe their uses of four distinct types of devices; potential frequency of specific use, and their views on the attraction and/or disadvantages of mobile use for learning. The research findings lead to the recommendation for a mobile learning trial within the Faculty with the potential for application to other academic subjects within the university. Two elements have emerged from the research carried out and comprise an original contribution of the study, namely: an enhancement of the Technology Acceptance Model and development of the existing PESTEL model into a PESTEEL model by including Educational Factors and hence identifying a number of areas currently not addressed by the PESTEL model. The uniqueness of the study and the development of this work`s original contribution to new knowledge was enhanced by approaching data collection and analysis within a Technology Acceptance Model and the PESTEEL model. This was also achieved by interpreting the gathered data within the broader concept of professionalism, sub-divided and conceptualised into examining the adherence of participants. It is acknowledged that a limiting factor is that the study examined only one academic school within an institution, but it is anticipated that future research will include a comparison with other similar academic institutions.

The aim of this study was to ascertain the experiences of D/deaf university learners who had been supported by a notetaker at some point during their studies. Whilst the number of D/deaf learners attending university is steadily increasing, notetaking support continues to be an under-researched area. The two primary research questions examined the current state of notetaking provision in higher education and what, from the perspectives of the co-researchers (D/deaf learners), comprised a successful and positive experience of being supported by notetakers. A transformative framework (Mertens 2010) was adopted to guide the data collection, foregrounding the voices of the learner and influencing the study as it was acknowledged that the co-researchers were the experts on the subject. Two sequential methods were utilised, firstly an electronic forum (n=7) which then contributed to the second phase, an electronic questionnaire (n=30). The findings showed that whilst the majority of the co-researchers’ experiences were positive, there was evidence of poor and variable practice which confirmed the need for common guidelines. The anonymous forum and questionnaire enabled the co-researchers to discuss and/or contribute their experiences in a non-threatening, and non-judgemental environment as suggested by Balch and Mertens: Focus groups for deaf and hard of hearing can be highly productive on even the most sensitive issues (1999:265). The intended outcome of the study was the development of the Notetaking Optimising Thorley Effectiveness Information and Guidelines – NOTE IaG which provides information for D/deaf learners, their teaching staff, notetakers and their non-D/deaf peers. An unexpected yet positive outcome of the study was the creation of a NOTE template which encourages D/deaf learners to add to, and personalise their notes provided by their notetakers.

This research has been undertaken in response to the recent changes to the Higher Education environment driven by the UK government. In particular the increased competitiveness caused by the removal of the Student Number Control and the demand for universities to provide more, and specific, factual information for students (ie the Key Information Set) which can be compared across different institutions. The focus on quantitative measurement appears to leave a gap in the information that is provided for potential students. Currently information does not address the intangible elements of the student experience, what the "something about the place" is that leads them to develop a sense of attachment or belonging. The research is therefore undertaken from a qualitative perspective in order to try to explore this. The research assumes that some feeling of attachment or belonging is important to students' university experience. If current students are able to describe this it is possible that this new information could be used to inform marketing communications with potential students. This will allow those responsible for higher education marketing and student recruitment to demonstrate to potential students how they will be able to fit in to a university environment and develop a feeling of attachment/belonging. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) has been employed to draw themes from individual conversations with students, and a follow up focus group. The literature review has developed as the research has progressed. It began with consideration of studies on student engagement, then brand communities, from a marketing perspective. This direction was led by the researcher‘s prior knowledge and experience. However, the brand community literature did not appear to address the missing insight which had been established from the review of current information and the pilot conversation. This gap, and aspects of the brand community literature then led to a review of the literature around place attachment. It is here that links have been found to the experiences the students have described. The research concludes that there are themes around which future marketing communications can be based to address the current gap in information available to potential students – and that these can usefully be guided by theories of place attachment.

This thesis studies the effect of performance pay on effort, selection and matching assortativeness in academia, using the introduction of performance pay in German academia as a natural experiment and employing a newly constructed data set encompassing the affiliations and productivity of the universe of academics in the country. I estimate the pure effort effect in a difference-in-differences framework comparing the productivity of cohorts that started their first tenured position just before the reform, and consequently do not receive performance pay, with those starting their first tenured position after the reform, and therefore do receive performance pay. I find that the effort effect is economically large; amounting to a 35% increase in academic productivity relative to the pre-reform productivity in the control group. I estimate the selection effect by analysing the rate at which academics of different productivity levels switch to the performance pay scheme and by exploiting the fact that the old and new wage scheme compare differently for academics at different ages, which gives rise to selection incentives that are inversely related to age. I find that more productive academics are more likely to select into performance pay, and that this effect is stronger for younger academics. The empirical framework to study matching assortativeness is informed by a simple matching model in which I show that performance pay increases positive assortative matching if there are positive productivity spillovers, and that this increase is larger if complementarities are stronger. I test this hypothesis in a difference-in-difference framework using a measure of complementarity strength as a continuous treatment variable and find that assortative matching increases more in fields with stronger complementarities, thus providing empirical evidence that performance related pay increases positive assortative matching. This effect is large; amounting to a two- to threefold increase in positive assortative matching.