In this thesis, I examine the perceptions of university staff and postgraduate students to explore the relation between policy and practice of English as the Medium of In-struction (EMI) in Pakistani universities. The theoretical framework of the study comprises literature on language in education policy, language in education goals, the status of English and World English. Findings from qualitative and quantitative data collected from students and staff in two public universities are compared to identify the perceptions of issues concerning EMI for postgraduate study. The findings indi-cate that although EMI is accepted as compulsory in Pakistani universities for post-graduate study, it is not fully implemented. The evidence supports the view that multi-lingualism, cultural diversity and ethnicity present challenges to the country’s national integration and the formulation and implementation of an effective language policy. The perceptions support the view that in Pakistan, English is required for socio-economic development and higher education and symbolises liberal values. However, the views signifying pride in local culture and national language highlight a potential conflict between modernity and tradition. The findings show a number of practices that indicate a pragmatic approach to implementation of the English medium policy. It appears that not only do postgraduate students express their preference for using Urdu in classroom but highly qualified university teachers’ views, under the plea of covering up their own deficiencies in English, show an inclination towards using Urdu in the classroom to accommodate students from diverse educational backgrounds. University faculty consult and provide reading material in English but postgraduate students find language and content of curriculum challenging because of their need for English language and lack of familiarity with foreign culture and philosophical ideology. Postgraduate students experience academic challenges arising from EMI which are demonstrated by their hesitation to speak English in classroom, difficulties of understanding teachers’ lectures, confusion of interpreting reading texts and stress of academic writing. The university teachers claim that their postgraduate students use memorisation as a strategy to get through the examinations rather than working ar-dently towards the development of academic skills. The responses suggest that solu-tions may lie in the area of reducing the anxiety that postgraduate students experience as a consequence of their language learning difficulties. The participants express their preference for using Pakistani English (PakE) in the study context. Motivation might act as an effective strategy to assist students to overcome their language problems. These views suggest that universities can enhance the communication skills of postgraduate students through the inclusion of English language proficiency courses in their curricula to support language development and possibly avoid foreign language anxiety. The professional development programmes should train University staff with strategies for teaching postgraduate students using EMI. It would seem advisable that the University can encourage the use of PakE by giving it recognition as an acceptable variety of English in the University context.

It has been the work of many science educators all over the world to try and design curricula that could help encourage intellectual growth in students. One influential work in this area was done by William Graves Perry, who managed to use students' own experiences to map out a scheme elaborating the different phases through which college students pass as they progress from year to year. This showed that students' thoughts develop from a state of basic dualism, where all is viewed as qualitative extremes without intermediates, to acknowledgement of multiplistic perspectives, through to recognition of the relativistic nature of knowledge. Perry suggests that instructors have to find out about their students' positions along this developmental continuum in order to carve around these proper support, encouragement, and challenges necessary for ensuring further development. Communication of expectations and aims of courses is also imperative. Research has shown that students' approach to learning is usually modelled around what they perceive as being expected of them. Perry's scheme is a suitable tool for ensuring this communication, because through it, students get to relay their expectations to the staff. Based on Perry's scheme, an attempt was made to develop a questionnaire that could be used for the investigation of intellectual growth in undergraduate biology students. This comprised of one section with opposing typical Perry 'A' (least advanced) and 'C' (most advanced) type statements, and a second free-response section where students had to justify their positions to given Perry 'A' and 'C' type statements. It was administered at universities of Botswana and Glasgow, Modified versions were also administered to pupils in two Glasgow High Schools and staff at the University of Glasgow. The aim was to find out if intellectual thought improved with progress from lower to higher educational levels and whether the staff's expectations matched those of students. The results from the two universities were also compared to find out if progress in the two universities followed the same pattern, and to see if Perry's scheme could be applied to students coming from totally different backgrounds.

This dissertation analyses the research funding resource allocation mechanism (the Research Assessment Exercise) in England to assess its viability as a resource allocation tool and a performance control measure, to form a view on both the internal consistency of the exercise and to explore possible unintended consequences. Case study interviews were carried out with university administrators to investigate the institutional impact. The academics' behaviour was researched by a questionnaire survey. A survey of journal editors was also carried out. Logistic regression was applied to the survey of academics to analyse the data. The RAE has resulted in a "publication culture", where academics are concentrating on research that produces early publishable results and a tendency to publish as many papers, as possible, from the same research project. The impact of the RAE on academics was not independent of their characteristics. The level of self-assessed research activity was a significant predictor variable. The 'middle-tier' academics were the most influenced by the RAE "four-paper" effect. Overall, the RAE lacked coherence and consistency as a resource allocation methodology, and had unintended consequences as a performance measure.

This thesis examines what expert and experienced PhD supervisors in the social sciences do well and how they do it. It is set in the context of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) initiatives in the early 1990s to broaden the purposes of an academic research training and to promote timely PhD submissions. Many have claimed that PhD supervisors play a central role in the PhD process and this research aspired to achieve clearer understandings of the expertise involved in fulfilling that role. The research was informed by Schutz's phenomenological analysis of common sense and related concepts. It involved a student survey and six supervisor case studies. The survey aimed to determine the criteria in terms of which students judged supervision to be successful, and to identify those expert supervisors who most fully met these criteria. In going beyond criteria identified by students, the aim of the case studies was to ask how successful supervision could be achieved. 'Expert' supervisors agreeing to participate were observed over several supervision sessions and asked later in interview to talk about the various actions they took in the observed sessions. Conclusions drawn from the student survey and the case studies included a close match between student and supervisor criteria and priorities for supervision. A clear emphasis was placed by both supervisors and students on bridging gaps between student knowledge, skills and motivation at any stage and what was necessary to achieve success in their PhD studies. The distinctive nature of supervisory expertise and the willingness of supervisors to reflect usefully on their taken for-granted expert practices were thought to have important implications for the initial and continuing education of PhD supervisors, the relationships between supervision and formal research training, ESRC research training policy, and future research on the craft of PhD supervision.

To this day, the introduction of Higher Education tuition fees during the 1990s proves to be a contentious issue. Despite their financial implications few students actively oppose them. I conducted a detailed study on the issue of the £1000 tuition fees introduced in 1998. I aimed to explore why Higher Education students do not take part in campaigns opposing tuition fees. My research was guided by drawing upon the individualisation theory developed by Beck (1992, 2002) and Giddens (1991). The empirical element of the research is based on a sample of students taken from two universities in the same city. It is argued that many Higher Education students do not actively participate in campaigns against tuition fees because they perceive their education to be an investment and accept that debt is a fact of life. It is further argued that students see themselves as individualised consumers who, as a result pursue individual rather than collective solutions to resolving problems related to educational provision. Though the students who participated in this research overwhelmingly believed the state should pay university tuition fees few students actively oppose them. This research argues that they have a low sense of political efficacy and perceive themselves to be a socially marginalised group with little significance in the eyes of politicians and society. Findings of this research enable the lack of active opposition towards tuition fees to be understood in its social context. Beck and Giddens’ analytical framework provides a practical explanation of why many students do not take part in these campaigns. However, it needs to be developed to provide a more coherent explanation of why so few students actively oppose tuition fees.

This mixed-methods study looks at the theory and practice of textbook selection, describing the criteria that teachers say they actually use when selecting textbooks in the Taiwanese tertiary context, exploring the reasons associated with these criteria, asking teachers to prioritize overall among these criteria, and finally comparing these with the suggestions for teachers which are put forward in the literature. To my knowledge, no studies have either systematically investigated teachers‟ actual criteria or, indeed, the reasons for these criteria and priorities among them. It is therefore not clear whether the criteria recommended in the literature are appropriate for helping teachers select a textbook for their own learners – indeed, the needs, objectives, backgrounds and preferred styles of learners will differ from context to context, and it is therefore likely that the criteria that have been suggested cannot necessarily be applied to different teaching contexts. This study employed an exploratory mixed-methods design, which first attempted to explore Taiwanese teachers‟ criteria and reasons for selecting a textbook through three-phase interviews, and second, based on the three-phase interview data, sought to assess what degree of importance teachers attach to the different evaluation criteria through an online questionnaire. The interviews were conducted with twenty-five teachers in six selected Taiwanese tertiary contexts in Phase One and nineteen from the same group in Phase Two. Also 138 questionnaires were completed and returned by a large group of teachers (15.5 per cent return rate). The main findings of this study are, first, that the use and role of the textbook described by teachers in this context match quite well with what has been previously identified in the literature. Second, the interview results show that the degree of teachers‟ involvement in evaluating and selecting textbooks varies. Their degree of involvement and procedures for selection vary from university to university and from individual to individual. Teachers do conduct pre-, in-, and post-use evaluation individually. However, they do not conduct in-use and post-use evaluation systematically and/or in a formal way. In some universities, post-use and pre-use evaluation as well as in-use and post-use evaluation even overlap. Third, I systematically investigated teachers' actual stated criteria in this context and explored reasons for their criteria in an in-depth manner. 70 criteria were identified as particularly important after being prioritised by teachers in the survey. The criteria in the categories of Authenticity, Self-instruction, and Cultural Issues attract considerable attention from teachers when they evaluate materials. The most important individual criteria were also identified. Finally, it was revealed that many teachers in this context have little or no training in evaluating materials. The significance of the study is, first, that this is the first study to systematically investigate teachers‟ own criteria for textbook selection with their associated reasons and priorities. Second, by reviewing the literature, I have provided a comparative analysis and, on this basis, an original synthesis of published materials evaluation criteria. This functioned to help me investigate the possible gaps between what teachers actually consider when evaluating materials and what it is suggested teachers should consider. The main gaps are in the category of Practical Concerns, which indicates that the set of criteria teachers employ for selecting a textbook must come from within the teaching context itself. Finally, the sequential exploratory mixed-methods design employed for this study provided a more comprehensive view than would any one method alone. This not only improved the quality of the final results in the present study, but can also serve as a model for future researchers to explore the issues of materials evaluation in their own, unique teaching contexts.

This thesis critically examines the discourse of government funded computer based learning (CBL) materials which have been introduced on undergraduate courses at UK universities with particular reference to CBL materials from the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP). My study is based on a sample of pedagogic legal discourse from two undergraduate courses for law, one at Warwick University and one at the London School of Economics, and it presents a comparative analysis of the discourse of the TLTP materials for law and the established pedagogic legal genres which are used on these courses. The critical perspective on the analysis of the discourse seeks explanations of discursive change, represented by the introduction of the CBL materials, in the context of institutional and broader social change. The introduction of CBL materials in the 1990s has come at a time of extensive institutional change in UK higher education with large increases in student numbers at a time of static funding. This study explores the justifications for the introduction of such materials, academic, pedagogic and administrative and evaluates these in the light of the analysis of the discourse. The study shows that the academic justifications and the claims of the producers' of the CBL materials for a constructivist pedagogy are exaggerated, and that it is the economic and administrative imperatives of the funding bodies which predominate. The thesis goes on to argue that the CBL materials in this study both reflect and realise the marketisation of higher education and a commodification of pedagogic discourse itself.

Inadequate funding of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa is a perennial problem. The inadequacy of financial resources is undermining the efforts of universities to produce educated citizens to engage in productive careers. Public universities' reliance on their governments for funding when there are many competing needs for public resources calls for attention. This thesis is an exploration of perceptions of university academics and administrators and government officials of current and future strategies for funding higher education in the small Commonwealth countries: Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. A combination of human capital and social capital theories was used as a guide for the development of this study. It is a qualitative study whose data were collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis between March and June 2005. The data were analysed using a thematic comparative method. The findings reveal that government funding, student tuition fees, residence and meal fees and bank interest are the main sources of funding for each of the universities. The governments allocate funds to the universities in simple block grants for manpower development and for providing access to higher education. This is in a range of 54 to 68% which is significantly different from trends in sub-Saharan Africa. Each institution centrally allocates funds to its faculties and departments in accordance with prepared budgets. Budget holders in the offices of Deans of Faculty and Heads of Department control the resource spending at their levels. The universities prepare annual audited financial statements as a means of being accountable to stakeholders. The study also found that there are some innovations that are either in place or due to be implemented as future funding strategies. In each case government funding will continue, with governments planning to introduce cost-sharing with parents/students. Each university has ventured into revenue diversification or income generating activities in order to meet the shortfall in government funding. Notably, the University of Botswana and the University of Swaziland have each established a foundation to fundraise with the private sector, international organisations and alumni. Thus, social capital is built onto the universities' fundraising activities. There are challenges facing the three universities. University strategic plans are not being implemented in all three universities. All three universities cannot increase student fees at will. Government requires all parastatal organisations to declare unused funds at the end of the year in Botswana. This has implications on funding for the following year. The establishment of a second university in Botswana poses some funding uncertainties at the University of Botswana. Similarly, future funding may be negatively affected at the University of Swaziland and the National University of Lesotho because the former sometimes approaches the Chancellor for extra funding, a thing that could sour relations between the Government of Swaziland and the University. The National University of Lesotho's delay in producing and submitting audited financial statements to Government is cause for concern in Lesotho.

The Humanities Value Chain: A Framework for Knowledge Transfer in the Modern University PhD Abstract from Lisa Mooney Smith Nov 2009 ABSTRACT The research described in this thesis presents a body of material generated over four years of close observation of research and knowledge transfer practices in one Russell Group university institution. It attempts to contextualise knowledge transfer (hereafter KT) within the arts and humanities environment, as well as situate learning about the reception and adoption of KT with reference to the individual scholar and the organisation in which they operate. Within this context, little has been written explicitly about the character of the arts and humanities, and particularly the historical antecedence of the disciplines and their close relationship to current KT challenges. In the early chapters of the thesis we address the growing interest in KT specific language, the key words that have become landmarks in the extension of the ‘Two Cultures’ debate. In defining some of the parameters by which KT has come to be recognised, we also begin to signal changes in both the lexicon and landscape in which KT has evolved. We suggest that both the institution and their academic inhabitants play an intrinsic part in this evolution, framed by both the political and scholarly tensions of the time. In the latter part of the thesis there is a distinct shift in emphasis from the foundations of the KT debate, to its current inflections at a more grass roots level within the academic institution. We frame this shift in the context of the key investor in research within these disciplines and suggest that the Arts and Humanities Research Council is equally challenged to articulate and underpin the adoption of KT and its impacts at the heart of academic practice. In order that we might better animate how these practices are emerging, we observe one particular case study that lays down a possible framework for closer observation of KT in what we term the ‘Humanities Value Chain’. In focusing on a collection of players connected in the successful pursuit of collaborative research, we attempt to uncover an in-depth perspective of individuals and the way in which organisations might support or hinder their pursuit of KT based research.

This was a mixed-method study investigating factors which might affect newly-qualified teachers’ continued motivation to teach in the post-compulsory sector during the period 2000-2004. It aimed to identify the nature of demotivators and to measure the extent and impact of these on intentions to remain in teaching. Research would suggest that nation states’ changes to the management of education to address the challenges of globalisation have caused tension between teachers’ motivation to teach and outside interference to control the process of teaching. Consequently, retaining teachers in both the compulsory and post-compulsory sectors is a significant concern, not only in the UK but internationally. However, despite being described as ‘pivotal’ to government objectives of social justice and economic success, the post-compulsory sector has tended to be under-researched. Although studies have explored the impact of New Public Management and Incorporation on the working conditions for experienced teachers and investigated trainees’ perceptions of the sector, there appeared to be a gap in the research focussing on newly-qualified teachers (NQTs) during this time. It is hoped that this research will contribute to this body of literature. This was an exploratory study followed by a confirmatory enquiry and was conducted in two phases. A qualitative approach was adopted for the first phase to re-interrogate data collected for a MA in Research Methods. Data collected from NQTs using focus groups and reflective essays written as part of the assessment for their initial teacher training course, was re-interrogated to identify the nature of demotivators in the sector. The subsequent findings informed the second phase and the design of a survey instrument to investigate the prevalence of these demotivators and the impact of these on intentions to continue teaching with a much larger sample of NQTs. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory (1959) and Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory (1975, 1985, 1992, 2000) formed the theoretical framework for this investigation. Ten higher education institutions from the East Midlands, Yorkshire, South-West and South-East of England, who had delivered training provision to meet the standards of the Further Education National Training Organisation since their introduction (FENTO, 1999), assisted in this project by forwarding the instrument to 2,235 NQTs. The survey was self-administered and 308 completed questionnaires were returned (13.8% return rate). Research would suggest that the first three to four years after training will determine whether teachers stay in the profession; it is hoped that the findings will highlight factors responsible for the fragility of a long-term teaching career in this sector.