The thesis takes a human development approach to the potential value of international higher education. It evaluates the intercultural capabilities of UK and international pharmacy students in one university. As graduates and professional pharmacists these students will serve a diverse population of patients and work in multi-professional, multi-skilled and multi-cultural teams. Despite internationalised higher education offering a multicultural space in which students could forge a more global outlook, the reality found was that the potential is not realised in the case of many students. The notion of ‘cosmopolitanism’, conceptualised by Kwame Anthony Appiah as an obligation to value, respect and seek understanding of others who are different from us, was used as a basis for imagining the goals of the internationalised university. The capability approach, founded by Amartya Sen and developed by Martha Nussbaum, was employed to frame and evaluate the development of students’ cosmopolitan values. In this approach, social justice is served by promoting individuals’ freedoms - termed ‘capabilities’- to be, to do and to achieve what they themselves consider to be of value. The original capability sets referred to the whole of human living, as a way of reconceptualising poverty reduction and subsequently it was taken up in education to express educational goals in terms of the development of capabilities. Drawing on this work, for the purposes of this thesis, a novel intercultural capability set that identifies the key attributes of being more cosmopolitan-aware was formulated. The framework was constructed iteratively by first drawing up a set suggested by reading and then testing and modifying it as interview data was analysed. The four final overarching capabilities are: Social Relations and Participation; Respect, Dignity and Recognition; Mind and Imagination and Enquiry and Reflection. Each capability has a number of attributes that allowed the building up of a nuanced picture of the intercultural capability of the students who were the focus of the study. A series of 42 semi-structured interviews with 44 home and international pharmacy students explored their experiences and perceptions of an international educational environment. Analysis revealed a spectrum of intercultural capability amongst the students, in terms of the extent and type of capabilities and in terms of their functioning as people with cosmopolitan values. While some students had flourished through having been able to maximise opportunities in the internationalised environment to use and expand their capabilities to a significant extent, others were less able, either because of their initial capabilities or because of the constraining circumstances in which they found themselves. It was evident that the development of intercultural capability was effortful, but those students who were willing to make the effort appeared to connect its value with their own and other’s well-being. The possession of the capability and functioning of Social Relations and Participation was fundamental to enabling the development of other intercultural capabilities. Further analysis, taking case studies of two individual students who appeared to possess little intercultural capability and two who appeared to possess high levels of intercultural capability, revealed the personal and situational factors which allowed students to experience intercultural contact and friendships as transformative and enriching, while others found themselves disempowered, frustrated and limited by social and pedagogical arrangements; there were barriers to their freedom to develop and flourish as more intercultural beings. Social and educational arrangements can have a significant effect upon capability development and functioning. It was found that group working can act to support or hinder intercultural capability. The creation of a curricular space which provided the opportunity for collaboration and exchange, for some students had a profound effect upon the development of their personal and professional outlook and values, through exploration and development of a more cosmopolitan-aware self. The thesis concludes by proposing that an intercultural capability set provides a powerful theoretically and empirically informed tool for evaluating the extent to which home and international students are and can become interculturally capable within the higher education environment and for identifying factors which enable or constrain their capabilities. Such an evaluation is a step towards understanding how higher education might enrich the student experience and produce professionals and global citizens of value to society as a whole.

This study describes and evaluates the reported use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) by teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at a university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The overriding aim of the study was to understand how ICT was being used and to discover what limits and what encourages teachers to use ICT. This was a mixed methods study using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Data was collected using questionnaires (152 EFL teachers – 92 females and 60 males), personal interviews (16 female and 8 male teachers) and observations (5 lessons of female teachers). The study reports variable use of ICT, and three types of teachers were identified according to their use of ICT. Extended users were seen as emergent users of ICT; they allowed students to use of mobile phones in the classroom to capture pictures of projected slides or to record the lesson. They tended to prepare a greater of repertoire resources and experiments using ICT, such as blogs and online groups. Restricted users tended to apply limited use of ICT. They used ICT in routine practices as expected by their course coordinators; e.g. they used data projections to explain grammar rules or to facilitate revision, and played audio using computers in the classroom or mp3 with speakers. Non-users of ICT were those teachers were those who believed there was no reason, insufficient time allocated, or not enough reliable equipment, to use ICT. It was found that most teachers perceived the use of ICT as beneficial to learning and teaching, in particular in reducing classroom teaching time and improving the monitoring of students‟ progress. Teachers also believed that ICT provided a greater variety of teaching and learning strategies, e.g. teachers created blogs to teach their students cooperative writing techniques, and encouraged students to upload useful learning applications on their smart phones. Teachers believed that students were more engaged when using technology, and that ICT helped the students to become more independent learners. It was found that teachers‟ beliefs and their willingness to use ICT were the main motivators for students. However, there were several constraints on teachers; the most commonly perceived barriers to ICT use were related to lack of access, lack of confidence when using ICT, lack of belief in the value of ICT, unwillingness to make time to use ICT, and poor training. This research contributes to an under researched area of ICT: that is the use of ICT in EFL teaching in the Arab world, i.e. Saudi Arabia. It sheds light on the perennial problem of ICT uptake and shows how unreliable access, limited time and irrelevant training limit ICT use, but that teachers‟ beliefs and willingness to use ICT when teaching EFL facilitate use. The researcher made an attempt to consider these constraints and barriers in theoretical terms, and the discussion drew attention to the value of a zoned approach to ICT. It has added to research investigating how gender differences affect the approaches of academic staff in Saudi Arabia, and has also illuminated the potential of female staff as effective educators.

Rapid changes affecting the whole world did not spare universities as they face a lot of challenges and pressures. The national and international competition between universities is gaining more momentum. Many universities are experimenting with and adopting different innovative approaches and technologies an attempt to enhance their education and services to secure more students and funds. The topic of innovation received quite a lot of attention in recent years. Despite the growing attention to innovation in services, however, little attention has been given to innovations and their diffusion in universities. A number of theories and models were developed and validated in different contexts to help explain the adoption of innovations and technologies. However, such theories and models did not lead to a significantly better understanding of what leads to the adoption and diffusion of innovations within universities. Based on well-established adoption theories and models, this study proposed a new model that helps explain the adoption of learning innovations within UK universities. Two education-related constructs expected to influence innovation adoption were also developed and tested. Using a quantitative survey approach and utilising a questionnaire instrument, data was collected from staff members from a number of UK universities. Analysis of data showed that the proposed model explains up to 30%, and in some cases more, of the variance in the innovation adoption behaviour of staff members in UK universities. Model testing and development resulted in some interesting new relationships and influences that had not previously reported. For instance, the students‘ requirements and expectations constructs proposed was found to influence the intention as well as the use of innovations. Practical recommendations to help UK universities in diffusing innovations are also discussed in detail at the end of this study, which concludes by emphasising the importance of nurturing staff members to encourage and promote innovation in learning.

The purpose of this research is to investigate lecturers’ experiences of choosing and using technology for feedback in the context of UK higher education. The study takes a critical realist perspective and utilises a narrative interview methodology. Analysis is undertaken using two complementary approaches. First a connecting strategy explores the themes within each participant’s account, and then a categorising strategy looks at similarities and differences between cases. As a product of the analysis, portraits are created to encapsulate each individual lecturer’s experience. The findings provide a thick description of the deliberations undertaken by lecturers in the formation of feedback practice and in the associated technology selection. Participants come from a range of discipline areas and from five different institutions. They use technologies that incorporate text, audio and audio-visual media. The findings demonstrate that practice is shaped by underlying beliefs about how students use feedback, differing conceptions of academic identity, perspectives of students’ technology expectations, the search for efficiencies, changes in the types of teaching undertaken, professional history, and technological confidence. Individual lecturers are shown to exercise different reflective modes and they mediate the influences on practice in the context of personal priorities. Social networks are shown to be very important in framing feedback and technology related concerns. The practice landscape is shown to be contentious as lecturers hold views about each other’s feedback diligence and technology use. Engagement with technology impacted on lecturers’ perceptions of the quality of feedback being produced. It also triggered some lecturers to reflect on feedback through a different lens and to begin to challenge some of their established practices. The study concludes with recommendations to educational developers and to higher education institutions. More research into the relationship that lecturers have with feedback and technology is recommended.

Identity has been recognised as a possible influence within education research and a student’s ability to achieve their full potential (Bluic, Ellis, Goodyear & Hendres, 2011). The current thesis explores identity in undergraduate Psychology students, in particular it provides a theoretical framework based on Social Identity Theory (Abrams & Hogg, 1990) for understanding how identity is developed. Transition is a time when identity is in flux (Gale & Parker, 2014) and therefore allows for a study identity change, development and the impact of this on attainment. The study took a mixed methods approach starting with two qualitative studies which explored identity processes in undergraduate students. It used a unique approach in Psychology by adopting a meta-ethnographical design (n=8) and an adapted form of Grounded Theory which allows for theory development through the integration of the original researcher’s analysis of the participant’s narratives across the eight papers (Noblit & Hare, 1988). A concept map provides an understanding of how transition and Social Identity Theory is integrated to facilitate identity change. A further qualitative study which uses a traditional focus group design and thematic analysis (n=18). Four themes emerged which present evidence for the importance of transition and identity for students. The qualitative studies also informed the development of a tool to measure Academic Social Identity. Validity and reliability was established through a number of iterations of Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis (n=205). The final psychometric scale includes items designed to measure normative processes, evaluation and emotion and reflect the theoretical framework of Social Identity Theory. The final study used a multiple regression analysis with ASI predicting GPA (n=71). The results indicated that the construct ASI had a strong relationship with academic achievement. The thesis discusses policy implications for institutional arrangements of student support services, transition and subject areas and a focus on attrition and student well-being.

Research on the effects of feedback on EFL writing is well documented (Ferris, 1997, Ferris 1999), although Hyland and Hyland (2006:186) state: 'Given how few studies have been carried out, little is known about the relationship between teacher and student discourse and teacher feedback in conferences and student revision'. The qualitative action research study outlined in this thesis addresses this imbalance. It concerns teacherconferencing on academic essays written in a higher education context in Turkey. Based on a model of interrelated practices for action research suggested by Burns (2005), it investigates the relationship between discourse features of the conference and alterations made in follow-up drafts. Working with a constructivist approach to data, the study outlines how three Turkish teachers analysed transcripts of themselves conferencing in order to identify desirable features. Using such features, a second AR team repeated this procedure to notice firstly how far they had been able to implement these features, and secondly to further investigate the relationship between the conference and amendments to the follow-up draft. The study outlines practical action research and conferencing. It illustrates a refinement in analytical tools with which to identify successful features of conferencing, and shows how teachers may be producers of legitimate knowledge concerning features for classroom practitioners to assist with student-writing.

This research study takes a close look at the higher education system in Lebanon. It attempts to identify the principal management cultures in seven institutes of higher education each adopting a different educational system – American, French, Egyptian and Lebanese. McNay’s quartet of collegium, bureaucracy, corporation and enterprise was used as a main reference, with positioning on the model determined by the two dimensions of policy definition and control over implementation each defined as either ‘loose’ or ‘tight’. The study describes and analyzes the organisational structures of the institutions in an attempt to determine the characteristics of the power and authority relationships of each culture and the modes of decision-making. The research study further investigates the degree of academic and institutional autonomy, the measures of accountability and the mechanisms of internal and external scrutiny adopted by the institutes. While McNay’s typology serves as a base to begin to categorise the management cultures of these institutes, no neat categorisation emerged from the combination of the various data sources used in the study. Elements of all four cultures exist in all universities, with dominance for features of the bureaucratic and the corporate cultures. Factors such as the degree of secularisation of the institutions and their cultural origins, whether Lebanese, Arab or Western, seem to impact on institutional culture and are manifested in a distinctive personalised mode of management that emphasises control, power and loyalty, which are deep seated cultural traits of the people of Lebanon and the region. In evaluating the changing environment of higher education, student views on ‘quality’ are also important. The study highlights the differences between institutional types in relation to student performance outputs based on students’ perceptions of their overall educational experience such as teaching and learning experiences. Students in all institutions expressed satisfaction with the education they were receiving; however students in American patterned universities seemed to be exposed to a more liberal form.

This research presents the learning experiences of seven visually impaired physiotherapy students in Higher Education in the UK, using case study methodology to identify the perceived factors that create barriers and enable participation in learning to become a physiotherapist for these participants. Semi-structured interviews about university and practice based learning using the language of the ICF identified perceived environmental barriers and enablers such as support, relationships, attitudes, resources and technology that influenced activity and participation in both university and practice based learning. Individual factors and personal and professional values also influenced both aspects of learning. The findings from university learning were shared with academic physiotherapy staff across the UK confirming awareness of the factors that created barriers and enablers in learning. Despite the existence of barriers, and a clear shared and necessary desire by academic and practice educators to work collaboratively to enable inclusive learning in physiotherapy, there was a sense of inconsistency with professional values in the overall approach to education for these participants. Building on the ICF, and using Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory as a lens to explain the findings, this research contributes to the understanding of the experiences of visually impaired students in HE. However, there remains a challenge for physiotherapists in education and practice to consider, embrace and ensure that the professional values we hold underpin inclusive educational practices across physiotherapy education for visually impaired physiotherapy students who will become our future colleagues.

Greater understanding of the ways in which medical trainees perceive the doctor-patient relationship could inform future developments in educational provision. A qualitative study was conducted, using a case study approach to explore the perceptions of postgraduate trainees in two medical specialties, general practice (GP) and otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat surgery, ENT), in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Following a scoping exercise in 2002, interviews with 20 trainees (10 GP and 10 ENT) in 2004 and questionnaires from 16 ENT and 89 GP trainees in 2007 explored trainees’ views of the doctor-patient relationship, including perceptions of the nature of that relationship and how they had learnt to develop relationships with patients. Five conceptual frameworks that participants drew upon when talking about the doctor-patient relationship were identified: paternalism; guided decision-making; partnership; clinical and consumerism. Trainees described a fluid doctor-patient relationship which adapts to differing contexts, taking different forms in different situations and influenced by factors outside the doctor’s control, including time and the patient’s personality. Personal experience and observing senior colleagues were considered to have had the greatest impact on learning. Higher Specialist Training which acknowledges the complexity of the doctor-patient relationship and encourages reflective practice is recommended.

This thesis asks: what can an autoethnographic approach to research reveal about the relations between power, subject (s) and truth in the context of lesson observation feedback? As a Foucauldian inspired study, the thesis shows how experiences of giving and receiving lesson observation feedback reflect forms of knowledge and ways of being and behaving. The research engages with ongoing debates around the use of lesson observation as a tool to measure the performance of established teachers and as an approach to inform the development of student teachers. The thesis exemplifies a critical and ethically informed approach to a particular encounter: giving observation feedback. The selection, positioning and crafting of autoethnographies and the inclusion of empirical data leads to a reading experience that is continuous and discontinuous. Both the writing and the content of the thesis privilege the place of messy and subjective teacher experience in educational research. This is important as a deliberate stand that resists classification as to what kinds of encounters should be judged more meaningful. It promotes ways of drawing on a range of experiences that both student teachers and established teachers might employ in order to consider an aspect of their work more fully.