In the UK, international Masters students whose first language is not English may find the Masters dissertation challenging perhaps because they cannot utilize the full potential of the supervisor’s feedback throughout the dissertation writing process. This process is critiqued as complex and messy, for it involves a clash of expectations, miscommunication, uncertainties and confusions. Yet although the number of international students has increased rapidly in most UK universities, the effects of the supervisor’s feedback on their Masters dissertation writing are poorly investigated. To address these issues, this thesis reports on a small-scale study conducted among international students at Masters level at the University of Warwick. Three departments are included: Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Law School (LS), and Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies (CTCCS). Using semi-structured interviews (12 preliminary interviews and 3 longitudinal interviews), semi-structured questionnaires (26 completed questionnaires) and documents (supervisors’ annotations and written comments on the students’ submissions), the current study aims to investigate what influences the supervisor’s feedback may have on international students’ Masters Dissertation Writing (MDW). Analysis of the data obtained by means of qualitative content analysis, it has been discovered that the supervisor’s feedback can have a variety of effects on the quality of international students’ writing. These can be classified into psycho-affective, interpersonal, developmental, linguistic, behavioral and practical influences. In order to obtain a fine-grained picture of such effects, it is important to consider them not only in the light of such feedback issues as feedback delivery methods, feedback focus, and feedback processing, but also in relation to such concepts as motivation, independence, and the responsibilities of both students and supervisors. The key findings of this study are largely consistent with the feedback effects reported in previous research on this topic, indicating that the effects identified may be applicable to MDW in general. The current study suggests that both supervisors and students should negotiate those conflicting feedback expectations that emerge throughout the dissertation process on a frequent basis in order to help students gain more constructive support. To facilitate the process of negotiation, it is recommended that face to face tutorials should be seen as a key feedback delivery method in the Masters dissertation process. Another practical recommendation made in this study is that Sinclair’s (2005) hands-on approaches to PhD supervision should be used at Masters level as a means of reducing the negative impact of the power hierarchy inherent in the supervisor-supervisee relationship, thus helping international students in the process of developing into more independent learners. The study concludes that Masters supervisors should weigh their feedback choices carefully because their feedback may help students not only make more successful revisions but also change negative attitudes towards MDW. Supervisors should also consider such important variables as the student’s personal needs and lacks, the developmental phase of doing the dissertation and departmental expectations, with a view to promoting their motivation and encouraging them to develop strategies contributing to significant improvement in their writing.

For about three decades now the world’s economic systems have mainly embraced a neoliberal paradigm. The precept of this paradigm is, more egocentric than the capitalist philosophy of homo economicus, that it is not enough to have the market determine all human or institutional relations, but that there should be nothing which is not the market. Neoliberalism would see surrendered to the market to be commodified all the services communally provided for its citizens by the state, such as healthcare and education. Neoliberalism and its many approaches mount formidable pressure on states to fall to its sway. The environment created by neoliberalism is a challenge to states, like Sweden, that still believe in the central provision of essential social services so that the enjoyment of such services would not depend on the economic status of the individual citizen, because in the long run the state would benefit from having it so. This research studied, given this environment, whether the provision of higher education in the welfare state of Sweden could be commodified. An extensive review of relevant literature was done to define the problem and establish a theoretical frame. From there a questionnaire was designed and administered to Swedish universities. The responses were used to formulate questions for semi-structured interviews with parliamentarians and university vice-chancellors. The research found, among other things, a transformation from an inward-looking system to one of increasing globalisation; from detailed state planning and control to a broad degree of freedoms to act. There is a lack of desire for universities to be fully independent of the state; a desire for broadened entrepreneurialism, especially in the areas of conversion of research results into products and co-operation with the private sector. There are statutes that hinder some entrepreneurial activities or limit the universities’ ability to make money from them; a vehement stand against the commodification of higher education for natives, but qualified openness for some categories of foreign students paying for their education in the country. There is diminished solidarity-thinking and the use of global educational contacts as a means to support the country’s export sector. There is no indication that the possibility exists in the foreseeable future for higher education in Sweden to move from the sphere of public good to private good since an overwhelming majority of those most closely associated with legislation, policy formulation and execution are against the commodification of higher education.

The thesis investigates the way ideas are developed and framed in group interaction tasks on British undergraduate programmes for Malaysian students. The introductory chapter of this thesis states the three major aims of the study - educational, linguistic and cross-cultural. The study aims to investigate the role of talk in constructing valuable educational knowledge in group discussion tasks, the role of language in mediating the process of generating ideas, and the way knowledge is constructed by students from different socio-cultural educational backgrounds and what this tells us about the socio-cultural view of knowledge students might have been socialised into. The thesis proceeds with a discussion of the methodological issues involved in data collection, analysis and description. This is followed by a discussion of the theoretical parameters on which the study is grounded and the educational linguistic approach which is adopted in the study. Each of the three following chapters of the thesis addresses each of the aims of the study. The findings arising from the study are illustrated with reference to various group discussion tasks recorded and interview data. The thesis concludes with a review of the implications of the findings of the study for pedagogy and research.

This thesis provides a case study of a new approach to courseware design described as a mixed approach. This mixed approach is based on orientation to a problem (or opportunity) and rounds of design, implementation and evaluation. The mixed approach is informed by principles of being iterative, understanding the perspective of users, listening to feedback, being stakeholders, and involving users from the commencement and draws on an understanding of instructional design, user-centred design and participatory design. The context in which the study took place is the support of international students with English as a second or foreign language following Masters degree programmes at an Institute of Education within a local university. Courseware was developed which aimed to develop students’ reading skills and fluency in reading academic texts. The context is a topical issue, with increasing numbers of international students coming to study in universities in the UK. In the orientation phase of the courseware development, the nature and scope of the problem were explored through interviews with students and tutors. A wider orientation to the problem was then achieved through a review of learning theory (general orientation), reading and language issues (linguistic orientation) and the main ICT themes (applied orientation). Drawing together the orientation enabled the design and development of the first version of the courseware 2006-2007. This was evaluated through mixed methods: interviews with users (n=6), observations and computer test scores. Interviews, however, were the primary source. Data was coded and aggregated, then compared and contrasted. It was found that students reported positively on their use of the courseware product (titled CAR 1), however suggestions for improvement were made including providing more guidance and more explicit reading skills support. The courseware was adapted in line with this feedback and further evaluated (2007-2008). The revised product (CAR 2) was more positively received. A key difference between the two versions was the adoption of an explanation, practice, feedback model in CAR 2. Issues relating to the design of courseware are discussed. Two models of courseware development are provided. The first is a prescriptive framework set out the steps to be undertaken when following the mixed model. The second is a holistic model developed after the study which sets out the various factors which came together to shape the design and implementation of the courseware. It was found that the design is not ‘value free’ but shaped by the context and by the designer’s past experiences and tacit beliefs about teaching and learning. Issues relating to the development of reading skills are discussed throughout the thesis, though it is stressed that the trials were too short and the methodology was not appropriate for identifiable gains in reading fluency to be evidenced. The mix of cultural and social problems, language processing problems, L2 acquisition and training background problems, support problems which students faced are, however, described. The research showed that there were particular features of academic texts which students should not be assumed to understand. It was also found that some tutors felt that the language demands were too intense for some students. As regards the courseware, students felt that it was useful in supporting the development of reading skills. They valued the explicit teaching of skills and strategies and modelling of strategies such as skimming, scanning and speed reading. Useful features, or affordances, within the courseware were interactive feedback, easy access to several authentic texts, repeated practice, and links to opportunities for further study. However, the courseware needed to be integrated more fully into the course programme, and there needed better branching so that users could follow personal routes to and through material. Context remained important and online support might only mitigate the structural difficulties which international students’ face. Recommendations are made towards better support for international students.

This PhD thesis is a critical investigation of the formation of managers in the UK further and higher education (FHE) sector. It explores the character and problematics that surround the development of senior FHE post-holders as managers in the first half of the 1990s. The work draws on interviews with more than 70 senior post-holders in four universities and four further education colleges and observation in one university and one college. It analyses the narratives and practices that make up the changing working lives of the respondents. These are discussed in relation to recent social theory, particularly around approaches to 'discourse', 'the body', and 'identity/subjectivity'. This in turn is set against the backdrop of broad political-economic circumstances and conditions. Two key issues are addressed in the thesis: the problematics that surround the development of managers, and the gendered dimensions of this formation. The thesis is in three sections: 'Epistemological Commitments and Ontological Priorities' (this divides into three chapters: 'Managing Discourse and Discoursing Managers', 'Living Bodies and Inscribing Bodies' and 'The Relative Thickness of Human Material, approaching 'Identity' and 'Subjectivity'), 'Speaking Historically, Politically and of literatures' (this divides into three chapters: 'Making Sense of Making Managers, a review of the critical further and higher education management literature', 'From Methodology to Research Methods' and 'Further and Higher Education's Turbulent Years'), and 'Making Managers in Further and Higher Education' (this divides into three chapters: 'Doing the business, constructing the supervisors of production in further and higher education', 'Just how managed is the New Further and Higher Education? 'and 'University and College management; Is it men's work? '). The concluding chapter draws out the key points from the thesis, discusses these in the context of possible futures for further and higher education, and suggests directions for further research work.

The research project and its subsequent writing up in this thesis has had three primary aims, which have been to carry out and present: 1. a detailed, qualitative consideration and evaluation of the aims and expectations of participants - both lecturers and students - in small group teaching in a university; 2. a scientifically-based analysis of the practice of small group teaching across six faculties within that university, focusing on amounts of lecturer talk and student talk, the nature of that talk and the interaction patterns between the participants; 3. an exploration, using information from two recently completed surveys, of the existing level of motivation within one other university amongst its staff to act on such results as this project yields. The first three chapters serve as an introduction to the main issues within the thesis, to the design of the research programme itself and to the literature, which has informed the total project. An extended bibliography is also included, to inform further detailed study. Chapters Four and Five focus on the consideration of aims of participants, the subsequent two chapters on the analysis of the practice of small group teaching as exemplified in the video-recorded data collected. Chapter Eight presents an exploration of the current climate and context, into which the above research findings and recommendations are to be introduced. It is concluded from these various analyses of data that there is much scope for improvement not only of performance in university small group teaching, but also in perceptions of performance. Additionally it is feared that the current level of motivation to act upon such conclusions is low. It is recommended that further research is needed into models of staff development in institutions, in order that university provision might be so organised as to increase its effectiveness.

The political role of English further education colleges has been ambiguous for some 20 years, being a nationally funded service administered by local government. In 1993 this role ambiguity was challenged with the incorporation of colleges, accompanied by a shift in the locus of power to national government. Significant cultural change was driven through by an expansionary yet punitive funding regime based on the principles of the free market. In common with other parts of the public sector, this change in orientation has had mixed results. This thesis explores the issues that face the leaders of the modern FE college, approaching the subject from the perspectives of entrepreneurial leadership and market orientation. The sector was dominated by financial instability during the first five years, with the next three being characterised by improving financial health for some colleges and the failure of others. The sector has lost 25 colleges since incorporation through mergers and takeovers. The removal of barriers to competition and the development of rising standards underpinned by audit and inspection have required colleges to adapt to a hostile and turbulent operating environment. A new management paradigm and approach to client orientation has been required to compete and survive in the post incorporation era. The roles of entrepreneurial leadership and market orientation and their impact on business performance have not been widely studied in the UK public sector and the further education sector in particular. The thesis is based on an empirical study of a sample of 250 colleges, representing 60% of English FE colleges. Using quantitative analysis tools, the direction and strength of causal relationships are explored. The financial performance measurement problems typical of public sector are explored using data envelopment analysis and linear structural equations. The thesis concludes with a review of the managerial implications of the study by way of three qualitative case studies and elite interviewing, reconciling theory with the results of the study. The thesis ends with a summary of issues for future research direction.

This thesis examines the role of the board of governors in colleges of further education (FE). Despite being a significant area of activity, comprising over 440 colleges, which were allocated a total of three billion pounds of public money in 1998, FE remains a notably under-researched sector. This thesis contributes to the knowledge and understanding of the governance activity in the sector by going beyond demographic data and using a case approach to examine the nature of the work undertaken by the board. This work is also important because it is able to utilise data gathered from observations of a college board as it undertakes its work. Data has been gathered from four FE colleges and has been analysed using the framework of the three paradoxes set out by Ada Demb and F.F. Neubauer in their work "The Corporate Board". This thesis then, draws on established work to present and develop a model applicable to considering the governance issues in FE. The main conclusions of this thesis are that in order to maximise the board's contribution to strategy, two key issues need to be addressed: issues associated with the governance process and issues associated with the people involved in that process. A more widespread understanding and coherent approach to adopting the principles of the Carver model of Policy Governance across the sector, along with a reconsideration of the role of the Further Education Funding Council may go some way towards addressing process issues. However, boards also need to recognise that whilst an efficient process may provide the potential for the board to undertake its strategic role, there is a need to go beyond this and to develop ways and means of harnessing the skills and contributions of all board members in order to maximise their strategic role.

This study examines the extent of academic freedom for academics and students, university autonomy and equality of admission in the Jordanian public universities. It examines academic freedom in terms of freedom to express views and ideas, freedom to select course content, freedom to select research subjects, freedom to participate in social and political activities, freedom to participate in decision making and freedom to be promoted from one academic rank to another. Also, it considers university autonomy in terms of admission of students, appointment of academics, establishing new programmes of study and research, administration of students' affairs and university autonomy from the pressure of society. Finally, it examines the admission policy in terms of the equality of the admission criteria; these are the Tawjihi scores and the quota components. The main subjects of the study comprised a sample of higher education academics, policy makers and postgraduate students from the six public universities. The study employed qualitative and quantitative research methods; questionnaires were used to obtain the views of the postgraduate students regarding academic freedom for students and equality of admission policy. Interviews were used to obtain academics and policy makers' views regarding academic freedom, university autonomy and equality of the admission policy. There was also analysis of related documentary material. From this study, it appears that academic freedom for academics and students is controlled and limited by social, security and legal constraints. These limitations affect freedom of expression, freedom of publishing, freedom to select course content, freedom to select research subjects, freedom to participate in social and political activities, freedom to participate in decision making and freedom to be promoted from one academic rank to another. Also, university autonomy is restricted by social and governmental regulations and security restrictions, while university autonomy to admit students is restricted by the HEC (Higher Education Council) criteria of admission. Furthermore, the admission policy is flawed by the inequality of the criteria which have not achieved equality among students. In the light of the findings of this study, recommendations have been made for the development of academic freedom for academics and students, university autonomy and equality of the admission policy and an indication given of possible future research studies.

One of the most important changes to UK higher education in the last ten years has been the funding of research within universities and particularly the introduction of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). This thesis is concerned with the organisation of research work within universities and possible impacts of this change in government policy on the research activities within university departments. Much of the recent literature on academics has documented their declining status and persistent undervaluing (Halsey, 1995). The decrease in government funding to higher education and the increase in processes of accountability and assessment are argued to weaken academic autonomy and further the `proletarianisation' of academic work. Further research, however, has raised the question of whether academics are quite so passive in their response to policy changes. Trowler (1998) argues that academics are active agents in their implementation of policy within institutional settings. This thesis investigates the disciplinary and institutional structural processes that govern academic work and analyses in detail the inter-relationship of these structures with the practices of academics. Bourdieu's framework for the analysis of the relationship between structure and agency is used in this study. He argues that there are many social fields within which agents struggle to accumulate forms of symbolic capital. His concept of habitus encapsulates the complex inter-relationship he postulates between structure and agency. Bourdieu is often criticised for being overly deterministic in his analysis of human agency. This thesis attempts to counteract this charge by placing the analysis at the site of interaction of field (structure) and habitus (agency). It is a collective case study of the organisational, managerial and ideational structures (Grenfell and James, 1998) found within six university departments and the involvement of academics in the reproduction and resistance of those structures. The way in which the RAE serves to reproduce and/or reconstruct the disciplinary and institutional structures discussed is also of central concern to this thesis. The study concludes that the RAE has had a profound impact on the forms of construction and evaluation within academic life but that this is mediated through the complex variety of organisational, managerial and ideational structures within institutions and across disciplines. Similarly, the positioning of individuals within institutional and disciplinary structures is important for understanding their particular struggles and strategies for recognition. This is most acute in struggles over the classification of research and non research active which has significantly increased the differentiation of academics within departments. This thesis also concludes by arguing that a greater understanding of the individual academics location within the context of specific institutional interactions will provide a necessary addition to Bourdieu's framework of analysis.