Course Structure

ProgrThe taught part of the course consists of three elements:

Theoretical, Historical and International Perspectives

Higher education is a complex and multi-layered field of investigation. The main aspects that need to be considered are institutions of higher education, policy regarding higher education, the international framework in which higher education takes place, and the historical and philosophical underpinnings that influence the future development of higher education.

From an institutional perspective, key actors such as ministries, agencies and funding bodies shape the work of universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education. Moreover, there is a network of laws and regulations that determine the activities between these institutions.

From a political perspective, the power to influence the contents of laws and regulations is of particular interest. This not only includes the political power of government bodies such as ministries and agencies but also the representation of higher education institutions, academics, and students. It is the context of these political structures that determine the decisions on current issues such as tuition fees, expansion of higher education, and funding of research activities.

From an international perspective, bodies such as the European Union, the OECD, and the Council of Europe have entered the arena of higher education. Student exchanges and the international competition for students are long-established features of higher education systems.

From a historical and philosophical perspective, higher education today stands on the foundations of ideas of what kind of education a university should provide, what its role within society should be, and the ways in which the two main tasks of universities – teaching and research – should be linked. Educational philosophers have found very different answers to these questions over the last centuries and – irrespective of which set of answers is favoured – these answers will determine the future development of higher education.

These aspects cannot be regarded in isolation but their interdependences are of particular importance. For instance, the political systems and educational histories in different countries have resulted in divergent institutional setups of higher education. The national laws and institutional embededness of universities determine the situation a university finds itself in when faced with the increasingly international higher education market. The main influences on activities in the field of higher education and the interconnectedness of these influences can be visualised as follows:

Teaching, Learning, Management and Professional Development

This part of the course provides students with a solid basis in theories concerned with the interactions between teachers, learners and HE subjects. It is expected that most of the students attending the MSc in Higher Education will find themselves in roles that involve teaching, instructing, mentoring and supervising students in higher education in the future – roles that require a solid foundation of pedagogical knowledge, skills and techniques. Closely linked to this is the notion of professional development, which allows HE teachers to update and further develop these foundations.

However, teaching, learning and professional development take place in the institutional context of higher education. Therefore, knowledge and skills regarding the management of this context are necessary.

The content areas of this part of the course include the following:

• learning theories
• curriculum development
• course design
• human resource management in HE
• teaching models
• student diversity in HE
• university pedagogy
• e-learning in HE
  

Foundations of Educational Research

Foundations of Educational Research is aimed at all students from the Masters Courses in Higher Education, Comparative and International Education, E-learning and Educational Research Methods.

Aims of the Course:

students should become familiar with important aspects of the nature of educational research, its history, philosophy and current challenges, and its different traditions

students should develop their capacity to frame research questions and to devise appropriate designs

students should begin to develop their competence and confidence in using a range of qualitative and quantitative approaches to gathering, analysing and interpreting evidence

students should become skilled and critical readers and users of different kinds of educational research

students should be introduced to the importance of ethical issues and codes of ethics in educational research

Programme Specifications can be downloaded here.