Current Research Programme

Our research programme is structured around two main themes: Higher Education Policy and Learning in Higher Education and the professions. Our research involves both quantitative analysis of large scale data sets and qualitative studies. We strongly advocate the use of mixed methods and we are committed to methodological innovation in this area.

Higher Education Policy

Currently we are researching two main strands of HE policy: Widening Participation and Higher Education, Innovation and the Economy. The widening participation theme is being developed through our ESRC funded Teaching and Learning research Programme project Degrees of Success – The Transition between VET and HE. Linked to this project, the research group is currently hosting a seminar series on research in widening participation, access to HE and transitions from HE to the labour market. In addition, extensive research undertaken with the Nuffield Review has explored the qualities HE admissions staff are looking for in applicants, which has been used by UCAS to develop their Tariff. In conjunction with UCAS we have also been examining the issue of non-placed applicants, those who apply to Higher Education but either are not offered a place or do not take up the place they are offered. Finally we have undertaken a series of design and evaluation projects examining reforms to 16-19 education, curriculum and qualifications and their implications for access to Higher Education funded jointly by the Department for Children, Schools and families (DCSF) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA):

• designing the evaluation of the new Diplomas
• reviewing current reforms to the 14-19 qualifications framework
• evaluating of the Diploma development process.
  

In the future we will develop this strand of work with the ESRC Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) as part of their new five year programme of work which will start in September 2008.

Research in the strand on Higher Education, Innovation and the Economy is undertaken collaboratively with the ESRC Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) and draws heavily on sociocultural and activity theory ensuring close links with the OSAT<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--> Research Centre. Our current interest focuses on processes of knowledge transfer through research collaboration and graduates entering the labour market.

An emerging topic, being researched in collaboration with LIHRE at the University of Toulouse, the GRET research group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and  the Institut für Höhere Studien, is the transition from Higher Education into the labour markets (the ESFOREM project). This involves large scale quantitative data analysis to explore the specificity of the interaction between the subject studied at University, insertion into the labour market and wages.

Other international projects related to this strand of our research programme have included work on Indicator 4 of the Credit and Qualifications Framework, working with the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB) in Bonn on National Qualifications Frameworks, and comparison of policies on Further Education in four countries<!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->.

Learning in Higher Education and the professions

Within the research centre we adopt a broad perspective on professional learning encompassing traditional professions, such as medicine, emerging professions such as paramedics and ship’s officers, management learning and entrepreneurship. In addition, we encompass what has traditionally been called Vocational Education and training (VET) in our work as we see the division between professional and vocational learning as a false dichotomy. All our current projects in this area (see research projects<!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->) draw heavily on socio-cultural theory and contribute towards the work of Theme B of the ESRC Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) which is coordinated by Geoff Hayward.

In a literature review project undertaken by the research group, research evidence on the Student <!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->Learning Experience in Higher Education (funded by the Higher Education Academy) was mapped and conceptualised. The project particularly focused on theoretical and methodological underpinnings of research in this area.

In collaboration with colleagues from the University of Paderborn, Germany, teacher-driven innovation at German vocational schools and at English FE Colleges has been investigated and compared. This led to a deeper understanding of the impact of innovation on the professional identity of teachers and students’ learning processes in school-based learning contexts. (Reforming FE in England: The impact of change on Colleges and lecturers, funded by SKOPE). The project draws heavily on hermeneutic approaches to analyzing interview data generated in different policy backgrounds.