scholarly journals How is disability portrayed through Welsh universities’ Disability Service web pages?

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Beth Pickard
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Student Life ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Critical Disability Studies ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Disability Service ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

This article explores the portrayal of disability through the Disability Service web pages of Welsh universities in order to understand their potential impression on disabled applicants. The method of Qualitative Content Analysis enables consideration of multiple dimensions including use of language, terminology and photography, as well as discussion of academic, cultural, social and logistical aspects of student life. The development of a primarily concept-driven coding frame enables consideration of the absence of certain criteria as well as the frequency and prominence of others. The ensuing discussion considers, from a Critical Disability Studies perspective, the sector’s portrayal of the construct of disability. This article proposes a call to action to challenge deficit-based interpretations of disability and advocates an affirmative stance towards disability in higher education policy and practice.

scholarly journals Charting a course to an emerging field of 'research engagement studies': A conceptual meta-synthesis

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jude Fransman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Development ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Education Science

The past decades in the UK have witnessed renewed interest by policymakers, research funders and research institutions in the engagement of non-academic individuals, groups and organizations with research processes and products. There has been a broad consensus that better engagement leads to better impact, as well as significant learning around understanding engagement and improving practice. However, this sits in tension to a parallel trend in British higher education policy that reduces the field to a narrow definition of quantitatively measured impacts attributed to individual researchers, projects and institutions. In response, this article argues for the mobilization of an emerging field of 'research engagement studies' that brings together an extensive and diverse existing literature around understandings and experiences of engagement, and has the potential to contribute both strategically and conceptually to the broader impact debate. However, to inform this, some stocktaking is needed to trace the different traditions back to their conceptual roots and chart out a common set of themes, approaches and framings across the literature. In response, this article maps the literature by developing a genealogy of understandings of research engagement within five UK-based domains of policy and practice: higher education; science and technology; public policy (health, social care and education); international development; and community development. After identifying patterns and trends within and across these clusters, the article concludes by proposing a framework for comparing understandings of engagement, and uses this framework to highlight trends, gaps and ways forward for the emerging field.

scholarly journals “Bologna Digital”—Actively Shaping the Digital Transformation in European Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 583-596
Author(s):  
Dominic Orr ◽  
Florian Rampelt ◽  
Alexander Knoth
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Strategic Integration ◽  
Strategic Impact ◽  
European Higher Education ◽  
New Vision

Abstract Digital transformation will impact the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and could contribute to developing a new vision for the Bologna Process and for higher education in Europe and beyond. In recent years, research on European and national levels has shown increasing attention being paid to digitalisation and digital transformation by higher education leadership. The 2015 and 2018 Ministerial Communiqués also clearly emphasised the importance of the topic for the EHEA. Yet, a strategic integration of digitalisation into higher education policy and practice remains hard to find. This is for two main reasons: (1) because although digitalisation is often seen as a technical innovation, it must, in fact, be a social innovation for it to have any impact and (2) because higher education as a field of practice, especially in Europe, is a multi-layered system where strategic impact is only possible if all layers are broadly following the same objectives. With reference to policy theory, the authors conjectured that reducing goal conflict and practice ambiguity would help to facilitate a more integrative digital policy and practice. With this aim, the authors launched a White Paper in 2019 to facilitate broad agreement on the potential of digitalisation within the Bologna framework. This contribution provides an interim evaluation of the initiative and its next steps. In this, it provides a reflexive review of how practitioners and researchers in the field might hope to influence policymaking and practice in the area of digitalisation.

Enhancing Educational Attainment Through Prior Learning Assessment

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-148
Author(s):  
Matt Bergman ◽  
Vin Favoroso
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
College Level ◽  
Prior Learning ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Prior Learning Assessment

Prior learning assessment (PLA) is a path to greater educational attainment for adult learners re-entering higher education. This innovative approach provides academic credit for college-level and credit-worthy learning that happened outside the confines of the college walls. The growth in adoption of PLA at many institutions is in concert with the need for more of America's workforce to earn more postsecondary credentials. This chapter explores the nature of PLA and its evolution into the mainstream of higher education policy and practice. The authors examine two institutions' relevant and rigorous approaches to validating learning via PLA. The authors believe that credit for prior learning will become more standardized with time and awareness of this innovative approach to acknowledging experiential learning external to the academic setting.

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