Senior management perspectives of mathematics and statistics support in higher education: moving to an ‘ecological’ approach

© 2016 Association for Tertiary Education Management and the LH Martin Institute for Tertiary Education Leadership and ManagementThis article explores the perspectives of three senior managers in higher education institutions in England regarding their mathematics and statistics support provision. It does so by means of a qualitative case study that draws upon the writing of Ronald Barnett about the identity of an ‘ecological’ university, along with metaphors associated with the notion of organisations as living ‘organisms’, suggested by Gareth Morgan. Using these ideas as a heuristic sheds light upon the view that whilst outwardly universities appear to represent a uniform landscape, mathematics and statistics support alternatively, can be seen as different ‘species’ within the higher education system. The study illustrates how three universities occupying contrasting ecological ‘niches’ are responding to the challenges they face by providing and planning different forms of learning support for mathematics and statistics. In conclusion, it is recommended that senior managers reflect upon the possibilities offered by the idea of ‘ecological’ identities in order to explore how they might respond strategically to a rapidly changing environment. This includes adapting various solutions and the further development of innovative ways of supporting students’ transitions throughout the academic lifecycle. In addition, an ecological approach could also aid the formation of the co-creational relationships and networks required for the future success of those developments

Virtual collaboration in the built environment

Throughout the 2013 to 2014 academic year, three institutions have been collaborating in the education of three cohorts of students through the BIM Hub project ; these are Coventry University and Loughborough University in the UK and Ryerson University in Canada. Students formed groups of six individuals, two from each university, including architects, construction engineers and project managers. The project was designed to create an authentic simulation of industrial collaboration and practices. At Coventry participation was optional (students had the alternative of forming collaboration with other Coventry students). At Ryerson and Loughborough participation was mandatory. They were set a project to design and plan a building for a particular site in Coventry through forming online collaboration, and reflect on their experiences. The study was funded by the Higher Education Academy in the UK with the intention of identifying which success factors led to effective online collaboration and is a follow-up to a previous project sponsored by the Hewlett Packard Catalyst Program (Soetanto, et al, 2014). Focus groups were conducted with the students at the institutions, the following analysis focuses on the issues faced and solutions identified in terms of the technologies involved and the strategies for successful collaboration. The analysis focuses on two of the universities and offers reflections based on their experience