Learning in large learning spaces:the academic engagement of a diverse group of students

Teaching larger groups of students is a growing phenomenon in HE and this brings with it, its own challenges not least for the students themselves but also their lecturers. Demographic factors as well as the experiences that characterise us as individuals will impact upon our ability to learn. The pilot study reported here considered the “academic engagement” of a diverse group of students where their course is delivered in large learning environments. As a pilot study, the paper concludes with the identification of two areas which are worthy of further research. Firstly, the study highlighted that mature students were more likely to engage in learning strategies that are associated with surface learning – the binary opposite to which practitioners often strive to achieve. Secondly, the research suggests that students who appear to know their tutors well indicate a preference for study approaches that are likely to develop deeper learning

Changing balances in Dutch higher education

Like many other higher education systems in the Western world, Dutch higher education underwent profound changes during the last decade. In this article we will present an overview of these changes, and try to formulate an analytical framework that might be suited to analyze this process. In order to set the stage, we will begin with an overview of the Dutch higher education system, in which the broad structure is described, and some trends are presented. Next, an overview is given of the retrenchment and restructuring operations with which Dutch higher education was confronted during the last decade. Drawing, mainly, on public administration and political theory, we then attempt to formulate a framework for analysis. In this we focus on the Dutch higher education system as a policy network, and address the relationships that exist between the various key actors in the network: between government and higher education, among higher education institutions themselves, and among the different actors within the institutions, especially administrators and academics. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate that at all these levels some identical basic processes operate which to a large extent determine the outcomes of governmental policies aimed at changing the higher education system. Time and again the modern state stumbles over the academic system (Clark 1983: 137