Bringing about positive change in the higher education student experience: a case study

Pages195-207
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/09684881111158027
Published date12 July 2011
Date12 July 2011
AuthorSally Brown
Subject MatterEducation
Bringing about positive change in
the higher education student
experience: a case study
Sally Brown
Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to outline the ways in which staff of a post-1992 UK
university set about enhancing the student experience, at a time when the institution had poor student
evaluations as demonstrated by the UK National Student Survey and other indicators. Using a range
of interventions led by the PVC (Academic), a concerted effort is made to improve classroom teaching,
assessment and feedback, and the ways in which actions taken in response to student feedback were
reported back to students.
Design/methodology/approach – The article reviews some of the literature available on the NSS
and on bringing about changes in universities, and demonstrates how such approaches were put in
place.
Findings – Over a period of 18 months, it was possible to report significant changes in practice,
resulting in demonstrable improvements, both in NSS scores and staff morale.
Research limitations/implications – The article uses a reportage approach, describing the steps
taken as part of an evidence-informed approach: potential future work will be undertaken by a new
team, following a wide-ranging restructuring of the university.
Practical implications – It was necessary to recognise that teaching staff felt they were already
working very hard, so changes had to be both manageable for staff and demonstrably leading to
measurable improvements.
Social implications – The article argues that a top-down approach alone is insufficient to bring
about rapid changes in a difficult context, and describes how diverse agents’ enacted improvements.
Originality/value – The quality enhancement approaches described here are shared by a numberof
universities with similar aims: the originality of the approach lies in its coherence and collaborative
nature, which combined evidence-led leadership and cross-institutional commitment.
Keywords Changemanagement, Qualityimprovement,Higher education, Teachingmethods, Attitudes,
Continuous improvement, Students,Organizational structures, Morale,United Kingdom
Paper type Research paper
Background: making change happen in universities
The second decade of the twenty-first century is a period of high turbulence for
universities, in the UK and elsewhere as each institution tries to weather the storms of
retrenchment and to manage deeper financial cuts than any of those currently working
in higher education have ever experienced. At this time it is more important than ever
to focus firmly on core purposes and in universities with a student-centred mission,
ensuring student satisfaction and assurance of the quality of provision must be high on
the agenda. This article focuses on a period of significant change in a university which
had lost its focus on core business and which, over a relatively short period of time,
went on to put into place a series of actions in order to remediate the most serious
problems.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0968-4883.htm
HE student
experience
195
Received November 2010
Revised February 2011
Accepted March 2011
Quality Assurance in Education
Vol. 19 No. 3, 2011
pp. 195-207
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/09684881111158027

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