Special Interest Group
The transition from elite to mass higher education systems is a significant global development that forms the broader context for educational research that seeks to understand the experiences of Higher Education students, academics, teaching teams, change agents, leaders, departments, subject disciplines, professional fields, and institutions. There is a need for perspectives and analyses that not only critique but also challenge current policy frameworks and evolving practices within and across Higher Education. Within the universalising tendencies of the neoliberal regime, contradictions exist within – and between – the increasing dominance of managerialist principles, the standardisation of learning and practice (under the banner of ‘quality assurance’), consumer-based practices and expectations. The aim of the Higher Education special interest group is to contribute towards and enhance critical debates and perspectives on higher education policy, pedagogy and practice. This is a broad remit that embraces interdisciplinary research with critical research methodologies, theories and philosophies.
Recent research papers and symposia presented by SIG members have included the following themes:
The SIG aims to create a supportive network of educational researchers through building symposia for the main conference, through smaller scale activity during the year, by supporting new and early career researchers, and by building links with other higher education research networks.
Research Fellow at Birmingham City University
Dr Julia Everitt is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Birmingham City University (BCU) and has worked in higher education as a researcher since 2014. Julia was awarded her doctorate in 2018 and as a researcher has been involved in over 30 research...
Principal Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University
Dr Kate Mawson has significant teaching experience across a range of institutions and has worked in Secondary and higher Education institutions since 2002. Kate is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Founding Fellow of the...
Welcome to the BERA Annual Conference 2023 The programme is now live online. We have a fantastic array of presentations! The mobile app will soon be launched, which will allow you to favourite...
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I’ve edited Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, or AEHE for short, for a decade now. Before that I edited Studies in Higher Education for a similar period, and before that Higher...
Continue reading blog postA survey of education researchers’ work, experiences and identities
Research on higher education students and staff with caring responsibilities has quickly expanded since the 2000s, gaining further momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying...
Continue reading blog postMy current ESRC-funded PhD research crosses the boundaries of linear thinking by drawing on ‘complex realism’ – the conceptual framework through which I investigate the mechanisms that lead...
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