Consuming Higher Education

Reflects on the link between constructing students as consumers and the purpose of higher education, and the implications for student identity and learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a sudden transition from traditional face-to-face instruction to online and blended learning. The repercussions of this seismic change have left an indelible mark on students, particularly those thrust into the challenging realm of fully engaging in online learning during this tumultuous period. As we navigate the delicate landscape of higher education post-pandemic, a critical gap in scholarly literature becomes glaringly apparent; there is a scarcity of focused works addressing the nuanced well-being of students in this new academic reality. Mental Health Crisis in Higher Education is a groundbreaking book that boldly steps into this void, offering a comprehensive and meticulously researched examination of the challenges faced by students transitioning from secondary to higher education amid the pandemic. By delving into stressors, coping mechanisms, and the intricate web of factors influencing emotional, psychological, and physical well-being, the book is an invaluable resource for academics, researchers, and institutions seeking to understand and address the multifaceted dimensions of student well-being.

Business Practices in Higher Education is a breakthrough guide offering higher education and student affairs professionals an understanding of the fundamental business nature of colleges and universities. The author discusses the practical applications of business concepts and models and how these applications can contribute to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of higher education institutions. Useful examples from a wide range of institutions—including small privates, large publics, and community colleges—illustrate these concepts. This professional guide is organized into the following four sections: Environment and Structure Finance and Funding People and Processes Perspectives on the Future Business practices pervade the academic, student affairs, and administrative sides of higher education. This book affords readers a greater understanding of the true nature of higher education and an appreciation for how the academy effectively incorporates business practices into everyday work lives.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Amid debates about the future of both higher education and Europeanisation, this book is the first full-length exploration of how Europe’s 35 million students are understood by key social actors across different nations. The various chapters compare and contrast conceptualisations in six nations, held by policymakers, higher education staff, media and students themselves. With an emphasis on students’ lived experiences, the authors provide new perspectives about how students are understood, and the extent to which European higher education is homogenising. They explore various prominent constructions of students – including as citizens, enthusiastic learners, future workers and objects of criticism.

Wellness Issues for Higher Education is an essential resource that addresses a range of student wellness issues confronting professionals in college and university settings. Organized around five dimensions of Wellness—Emotional, Social, Intellectual, Physical, and Spiritual—this book comprehensively covers key topics that contribute to students’ success in college. Each topical chapter includes proactive wellness advice, and is designed to prepare the reader to better understand the facts, issues, and strategies appropriate for addressing the issue. Each Chapter Features: Background information, theory, and research Historical and emerging issues Common questions, controversies, challenging situations, and misconceptions Practical applications for the campus This practical guide prepares practitioners to understand and deal with the wellness and health promotion issues contributing to their students’ overall success and well-being. Armed with this valuable resource, higher education and student affairs professionals can work to improve academic performance, retention, satisfaction, and quality of life. This thorough resource will guide those working at any level in residence life, student activities, orientation, health education, student leadership, advising, instruction, and other areas of student development.

Encouraging Diversity in Higher Education: Supporting Student Success provides an overview of the widening participation movement in Higher Education in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand. It argues that universities should revitalise their learning and teaching practices to better meet the diverse learning needs of contemporary undergraduate students. Approachable in execution, this book provides an evidence-based set of classroom practices, which readers will readily be able to relate to and use successfully. Answering questions such as: • How can I enrich my undergraduate teaching? • How can I help undergraduate students engage fully with their learning? • How can help undergraduate students to quickly acclimatise to Higher Education? • How can I help undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds excel at university? This book discusses economic and discursive drivers used to increase the numbers of undergraduate students who were the first in their families to enter university, and some of the ways in which universities responded to the growing percentage of such students. In so doing, it considers the learning needs of diverse students, and discusses the views of academic teaching staff who have used transparent pedagogies in their classrooms. Including forty five teaching strategies designed to generate highly engaged, socially inclusive classrooms, this is the first book to offer both a theoretical background of the need to approach learning and teaching in contemporary universities in innovative ways, and a practical, step by step guide to using a suite of transparent pedagogies. These focus on building inclusive classroom communities, generating academic literacies, developing collaborative learning skills, and encouraging students to think critically. This book will be a useful companion for both early career academics and those with experience but dealing with a new student cohort. It will also be of great interest to those teaching or studying the many professional qualifications in tertiary education. Kate Hughes is the President of the Australian Sociological Association (TASA) and Senior Consultant of Teaching and Learning at the Australian Catholic University. She is the co-author of Australian Sociology: A Changing Society, the market leading undergraduate text in Australia, now in its fourth edition.

Many countries now employ national evaluation systems to demonstrate publicly that universities provide a quality education. However, the current processes of quality evaluation are often detached from the practices of teaching and learning. In particular, those who teach and those who learn still have to be won over to such audit processes.This book argues that it is time for the higher education sector to concern itself with the human dimension so as to develop both academic professionalism and students’ commitment to their learning. Based on five completed research projects, which explore academics’ and students’ experiences and their views of quality evaluation, the book argues that developing the intrinsic values of teaching and learning held by academics and students is key to achieving high quality education.In this book, the author critically reviews the four most frequently used terms related to current quality evaluation: ‘fitness for purpose’, ‘value for money’, ‘student satisfaction’ and ‘students-as-customers’, and argues for a motivationally intelligent quality approach, emphasising the moral dimension and the intrinsic values of academics and students. The author also outlines an improved quality evaluation system that encourages and increases academics’ and students’ commitment to teaching and learning.