Reviews: Higher education

17 reviews found for "Higher education"

Book Review: Studying at University: how to adapt successfully to college life: The transition from school to university is a challenging one. Leaving aside the intellectual and financial demands of higher education, the negotiation of the social gulf between the life left at home and the one encountered at university can be very daunting for many students. It is a task for which many 18 year olds are unprepared and for which the pastoral systems of many universities are ill equipped to support. This book explains to new and...
Book review : Whose degree is it anyway? : why, how and where universities are failing our students: This is a book review of Whose degree is it anyway? : why, how and where universities are failing our students by Robert J. Naylor, ISBN 9780955698705. It was reviewed by Joanna Williams of the University of Kent on behalf of ESCalate. Naylor, a professor of pharmacology who continues to teach undergraduate and post-graduate students, argues that teaching is being relegated in the demand for universities to fulfil political goals relating to...
Book review : Teaching for quality learning at university (3rd ed.): This is a book review of Teaching for quality learning at university (3rd ed.), by John Biggs and Catherine Tang, published by the Open University Press in 2007, ISBN 9780335221264. It was reviewed by Pamela Parker of City University on behalf of ESCalate. This book is now in its third edition and Catherine Tang previously noted as an inspiration has now become a co-author. The book continues to focus on constructive alignment and outcomes based...
Book review : A handbook for teaching and learning in Higher Education : enhancing academic practice: This is a book review of A handbook for teaching and learning in Higher Education : enhancing academic practice edited by Heather Fry, Steve Ketteridge and Stephanie Marshall, published by Routledge in 2008, ISBN 9780415434645. It was reviewed by Deborah Lee of Nottingham Trent University on behalf of ESCalate. The book is organised into three sections. Part 1 is ‘Teaching, supervising and learning in higher education’, part 2 covers ‘Teaching in...
Book Review: The Enterprising University - Reform, Excellence and Equity: Writers such as Evans (2002) and Barnett (2003) argue the case that enterprise in the context of higher education is a pernicious ideology. Williams (2003) and his fellow contributors appear for the defence and are much more positive in their views and are prepared to see it as potentially virtuous. In general what the book offers is an exploration, through a series of case studies and evaluations, of the extent to which an enterprising...
Book review : The Higher Education manager's handbook : effective leadership and management in universities and colleges: This is a book review of The Higher Education manager's handbook : effective leadership and management in universities and colleges by Peter McCaffery, published by Routledge in 2004, ISBN 9780415335072. It was reviewed by Claire Taylor of Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln on behalf of ESCalate. It covers the broader Higher Education environment before tackling specific topics such as leadership vs. management, performance management,...
Book review : The university and Its disciplines: This is a book review of The university and Its disciplines edited by Carolin Kreber and published by Routledge in 2008, ISBN 9780415965217. It was reviewed by Fran Beaton of the University of Kent on behalf of ESCalate. The focus here is on the social and intellectual purposes of higher education, the interrelationship of the academy and the wider world and the tensions between the development of discipline-specific and discipline-transcendent...
Book Review: The International Student's Guide: Studying in English at University: This is a new book in the ‘SAGE Study Skills Series’ and the target audience is overseas students who are studying at a University where English is the medium of teaching – the book has a specific focus on students studying at a University in the United Kingdom. The aim of the book is to provide ways of learning, improving English, making the most of your strengths and working in seminars and groups. The text focuses on both the needs of the...
Book review : Higher Education and international capacity building : twenty-five years of higher education links: This is a book review of Higher Education and international capacity building : twenty-five years of higher education links edited by David Stephens, published by Symposium Books in 2009, ISBN 9781873927229. It was reviewed by Lia Blaj-Ward of Nottingham Trent International College on behalf of ESCalate. This book is a collection of accounts of programmes aimed at forging links between universities in developed / developing countries and covers...
Book review : Cultures and change in higher education : theories and practices: This is a book review of Cultures and change in higher education : theories and practices by Paul Trowler, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2008, ISBN 9781403948533. It was reviewed by Robert Matthew of the University of Stirling on behalf of ESCalate. This is not an ‘academic’ book on the subject of culture and change; it is very much a book written for a non-specialist audience. As Paul Trowler states at the outset ‘my aim is to talk to...
Book review : Choosing students : higher education tools for the 21st century: This is a book review of Choosing students : higher education tools for the 21st century edited by Wayne J. Camara and Ernest W. Kimmel, published by Lawrence Erlbaum in 2005, ISBN 9780805847529. It was reviewed by Janet Oti of the University of Wales, Newport on behalf of ESCalate. This book seeks to present and describe the admissions procedures and policies adopted by higher education colleges and Universities in America. Conflicting issues...
Book Review: The Effective Academic: A Handbook for Enhanced Academic Practice: This is a practical book aimed at the early to mid-career academic, with the focus being on those with increased leadership or management responsibilities. By their own admission, this book 'does not include the basics for teaching, getting published, or the rudiment of applying for research grants'. It does however cover a range of topical issues, providing a succinct insight into various areas. Indeed the book is an invaluable account of the...
Book Review: Being a Teacher in Higher Education: This book provides both some useful insights and recommendations for teachers, managers and HE institutions, and a good source of theoretical and empirical references to help readers to think more deeply about their role in the Higher education system
Book Review: The Open World and Closed Societies: This book is about higher education reforms in the post-socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, seen through the eyes of somebody who has spent the last decade analyzing these reforms as well as negotiating and supervising reform projects in countries from Serbia and Montenegro to Mongolia. Analyzing the reforms in a broader political, economic and social context and relating these to global higher education...
Book Review: Graduate Citizens? Issues of Citizenship and Higher Education: This book is the product of a study at Homerton College, Cambridge and the Open University. It is structured in two main parts, namely: Citizenship and Higher Education in modern Britain: Some reflections; and Graduate Citizens? evidence and interpretation
Book Review: Supporting Student Learning: Case studies, experience & practice from higher education: This book briefly discusses the political and historic context of student learning in HE identifying the increasingly diverse challenges that now exist as a result of widening participation trends. Specifically the discussion 'unpacks' issues relating to the diversity of learners and the range of tutor approaches to supporting their learning. Three key topics are identified in the introduction to provide the foci for the subsequent case studies:...
Book review : Changing higher education : the development of teaching and learning: This is a book review of Changing higher education : the development of teaching and learning, edited by Paul Ashwin and published by Routledge in 2006, ISBN 0415341299. It was reviewed by Gill Whittaker of the University of Bolton for ESCalate. This timely book offers an examination and reflection on learning and teaching in higher education. Since the editor and contributors acknowledge that this book is in tribute to Lewis Elton, we should not...