The growing and widening importance of higher education, its purposes and its stakeholders have created a complex sector. Investigating itself is a mark of maturity and a centre for higher education research offers a vehicle through which institutional, sector and policy issues can be located and encouraged.
The activities of the higher education special interest group and network (SIGN) will centre around four core areas:
- Policy and history
- Teaching and learning
- Higher education identity
- Anthropological, sociological and philosophical perspectives
The higher education SIGN aims to:
- Provide research to support existing learning and teaching activities
- Develop relationships with other Centres of higher education in London and beyond and to enhance the essence of higher education’s contrition to fairness, dignity and justice
- Seek funding for, and disseminate, research through scholarly output such as journal conferences and seminars
- Increase high quality outcomes that will be appropriate for the next REF Education submission.
Middlesex University runs an MA in Higher Education.
Some social research websites with HE relevance:
- The Analytic Quality Glossary (http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/) consists of hundreds of terms relating to higher education quality along with a core definition and an account and analysis of how the term has been used.
- The Social Research Glossary (http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/) defines a large array of social research concepts providing a core definition and an account and analysis of how the term has been used in the literature.
- Researching the Real World (http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/methodology/) is a compendium text that discusses different methods of social research, the epistemological underpinning and many examples of how the research process has been put into practice: an invaluable methodological resource.