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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Student Transitions and Experiences (STEP) project, in which visual and creative research methodologies were used to enhance student engagement.

The article provides an overview of three main strands within the field of student engagement practice, and explores the STEP project as an instance of the “critical‐transformative” strand. The article draws on recent theorizations by Kemmis et al. of practice architectures and ecologies of practice to propose an understanding of the STEP project as a practice “niche”.

In thinking through some implications of student engagement as a practice architecture, the article sheds analytical light on student engagement as a specific and complex form of contemporary education practice. The later part of the article focuses on a consideration of phronesis and praxis in specific instances from the STEP project. Working with concepts from Barad, the article develops a conceptualization of the STEP project as an intra‐active, entangled situated and particularistic practice of phronesis‐praxis.

This article aims to contribute to the development of theoretical and empirical understandings of the field of student engagement. It does so by providing insights into a recent empirical study; by developing some new theorisations of student engagement; and by a detailed exploration of specific instances of student engagement practice.

The purpose of this paper is to consider recent developments in student engagement practices within higher education institutions (HEIs) and to reflect upon the practical reality and challenges faced by HEIs as they develop such practices.

Consideration is given to theoretical understandings around institutional and social power relations and to the influence such relationships can have on the development of student engagement practices within HEIs. The work of Giroux, Freire and Foucault is drawn upon to help develop and deepen understanding of the power relationships at play within HEI student engagement practices.

It is argued that the power imbalance ingrained within student‐tutor relationships serves to constrain how students act and respond in the presence of tutors, and this can have significant implications in terms of the extent to which student engagement practices genuinely capture the perspectives, interests and visions of students.

Thought needs to be given to how HEIs will balance student engagement with academic work. The historical hierarchical staff‐student relationship will need to be challenged and re‐defined as some staff and students move outside of their comfort zones in order to work as partners and develop mutual understandings around, for example, practices of assessment, curriculum and teaching, and seek to improve the quality of student's HEI experiences.

The paper develops and deepens our understanding of the power relationships at play within HEI student engagement practices and opens up debates about the potential of student engagement practices in HEIs and the related dilemmas which surround the development of such practices.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of student engagement in UCL’s Transition Mentoring scheme upon the individuals who take the role of mentor.

The study used data gathered from questionnaire responses from four cohorts of mentors from 2008‐2011.

The findings suggest that by assuming the role of mentor, students experience a development in their ability to critically reflect on their skills, knowledge and approaches to learning. From this increased awareness of their learning conceptions, and critical evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses, mentors actively develop new methods to accelerate their academic and personal development. In this way, the act of mentoring other students seems to enable the mentors to develop a more critical learner self‐concept. Through this process, many mentors experience a transformation from the learner they were before they took the mentoring role.

This paper explores the role peer learning plays in the development of students’ learning conceptions and is of value to researchers and practitioners with an interest in student engagement and the development of learner identities.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a practical, developmental working model of student engagement, presenting results from 16 month's implementation of an experimental project. It identifies key issues and reflects on potential for collaboration with students on cross‐institutional issues in learning, teaching, assessment and student experience. It provides an example of seeking to “engage students” in order to foster and enhance “students’ engagement”.

The paper is a reflective case‐study in a key area of innovation in a large London university. It gives a practice‐based account of key stages in implementation of the project, identifying aims, objectives and outcomes within the framework of the Educational Development Unit's work, and the university's Graduate Attributes initiative. Briefly describing practical aspects, it reflects on successes and difficulties encountered. It presents some quantitative data related to student participation, and qualitative data including outcomes for students and staff, and locates the work in the context of sector research on student engagement.

Outcomes of this project support and evidence claims made in theoretical literature about the value of student engagement work of this type.

This work offers a flexible, scale‐able model for collaborative work with students in the area of educational development, with potential for student participation in both practical and strategic work. With elements in common with other examples from the growing field of student engagement projects, this project differs from many of these in its cross‐institutional basis and scope.

The purpose of this study is to build upon existing literature regarding student engagement by exploring belonging on campus as an aspect of this. It examines how students understand, experience and articulate belonging at the university wide level and aims to incorporate the student perspective and voice into discussions on engagement.

The exploratory research employed a mixed method, but largely qualitative approach, to examine the understandings, experiences and perspectives that people hold and make use of. An online questionnaire (using open and closed questions), several snap‐shot interviews and seven in‐depth semi‐structured interviews were used to establish the central issues via thematic analysis.

A number of key themes are presented in relation to how and why students felt they belonged, and indeed why some students felt that they did not belong, were not included or even excluded. The findings revealed that the campus is a factor worthy of attention when considering student engagement, that students do have a sense of belonging that is related to this and that there could be implications for engagement and even retention for those whose sense of belonging or inclusion is questioned or compromised.

It also raises practical implications for institutions in terms of how to organise and develop campus space and activity to help foster belonging and community. Suggesting that it would be beneficial to consider access to participation and involvement through campus spaces and opportunities in order to enhance engagement and feelings of inclusion and belonging.

This paper offers further insight into student engagement by considering belonging beyond classroom interactions, via the wider campus and at university level.

The purpose of the research is to explore Foundation degree students’ experience of an innovative curriculum, designed to enable pathway choices and widen access to Honour's degree programmes in a wide range of health professions and Social Work.

A longitudinal, cohort design followed three years’ of entrants through their degree and in some cases beyond. Semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews were carried out by a dedicated researcher at approximately yearly intervals.

Social networks and friendship groups emerged as pivotal to participants’ well‐being and persistence. Institutional barriers included communication problems and a lack of information about timetables and other practical issues. Over time participants came to assert their needs and confront problems, individually and collectively, describing a more questioning and assertive approach to their study and work lives.

The experiences over time of students who leave university are needed to explore the role of social group membership and the effect of practical problems. A limitation of the study is that their views are not captured.

The importance of naturally‐occurring social groups in creating persistence at university has implications for curriculum design and resources (time/space) to support this activity.

Widening access to HE brings with it new responsibilities to support students over time as transitions occur through programmes of study and during vacation periods.

Flexible approaches to education are generally seen to benefit mature students but can be stressful and require good and timely information.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the suggestion that students from disadvantaged backgrounds become segregated from the wider university environment, cutting off their ability of engagement and having a voice within this arena. The limitations of university Student Unions is discussed, in terms of how they are disengaged themselves with understanding and relating to these independently run cultural groups.

The study has been carried out by a series of interviews within three university Afro‐Caribbean Societies (ACS's). The purpose of this is to create an internal view of the experiences of these groups and examine how being cut off from the wider university experience adds to their losses in equal student participation and engagement.

Although these societies embrace positive images within their cultures, the findings of this study suggests ways these societies can begin to integrate with their wider university societies and encourage engagement, in order to give their voices a platform in both academic and social arenas.

The study becomes an original contribution to existing literature by taking into account cultural groups which have not been acknowledged as already being segregated from the university experience.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that, in order to achieve teaching excellence, student engagement in dialogue on this important matter is needed. Students’ conceptualisations of good teaching are fundamental when building an understanding of what this is and how it can be developed.

This paper reports on findings of a qualitative study of undergraduate students’ perceptions of a good university lecturer. The paper draws on the secondary dataset collected by four subject centres of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

The interpretive analysis of the data shows that, from students’ perspectives, a combination of the lecturer's subject knowledge, willingness to help and inspirational teaching methods makes a good university lecturer. Being humorous and able to provide speedy feedback were also perceived as important factors. These findings have some important implications for academic practice.

The key thesis advanced is that definitions of teaching excellence cannot be adequately obtained from typologies and descriptions of techniques and skills. The authors’ contention is that deeper understandings are built through engaging students in meaningful dialogue about pedagogy. This may uncover more profound layers of understanding of what makes good teaching at university and so probe the more elusive aspects which defy measurement via scales or performance indicators.

The purpose of this paper is to explore mentoring as a dialogic practice in relation to three themes: identity, fear of being judged and respect. It develops Bokenko and Gantt’s (2000) concept of dialogic mentoring to propose a new theorisation of mentoring as a relational, embodied, spatial, affective and ethical practice.

The paper reports on a mentoring project that took place in a UK University which was seeking to enhance its research culture. This project used an innovative methodological approach in which mentor and mentee wrote and shared diary entries as means of building more effective and constructive mentoring experiences, and as a vehicle for reflexively analysing the mentoring process.

The project outcomes were: first, a deepened appreciation and reflexive evaluation of the role played by diaries and writing in the enactment of dialogic mentoring; second, the development of a theoretical framework to enhance understanding of dialogic mentoring and third, the generation of a dialogic mentoring model encompassing multiple dimensions of the process.

The paper provides insights to support methodological innovation in mentoring practice; it links mentoring practice with theory development to enhance mentor and mentee collaboration and reflexivity; it offers an example of good mentoring practice that could be scaled up within educational institutions wishing to enhance their research culture.

The paper offers, first, a reflexive account of a methodologically innovative mentoring practice to enhance mentoring; and second, it proposes a new theorisation and model of dialogic mentoring practices.