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Foundation degrees, the new proposal for sub‐degree vocational education in the UK, are characterised by innovation both in their design (curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment) and in the marketplace for which they are designed. This article argues that the development and delivery of foundation degrees carry a high level of risk, and encourages reflection on the nature and impact of those risks.

The article discusses the sources of the risks associated with the development of foundation degrees, as a platform for the development of strategies for the management of risk, and positive quality management. The discussion is developed under the following headings: working in partnership, validation processes, curriculum and learning issues, marketplace and admission issues, staffing and organisational issues, and the student experience.

There are a number of sources of support and advice to assist in mitigation of the risks, but ultimately the responsibility for the management of the risks rests with employers, educational institutions, their staff and students.

The article surfaces a range of issues relating to risks and their management in the context of foundation degrees. It should inform curriculum development, and the development of quality management systems for the management of foundation degrees.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the decision‐making process of students who decided to study for a foundation degree.

The research involved interviewing 30 students who were on, or had recently completed, a business‐related foundation degree.

This study found that students were not adopting a rational/comprehensive approach when making the decision to study for a foundation degree. The students only utilised limited sources of information; they did not consider a range of different options; and they often relied on informally absorbed information and their intuition. This paper argues that these students need impartial “hot” sources of advice that are easy to access. The students should also be provided with the opportunity to critically evaluate their decision‐making and should be encouraged to develop alternative, more comprehensive, approaches to decision‐making.

This paper sets out a novel approach to preparing students for making choices about higher education which involves focusing on the process of decision‐making. It also argues against targeting support at working class students on the grounds that students from middle class backgrounds also exhibit a lack of understanding of higher education and flaws in the way they make decisions.

This paper discusses the academic, governmental and logistical issues surrounding the University of Glamorgan’s recent involvement in developing accredited training and education for one of the largest music technology manufacturers in the world – Roland UK. The paper reports the joint development of a Foundation Degree in Music Retail Management, reflecting upon the viability of implementing work based learning (WBL), including accrediting current training and prior learning (APL). Through analysing the early stages of the project, the paper aims to formulate a clearer perspective of what the University of Glamorgan and Roland UK, in addition to the government and the music retail industry, actually require from a foundation degree such as this. After presenting a synopsis of the current political climate and contextualising the existing status of musical instrument retail training, an overview is provided of the development of the Roland/Glamorgan partnership. This is followed by a discussion of the philosophical debates and mechanisms currently surrounding the implementation and accreditation of WBL. The paper cumulates with the development of a pedagogical model that takes into account the quality issues of both the University of Glamorgan and Roland UK in addition to government policy. Conclusions are then drawn regarding the importance of both institutions developing appropriate structural capital and being aware of cultural differences that can potentially restrict academic/industrial partnerships. Although this pilot was focused specifically upon Roland UK, its wider implications, in terms of the demand for accredited training for the music instrument retail industry, are considered.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a case study that identifies the practical issues and implications of employer engagement through course design, delivery and employee commitment in a higher education course delivered in the financial services sector.

Using a case study the paper draws on the course team (employer and university) experience of a higher education course delivered at a financial services institution over a two cohort period. Student application data and student feedback are used to identify the practical issues arising from course.

The paper emphasises the importance of understanding the business of the employer, bespoke delivery models and employee commitment for increasing employer participation in higher skills in the work place, particularly for employers not traditionally engaging with universities for course delivery at undergraduate level.

The paper explores issues for employers and universities for design, delivery and sustainability of higher skills in the work place.

This paper aims to describe the work of Staffordshire University in engaging with local employers and local further education colleges in the development of a Foundation Degree in Applied Technology.

Following an outline of current government policy in employer engagement, the paper identifies – from the literature and recent quality reviews of provision – some issues for higher education institutions in developing a work‐based learning curriculum with industry. It then outlines a case study of the Foundation Degree in Applied Technology – a collaborative venture between Staffordshire University (the awarding body), Burton College (the deliverer of the award) and JCB (the employer). In conclusion, the paper evaluates the case study.

Evaluation of the case study suggests that the Foundation Degree in Applied Technology, as designed by Staffordshire University and delivered at JCB by Burton College, is a model of good practice in employer engagement.

The value of this paper is that the case study illustrates key success factors, for higher education institutions and further education partnerships, in engaging with industry to design and deliver a foundation degree for a major manufacturing employer in the private sector.

There is considerable evidence to illustrate police occupational culture can negatively influence service delivery and organizational reform. To counteract this, and to improve professionalism, the police services of England and Wales will become a graduate profession from 2020, although little empirical evidence exists as to what impact this will have. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of a police degree course on its students.

Initially, a survey was conducted with 383 university students studying for criminal justice-related undergraduate degrees in a UK university. This indicated Police Foundation degree students (n=84), identified themselves as being different, and behaving differently, to other university students. To explore the reasons for this, four focus groups were conducted with this cohort, during their two-year degree programme.

The study found that the Police Foundation degree students quickly assimilated a police identity, which affected their attitudes and behavior. The process led to a strengthening of ties within their own student group, at the expense of wider student socialization.

The study provides new findings in relation to undergraduate students who undertake a university-based degree programme, tailored to a future police career. The results have implications for both police policy makers and those in higher education as it highlights the strength of police occupational culture and the implications for the design of future police-related degree programmes.

The purpose of this article is to explore how higher education (HE) institutions are responding to the workforce remodelling agenda of public services and the emergence of “para‐professions” within traditionally low paid/low status employment.

With reference to recent research, the article reviews the authors' experience of foundation degrees (FDs) in education and explores tensions in managing the competing needs of the varying stakeholders.

A model of work‐based learning (WBL) results from the study, which includes consideration of the following key areas: employer engagement; CPD and professional bodies – external validation and professional recognition; progression into HE through the workforce; and pedagogy of WBL

This article identifies a need for the systematic examination of the issues raised by the implementation of FDs as CPD for employed staff. The assumption that FD provision for employees results in more effective WBL is challenged. The importance of FDs in accreditation for a range of occupations in the Children's Workforce also suggests a need for research into the ”professionalisation” of these occupations.

The issue of employer engagement is fundamental and that paper argues that HE has a crucial role to play but that ensuring employer engagement requires responsiveness on the part of university structures, as well as the capacity to stimulate employer engagement and/or sanction lack of employer engagement at the level of individual programmes.

This article provides information about the new phenomenon of implementation of FDs to support workforce development.

Very little attention has been devoted so far to the study of the market orientation concept in private non‐profit organisations. However, there is a general agreement concerning the positive effects that this concept’s adoption has on the non‐profit services implementation as well as on these organisations’ long‐term success. Thus this paper aims at obtaining further empirical evidence on this field of research using a private foundations sample. Nevertheless, it is considered that the distinctive and specific nature of private non‐profit organisations’ activities deserves the development of a special instrument to evaluate their degree of market orientation. In this sense, one of this study’s main contributions is the development of a market orientation measurement scale which accounts for the peculiarities of private non‐profit organisations’ operations. Additionally, the study proves the positive effect of market orientation on the non‐profit outcomes and on the fulfilment of these organisations’ missions.

This study aims to explore the extent to which Twitter users engaged in uncivil and morally questionable expressions in their comments about specific Asian countries and citizens. The integrated threat theory (ITT) was used to formulate questions surrounding incivility and moral foundations within Twitter discourses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors collected tweets and retweets posted by English-speaking Twitter users in the United States (US) across the following three phases: (1) initial discovery of COVID-19 in China, (2) high US mortality rate from COVID-19 and (3) the announcement that a vaccine would soon be available in the US.

The authors found a significant difference in uncivil tweets posted in cities with higher levels of reported hate crimes against Asians than cities with low levels. Lastly, English-speaking Twitter users tended to employ moral virtue words and moral vice words when discussing China and Chinese culture/populations.

The bags-of-words employed are limited in capturing nuanced and metaphorical terms. In addition, the analysis focused solely on Tweets composed in English and thus did not capture the thoughts and opinions of non-English speakers. Lastly, this study did not address all Asian countries. In this sense, the findings of this study might not be applicable to Tweets about other nations.

Given that many Twitter users tend to use terms of moral virtue in support of Asians and Asian communities, the authors suggest that non-governmental organization administrators provide morally supportive social media campaigns that encourage users to engage in civil discourse.

These findings have theoretical implications as the frameworks of integrated threats and moral foundations were used to offer group-level explanations for online behavior. Additional research is needed to explore whether these frameworks can be used to explain negativity in other communication environments.

This study expands the findings of prior studies that identified the extent to which Twitter users express hate speech, focusing on general Twitter discourse across three specific periods of the pandemic: degrees of incivility and moral foundations, and comparison of incivility based on the prevalence of reported hate crimes.