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The recruitment of undergraduate students within English universities is of vital importance to both the academic success and the financial stability of the organisation. Despite the primacy of the task, there has been a dearth of research looking at related performance and how to ensure that the process is optimised. The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of variation both within a university and between different universities. The reliance that individual programmes and/or universities place on the Clearing process is key; given its uncertainty, resource demands and timing shortly before students take up their places.

The Nomogramma di Gandy diagrammatical approach utilises readily available data to analyse universities’ performance in recruiting students to different programmes, and the degree to which they each rely of the Clearing process. Inter-university performance was investigated on a whole-student intake basis for a sample of English universities, representative of type and region.

The study found that there were disparate patterns for the many programmes within the pilot university and also disparate patterns between different types of universities across England. Accordingly, universities should internally benchmark their programmes to inform both strategic and tactical decision-making. Similarly, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service benchmarking inter-university patterns could inform the overall sector.

The approach and findings provide lessons for analysing student recruitment which could be critical to universities’ academic and financial health, in an increasingly competitive environment.

In 2015 the Conservative led government announced their plan to increase the number of young people participating in apprenticeship to three million by 2020. As part of this plan there is to be an expansion of the number of degree-level apprenticeships, with the government suggesting that these should be seen as a real alternative to university. Despite the government’s propaganda of an alternative to university, higher education institutions have a pivotal role to play in both the development and delivery of degree-level apprenticeships. However, the accountability for the success of degree-level apprenticeships remains unclear. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper provides an analysis of current notions of outcome-based accountability contextualised through the degree apprenticeship programme.

The paper illustrates that outcome-based accountability frameworks do little to support the delivery of degree-level apprenticeships. Instead there needs to be a shift to a holistic approach to accountability where student success form just one element of an accountability framework. It concludes that current accountability frameworks may result in an unnecessary confusion around the roles and responsibilities of individual actors associated with degree apprenticeship delivery resulting in a missed opportunity to maximise the value arising from the tri-partite delivery relationship.

This paper provides an original perspective involving accountability associated with degree apprenticeship programmes in the UK.

This paper seeks to look at youth justice (YJ) personnel training and education and the recommendations about it made in Time for a Fresh Start.

The pedagogic tensions that currently shape YJ training are described – particularly those around the question of instructionalism vs education and what “specialist” means in the context of YJ.

The paper suggests that the authors of Time for a Fresh Start missed the opportunity to better serve the public and young people's interests by neither acknowledging the pedagogic tensions nor articulating what a “specialist” “YJ” professional training can mean in twenty‐first century England and Wales.

The paper highlights an urgent need for an open debate between academics, practitioners and policy makers about YJ pedagogy.

The purpose of this paper is to present the viewpoint that student role identity, its dimensions and salience, impact strongly on student expectations of college-based higher education (CBHE) within the UK.

The paper draws on doctoral research undertaken within the context of CBHE in the UK and is further supported through engagement with a range of pertinent literature.

The paper suggests ways in which the individually constructed student role identity may impact on the expectations of the experience of CBHE. In so doing, the paper highlights the way in which expectations of higher education recursively influence, and are influenced by, perceptions and actions played out from within the student role.

The empirical research, from which the paper draws its theme, was undertaken in one large institution. The author recognises that a wider, longitudinal study would be beneficial in recognition of the diversity of provision in the CBHE sector.

The paper proposes that greater awareness of the way in which students construct and moderate their perceptions and understandings of studenthood would be beneficial to a range of strategic considerations, such as promotional information, partnership activity, peer relations and the nature of pedagogies and learning architectures.

The paper foregrounds the political remit of CBHE as a progression route for “non-traditional” students, and considers the varied understandings of the meaning of the student role adopted by students attending colleges. Engagement with issues of multiple roles, identity salience and variable role porosity highlights social and pyschosocial issues faced by many such students.

The paper considers role identity in the context of Kurt Lewin’s conceptualisation of life space and uses this framework to highlight issues that may face students and colleges in raising awareness of student expectations. It challenges the homogenous conceptualisation of the term “students” through consideration of the psychic state at a given moment in time.

The purpose of this case study is to detail the development of a bespoke programme of learning for Support Workers employed in the mental health sector.

The programme was designed to serve three purposes: to offer a route into mental health nursing; to upskill those who wanted to remain as a Support Worker; to improve the quality of care provided.

The paper shares the perspectives of the local Partnership Trust, a Support Worker on the programme and the Programme Director.

Employers within the mental health sector are encouraged to develop their own staff and universities are urged to think differently about curriculum design.

UK government strategies for higher education (HE) continue to emphasise the promotion and enhancement of students' employability skills and subsequent graduate opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to explore what this means for those HE learners already in work.

The paper presents the findings of a national study on the impact of Foundation degrees (Fds) on students and the workplace, in the light of government's plans for the continuing expansion of HE, and discussions about employability.

The study found that the majority of Fd students cited increased confidence as the main gain from their studies; such confidence was expressed in terms of how students' enhanced knowledge and understandings informed their workplace activities and tasks but these expressions did not necessarily fit neatly into narrow skills' definitions. Also the findings hint at some students facing difficulties in using their enhanced “skills” in the workplace.

Although based on a relatively small number of Fd programmes, the student voices represent a powerful message of the value of linking studies to their workplace practices and of the multi‐dimensional nature of “confidence” based on personal experiences and trajectories.

While the term “employability skills” is regularly used in the discourse of graduates' trajectories in to the labour market, more nuanced understandings are needed in relation to HE learners already in the workplace.

Given government's expectation that the next phase of expansion of UK HE will embrace an increase in part‐time study and work‐based learning, the article represents a timely exploration of work‐based students' perceptions of the development of employability skills and how they are able to deploy these in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to report upon the design, implementation and findings of a research study investigating the perceptions of electronic library resources within the UK further education sector. While such resources are widely available to the sector, very little qualitative investigation has been done as to its impact upon teaching and learning and how it is viewed by those who have access to it.

The research uses a case study in which staff and students at three separate further education colleges are encouraged to explore and share their experiences of using electronic library resources. This is achieved through structured interviews with teaching staff and focused student discussion groups. Extensive reference to relevant literature is also employed as a method.

The findings of the research are entirely qualitative, and are reported through a sequence of annotated quotations, which reveal personal experiences and perceptions of using electronic library resources and the influence and impact they have had on teaching and learning activity.

The findings are limited to one case study, using three different colleges in the Merseyside area of the UK.

The qualitative data provided through the research provides insight into electronic resource use within a cross section of the further education sector. It is therefore of use to those studying the impact of electronic resources, particularly within the further education sector. The research provides evidence which can be used to inform future e‐resources policy. The findings can also be used to shape e‐resources guidelines for practitioners in the further education sector.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss three case studies reflecting areas of innovation and creativity which CETL funding made possible through a work‐based learning CETL. CETL sponsored evaluations of funded projects and teaching initiatives informed further curriculum developments.

Using a case study approach the paper explores the experiences of three different projects and the impact upon staff and students in a CETL for work‐based learning. Three case studies are used, the first describing progression from a Performing Arts Diploma to a degree, facilitated by the use of learning technologies and social networking; the second considers the impact upon experienced professionals and stakeholders involved in a new Doctorate programme by Public Works. The third case study demonstrates the importance of rewarding investment in and evaluation of learning approaches, assisted by learning technology, with the resultant development of a model which facilitates reflective learning from work activities. Case studies were focused on teaching and learning practice.

These were all programme developments which arose from practitioners and impacted upon academic practice and curriculum development. They impacted upon future learning initiatives thus demonstrating that the CETL investment impacted a wide range of learning activities at different academic levels. Dissemination of impact beyond the original project was evident through qualitative feedback and practitioner practice.

This was more of an analytical exploration of funded innovations in teaching and learning than formal research and therefore is not presented as traditional research. However, a case for case study approach in included, but data methods not explored.

The CETL funding of teaching and learning innovations impacted upon work‐based learning and the student learning experience within several schools across the university. These innovations have become significant for future WBL curriculum developments within the University. It is also evidenced that additional funding for five years of the CETL project enabled projects to grow and develop over a period of time. Therefore the indications are that sustained funding and evaluations at development points contribute to embedding and enhancing academic curriculum innovations.

This paper highlights the importance of long‐term investment in teaching and learning initiatives and the impact that such investment can have over a period of time, particularly in relation to CETL funding, of which the long‐term effects on teaching and learning in HE are as yet unknown.