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Programme & Unit Catalogues


MN60682: Higher education policy and management

[Page last updated: 23 August 2022]

Academic Year: 2022/23
Owning Department/School: School of Management
Credits: 15 [equivalent to 30 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 300
Level: Doctoral (FHEQ level 8)
Period:
Modular (no specific semester)
Assessment Summary: CW 100%
Assessment Detail:
  • Coursework (CW 100% - Qualifying Mark: 40)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites:
Learning Outcomes:
* Critical understanding of key research concepts in public policy analyses and the study of higher education policy
* Familiarity with different approaches to the study of higher education policy, including methods of policy analysis and types of relevant data
* Understanding of theoretical perspective relevant to higher education policy research (e.g. political economy, functionalism, post-structuralism),
* Critical awareness of the implications of higher education policy for the roles and functions of higher education in society
* Critical understanding of main approaches to regulation and funding in higher education policy and their implication for organisational behaviour and management

Aims: This unit focuses on higher education policy, particularly at the national and subnational level, and its implications for the management of higher education organisations.
Through the unit, students should be able to identify the strategic implications of policy changes at organisational levels and relate higher education policies to underlying considerations on the roles and functions of higher education in society.

Skills: Students who successfully complete this unit should develop
* The ability to critically appraise higher education research publications and higher education policy reports identifying their strengths and weaknesses
* The ability to critically analyse higher education policy implications for the conceptualisation of higher education systems and higher education organisations
* The ability to critically reflect on the management implications of higher education policy change
* The ability to develop coherent and relevant questions, approaches and strategies for higher education policy research
All skills are initially taught/delivered in seminars, and then facilitated through further discussion and individual work. All skills should also be evident in the final assessed work.

Content: Typical content covered in the unit includes:
* Public policy and policy analyses
* Policy as process
* Policy diffusion and policy convergence
* Qualitative methods in policy research
* Higher education policy: states, markets and audits
* Risk and regulation in higher education policy
* Funding of higher education and tuition fees
* Quality assurance, management of teaching and learning
* Organisational responses to higher education policy.

Programme availability:

MN60682 is Compulsory on the following programmes:

School of Management

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2022/23 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2023/24 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2022/23.
  • Programmes and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.