The Scholarship Project
Welcome to the third edition of the Scholarship Project newsletter which includes latest news and updates
· Aiming to support the development and embedding of a
distinct higher education scholarly ethos the further education sector ·
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The project so far...
Note from John Lea, HE Scholarship Project Director
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The Scholarship Project is a three-year project that aims to create a scholarship framework adoptable by all colleges offering higher education (HE). Throughout the first phase of the project, June 2015 - January 2016, the scholarship project team and the four pilot colleges have been working to develop ideas and components of the framework. This has included using various tools such as interviews and surveys to establish a baseline of current scholarly activity. Our next priority is to do a needs analysis to see how we can move forward.
February marks the beginning of the second phase of the project, so we welcome 11 additional colleges who will work on the crucial task of exploring and trialling the ideas related to scholarship within their college partnerships.
We are also encouraging practitioners throughout college HE to submit case studies to exemplify where forms of scholarly activity have enhanced student learning and particularly where they have resulted in curriculum reform. It is hoped that many of these will be used in supporting the development of the project's framework. If your college is doing great work in embedding scholarly activity, please let us know, no matter how big or small.
Planning has begun for the second AoC Research and Scholarship conference following its successful launch last year. The conference will take place on 28 June 2016. Please save the date as further information will be disseminated soon. I also hope to see you on 3 March 2016 at AoC Annual College HE conference in London.
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The Scholarship Project Literature Review
The Scholarship Project literature review is now available. The literature review aims to analyse the positioning of college HE within the wider higher education and skills policy and practice landscape. It discusses some of the opportunities and threats presented in seeking to develop distinct forms of scholarly activity in college settings. The literature review will help inform the development of the conceptual underpinning for the project.
Dr Becky Turner, Education Developer at Plymouth University commented on the literature review saying, “for many, accessing the contemporary work on scholarly activity in colleges has been challenging as it is published in a variety of sources across the HE and FE sectors. For me, this is a 'go to' document, written in an accessible style that will be of relevance to practitioners, researchers and policymakers; indeed I have plans to integrate it into my own teaching on this subject.”
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Hull College Group's involvement in the first phase of the Scholarship Project
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| Over the years, Hull College Group have been able to successfully develop a culture of scholarship. In their project update, they discuss the work they have completed to date which is likely to inform the development of the college HE scholarship project framework. HE Scholarship Development Manager at Hull College Group, Patrick Leonard, and Debbie Meakin, HE Quality and Research Manager, also talk about the benefits and challenges of being a large HE provider and give examples on how faculties such as the arts faculty, who do not always recognise the quality of their work, are in fact achieving great scholarship. |
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Higher Education Academy supports raising quality teaching
in college HE
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The Higher Education Academy (HEA) is one of the national Scholarship Project's partner organisations. It will be sharing it's existing knowledge-base and exploring possible alignment with the current UK Professional Standards Framework.The partnership is also important as college HE staff actively engaged in scholarly activity could be professionally recognised by applying to become fellows of the Academy.
Michael Parker, HEA Partnership Manager said, "an over-arching framework to support scholarship is essential in maintaining and improving the excellent standards of teaching taking place in colleges. Therefore, HEA is proud to support this project". |
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A key area of interest for the project is employer involvement in staff and student scholarship. To help address this issue, AoC has joined a transnational project with partners in Germany, Czech Republic, Flanders Belgium, Denmark and the Basque autonomous region, called the BEEHiVES project funded by Erasmus+.
BEEHiVES stands for: Boosting European Exchange on Higher VET and Employer Involvement in Education Structures. The project aims to meet of the key priorities of the EU Modernisation Agenda for HE to reform HE to better meet the requirements of the labour market with an emphasis on relevant skills, qualifications and graduates' employability.
One problem in achieving these aims lies in the weakness of the 'strategic partnership triangle' – the relationship between employers, providers and students. The project intends to address this by developing an easily usable toolkit of measures that employer and student engagement is enhanced in a higher VET and professional HE curriculum. This supports a key objective of the Scholarship Project improving employer involvement in curriculum and course development. |
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| The BEEHiVES team at Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University, Stuggart, Germany |
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Keeping up with the Scholarship Project
We now have case studies including video case studies. Share what's happening in your college by submitting a case study.
Dates for your diary:
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