Staff Profile

Ming’s main research areas cover quality and quality enhancement in higher education, academic professionalism, leadership and internationalisation. She has presented papers based on her research at 18 international academic conferences in the UK, Canada, Austria, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates since 2006. And she was one of the two SRHE Newer Researcher Prize winners 2010.

Ming is a member of a variety of international scholarly associations, such as the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) and the European Higher Education Society (EAIR). She works as a peer reviewer for different international journals, including Studies in Higher Education; Educational Review; Innovations in Education and Teaching International; and Tertiary Education and Management.

Ming was also approached and offered an honorary position as a Consultant of the UK Higher Education Study, China Youth Centre for International Exchange.

Selected Publications: 

Single-authored book

• Cheng, M. (2009). Changing Academics: Quality Audit and its Perceived Impact. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag.

Key referred journal articles

• Cheng, M. (2012). Accountability and professionalism: Contradiction in terms? Higher Education Research and Development. 31(6): 1-11.
• Cheng, M. (2011). ‘Transforming the Learner’ versus ‘Passing the Exam’? Understanding the Gap between Academic and Student Definitions of Teaching Quality. Quality in Higher Education. 17 (1): 3-17.
• Cheng, M. (2011). The perceived impact of quality audit on the work of academics. Higher Education Research and Development. 30 (2): 179-191.
• Cheng, M. (2010). Audit cultures and quality assurance mechanisms in England: A case study of their perceived impact on the work of academics. Teaching in Higher Education. 15(3): 259-271.
• Cheng, M. (2009). Academics’ professionalism and quality mechanisms: Challenges and tensions. Quality in Higher Education. 15 (3): 193-205
• Wisker, G., Morris, C., Warnes, M., Lilly, M., Robinson, G., Trafford, V. & Cheng, M. (2009). Doctoral learning journeys: supporting and enhancing doctoral students' research and related skills development through research evidence-based practices. Assessment, Learning & Teaching Journal (5): 19-22.
• Macfarlane, B. and Cheng, M. (2008). Communism, universalism and disinterestedness: re-examining contemporary support among academics for Merton’s scientific norms. Journal of Academic Ethics 6(1): 67-78.

Book chapters

• Cheng, M. (forthcoming). Professionalising teaching identity: Valorizing academics as teachers. In Gornall, et al (eds). Academic Working Lives, Professional Identity and Change. London: Continuum.