| Unit name | Higher Education, Economy and Society |
|---|---|
| Unit code | EDUCM0114 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Lucas |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Education |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
Higher education is a fascinating sector that has grown mightily in the last three decades. It now plays a key role all over the world and connects to almost every other economic and social activity through its education, research and outreach functions. This unit defines higher education and explores its many agendas, investigating the main issues, ideas, interpretations and controversies that animate public and policy discussion and shape the work and possibilities for students, academic faculty, leaders, managers and administrators and specialist professionals in the sector. While new issues arise continuously in higher education and are sometimes very important (e.g. the advent of AI in 2022), the sector has longstanding core preoccupations including its role of higher education in the economy; the impact of technological change in the workplace and in higher education; education and social opportunity and stratification, including access and equity; gender and racism in higher education; financing and fees; higher education as a public good or a common good, and the role of students. The unit reviews burning issues and debates, including graduate employability, fees, academic freedom, and the populist-conservative critique of higher education (e.g.in the United States). When focusing on the economic and social impact of higher education, the unit will also draw attention the other social factors that affect social equity, employability, and individual success and economic prosperity, including the influence of social background, and economic forces and inequalities.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Higher Education, Economy and Society is about becoming an effective scholar-practitioner in relation to the key issues and challenges at the interface between higher education and the external economic and social world. It fits alongside Higher Education Leadership and Management which focuses on the inner world of higher education systems and institutions, and is the springboard for the study of Global Higher Education (which moves to the international and world-level) and Meta-Research Governance in Higher Education. Higher Education, Economy and Society can also be taken as an optional unit by other students engaged in or interested in current issues in higher education.
An overview of content
In Higher Education, Economy and Society you will gain a working knowledge of what is comprised by higher and tertiary education, the activities, disciplines, agendas and stakeholders, and the social and economic connections and contributions. Successive weeks examine the growth of educational participation, the stratification of value (e.g. the role of elite universities), issues of access and social justice; racism and coloniality in higher education; academic freedom, and the populist-conservative critique of universities; higher education financing, fees and marketisation, and whether higher education is a public or a private good; higher education and the economy, including graduate employment and employability; higher education and technology; and the nature and roles of students themselves. The unit will review the work of major thinkers about higher education and key ideas used to explain it including the ‘multiversity’, equality of opportunity, human capital theory and credentialism, and normative lenses brought to bear on higher education and research matters such as the ‘knowledge economy’, social justice, critical race theory.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
The unit connects to key aspects of the student experience including fees and market competition between universities (e.g. are students consumers or are other roles of students more motivating or important to them?), and graduate employment and employability (what determines the employment outcomes of individual graduates?). On completion of the unit, you will be equipped to discuss, investigate and act on issues in higher education.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the unit students will be able to:
Classes will include both lecture presentations with scope for student responses, and seminar style discussion, with the latter including both whole class plenaries and group work.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
From Week 2 onwards, you will be invited to register and vote on what you perceive, based upon your pre-set reading, to be the core problematic of the weekly themes of each class. This will lead into end-of class focused discussion which will deepen student engagement in both the reading and the Unit themes. In small groups, you will prepare a short presentation applying the contents of the previous class to their chosen country or world region. Towards the end of the unit, you will be invited to participate in a ‘gold-fish bowl’ discussion, with interchangeable discussant and observers engaged in focused conversation on what counts as effective action in international and global higher education settings. These modes of discussion, mediated by formative feedback from teaching staff, will help you to prepare for the summative assessment.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
A 3,000 word essay (100%, ILOs 1-4),
When assessment does not go to plan
When a student fails the unit and is eligible to resubmit, failed components will be reassessed on a like-for-like basis.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EDUCM0114).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
