EDU-30074 - Module Specification
School of Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

What is the `purpose¿ of university?
Who is it for?
How should it be run?
What do students think?

The past decade has seen sharp re-directions in higher education. Today¿s universities are radically different than a generation ago. Most things taken for granted then are now contested.
Critics argue that `for-profit¿ orientations de-value higher education, that the `critical¿ nature and role of higher education is being neglected in favour of short-term employability-oriented courses, and that there is increasingly little specifically `educational¿ or `higher¿ about higher education as it becomes simply another commodity. There are laments over the `death of an idea¿ and `killing thinking¿.
Students are important stakeholders in the business of higher educational change today. This module seeks to promote among students the exercise of an informed voice in recognition of their stake in the business, with a focus on the Keele experience in these broader historical and policy contexts.
We use traditional lectures, seminars, group work and a structured class debate to tackle such topical questions as:
1. What do students think about the `public good¿ idea of a university¿s purpose, as it applies to themselves and society? That is, in what proportions is higher education understood as being for:
- skills (to participate socio-economically)
- culture
- learning for its own sake ¿
2. How does this perception affect students¿ decisions about:
- What to study?
- Where to study?
3. How are such choices impacted by risk-averse decision-making that is said to have accompanied the simultaneous widening of the Higher Education entry gate and the introduction of high fees?
4. How do such perceptions govern students¿ views on how they should be taught?

To enable students to make academic sense of wider reforms in Higher Education that impact on the 'student experience'

Intended Learning Outcomes

recognise the significance of key moments of HE reform on their immediate learning environment and on their experience as students
: 1
describe and exemplify links between HE policy and their own experience as students
: 1
evaluate the impact of HE policy change on students' expectations of HE: 1
constructively critique their own experience of, and approach to, learning against the policy frameworks presented
: 1
explain the historical significance of key HE policy reviews over the past fifty years: 1
explain the national significance and international dimensions of UK HE policy, practice and change
: 1

Study hours

22 class contact hours (11 x two hour sessions)
25 hours for formative work
50 hours reading and preparation for seminars
2 hours individual supervision
51 hours essay

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment