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This paper presents an analysis of the ways in which UK higher education (HE) has become increasingly commercialised and commodified in the post-1980s. It critiques the strategies adopted by successive UK governments to reinvigorate the relationship between educational and economic life, and to facilitate a more corporate and entrepreneurial spirit within the academy in line with the pressures of a 'knowledge-based economy'. Arguing for a more critical exploration of teaching and learning within HE, the paper presents evidence from work carried out by the Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching in Learning (CETL) which adopts a research-based learning approach to teaching and learning at undergraduate level.1 Within the context of ongoing debates surrounding the relationship between teaching, learning and research in UK HE, the paper advocates a reinvention of curriculum design through an engagement with the broader principles of critical pedagogy, and in so doing, presents a critical engagement with the commercialisation of HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper adds to extant professional education literature by reflecting on apparent differences in pedagogy of similar professional programmes of study, allowing deeper insight into the unique strand of higher education influenced by the professions. A comparative international case study approach is adopted of an interpretive qualitative nature regarding curricular, teaching and learning and assessment strategies of an accounting department in South Africa (SA) and one in the UK. Findings point to significant differences in curriculum and assessment but less so in teaching and learning approaches. One department endeavoured to find a balance between vocational and academic activities, whilst the other favoured the former being inconsistent with both its governmental and institutional governing bodies. Explanations offered include differing strengths of coercive, competitive, mimetic and normative influence [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In responding to The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA [now the Disability and Discrimination Act, Part 4]), UK universities have made significant efforts to address issues of access and inclusivity via structural changes to campus environments and developments in student support. However, little attention has been given to ensure students are well-equipped to understand issues of disability. Moreover, staff training is needed before disability issues can be successfully incorporated into the curriculum. It is essential to consider more than the practicalities of equal opportunities and rights of access alone. Despite the fact that the emerging disability philosophy embraces the social rather than medical model, the approach to managing and teaching disability issues remains rather mechanistic. A heightened awareness of disability issues can be achieved through a problem-based learning approach. However, effort is required to ensure such activities are not undertaken in isolation, given that the goal is towards inclusivity across the entire curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]