The student experience initiatives in higher education: an occupational perspective.

Abstract

The student experience initiatives are firmly placed onto the strategic agenda for the majority of the UK higher education institutions. This study considers how the three main occupational groupings, namely: academics, manager-academics and non-academics, view the focus and the direction of the student experience initiatives in a context of a post-92 university. One of the similarities identified is a view of student experience initiatives as university responses to the increasing marketisation of higher education. A number of significant differences in relation to the ownership, focus and management of the initiatives are discussed. The study highlights the tensions emerging from the differences in the views of the occupational groupings studied. The implications for the management of the student experience initiatives in universities are developed outlining the need for a deeper understanding about the tensions amongst the various occupational groupings and the strengthening of the collaborative working practices in universities.