1. Scholarly activity in CHE: a QAA perspective

2. QAA’s Research Strategy Intentions: To inform policy making (at national and institutional levels) To provide an analysis of current trends in higher education (and their social and economic consequences) To enhance practice and the student experience in higher education (and the learning gain resulting from the experience)

3. Commissioned research project In 2012-13 a project was commissioned by QAA and undertaken by Jonathan Simmons (UWE) and John Lea (Canterbury Christ Church University) “Capturing a higher education ethos in college higher education” This explores the context in which FECs in England respond to the opportunities and challenges of providing HE programmes

4. Methodology The research provides a contextual setting for CHE practice, drawing on the existing literature It discusses what it means for colleges to be” higher” and “scholarly” – the four lenses, and draws upon the four scholarship models of Boyer (1990) It provides a summary review of IQER findings and emergent themes Six anonymised case studies of CHE

5. Main recommendations Making sure partnership and validation arrangements meet the needs of students Promoting a higher education ethos at colleges with smaller scale provision Investigating academic and vocational drift The research environment should provide a context for taught courses

6. RCHE and IR outcomes 5 out of 79 recommendations about Scholarly activity 4 out of 38 Good practice about scholarly activity

7. What we found: – Formalise the leadership and coordination of teaching and learning scholarship and research – Produce and reflect on an overview for scholarship activity. – Develop a systematic approach to analyse the impact of teaching and learning, scholarly activity and staff development – develop a higher education staff development plan to include teaching and learning and scholarly activity

8. Themes HE identity and ethos supported by scholarship initiatives Overview of scholarly activity to HE support strategic aims and enhancement Link between scholarly activity and staff development Link between scholarly activity and teaching and learning

9. The report is available Through links on the QAA website: http:// www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGui dance/Pages/HE-ethos-Lea-Simmons.aspx

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