Universities are expected to align their programmes with the new Quality Assurance Agency National Qualifications framework by the start of the academic year 2003–2004 (QAA 01). QAA have identified a number of ‘intellect’ and ‘transferable’ skills in their guidelines, which they regard as essential to develop atall levels of higher education. They define ‘intellect’ skills as including analysis, synthesis, evaluation and problem-solving. Transferable skills include communication (oral and written), teamwork, research skills, etc. This article argues that these skills can be developed through study skills support and considers the potential benefits of different approaches to academic study skills support for undergraduate students.

The paper explores the adaptation experiences of East Asian masters students in the UK in dealing with western academic norms of critical thinking and debate. Through in-depth interviewing, students' perceptions of their learning experiences were explored, and stages in this adaptation process were identified, with various entry and exit routes. It was found that the majority of the students opt for a 'middle way' which synergizes their own cultural approach to critical thinking with those aspects of western-style critical thinking and debate that are culturally acceptable to them.

This article explores the learning experiences of East Asian master's students in dealing with Western academic norms of critical thinking in classroom debate and assignment writing. The research takes a cultural approach and employs grounded theory and case study methodology. The aim is for students to explain their own perceptions of their learning journeys and tell their own stories through in-depth interviews. The data suggest that the majority of students interviewed rejected full academic acculturation into Western norms of argumentation. They instead opted for a “Middle Way” that synergizes the traditional cultural academic values held by many East Asian students with those elements of Western academic norms that are perceived to be aligned with these. This is a relatively new area of research, which represents a challenge for British lecturers and students.

No abstract

This study focuses on the consequences for high skills development of the erosion of the once clear demarcation between higher education and business. It contributes to the broader debate about the relevance of higher education for the wellbeing of the society of the future. The research explores the effects of marketisation on the postgraduate curriculum and students' preparedness for careers in public relations and marketing communications.. Interviews with lecturers and students in two universities in the UK and Australia indicate that a tension exists between academic rigour and corporate relevancy . The consequences are a diminution of academic attachment to critique and wider social/cultural engagement, with a resulting impoverishment of students' creative abilities and critical consciences. Subsequently, graduates of public relations and marketing communications, and to some extent those from other profession-related disciplines, are insufficiently prepared for careers as knowledge workers in a future high skills economy. IntroductionA discernible fracturing in the traditional boundary between education and industry is now evident in the tertiary sector which in many instances has been colonised by the values and discourse of the market. How this is played out at postgraduate level in universities is not well understood although there appears to be an increasing tension between academic rigour and corporate relevance, especially in postgraduate programs. The broad effects of marketisation on education have been identified and debated (Fairclough, 1993;Naidoo and Jamieson, 2006; Ritzer 1996), as has the relationship between marketisation, academic knowledge and the labour market (Giroux, 2009) and business schools (Zell, 2001). We wish to contribute to these academic conversations by offering insights on student and lecturer experiences that occur at the confluence of higher education, industry and the global knowledge economy because it is at this point that the results of market colonisation are most pronounced. We investigate how the discourse and values of marketing have affected the academic development of postgraduate students preparing for entry into the business-related fields of marketing communications and public relations. We also aim to explore the relevance of postgraduate skills development for careers in a global knowledge economy which privileges intellectual capital.