TIPOS DE INTERACCIONES

There is an acknow ledged diversity o f higher education institutions in the UK, in terms o f history, current m ission, portfolio o f courses and research, and student characteristics (NCIHE, 1997). It is therefore im portant that, prior to the discussion o f specific findings, the case study institution is described and some basic data presented in order to situate the university w ithin the UK higher education sector.

7 .1 .1 O v e r v i e w

Inter-U is a new university w ith a m ission which em phasises professional education and employability. It was previously an Institute o f H igher Education that was developed from the m erger o f a num ber o f separate colleges. It was granted taught degree awarding powers in 1993 and w as preparing an application for research degree awarding powers at the tim e o f the study.

A multi-campus university, it w as originally arranged into nine separate departments which were re-structured into five. Its portfolio o f programmes had a strong vocational thrust and an em phasis w as placed on the professional accreditation o f programmes. The principal disciplinary areas in the university were art and design, health and care related disciplines, education, sport related disciplines and management.

7 . 1 . 2 T h e s t u d e n t p o p u l a t i o n o f l n t e r - U 1

The total student population o f the university for the year in which the study began (2004-05) w as 10015 and for the year in which the study was com pleted (2006-07) it was 10998. It was thus a relatively small university by UK standards and, in terms o f Welsh universities, could be seen as ‘mid range’. In the period 1996-97 to 2004-05 Inter-U had experienced a grow th o f 19%, but this was sm aller than the level o f growth in W ales (33% ) and the U K (26% ) generally.

Internal m anagem ent inform ation showed that Inter-U ’s international student population grew from 6% o f the total student full-tim e equivalent population in 2003- 04 to 12% in 2005 - 06. There w as also a 5% increase in the percentage o f postgraduate students during this tim e period, from 18% to 23%. A divestment o f further education and sub-degree program m es and a growth in post-graduate research student numbers wras a stated aim o f the university, as noted in a strategic planning paper,

Recent prioritisation o f the strategic developm ent o f research culture has seen us both divest o f fu rth e r education (FE) and sub-degree provision, an d achieve grow th in our postgraduate population. (Paper

to Learning and Teaching Board)

Given that these increases occurred during and im mediately prior to the study they may have im pacted upon staff perspectives regarding the student population.

When the study began benchm ark percentages derived from HESA performance indicators showed the university m et or exceeded all indicators for the participation o f both young and m ature students from low participation neighbourhoods. However

when young students w ere categorised by social class (NS-SEC classes 4,5, 6 and 7) recruitm ent fell below the benchm ark.

Benchm arks and sector com parisons for disabled students showed Inter-U as performing particularly w ell. For exam ple, the figures for full-time, first degree students in 2003-4 w ere: U K = 3.1%, W ales = 4.4% InterU = 7.3%, Benchmark = 3.7%. . In 2003-4 the university had the nineteenth highest recorded percentage o f disabled students in U K HEIs. Those recording higher percentages were mostly Arts Colleges with a high correlation betw een their subject portfolios and the incidence o f specific learning difficulties. In Inter-U, as in m any other UK universities a rise in the percentage o f disabled students has been largely due to greater identification and recording o f dyslexia. Inter-U has a departm ent that includes the creative arts and, as has been noted in sim ilar departm ents in other universities, the incidence o f dyslexia is higher than in other disciplines (D avies, 2001; A ssociation o f Art Historians, 2003).

Comparable benchm arking data for ethnic m inorities was not available from HESA at this time, how ever an internal progress report on w idening participation showed that 5.6% o f students w ere from ethnic m inority groups and this was seen as exceeding a benchmark o f 5% draw n from local census data.

7 . 1 . 3 S t a f f i n g

Finally, tables 7.1 and 7.2 below present the staffing profile o f Inter-U based on data extracted from internal hum an resource records. These show the distribution o f staff across m anagerial, academ ic and support roles and the diversity profile o f staff.

Table 7.1 Distribution across m anagerial, academic and support roles

ROLE CURRENT FTE

SEN IO R POST 33.0