Meeting of review teams

There are four other research reviews which have been commissioned by the Higher Education Academy, namely:

• Undergraduate student experience of blended learning approaches: Dr Rhona Sharpe, Oxford Brookes
• The first year experience: Professor Lee Harvey, Sheffield Hallam University
• The impact of working context and support on the postgraduate research student learning: Professor Diana Leonard and Dr Janet Metcalfe, Institute of Education and UK GRAD
• The role and critical analysis of the effectiveness of reflective practice in programmes for new academic staff: Dr Peter Khan, University of Manchester.

The call for these reviews went out earlier than the one we responded to, and the review teams have just started work (whereas we don't start until January 2006.)
There is a little more information at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/3386.htm

Yesterday (Wednesday 26th October) there was an inaugural meeting for the teams, which was extremely useful: finding out more about people's approaches to the review, and also identifying some common concerns (e.g. database formats). The meeting was held at the Higher Education Academy HQ, which is in York. After the meeting I spent a couple of hours in York, which I enjoyed despite the fact that it was tipping down with rain (see photo, above, taken by the river).