Annual Report 2015, Budapest
NW 22: Research in Higher Education had altogether 179 presentations of which 138 were papers, 9 posters, 13 symposia and 3 research workshops. 34 participants withdrew their accepted contribution.
Presentations focussed on the following themes: Teaching, learning and assessment in higher education (53 accepted contributions); Academic work and professional development (22 contributions); Inclusion and diversity in higher education settings (17 contributions); Employability and transition to work of higher education graduates (25); Policy, management and governance in higher education (25); as well as 10 contributions which were labelled in the ConfTool system as not fitting any of these topics meaning that there were mainly redirected contributions from other networks.
Joint sessions
- with network 3 (but unfortunately low attendance due to a variety of factors: only two papers, no title, other building
- with network 23 (in a symposium form), a lot of people, animated discussions, worked very well
- with network 2 (seems enthusiastic)
The Poster session was organised interactively, it worked very well. Two of our posters received the best poster award, which was great news.
Scientific level of sessions varied but in general was good (with some exceptions, like language difficuluties). Quite a number of doctoral students were amongst the presenters. Typically there were 10-20 participants in each session which guaranteed interactive discussions. Generally the comments which came out of the conference slips were favourable (good and lively discussions, etc.). The papers generally fit well together within one session
About 25 members participated in the network dinner on Friday evening.
There were a few concerns during the conference:
- Many parallel session at some times;
- Conference app did work well; but internet not available in all the rooms.
- Methodological and theoretical underpinnings are not discussed widely enough in the presentations.
- Difference in temperature between rooms (warm vs cold), sometimes noisy airconditioning, no tea/coffee at the last break, when you need some caffeine.
- A few chairs did not turn up or did not fill in the evaluations.
Very few last minute dropouts (but at least two).
Barbara Zamorski was proposed as an honorable member, will be official after the next Council Meeting.
Generally the meeting in Budapest was very enjoyable, conveniently located (all rooms close together), well facilitated.
We are planning a meeting with the Organisational Education network, and other initiatives will turn up