2016 EAIR Birmingham Forum CALL FOR PROPOSALS

N E W S A L E R T CALL FOR PROPOSALS

EAIR 38TH ANNUAL FORUM BIRMINGHAM 2016 “ONLY CONNECT: COLLABORATION, COOPERATION AND CAPACITY

BUILDING THROUGH HE PARTNERSHIPS” Amsterdam, December 2015 Dear Colleague, We are delighted to invite you to submit a paper to the 38th Annual EAIR Forum, which is to be hosted by Birmingham City University, in Birmingham, UK. The theme of the 2016 EAIR

Birmingham Forum is “ONLY CONNECT: COLLABORATION, COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH HE PARTNERSHIPS”. The Forum opens on Wednesday 31 August 2016 and closes on Saturday 3 September 2016. The Forum will be held in the Curzon Building at the City Centre Campus. To submit your proposal, click on: http://www.eairweb.org/forum2016/proposalform/ Also read on the Call for Special Interest Group Sessions as this is a great opportunity to include new and topical discussions at the Forum. The deadline for submission of paper proposals is Monday 8 February 2016 (23:59 hrs. CET).

Please forward this Call for Proposals to all your colleagues and contacts. Visit http://www.eairweb.org/forum2016/ regularly for updates about the 2016 EAIR Forum. We are looking forward to seeing your contribution, On behalf of the 2016 EAIR Birmingham Forum Programme Committee: Mark O’Hara (Forum Chair)

Associate Dean, Birmingham City University

James Williams (Forum Co-Chair)

Senior Research Fellow, Birmingham City University

Alex Kendall Associate Dean, Birmingham City University

Amanda French Associate professor, Birmingham City University

Nicoline Frølich Research Professor, NIFU, Norway

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FORUM THEME

ONLY CONNECT: COLLABORATION, COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH HE

PARTNERSHIPS

Higher education faces enormous challenges in an increasingly competitive and globalised environment. As sector and institutional leaders wrestle with issues such as the ‘student as customer’ in a context of cuts in public financing, there is an alternative approach. Collaboration and partnership has increasingly emerged as an antidote to the consumerist approach to higher education. Collaboration has for some years been recognised as a way of maximising limited resources. However, there is arguably a more important benefit: by engaging the sector’s wide range of stakeholders, including students, staff, local civil society organisations and industry, in informing policy and practice, those stakeholders are able to take ownership of the processes of change. In this alternative environment, stakeholders in higher education learn from and engage with others. By being more engaged with the communities around them, universities can provide a hub for local society. Partnership working provides opportunities for more effective knowledge generation and transfer across society and thereby ensuring that universities have clear impact on the world around them. The overall theme of the 38th EAIR Forum is one which is particularly close to the heart of the host institution, Birmingham City University. However, it provides a useful next-step from previous recent Forums: in Essen, we explored diversity whilst in Krems, we were concerned with how institutions and the sector position themselves in the current challenging circumstances. At Birmingham in 2016, a range of keynotes will focus our thoughts on the importance of partnership working from different stakeholder perspectives. The six tracks, whilst holding firm to longstanding concerns of the EAIR, such as student experience, quality, institutional research, are all framed around the notion of partnership.

FORUM TRACKS

ONLY CONNECT: COLLABORATION, COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH HE PARTNERSHIPS

Proposals for Presentations & Posters should be designed to contribute to one of the six broad tracks outlined below:

Track 1: Working in partnership with students: the importance of experience and engagement. Chairs: Paul Gorman,

Aston University, UK, and Barbara Howard-Hunt, Birmingham City University, UK.

Track 2: Innovative higher education practice through partnership work. Chairs: Amanda French, Birmingham City

University, UK, and Diana Wernisch, University of Education Freiburg, Germany.

Track 3: Emerging quality partnerships. Chairs: David Kane, Birmingham City University, UK, and Hamish Coates,

University of Melbourne, Australia.

Track 4: Creating impact through higher education research partnerships. Chairs: Alex Kendall, Birmingham City

University, UK, and Martina Gaisch, University of Applied Sciences, Upper Austria.

Track 5: Learning and teaching in higher education: the perfect partnership? Chairs: Nicola Bartholomew,

Birmingham City University, UK, and Amelia Vega, CIPES, Portugal.

Track 6: Higher education governance in an age of collaborative working. Chairs: Rob Smith, Birmingham City

University, UK, and Rosalind Pritchard, University of Ulster, UK.

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FORUM ACCESS & ACCOMMODATION – “Welcome to the Heart of England” Birmingham City University warmly welcomes you to participate in the 38th annual EAIR Forum. We are located in the centre of Birmingham, the UK’s second city. The City of Birmingham is regarded as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and is surrounded by some of the most typical and beautiful English countryside. With its wide range of facilities and rich cultural heritage, Birmingham is an ideal venue.

The Curzon Building, where the main business of the Forum will be held, opened in June 2015 and occupies an enviable position overlooking one of Britain’s newest city parks. Curzon Building is one of four new or refurbished buildings that together form the City Centre Campus.

The City of Birmingham

Birmingham is a vibrant city with a strong industrial heritage. In recent decades, it has undergone huge redevelopment and regeneration continues, with much of its old industrial areas being transformed for new purposes.

Architectural heritage

The scale of Birmingham’s new rebuilding projects is astounding. The most recent addition to the City is the Library of Birmingham, was nominated for the 2014 RIBA Stirling Prize and has proved extremely popular with local people. At the same time, the City contains many buildings of national and international architectural value, including The Old Crown Inn, England’s oldest secular building and reputedly visited by Elizabeth 1st, the eighteenth century church of St Philips (now the Cathedral), described by Niklaus Pevsner as ‘significant’, containing a fine set of Edward Burne-Jones stained glass windows, the much developed Medieval church of St Martins and the classic ‘red-brick’ Victoria Law Courts and Methodist mission and the space age Selfridges store.

Art and Music

In addition, Birmingham is home to a wide range of art collections of international importance, such as the Barber Institute and the Municipal Art Gallery, home to one of the largest collections of pre-Raphaelite art. It’s classical and pop musical heritage is world renowned: Mendelsohn began a tradition of musical festivals here in the early nineteenth century that

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was continued by Sir Edward Elgar later that century; more recently, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra came to the World’s attention under the leadership of Sir Simon Rattle and it remains one of the best known orchestras in the World. Birmingham has also given birth to some of the leading pop and rock bands of the late twentieth century: Black Sabbath, Duran Duran, Electric Light Orchestra and The Beat were a few of the more famous. Indeed, colleagues at the University have acknowledged in the Birmingham Pop Archive.

Getting to the City Centre Campus The Curzon Building (post code B4 7BD), is easy to reach, being located about 15 minutes’ walk from the city’s central station, Birmingham New Street, which itself is right in the heart of the City. For visitors coming by plane, Birmingham International Airport is very well connected and transfers can be made to most European hubs. From the airport to Birmingham City Centre, it is 10 minutes by train, or 20 by taxi. Birmingham is one of the hubs of UK’s rail network so it is easily accessible by train. It is also easily accessible by car – and, for the more adventurous, by canal boat! See also http://bcu.ac.uk/about-us/maps-and-campuses Accommodation: There are many hotels in walking distance from the campus: Premier Inn http://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/west-midlands/birmingham.html

Staybridge Group http://www.ihg.com/staybridge/hotels/gb/en/birmingham/bhxsb/hoteldetail

Latour Hotel http://hotel-latour.co.uk/

Macdonalds Burlington Hotel http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/our-hotels/macdonald-burlington-hotel/

Holiday Inn Express http://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/gb/en/birmingham/bhxsh/hoteldetail

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FORUM HOST ONLY CONNECT: COLLABORATION, COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH HE

PARTNERSHIPS

With around 23,500 students from 80 countries, Birmingham City University is a relatively new institution, with origins in the nineteenth century movements to provide technical education to the British workforce. Since gaining university status in 1992 (as the University of Central England), Birmingham City University has built an international reputation for its commitment to student engagement: first with its ground breaking work engaging students in the quality improvement process and more recently with its award winning work to engage students as partners in their own learning experience.

The University has long had a special commitment to the local community and business. Much of our work engages with aspects of the life of the City and its people. The University’s four faculties have a strong focus on working with the community. The University has put £270 million into the regional economy and support thousands of jobs in the area. From its inception, the institution has had close links with the city of Birmingham: indeed, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham holds the position of Chancellor of the University.

The University has an enviable reputation for providing quality, student-focused education in a professional and friendly environment. Our courses, state-of-the-art facilities, first-rate staff, and focus on practical skills and professional relevance, is producing some of the country’s most employable graduates.

Click on this LINK for more information regarding Birmingham City University.

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Call for Proposals – General Information

You may submit more than one proposal but only one (per main author) will be accepted. You will normally have a timeslot of 20 minutes to present the ideas set out in your paper plus 10 minutes for colleagues to comment on the ideas presented. There is a possibility that your presentation will be part of a new and/or different presentation format. For now there are 4 presentation formats for your proposal submission: (1) 30 minutes’ presentation, (2) Poster presentation, (3) SIG – Special Interest Group and (4) Other format (workshop/panel).Please indicate the nature of your proposal when submitting online. Poster proposals are also very welcome because they are typically well suited for giving overviews of facts, figures and conclusions drawn from research. They will be displayed in the best position to attract the attention of Forum participants: there will also be a session during the Forum for poster presenters to communicate key ideas and relevance. Forum Registration All Speakers at the EAIR Forum are required to register for the Forum and pay for the Forum registration fee. EAIR members will receive a reduction in the Forum registration fee. For young professionals and academics (aged 35 and younger at the time of the Forum) who are working in higher education institutions and other organisations in the higher education fabric (ministries, quality assurance agencies, etc.) EAIR is offering a 50% reduction of the normal Forum registration fee, if the submitted proposal is accepted. All authors (including all their co-authors) that are aged 35 and younger are encouraged to submit their paper proposal for the EAIR Outstanding Paper Award. Please tick the box at the end of the proposal form, if you want to participate in this competition. Submission Deadlines

Proposals: 8 February 2016 (notification of acceptance before April 1st 2016).

Posters: 1 May 2016.

Final Papers: 29 July 2016.

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Proposal Form The title of the proposal should not exceed 120 characters (approximately 12 words) and should accurately reflect what is being proposed. The abstract must not exceed 1,500 characters (approximately 150 words) and anything above this limit will be excluded. The abstract should clearly state the core idea, aims, and objectives and give an indication of key findings, if available, of your presentation. The outline is a “free format” which should clearly state your objective and your engagement with the subject and with the Track and Forum theme; it should not exceed 10,000 characters (approximately 1,000 words). When drafting your outline, please consider the following format:

an introduction in which the problem or issue the proposal addresses is set out, and how that problem/issue relates to the Track theme,

a paragraph in which the background of the problem or issue is outlined (including reference to relevant literature),

a description on how you approach or analyse the problem or issue (this could be a “research methods” section),

the results of your investigation,

a reflection on the findings (e.g. how do your findings relate to previous research) and the implications or relevance of your work,

a final paragraph with conclusions. Categories and Keywords In order to assist Forum delegates to decide which presentations they want to attend, we would like to ask you to indicate the character of your proposal by ticking one or more categories on your proposal submission form. We would like to know whether your submission is research, about curriculum development or an opinion piece. Please check the appropriate ‘radio buttons’. In addition, we would also like to know which one of the four categories your submission fits best: Academic or a Case study of practice or Policy oriented or other. In addition please also provide between 1-5 keywords that will reflect the contents of your proposal. The list of keywords will be provided in the on-line proposal form. We kindly request you to follow the instructions carefully. Proposals that do not meet the expectations set out in the guidelines will unlikely be accepted by the Programme Committee. Please do not hesitate to contact the EAIR Secretariat [email protected] if you have any questions. Full Paper Information If the proposal is accepted, you will be invited to write a detailed “full” paper (including the abstract and outline) of 30,000-50,000 characters (approximately 3,000-5,000 words). The paper should be written on the basis of the accepted proposal and according to formatting rules of EAIR. EAIR will publish all full papers on the Forum website which is only accessible to the Forum participants and EAIR members. The abstract of the accepted proposal will be published in the Forum Programme. The deadline for submission of these full articles to the EAIR Secretariat is 29 July 2016. Paper Presentation and Language You may submit more than one proposal but only one (per main author) will be accepted. You will normally have a timeslot of 20 minutes to present the ideas set out in your paper plus 10 minutes for colleagues to comment on the ideas presented. There is a possibility that your

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presentation will be part of a new and/or different presentation format. For now there are 4 presentation formats for your proposal submission: (1) 30 minutes’ presentation, (2) Poster presentation, (3) SIG – Special Interest Group session and (4) Other format. Please indicate the nature of your proposal when submitting online. The Forum language is English. Important Publication Options Interesting and high-quality full papers the Programme Committee may be considered for a Special Issue of the association’s journal Tertiary Education and Management (TEAM), http://www.eairweb.org/publications/team/ . Authors will receive a notification after the Forum with further details.

Call for Special Interest Group Sessions (SIG)

In order to enable very diverse and in-depth discussions we invite you to propose a topic for a special interest group (SIG), to be held on the first Forum day, Wednesday 31 August 2016, for a session of about two to three hours. SIGs are meant to be highly interactive exchanges on a salient and clearly demarcated topic. A submission for a SIG proposal should consist of a short description of about 1500 characters (approximately 150 words) that highlights the specific interest and importance of this topic. The EAIR Executive Committee will offer organisers one Forum fee waiver per accepted “Special Interest Group”. Please make any suggestions to the Forum Programme Committee by submitting the proposal through the submission process outlined above, checking the “SIG” track option.

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TRACK 1: WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH STUDENTS: THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENCE

AND ENGAGEMENT

Track chairs: Paul Gorman, Aston University, UK, and Barbara Howard-Hunt, Birmingham City

University, UK.

In the early 1900s, John Dewey argued that education must engage experience and that students must be free to interact with their environments in the practice of constructing knowledge (Dewey, 1916). Many scholars throughout history have held similar assertions, and the idea that students should be engaged as partners in the learning process has manifested in various forms throughout recent history. Concepts such as ‘student-centred learning’ emerged as a popular concept and embodies the essence of the idea that students should be involved in all aspects of shaping their learning experience. Furthermore, rhetoric that describes students as partners, collaborators, or co-producers has further established the idea that students should not just be passive learners, but fully active and engaged in everything from policy decisions to curriculum design. Quality assurance, government policies and regulations frequently reinforce these ideas, and examples of external pressures to provide an engaging and quality learning experience are more apparent than ever before.

Papers submitted to this track might explore some of the following issues:

The extent to which students are partners in the learning process;

What forms these partnerships might take;

The impact such partnerships might have on students’ experience of higher education;

The challenges that educators and policy-makers face when trying to engage students in the learning process;

How policy and practice is shaping partnerships with students.

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TRACK 2: INNOVATIVE HIGHER EDUCATION PRACTICE THROUGH PARTNERSHIP WORK

Track chairs: Amanda French, Birmingham City University, UK, and Diana Wernisch, University

of Education Freiburg, Germany.

Innovation is at the heart of research, teaching and transfer of higher education knowledge and this track explores the possibilities of innovative ways of working in partnership working within and across higher educational institutions. The idea of innovative practice could cover any aspect of partnership working including working across a variety of disciplines and higher education institutions and other agencies in new and unexpected ways.

For this track, empirical, practical, and theoretical-conceptual contributions are welcome. They should clearly focus on defining what is innovative about e.g.:

Developing and supporting innovative higher education partnerships;

The governance, administration and management of innovative partnerships;

The influence of organizational processes and settings on innovative partnership working;

The challenges and advantages of researching through innovative partnerships;

The importance of innovative partnerships in higher education to teaching, transfer of knowledge and/or technology-driven initiatives.

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TRACK 3: EMERGING QUALITY PARTNERSHIPS

Track chairs: David Kane, Birmingham City University, UK, and Hamish Coates, University of

Melbourne, Australia.

Higher education is turning like never before to engage with different types of students, businesses, industries, governments, communities, and workforces. What are the implications for quality as higher education adapts to emerging partnerships? How is quality planned, implemented, reviewed and improved? Are such partnerships viewed as relationships where all involved are actively engaged and stand to benefit from the process of learning and working together? What new competitive quality agendas are emerging?

This track is about the implications for quality arising from these emerging partnerships and engagement dynamics.

Papers for this track could respond to these kinds of questions:

What interesting quality arrangements are emerging?

Which new partners are engaging in higher education quality?

What are the risks of current quality mechanisms, and new development opportunities?

What new quality infrastructure is required for future forms of higher education?

Which people and agencies are responsible for development of new quality practices?

What interesting new quality ideas and communities are developing?

How do stakeholders view the changing landscape?

Are new definitions of quality emerging as a result of partnership working?

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TRACK 4: CREATING IMPACT THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS

Track chairs: Alex Kendall, Birmingham City University, UK, and Martina Gaisch, University of

Applied Sciences, Upper Austria.

Modern universities are under considerable pressure to diversify and to look outwards to undertake research, development and entrepreneurial activities with a broad range of private, public and third sector partners. In this track we will explore this new landscape and how universities and research teams balance the demands of competing within a competitive knowledge-based environment with a responsibility to ensure that the impact of their work is meaningful, sustainable and makes a wider social and cultural contribution to what we might call ‘third mission’ activities. We invite colleagues to discuss their experiences of ‘cross-border’ research – research with partners outside the university (although this may include research with other university partners) - and to share the outcomes of work with ‘cross-border’ characteristics.

Papers for this track could respond but are not restricted to these kinds of questions:

What sorts of research partnerships are we forming? And why?

How do research partnerships impact on the shape and outcomes of research?

What forms/modes of knowledge are generated through research partnerships? How are these similar/different to other approaches to research?

Who are the stake-holders in ‘cross-border’ research partnerships? And how are different groups of stake-holders differently positioned within such partnerships? Whose interests do they best serve?

How do stakeholders view the increasing pressure for researchers to create impact through collaborative research?

What are the benefits/gains of working in ‘cross-border’ research partnerships?

What challenges are involved in ‘cross-border’ research partnerships and how can they be overcome?

How do interdisciplinary expertise and diversity management facilitate the

collaborative research process?

How can sustainable impact be created for the benefit of all stake-holders?

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TRACK 5: LEARNING AND TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP?

Track chairs: Nicola Bartholomew, Birmingham City University, UK, and Amélia Vega, CIPES,

Portugal.

Traditional teacher-centric notions of learning and teaching, reliant on instruction and rote learning, have transformed over more recent years to place students firmly at the heart of the learning process. The learner-centric philosophy encourages students to become active and collaborative participants in their own learning and in turn, become active members of the wider society. This democratic approach to education has led to increased stakeholder engagement in decision-making and curriculum design processes, but what is the perfect partnership?

This track will explore the purpose and social role of higher education whilst considering effective pedagogies and practices to engage and empower wider stakeholder groups to enhance the student experience.

Papers for this track could focus on:

The changing roles and responsibilities of academics and students;

Strategies and tools for effective stakeholder engagement in curriculum design;

Democratic approaches to education and meeting the needs of learners and employers – are these competing agendas?

Supporting inclusive practice, widening participation and globalisation;

Scholarly teaching and the synthesis between learning, teaching and research;

Meeting or challenging student expectations within a changing political and economic landscape;

The challenges associated with learner-centric pedagogies within a mass higher education system;

The design of learning environments that offer students more control in when, where and how they learn.

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TRACK 6: HIGHER EDUCATION GOVERNANCE IN AN AGE OF COLLABORATIVE WORKING

Track chairs: Rob Smith, Birmingham City University, UK, and Rosalind Pritchard, University of

Ulster, UK.

In a globalized and competitive world, higher education institutions (HEIs) are under increasing pressure to perform and excel in order to attract funding, students and qualified staff. Attempts to establish and maintain legitimacy bring them into contact with a wide range of partners, some of whom have significant power over the HEIs. These partners are located within government, industry / business/ commerce and within the population at large – including the families which sends students to HEIs, and support them while they are there. Partners are present at all levels within and outwith HE: governing and accrediting bodies, professional associations, benefactors, workplace and school-based mentors etc. Partnerships may be rooted in longstanding professional and institutional relationships but there are also new, emergent forms.

The competitive globalising cultures that are increasingly shaping HE may be in tension with collaborative relationships and partnerships extending beyond the walls of the HEI. Governance in this context becomes a balancing act in which HEIs have to address the interests of diverse stakeholders while maintaining a distinctive purpose and identity. Leadership in HEIs is challenged by these global trends, as leaders on all levels struggle to find their place in the changing landscape of higher education. In this track, presenters are invited to discuss the impact of partnership on governance structures and new leadership roles.

The track welcomes papers addressing key themes such as:

What are the implications of partnership for strategic governance and management?

Diversity or isomorphism – who decides which strategy to follow and how does this impact upon academic work and the relationship between leadership, administration & academics?

How does institutional positioning connect with or abrade against existing partnership relationships?

What models or approaches to partnership are effective in the emerging competitive environment?

How does governance connect with notions of community and collaboration?

How does the global competition of HEIs foster or hinder new leadership roles and the possibilities of filling these roles?