learning - Academic Conferences Limited

Alice Bird
being reviewed under the banner of improving the student experience. This focus on cutting costs
coincides with increased power of the student voice through the medium of the National Student
Survey. In particular, the outcomes of the survey continue to suggest sector-wide issues in meeting
student expectations on assessment and feedback on assessment. In recent years, the National
Union of Students (NUS) has proactively sought to engage institutions in addressing these issues
through a series of campaigns. For many institutions, this has resulted in a three-way split in the
institutional powerbase; institutional strategic management, academia and the student body, often
represented by the local Student Union. At this point, it should be acknowledged that overall power
within this triumvirate will differ from one institution to another depending on the predominant
institutional culture.
The topic of culture in higher education is one that has been widely researched and discussed.
Trowler (2008) presents an exploration into approaches to understanding higher education cultures,
including references to macro, micro and meso level approaches. At the macro (organisational level),
Trowler cites Berquist’s four cultures (1992); collegial, managerial, developmental and negotiating.
Whilst at the micro (individual) level, culture is defined in terms of the institution and its
distinctiveness, e.g. Tierney (1988). An alternative meso level approach acknowledges a multiple
cultural configuration which encompasses more open, dynamic and interactive concepts e.g.
Alvesson (2002, pp.186-187). In an earlier study, Land (2001) also makes reference to organisational
cultures and maps a set of orientations to academic development against conceptions of change.
These orientations, opportunistic/entrepreneurial, reflective practitioner, interpretive-hermeneutic,
romantic (outreach), professional competence activist-modellers, political strategist (pragmatist),
consultant researcher, disciplinary, managerial/HRM, are adopted by practitioners promoting change
in academic practice according to the context that they find themselves in. Groups and individuals
involved in promoting change in academic practice are generally aware of the predominant and subcultures
that exist within a particular institution. However, the shifts in power, with the student voice in
the ascendancy, mean that they may need to review and revisit their approaches to implementing
change.
As with any work-based or social relationship, it is easier to mediate between two parties than three.
With three stakeholder groups influencing policy and practice, the direction of change can be swayed
with one party often feeling disempowered by the perception of the other parties operating in league.
This paper offers an insight into the dynamics of triumvirate influences through a three-year case
study to develop and implement electronic submission policy and practice at one higher educational
institution. The predominant organisational culture of the institution is generally acknowledged as
managerial, with strategic leadership responsible for driving through change, but with sub-culture
influences often aligned to specific subject disciplines. However, student contribution to development
of policy has become more influential through proactive engagement by the Student Union and a
strategic ‘you say, we do’ approach to improving the student experience.
3. Case study
The recommendation to introduce electronic submission of coursework (e-submission) first evolved
from an institutional review of student administrative processes. The recommendations from the
review were translated into a student experience review implementation project aimed at restructuring
student support services and activities across the institution. Part of the review included an
observation of activities in three centralised centres, processing student submissions of paper-based
coursework items. This revealed a negative impact on student experience; in particular, issues
associated with processing submissions at peak submission deadlines. The outcome was a
recommendation to develop institutional policy and practice for the electronic submission of
coursework. This recommendation was approved and strategically driven from the top through an
institutional development project. The progress of the project through three phases, feasibility study,
pilot study and early-stage implementation, constitutes the core of this case study, with references to
triumvirate influences on the direction and outcomes.
3.1 Feasibility study
The feasibility study was initiated in September 2008 and conducted according to institutional
principles based on the Prince2 methodology. A Project Board was convened, with a School Director
appointed as the Chair and membership representatives drawn from each Faculty, relevant Central
Service Teams and the Student Union. Faculty representatives, who were nominated by School
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