Strengthening Teaching and Learning in Research Universities

Bjørn Stensaker is Professor of Education at the University of Oslo, Norway.

Grahame T. Bilbow is Director of the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at the University of Hong Kong.

Lori Breslow is the founding director emerita of the MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory, USA, and currently a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Rob van der Vaart is Emeritus Professor at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

This book offers a range of approaches and specific examples of how a sample of internationally leading research-intensive universities, from a variety of regions around the world, work to improve teaching and learning. It describes and analyzes broad university initiatives and approaches that have the potential of driving institution-wide change processes in teaching and learning, thus providing a link between strategic ambitions and cultural transformation in the universities. Globally, research-intensive universities are increasingly pressured to increase their performance in both research and education. However, while much focus internationally has been devoted to how universities are working to boost their research performance, less is known about how internationally leading universities are working to improve teaching and learning. Through comparative cases drawn from universities in Europe, Asia and the US, key practices and lessons are identified and showcased providing a unique insight into the ways internationally leading research universities work to support and enhance staff engagement in teaching and learning. It will be essential reading for researchers and advanced students working in Higher Education and Sociology, particularly those with an interest in comparative studies.