Book Review of Vincent C.H. Tong, Alex Standen and Mina Sotiriou (Eds.) (2018) Shaping Higher Education with Students: Ways to Connect Research and Teaching

Abstract

Shaping Higher Education with Students is about linking research and teaching through collaborative relationships between students and staff. The central tenet of this expansive book is that student learning should be anchored in the kind of active, critical, and analytic inquiry traditionally undertaken by researchers. Unpacking the complexities of research-based education, this edited collection documents a University College London (UCL) project that challenges the conventional roles of students and teachers and proposes that research and teaching are not disparate undertakings, but that research equals teaching (‘R=T’). In a contemporary academic environment, that seems to prioritise skills for employability in order to improve student satisfaction and league tables standings, the notion of converting students into co-producers of knowledge is captivating. R=T, as interpreted at UCL, proposes developing students’ voices academically in a way that allows them to transform their ideas into actions, whether in the sphere of politics, society, business, or science. [Review continues]