Example education dissertation topic 2:

Student perceptions in a market led educational sector: An evaluation of student service expectations – a comparative study between 1st, 2nd a 3rd years at the University of Birmingham

As undergraduates travel through their course of study their expectations of the services delivered by their university alters. The need for greater IT equipment, longer library opening hours and other support services are just three examples. The rise in the number of libraries now operating either 24/7 or 24/7 during the examination period is testimony to the change in student demands over the last twenty years. Moreover, the marketization of places and the increase in tuition fees has increased the potential for students to see themselves as purchases of a service and to, accordingly, demand that their wants are noted and addressed. Using primarily new primary data collected through interviews this dissertation analysis changing perceptions of needs at the University of Birmingham – a university that, in a time of student economic hardship, has awarded its own VC a 7% pay rise. This is a contemporary study that though focused on a specific redbrick institution has implications for the sector as a whole.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Clinton, M. (2009) ‘Managing students’ and teachers’ expectations of higher education: A psychological contract approach’, Higher Education Research Network Journal, London: King’s Learning Institute.
• Shaver, B. (2012) ‘Meeting undergraduate students’ expectations of the university experience’, Thesis, California State University, available at: https://csusm-dspace.calstate.edu/handle/10211.8/119 [accessed 26 May 2012].