Institutional learning and teaching strategies in English higher education

In 1998 the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)commissioned a survey of the extent to which institutional learning andteaching strategies were being used in English higher education. Thesurvey was seen by HEFCE as a necessary precursor to the enactment ofits policy decision to allocate a component of institutional funding onthe basis of the possession of (and subsequent activation of) aninstitutional learning and teaching strategy. Responses from 116institutions showed considerable variation in the extent to which theyhad developed a strategic approach to learning and teaching.Over the coming years there is likely to be a marked increase in thelevel and sophistication of strategic planning to develop learning andteaching across whole institutions. The article concludes by drawingupon the organisational development literature to suggest some ways inwhich this shift might be facilitated.