Understanding emerging trends in higher education curricula and work connections

In this article issues will be explored associated with emerging trends in UK higher education curricular policy which embody an explicit work orientation. In the HEINE project (a research project under the TSER initiative funded by the EU) we came across several examples of curricular change or trend which were introduced on the basis of a perceived need for students to rehearse, in an explicit way, the employment practices they were likely to enter. These justifications have embedded within them a theory which identifies what ought to be Higher Education/Work Relations (HEWR for short). In effect these are prescriptive theories. There are also ideographic or descriptive theories which attempt an articulation of the nature of HEWR. We have termed this theory as a form of neo-correspondence. Clearly, there is often a strong connection between them in that descriptive theories underpin ideas about what ought to be. The article refers to the broad area of policy interventions which focus on regular teaching and learning in the higher education context.