Working Paper 49 is a transcript of the keynote that Professor Ashwin gave at the fourth annual conference of the Centre for Global Higher Education at the UCL Institute of Education in London on 3 April 2019.

There are fierce debates about the purpose and quality of university teaching in the UK and internationally. This keynote will examine the two senses of transforming university teaching: how university teaching can be transformational for students and how we might need to transform it for this to happen.

Professor Ashwin argues that the current focus in the UK and internationally on teaching excellence does not provide a supportive context for either of these senses of transformation to be realised.

Drawing on a range of evidence, including from CGHE projects, he will set out an alternative vision for university teaching that is centred on the ways in which students are transformed by their engagement with disciplinary and professional knowledge.