This project concerns learning relationships and interactions, and considers the experience of undergraduates and also, increasingly, postgraduates in a learning environment characterised by increasing class sizes, at the same time as higher tuition fees, and much greater transparency through formal and informal scrutiny of teaching practices and facilities. It seeks to discover ways in which, given the various and often apparently contradictory trends and pressures in higher education, the student learning experience can be enhanced and improved, through use of formal and informal feedback, monitoring, men-toring, and pastoral care.

The case study includes evaluative data from under-graduates and academic staff on the BA History pro-gramme in the School of Historical Studies (SHIS). Data included minutes from Boards of Study, Subject Meetings, Staff-Student Meetings, teaching awaydays and module, stage, and programme questionnaires. Findings confirm that there are genuine and possibly chronic problems in maintaining and enhancing student engagement and satisfaction at the same time as deal-ing with the competing pressures on institutions and academics, and that this problem is amplified by the increasing expectations on the part of prospective and current students