ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview to the changing landscape in learning and teaching across UK higher education (HE) over the past 25 years. There has been a significant transformation in HE across the four nations of the UK brought about through far-reaching reform to improve higher education provision by driving teaching excellence and increasing the emphasis on learners. Even though the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have taken different approaches, public policy determined by Westminster has played an important role in stimulating the enhancement of learning and teaching in HE across the UK including England. This chapter highlights the national initiatives to support and enhance learning and teaching, including the role and impact of national agency bodies, subject-specific support and the accreditation of higher education teaching. It also considers how higher education institutions have responded to these initiatives through changes in policy and practice and what this has meant for university teaching and student learning. It concludes with reflections on what the next few decades may bring in terms of both challenges and opportunities for learning and teaching in the UK HE sector.
