1: Introduction

It was arguably in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the notion of ‘teaching excellence’ became a common phrase to identify and celebrate ‘high-quality’ teaching in higher education institutions (HEIs). This focus on teaching excellence has led to a prolonged period where teaching has slowly grown in importance in HEIs. Key drivers for this slow development have resulted in the creation of formal frameworks for recognising ‘teaching excellence’, the increasing need to focus on teaching as the main income generator for some HEIs, the rise of student satisfaction data, particularly through the creation of the National Student Survey, and the organisational imperative to capture positive performance indicators around programme and module evaluations. In turn, these factors have become increasingly important due to the rise of the ‘marketised’ higher education (HE) system. In the transition from a civic to a market sector, establishing market position and unique selling points has become increasingly important business for HEIs in the UK.