Resumen de Continuing Education as Innovation:: Two Case Studies

Haydn Mathias, Pat Fleetwood Walker, Desmond Rutherford

• Innovation in universities is notoriously difficult to implement in such a way as to effect stable and significant changes in values and practices. This paper uses innovation models developed specifically in the higher education context to suggest how continuing education as an innovation might be developed to optimize its likelihood of success. Furthermore, two contrasting case studies of continuing education initiatives at the Universities of Aston and Southampton are described and analysed in terms of these innovation models. The analyses highlight the interplay of factors in the emergence of each innovation, and suggest where emphasis might be placed in order to facilitate future developments.