James has built up a reputation for his work on student feedback surveys and what they tell us about the students' experience of higher education.
For James, collecting the views of students is a fundamental part of any effective quality management process. James is Associate Editor of the international journal, Quality in Higher Education.
More broadly, James in interested in the history of higher education. In particular, he is following the history of Birmingham local education authority colleges from the 1890s until the incorporation of the Polytechnics in 1989.