Jill Webb
Professor

Profile

Biography

Jill Webb is Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Students for the Faculty of Social Sciences.  She joined the School for Business and Society in September 2012 from Leeds Beckett University where she was Subject Lead for Accounting. She has held a wide variety of leadership roles at Leeds Beckett and York Universities. 

Jill was the first in her family to attend university. She studied as an undergraduate at LSE and her first job was in audit with KPMG. She studied part time for a MSc in International Financial Analysis at University of Newcastle while working at Leeds Beckett University and holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of Sheffield. 

Subject Group

Accounting and Finance

Career

Jill has overall responsibility portfolio development and enhancement of the student experience for Social Sciences.  She has led several significant change programmes in Social Sciences, including pedagogic redesign and programme restructuring during the pandemic and the introduction of standard sized modules and semesters at York. She has also worked on several institutional projects including the introduction of online programmes to the University of York Management School.

Jill has extensive experience of teaching international and UK, undergraduate and postgraduate students across all levels, utilising fully online, hybrid and on campus delivery models. She has taught accounting, taxation and finance to both specialist and non-specialist students, including preparing students for professional accountancy qualifications. She currently co-teaches a large first year accounting and finance module to first year undergraduate students.  

Jill is committed to supporting the development of Teaching and Scholarship staff. She founded the Centre for Advanced Study of Management Education, an interdisciplinary space through which colleagues are invited to explore the future of teaching and scholarship in management education. She is a qualified coach and mentors colleagues across the institution.

University roles

Jill’s cross-institutional focus is on inclusion for both UK and international students. She Chairs the APP Strategy Group and works with colleagues as the institutional academic lead for the APP. She co-leads the No Gaps project, an institutional project which aims to support colleagues in academic departments to understand the institutional drivers of awarding gaps and to proactively evaluate and enhance their practice.

Research

Overview

Jill’s scholarship focuses on inclusion and skills development. Her Doctoral thesis draws on the capabilities approach and examines class differences in the process of aspiration development. More recent work has examined optionality in assessment, extra-curricular inclusion and the design of institutional projects to enhance inclusion.

Publications

Selected publications

Webb, J., Ball-Smith, J and Penn, J. (2024) Mind the (ethnicity degree awarding) gap: supporting academic departments to proactively evaluate and enhance their practice. Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education.  Accessed 7^th June 2024.

Anderson, K., Chaffer, C., Elkhashen, E., and Webb, J. (2023) Student Managed Investment Funds: Experiences of a Fund at a UK University. Journal of International Business Education, 18, pp. 279-300. Available at: White Rose Research Online Accessed 7^th June 2024.

Firth, M., Ball-Smith, J., Burgess, T., Chaffer, C., Finn, G., Guy, M., Hansen, J., Havemann, L., Glover, N., Kingsbury, M., Pazio, M., Penn, J., Trzeciak, F., Shackleford-Cesare, K., Walker, S., Webb, J., (2023) Optionality in Assessment: A cross institutional exploration of the feasibility, practicality & utility of student choices in assessment in UK higher education, 26 pages, published by the Quality Assurance Agency Available at: Quality Assurance Agency . Accessed 7^th June 2024.

Chaffer, C. and Webb, J. (2017) An evaluation of competency development in accounting trainees. Accounting Education, 26, 5-6, pp.431-458.

Webb, J. and Chaffer, C. (2016) The expectation performance gap in accounting education: a review of generic skills development in UK accounting degrees. Accounting Education, 25, 4, 349-367. 

Teaching

Other teaching

Jill’s teaching draws on her professional background as a Chartered Accountant and she has taught across a broad range of specialist and non-specialist undergraduate and postgraduate modules. She is particularly interested in inclusive education and fostering a sense of belonging in academic student communities.

Jill was part of the team who introduced the first online programmes to UYMS. She worked with a broad range of colleagues and an external partner to develop pedagogical principles and associated tools for the development of online provision and to project manage the production of content for UYMS.