Fiat Lux: Let There Be Light Again

After an extended silence, this journal returns not as ceremony but as necessity. The previous edition was published in 2022, during the uncertain aftermath of a global pandemic that severely disrupted academic institutions, narrowed access and undermined confidence in higher education. London Churchill College, like many, was tested, not just in its enrolment figures but in its institutional purpose. This volume marks the return of the Journal of Contemporary Development and Management Studies as well as the steady re-establishment of LCC’s academic voice.

That voice is now strengthened by the launch of the LCC Research Centre, which aims to bring together researchers, practitioners and policymakers around applied and socially relevant scholarship. The Centre will act as the institutional base for future academic publications, research partnerships and dissemination activity. We are presently canvassing suggestions for a name that captures the Centre’s seriousness of purpose without veering into cliché. We welcome ideas; please direct them to the Editor.

The contributions in this volume reflect clear thinking and focused enquiry. They are grounded in serious work, not slogans and they reflect the College's renewed attention to adult and widening participation learners, constitutional analysis and public health inquiry.

Power Without Accountability? The Royal Prerogative Revisited

Nasser Amin opens the volume with a trenchant analysis of Royal Prerogative power in the British constitutional system. With particular reference to war powers, Amin makes the case that this vestigial authority remains weakly scrutinised, insufficiently codified and politically expedient. His argument that the courts' emerging sliding scale of review still falls short of necessary democratic oversight is both convincing and measured. This is a timely piece, raising questions few wish to confront.

Hungary's Public Health Emergency: A Stark Review

In a wide-ranging scoping review, Dr Ilias Mahmud and Dr Russell Kabir catalogue the environmental, social and psychological drivers behind Hungary's persistently high suicide rates. Their work is unsentimental and evidence-led. With 29 studies reviewed, the findings expose failings in national prevention strategies and highlight neglected variables including marital status, education level and healthcare access. This is a paper that resists alarmism but provides ample cause for concern.

Teaching and Learning: Practice Grounded in Reality

Teaching, Learning and the Politics of Motivation

Gerry Takamura contributes a focused piece on the neglected role of Western women in shaping Japanese education during the Meiji period. The subject is rarely addressed in detail and is usually smoothed over with lazy praise. Takamura avoids this and treats the topic with restraint and avoids both romanticism and caricature. It is a short article, but it adds something new to a well-worn subject.

This section also includes cluster of contributions addressing educational practice for mature students, with a particular emphasis on London Churchill College’s own learning environments. The article by Nick Papé and colleagues on student motivation at an independent college draws on qualitative interviews and push-pull theory to illuminate what drives adult learners into Higher Education. Their conclusion is clear; motivations are varied and deeply personal, but they converge around financial gain, personal transformation and tutor relationships. These cannot be treated as marginal concerns.

Papé continues this theme in a review of teaching strategies linked to performance management, where he argues for clearer institutional alignment between what motivates mature students and how learning is delivered. The recommendations are grounded in data and demonstrate an ambition to improve practice, not just document it.

In a separate contribution, Nazim Uddin outlines the College’s Active Learning Framework, a structured pedagogical model intended to support Widening Access Mature Students (WAMS). The paper combines theoretical reflection with practical application, drawing upon Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and Freirean principles of dialogic education. The ALF has yet to be fully embedded, but its intent is serious: to move beyond traditional passive modes of delivery and create a participatory space for adult learners.

Reflection and Renewal

This volume also includes a thoughtful cultural piece by Mohd Abbas Abdul Razak on the meaning and continuing relevance of Ramadan in a secularising world. Though shorter than others, the article is a reminder that higher education does not belong solely to the economic or political domain. There is room, too, for reflection, spirituality and quiet conviction.

The re-launch of this journal, supported by the new Research Centre, is a beginning, not an end. If it is to survive, it must resist self-congratulation and publish material that is not only competent but necessary. There is still much to do. But the College has moved from passive survival to active re-engagement.

Fiat lux. Let there be light. And this time, let us make sure it stays lit.

August 2025