1) Global Teaching Excellence Awards
The Higher Education Academy has announced its intention to launch the Global Teaching Excellence Awards, a new global award that is exclusively focused on identifying and recognising higher education institutions that are pursuing world-class teaching and learning strategies.
Speaking at the Higher Education Academy’s National Teaching Fellowship Awards ceremony on Wednesday 25 January, Professor Rama Thirunamachandran, Vice Chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University and Chair of the Higher Education Academy said, “I am very pleased to announce that the HEA will be launching the ‘Global Teaching Excellence Awards’. This award will be open to institutions from across the world. I am confident the award will recognise and promote great teaching, highlighting innovative strategies and practice for the benefit of all. I think there are valuable lessons to be learned and shared across borders, and these awards will be a fantastic vehicle to do just that.”
Further information about this new awards scheme will follow shortly.
2) Open for nominations – NTFS and CATE Awards:
National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence (CATE) 2017
The 2017 NTF and CATE schemes will open for applications in February and the proposed closing date is in April.
The overall design of the two schemes and criteria are not expected to change significantly, but we are pursuing options to enable an online platform for NTFS and CATE submissions. With this in mind HE providers are asked to notify their general intention to nominate by e-mailing ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk and collaborative.awards@heacademy.ac.uk respectively, as soon as possible. Once this information has been received we will advise you on the process for final submissions and circulate full guidance notes.
3) ‘Creating Networks’ Reminder
A gentle reminder to all Strategic and Access partners inviting you to nominate staff to represent their discipline or thematic communities in our national communities of practice. Details and the submission page can be found here.
4) UKES 2017 provides opportunity to include NSS questions
Participating institutions in this year’s UKES will have the option to include NSS questions for non-final year students, as agreed with HEFCE.
In 2016 institutions were able to pilot the inclusion of these NSS questions within UKES which help to provide a more holistic picture of student engagement and their satisfaction. Follow up comments from our survey officers suggest that in including the NSS questions the strategic enhancement of UKES is heightened.
In addition, results from our annual officers survey (in which we obtain feedback from those running the HEA surveys within institutions), showed that of those who ran UKES with the NSS questions, 89% felt that the inclusion of these questions in UKES was very or mostly useful.
To read the rest of the story click here
5) New HEA surveys reporting portal
In January, our Surveys team ran a webinar with institutional survey officers providing an overview of our new reporting portal. This is a new way of presenting the results of the HEA surveys (UKES, PTES and PRES), making the results more accessible and engaging.
Login details and links to your own survey reports have been sent to your Survey Officers. The logins can be shared across the institution and can essentially be used by all staff. We have produced a short overview which can be viewed here.
6) Retention
Student retention and the personal, social, economic and reputational consequences of student success are of critical importance for all who work in higher education.
We thought our updated content on student access, retention, attainment and progression, including details of our Retention Framework Audit and Benchmarking Best Practice collaborative programme would be of interest to you.
7) HEA conferences with open calls for papers
a) NET2017 Conference
5 – 7 September 2017, Cambridge
Call deadline 13 February 2017
Due to popular demand we have extended the closing date of the call for abstracts giving you three extra weeks to prepare your submissions.
b) The HEA Surveys Conference 2017: Understanding and enhancing the student experience
11 May 2017, Manchester
Call deadline 20 February 2017
C) National Conference for Learning and Teaching in Cyber Security
5 April 2017, Liverpool
Call deadline: 6 March 2017
8) Upcoming Events
A number of offers and discounts are available to individuals from subscribing institutions. Please see individual event details for information on each.
a) Webinar: Enhancing access, retention, attainment and progression in higher education: A review of the literature showing demonstrable impact
17 February 2017
Guest presenters from Plymouth University will present the findings of their recent literature review which presents a synthesis of literature (published since 2009) in each of the key student outcomes of access, retention, attainment and progression. This webinar is free to individuals from subscribing institutions.
To book your place please click here
b) Next accredited programme network meeting
17 February 2017
The HEA accredited programme network was successfully established in 2015-16 and holds three network meetings a year plus the Beyond Fellowship conference. The network meetings are free to attend for staff connected to accredited schemes and programmes at Strategic and Accredited subscribing institutions across the UK.
Network meetings provide opportunity to share practice between institutions, provide a forum to discuss relevant current matters (for example, the HEA will provide an update about the progress of the new draft standard for the ‘academic role’ apprenticeship at the March event) and to discuss matters relating to HEA accreditation and Fellowship.
c) Joint symposium Cardiff Metropolitan University with the HEA – Illuminating the learning and teaching promotional pathway
6 March 2017
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Although many universities have already developed professorial pathways through learning and teaching, many are still struggling to clearly identify criteria and demystify processes and expectations. This symposium will develop a discourse on promotion through learning and teaching. The event will bring together those seeking to provide robust and transparent promotional routes. The wider discussion around teaching excellence will contribute towards an output of suggested meaningful and relevant promotional criteria, principles and supporting materials. Individuals will have chance to identify key promotional criteria through the exploration of current practice that has been recognised as successful. Through identifying key promotional indicators this will support institutions to strengthen both their process and the development opportunities offered to staff to enable progression thorough learning and teaching.
This event is free to HEA subscribing institutions and is ideally suited to professorial committee members, PVCs and Deans of Learning and Teaching and senior HR professionals.
d) ‘Beyond Fellowship’ accredited programme network conference
14 March 2017
Delegate fee subsidised at £125 for staff from Strategic and Accredited subscribers.
Invitation only event ideally suited to Heads of Academic Practice/Educational Development, accredited scheme leaders and accredited programme teams.
This mini-conference provides a platform to demonstrate how the growing number of HEA Fellows and accredited schemes are impacting on the sector. This is the second annual ‘Beyond Fellowship’ conference; with over 85,000 HEA Fellows and more than 125 accredited CPD schemes, this event provides institutions with the opportunity to share new research and discuss good practice in relation to HEA accredited provision.
e) Innovation and excellence in teaching and learning
29 March 2017
We are pleased to confirm that the second annual conference with Universities UK will look at delivering excellent teaching through the use of effective pedagogies and innovations in curriculum design. The conference will bring together experts, policy influencers and innovators to examine how universities can deliver excellence in teaching and foster a culture of innovation in the current climate of change, brought about by the government’s white paper.
The conference will take place on 29 March at Woburn House in London, book your place online
f) What Works? Student retention and success change programme: Final Conference
11 April 2017
HEA and Action on Access are delighted to have received applications from across the four nations for the What Works? Student Retention and Success Final conference in London, 11 April 2017. Successful applicants are now being informed and we look forward to welcoming them along with a range of exciting guest speakers from OFFA, NUS, HEFCE, and UUK. We anticipate a packed day and high quality presentations on this all important subject. Book your place now http://ow.ly/YWWM307EgkM and be part of #2017WhatWorks
9) Workshops taking place over the coming months
Ready for the starting the new year we have revised the programme of CPD events to include a series of interdisciplinary workshops which focus on key issues for the sector and invite sharing of knowledge and best practice across the disciplines.
a) New to Programme Leadership: The Teaching Excellence Framework and Me
14 March
24 March – webinar
These workshops, delivered both on and offline, will give an overview of TEF, including institutional submissions and discipline-level assessment, examining the role of programme leaders in improving teaching quality.
b. Higher and Degree Apprenticeships
9 May
Explore the changing landscape of higher and degree apprenticeships, topics include understanding government, university and employer contexts; teaching excellence; and programme development.
You can view all our training and events here
c. Stepping into Programme Management: Working effectively with service users and carers
February 15
Service users and carers are involved in teaching and assessing students in most higher education institutions. Getting the most out of service user involvement and ensuring that individuals feel supported is an imperative for most programme teams. This workshop will explore issues around working with service users and participants will hear directly from service users who have been involved about the support they need and the challenges they can face.
10) Programmes for development
Find out more about all of our development programmes
Academic Leadership Programme (ALP) – Supporting the ‘next generation’ of academic leaders
The Academic Leadership Programme is designed to support the future senior academic leaders. The programme moves away from management training practices toward instilling and supporting greater emphasis of values in alignment with the UKPSF.
The course will provide a ‘safe space’ to explore leadership challenges and actions, with participants expected to maintain confidentiality amongst their peers. The challenge you outline is merely a starting point and may evolve, or new challenges identified, as we explore the leadership model during the course.
*PLUS – A FREE workshop space for every booking from a subscribing institution*
Find out more about this programme in a blog from one of the sectors co-creators
Executive Development Programme
The Higher Education Academy’s Executive Development Programme is a one year programme which prepares people for the leadership of learning and teaching at executive level. It allows participants to discover more about their individual leadership styles, comparing and contrasting that style with others working in senior positions right across the higher education sector.
Find out more about the programme from a past attendee
Leading Transformation in Learning and Teaching
LTLT is designed to enhance the skills, approaches and insights needed to lead course and programme teams through processes of transformation and innovation. Split into three modules held over the course of three months and run by the Higher Education Academy in association with the Leadership Foundation (LFHE), it is aimed at those with an interest in curriculum design and the transformation of learning and teaching within their institutions, faculties and departments.
Find out more about this programme in a blog from the programme director
11) In-house training
We are able to deliver many of our training programmes in-house at your institution decreasing the time required for attendees to travel and increasing the opportunities for collaboration and networking within the institution.
To make an enquiry or find out more please email training@heacademy.ac.uk
12) HEFCE Degree Standards Update
This is to inform you that the HEA has run two successful pilots of the its professional development course for external examiners and are in the process of publicising four regional courses open to any external examiner.
We would be most grateful if you could draw attention of staff who act as external examiners to the regional courses. Further details are available at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/hefce-degree-standards
13) Past events summary
a) HEPI-HEA House of Commons Breakfast Seminar: An unnatural division? Research and Teaching – how can the twin pillars of HE thrive?
24 January 2017
A seminar held at the House of Commons questioning the ‘unnatural division’ of HE research and teaching, heard TEF provided a platform for “rethinking institutional priorities” alongside a plea for greater institutional and sector integration around both activities.
A summary of the discussion can be found here for more information
b) Celebrating teaching excellence and innovation with the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme
25 January 2017
On 25 January, the Higher Education sector celebrated the achievements of 55 new National Teaching Fellows, announced the six winning teams of the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence and presented two Learning and Teaching Excellence Ambassadors at a gala awards ceremony in London.
