MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Introduction

The Higher Education Academy came into being on 1 May this year. Professor Paul Ramsden, the Academy’s newly appointed Chief Executive, outlines his hopes for an organisationthat will be concerned with every aspect of the student experience.

I am priviledged The Higher Education Academy represents an exciting initiative for UK higher education. I am privileged to have been asked to lead it.

The Academy builds on the achievements of other groups, most notably the LTSN Subject Centres, the ILTHE, and the National Coordination Team, all of which will be combined under the new organisation. The Academy will therefore draw on a wealth of skills and information created by a team of dedicated professionals.

In all aspects of our operations, we must continue to give good value for money and increase the levels of service we provide to our users and members. For example, it will be important to consolidate the success of the Subject Centres in the light of the recommendations of a current review.

Distinctive impact

It will be my aim also to ensure that the Higher Education Academy goes further and makes its own distinctive impact. The Academy will be concerned not only with learning and teaching but with every aspect of the student experience.

It will provide coherence, added value,inclusivity, and a powerful emphasis on the needs of stakeholders. It will work collaboratively with universities and colleges in a framework of collegial support.

It will recognise that the needs of different institutions vary depending on their missions, avoiding a one-sizefits- all approach to professional development and the enhancement of teaching.

It will support institutions in managing teaching and services in ways that maximise the quality of outcomes for their students.

Objectives

I want the Academy to achieve these objectives through applying the best available knowledge in a rigorous way. Our students deserve no less.

This will imply greater emphasis on strategic advice for the sector and more vigorous engagement with the wider policy context, including the implications for the student experience and standards of more flexible tuition fees, increasing numbers of overseas students and variable academic pay rates.

It will mean establishing a solid, easily-accessible evidence base that will enable all staff who teach and support student learning to choose the course of action that will best achieve their goals. I will also expect the Academy, through its expanded capacity for research and evaluation, to take a leading role in building institutional potential to respond effectively to the results of quality audits and national surveys.

Working together

The Academy will work co-operatively with colleges and universities, as well as the Leadership Foundation and the new Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, to help establish management and leadership structures that provide higher quality experiences for students and more transparent recognition and reward for good teaching.

And I am keen for it to develop strong relationships and formal benchmarking arrangements with similar bodies overseas, including the Carnegie Foundation in the US and the newly-established National Institute for Learning and Teaching in Australia.

Confidence

I am confident that the people responsible for providing an excellent student experience, including both academic and support staff, are more than willing to rise to the challenge. Working together, we will ensure that the Academy sets an example that other countries will find hard to match when it comes to applying a professional, evidence-based approach to improving students’ experiences throughout the United Kingdom.