The Higher Education AcademyAnnual Report 2010-11

The Higher EducationAcademyInnovationWayYork Science ParkHeslingtonYorkYO10 5BR

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©The Higher EducationAcademy, 2011

The HEA is a national body for enhancing learning and teaching in highereducation in the UK.We work with institutions across the HE systemto help bring about change in learning and teaching to improve theoutcomes for students.We do this by recognising and rewarding excellentteaching, bringing together people and resources to research andshare best practice and by helping influence, shape and implement policy.

The HEA supports staff in higher education throughout their career fromthose who are new to teaching through to senior management.We offerservices in 28 disciplines throughout the UK and have offices in England,Wales and Scotland.Through the partnership management team we workdirectly with institutions to understand individual circumstances andpriorities and bring together resources to meet them.

The HEA has knowledge, experience and expertise in higher education. Itsservice and product range is broader than any other competitor, and it istrusted to deliver HE system advancements in partnership with itsmember institutions.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, orany storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the Editor.Such permission will normally be granted for educational purposes providedthat due acknowledgement is given.

To request copies of this report in large print or in a different format, pleasecontact the communications office at the Higher EducationAcademy:01904 717500 or pressoffice@heacademy.ac.uk

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About the HEA

The HEA is the national body for learning and teaching in UK highereducation. It supports the sector in providing the best possible learningexperience for all students.

Through a range of programmes, events, research, evidence and grantfunding opportunities at generic and discipline level it works across theUK to enhance the quality of teaching and the student learning experience.

In its work to identify, develop and disseminate evidence-informedapproaches, the HEA engages academics, subject communities andinstitutions in examining current evidence about effective practice,and in using this evidence to make decisions about teaching, assessment,curriculum design and support for students. It provides easy accessto information and research and initiates dialogue with individuals andinstitutions about how they can use this evidence to support their students.

The HEA brokers relationships that promote the sharing of effectivepractice. By ensuring the expertise that exists across the sector can bedistributed more widely, students are able to benefit from high qualityresources and teaching material, whether it is developed in their ownor another institution.

At this uncertain time within the HE sector, the HEA’s role in supportinguniversities and colleges in bringing about strategic change is more valuablethan ever. In the pages of this report, you can find out about our work overthe past year and about our plans for the future.

Contents

5 Foreword from Professor Sir Robert Burgess8 Introduction from Professor Craig Mahoney10 Highlights of the year13 Learning and teaching18 National Teaching Fellows 201121 Lecturers25 Higher education institutions29 The disciplines33 Students37 National policy making41 Partnerships45 Future plans48 Governance49 Finance

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Foreword by Professor Sir Robert Burgess

Chair of the Higher Education AcademyandVice-Chancellor, University of Leicester

It has been a year of challengeand change in higher education.Public finances remain underpressure,with funding for highereducation highlighted, and policychanges a key factor.

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Foreword from Professor Sir Robert Burgess

Chair of the Higher Education Academy andVice-Chancellor,University of Leicester

In England, the raising of the cap on student fees so that highereducation institutions (HEIs) will be able to charge up to £9,000from September 2012 has dominated headlines.As we are allaware, the impact on student expectations is likely to besignificant. In Scotland, the Green Paper published in December2010, Building a Smarter Future, urged that higher education use itscurrent resources more effectively.The Welsh Government’s ForOur Future current strategy document points to two significantpriorities – supporting a buoyant economy and delivering socialjustice.And in Northern Ireland, as in all UK countries, wideningparticipation continues to be a key focus.

The work of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) tosupport the sector in developing the student learningexperience is now more important than ever. Maintainingand improving quality in teaching in higher education hasbeen much debated over the past year, and the HEA’s focuson this area, particularly through its accreditation service andits individual recognition scheme, is set to play an evengreater part in HE as institutions seek to demonstrate theircommitment to high quality teaching. In the past year, 34institutions received accreditation for over 70 provisions fromthe HEA, including a growing number of continuingprofessional development frameworks.We expect that thenumber will be even greater in the coming academic year.

Critical work has been undertaken by the HEA this year indeveloping the UK Professional Standards Framework(UKPSF), which was first introduced in 2006.The sectorconsultation, which closed in November 2010, found thatthere was overwhelming support for the broad aims of theFramework but that amendments needed to be made tokeep pace with the changing nature of higher education,particularly the ever-widening international context for oursector and the growth of new technologies. Following theconsultation, the HEA has made revisions to the UKPSF tobring it up to date, and I am confident that the sectorwill find these useful and appropriate.

In the current climate, it is particularly important for us tocontinue to recognise and reward excellence in teaching,and this will become increasingly significant as the focus onteaching quality continues.The National Teaching FellowshipScheme, which is managed by the HEA, goes from strengthto strength, and this year we were pleased to welcomeWales to the Scheme.Among the 55 new Fellows, six werefromWelsh higher education institutions. In partnership withthe National Union of Students (NUS) the HEA piloted thestudent-led teaching awards in Scotland. In October 2011this successful scheme was rolled out across the UK.

The work that the HEA does with its partners has providedsome important initiatives for the sector.This year the HEAhas worked with JISC on the second phase of the HEFCE-funded Open Educational Resources (OER) programme,which was launched in August 2010 and ran until April 2011.This phase extended the range of materials openly availablethrough the scheme and enhanced the discoverability anduse of OER materials.The work also resulted in a greaterunderstanding of the benefits offered by OER release.

The Change Academy programme, run by the HEA inpartnership with the Leadership Foundation for HigherEducation, continues to provide institutions with a model tobring about changes that improve the student learningexperience. It was announced this year that for the first time

an international team will join the programme –YorkUniversity, based inToronto, Canada, will join UK teams andwill use the year-long programme to enhance the quality oftheir student learning experience through engagement.

The Higher Education Academy has refocused andreorganised over the past year.As the sector faces newchallenges against a backdrop of policy and funding changes,as well as changes to delivery modes and with increasingcompetition from divergent HE providers, the organisationhas needed to effect its own change to ensure that itcontinues to deliver what the sector needs.We havesignificantly increased the proportion of our resource that weuse on working directly with institutions and their staff atboth generic and discipline levels. Our work now falls intothree broad areas:Teacher Excellence,Academic PracticeDevelopment, and Institutional Strategy and Change, andincorporates 38 discipline foci and seven themes:internationalisation, assessment and feedback, employability,flexible learning, retention and success, reward andrecognition of teaching, and education for sustainabledevelopment.

I am confident that the HEA is in a strong position tosupport the sector in delivering the most effective learningexperience possible to the 2.5 million students currently inUK higher education.

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Introduction from Professor Craig Mahoney

Chief Executive of the Higher Education Academy

The HEA has gone through many changes since it wasoriginally set up in 2003.Throughout these changes ourcore purpose has remained essentially the same – to work inpartnership with those delivering and influencing highereducation, to bring about improvements in the studentlearning experience, and thus to bring about betteroutcomes for students.

Much has changed in the sector since 2003, and the lastyear, in particular, has seen massive upheaval. FollowingGovernment policy initiatives in all four UK nations (see‘National policy making’ page 37), the debate about studentfees has become dominant. Quality of teaching has become akey focus in higher education. TheWhite Paper for England,Students at the Heart of the System, quotes from ProfessorGraham Gibbs’ report for the HEA on the dimensions ofquality in higher education, looking at what is known aboutthe factors that make up a high quality learning experience.Graham found that the teacher who is delivering the coursemakes a significant difference, together with factors such asclass size, the level of student feedback, and the quantity andquality of feedback students receive.

The recently-published Scottish Government pre-legislativepaper Putting Learners at the Centre: Delivering our Ambitionsfor Post-16 Education, following consultation throughout2010-11, indicates no major Government changes to thearrangements for quality assurance and enhancement for theuniversity sector; however, there is a strong emphasis onmaintaining the high quality and distinctiveness of Scottishhigher education through a student-centred,enhancement-led approach and developing collaborationbetween local authorities, colleges and universities. Enhancingteaching quality and the greater professionalisation ofteaching in higher education are inherently important infulfilling these objectives.

TheWelsh Government’s For Our Future strategy includesproposals for maximising participation in HE, particularlythrough more flexible and learner-centred ways to accesshigher education.This will bring into focus how and whereteaching is delivered.The Department for Employment andLearning in Northern Ireland’s (DELNI) consultation onhigher education strategy for Northern Ireland up to 2020,which closed on 15 April, also focuses on maximisingopportunities for all who can benefit from HE.Thisincorporates flexible learning, workforce development,widening participation and postgraduate research andtraining, which again will necessitate a focus on teachingquality and provision.

I firmly believe the HEA is effective in supporting change inthe delivery of learning and teaching with positive impact onthe student learning experience, especially relevant at a timewhen teaching budgets are under immense pressure.

By working at a national level on matters that affect thewhole sector it is possible to bring about great changes,over and above what can be achieved in any one university.

The HEA is committed to researching what helps peoplebecome great teachers in higher education, and we arelooking at how that expertise can be better recognised byhigher education institutions. In November 2011 wepublished the findings of our sector review of the UKProfessional Standards Framework and launched its revisedformat, which will ensure it is even more effective insupporting individuals and HEIs to accredit their work, a keyfactor in the professionalisation of teaching.

As you may be aware, 2010-11 has been a year of change forthe Higher Education Academy itself. We have continued tobuild on many aspects of our work and made considerableplans for our refreshed structure, which will take us forwardover the coming years (see ‘Future plans’, page 45).Thisincludes supporting academics at the discipline level througha team of directly employed or seconded staff withpedagogic and subject expertise working with an extensivenetwork of Associates distributed throughout the sector.

During this period we continued to provide the highereducation sector with events, research publications, guidanceand support in a range of vital areas, and the HEA’s input hashelped shape the outcome of policy reviews across the UK.I am confident that our work has made a difference and Ilook forward to effecting even greater positive change in theyear ahead.

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Highlights

In 2010-11 the HEA:

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launched a sector consultation on a revised UKProfessional Standards Framework (UKPSF), and, inNovember 2011, published the revised Framework onbehalf of the sector;

launched the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme inWales, and made 55 new National Teaching Fellowsfrom institutions in England andWales;

responded to the Scottish Government’s Green Paperconsultation on the future of higher education;

ran over 570 generic and discipline-based events andseminars engaging over 12,500 colleagues from acrossthe sector. 98% of UK HEIs were represented at theseevents;

worked with all HEIs and key sector agencies inWales toidentify the firstWales-wide quality enhancement themefor learning and teaching – Graduates For Our Future –to address theWelsh Government’s For Our Future: the21st Century Higher Education Strategy and Plan for Wales;

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launchedTeaching Development Grants, which willsee £1.5 million of funding distributed to individuals,departments and collaborative teams to stimulateevidence-based research and encourage innovations inlearning and teaching that have the potential forsector-wide impact;

ran the second year of the very successful Scottishstudent-led teaching awards in partnership with theNational Union of Students Scotland;

ran the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)and the PostgraduateTaught Experience Survey (PTES),which this year had record numbers of HEIs taking part inthem: 102 took part in PRES and 80 in PTES;

launched the Northern Ireland learning and teachingenhancement fund, providing grants of up to £2,500 tosupport projects led by individuals at Northern Irish HEIsto enhance or support learning and teaching in HE, whichare of use beyond applicants’ own institutions;

contributed to the outcome of key policy reviews,including the HEWhite Paper for England, Students atthe Heart of the System, the Quality Assurance Agency(QAA) review and revision of the AcademicInfrastructure and its replacement with the UK QualityCode for Higher Education, Key Information Sets (KIS),and the UUK review of external examiners;

established a sector-wide Scottish Higher EducationEmployability Forum (SHEEF);

published two well-received guides on academic integrity:Policy works: Recommendations for reviewing policy tomanage unacceptable academic practice in higher educationand Supporting academic integrity: approaches andresources for higher education, both of which providepractical guidance for those involved in implementingplagiarism policies;

commissioned and published Dimensions of Quality byGraham Gibbs, which found that it is what institutions dowith their resources that can best predict educationalgain. Factors here include class size, who undertakes theteaching and the level of student engagement.

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Learning and teaching

High quality learning and teachingare at the heart of the studentexperience.The HEA engageswith higher education institutionsand lecturers on work to support,inspire and recognise teaching.

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Learning and teaching

The HEA continued to develop its accreditation programme and this year 34 institutionsreceived accreditation for over 70 provisions including a growing number of continuingprofessional development frameworks.Accreditation supports the professionalisation ofteaching in HE and provides institutions with external confirmation that their programmesare aligned with the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF).

This year the HEA carried out a sector-wide review of theUKPSF and feedback was used to ensure the revised frameworkprovides even greater support for HEIs as they develop theirinitial and continued HE teacher development programmes.

The HEA in Scotland established a sector-wide Scottish HigherEducation Employability Forum (SHEEF).The programme ofwork included the largest employability-specific higher educationconference held in Scotland, attracting over 200 attendees fromacross the UK.

The HEA’sTeaching International Students (TIS) project inpartnership with the UK Council for International StudentAffairs (UKCISA) came to a successful conclusion. Over 120academics attended the final TIS conference in June, whichexplored new and emerging thinking, practice and researcharound teaching international students.An important legacyfrom this project is the international student life cycleresource bank, providing materials, advice and key resourcesto help lecturers and other teaching staff to maintain andimprove the quality of teaching for international students.

The HEATravel Fund was launched in Northern Ireland toencourage the exchange and dissemination of good practicethroughout the UK. Offering bursaries of up to £200 toacademic staff and students in HEIs in Northern Irelandwishing to attend HEA events held elsewhere in the UK, thescheme was specifically aimed at enabling staff and studentsto engage with colleagues from other parts of the UK and tosupport their institution’s priorities and developments inlearning and teaching.

The HEA Annual Conference, ‘Changing practice, changingtimes’, brought together over 350 delegates at the EastMidlands Conference Centre to discuss topics includingmodels of change, internationalisation, postgraduateprovision, student engagement and continuing professionaldevelopment.The HEA successfully trialled the use of livestreaming, which ensured delegates who could not attendthe event in person could take part. Following the event alldelegates, whether they attended in person or remotely,could view recordings of all the conference sessions,maximising the benefits for all those interested in thewide range of issues discussed.

Ten HEIs took part in the HEA’s UK-wide Evidence-InformedQuality Improvement Programme (EQUIP), which helpedthem identify and resolve key issues affecting the qualityof their students’ learning experiences. Projects includedenhancing the learning experience throughevidence-informed curriculum design, and co-creatingthe curriculum through student/academic partnerships.

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Learning and teaching

The HEA supported Welsh HEIs in their development of new learning and teachingstrategies for the period 2011-12 to 2013-14.This included a workshop,‘Future Directionsfor Higher Education in Wales: Learning and Teaching and Widening Access Strategies’, on13 April 2011 at the University of Glamorgan and the publication of a bilingual guide,Assessing the impact of learning and teaching strategies inWales:A guide for institutions, whichsupports HEIs as they reflect on the impact of their current learning and teachingstrategies to inform future enhancement plans.

The HEA delivered two ‘Professional Development Planning(PDP) and Graduate Attributes’ workshops inWales, andsupported a PDP event, ‘Embedding Graduate Attributes andPDP inTeaching and Learning: Key lessons for Student andGraduate Employability’, in Northern Ireland. In partnershipwith the Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA), the HEAhas also supported aWales and Northern Ireland PDP ande-portfolio JISC mail list, creating a communication channelfor the PDP community, for example, for advertising events.

Phase two of the HEFCE-funded Open EducationalResources (OER) programme was launched in August 2010and ran until April 2011. Many subject centres havedeveloped their OER work this year including English, whichcreated ‘The Pool’, a collection of materials that add a subjectdimension to accredited courses.

The Health Sciences and Practice (HSAP), and Medicine,Dentistry andVeterinary Medicine (MEDEV) subject centreswere also active in OER work: MEDEV’s phase two project,ACTOR, focused on accredited clinical teaching, and HSAPexamined the impact of their phase one project, PHORUS(Public Health Open Resources in the University Sector).

Gwella (which means ‘to enhance’ inWelsh) has been athree-year programme of support forWelsh HEIs for theenhancement of learning and teaching through technology(2007-08 to 2010-11). Feedback has shown that HEIs havegrounded their use of technology to enhance and improveaccess to learning on evidence-based practice, and theprogramme has led to more strategic discussions about therole of technology-enhanced learning.The annual Gwellaprogramme meeting took place in October 2010and focused on ‘Celebrating Success and MeetingFuture Challenge’.

The HEA continued to develop its role on employabilityand employee learning. It published Quality and responding toemployer needs, a series of nine reports that show goodpractice in HEIs in the context of employer-responsiveprovision.Themes include maintaining HE standards inaccredited in-company training and managing employerand cross-institutional partnerships.A total of 110 delegatesfrom 55 HEIs also attended the HEA’s employabilityframework workshop.

The HEA has published two guidance reports to supportthe development of academic integrity policy and practice,including a guide covering a range of educational resourcesfor staff and students.The second report, Policy works:Recommendations for reviewing policy to manage unacceptableacademic practice in HE, published in March 2011, is highlyregarded by the sector and enables HEIs to review anddevelop institutional policy in this area.

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NationalTeaching Fellows 2011

Fifty-five NationalTeaching Fellows were recognised this year by the HEA, bringing the total number to 478. For the first timeacademics from HEIs inWales took part in the scheme.The £10,000 awarded to each new NationalTeaching Fellow supportstheir professional development of learning and teaching.A wide range of disciplines was represented.

Professor Peter Abrahams University ofWarwickIrene Anderson University of HertfordshireDr Patricia Black Keele UniversityDr Robert Blackwood University of LiverpoolRobert Bowie Canterbury Christ Church UniversityDr Isobel Braidman University of ManchesterDr Helen Bruce Queen Mary, University of LondonProfessor Aidan Byrne Swansea UniversityProfessor Michael Clarke University of HuddersfieldClaire Craig Sheffield Hallam UniversitySteven Curtis London Metropolitan UniversityDrWill Curtis De Montfort UniversityRuth Dineen University ofWales Institute, CardiffDr Sue Dymoke University of LeicesterProfessor Joëlle Fanghanel University ofWest LondonSarah Greer University of GreenwichJon Guest Coventry UniversityDr Jennifer Hill University of theWest of England, BristolDr Anthony C Hilton Aston UniversityCath Holström University of SussexDr Robin Humphrey Newcastle UniversityDr Amanda Jefferies University of HertfordshireDr Jill Johnes Lancaster UniversityPaul Jones Northumbria UniversityDrTom Joyce Newcastle UniversityWill Katene University of ExeterProfessor Richard Lance Keeble University of LincolnProfessor Roger Kneebone Imperial College, London

Dr Gary Lock University of BathDr Martin Luck University of NottinghamDr Jason MacVaugh University of GloucestershireProfessor Paul Maharg Northumbria UniversityDr Nigel McLaughlin University of GloucestershireDr Robert McSherry Teesside UniversityDr Rosie Miles University ofWolverhamptonProfessor Jean Murray University of East LondonSarah Nixon Liverpool John Moores UniversityDr Martin Oliver Institute of Education,University of LondonJulie Price Cardiff UniversityProfessor Susannah Quinsee City University LondonDr Gordon Ramsay University of NottinghamCaroline Reid Middlesex UniversityPatsy Rodenburg,OBE Guildhall School of Music & DramaDr Andrew Russell Durham UniversityProfessor Mark Schofield Edge Hill UniversityDr Ian Scott University ofWorcesterDr Heather Skinner University of GlamorganSusan Smith Leeds Metropolitan UniversityProfessor Kristyan Spelman Miller University ofWinchesterProfessor RichardTong University ofWales Institute, CardiffProfessor JoannaVerran Manchester Metropolitan UniversityAndrewWalsh University of HuddersfieldDr ShânWareing University of the Arts LondonDr CarolWatts Birkbeck, University of LondonProfessor ChrisWebster Cardiff University

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Lecturers

The HEA leads, supports and informsthe professional development andrecognition of staff in higher education.Through its reports, research, eventsand networking opportunities itensures that individuals have accessto professional recognition, adviceand guidance. Its work to enhancethe status of teaching, and to supportnew academic staff, continued to bepriorities across the UK this year.

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Lecturers

Over 780 submissions were made to the HEA’s first phase of teaching developmentgrants in July. Fifty-one awards were made to individuals totalling £315,000.

The grants will stimulate evidence-based research and encourageinnovations in learning and teaching that have the potential forsector-wide impact on learning and teaching ininternationalisation and employability.

£28,000 was reserved for new academic staff with less thanfive years experience, with the same level of funding reservedfor HEA Fellows who have not previously received a teachingdevelopment grant.

In March 2011 the HEA, in partnership with NUS Scotland,launched the second phase of the student-led teaching awardspilot project, building on the successful pilot run in 2009.Thirteen students’ associations throughout Scotland weresupported to run their own awards schemes ensuring studentscould show how much they appreciate staff dedication toteaching quality.An online toolkit was launched to helpassociations with planning and preparation of the awards.

The marked increase in the number of HE professionalsseeking recognition for their learning and teaching provisioncontinued this year. Over 4,450 Associates and Fellows wererecognised, an increase of over 800 on figures for theprevious year.

All subject centres worked closely with lecturers across thedisciplines. For example, the UK Centre for Bioscience heldits BioscienceTeacher of theYear Award, which recognisesexcellence in Bioscience teaching. Many subject centresprovided events designed to support academic staff new toteaching, or postgraduates who teach.This includes theEconomics Network, whose workshops were supported bythe Royal Economics Society and the Scottish EconomicsSociety.The Engineering Subject Centre and the PsychologyNetwork were also active in this area.

In Northern Ireland the HEA launched its learning andteaching enhancement fund, providing grants of up to £2,500to support projects led by individuals at Northern IrelandHEIs to enhance or support learning and teaching in HE,which are of use beyond applicants’ own institutions.

HEAWales launched a seminar series in partnership withWelsh HEIs on themes including assessment and feedback,student engagement and student voice, learning foremployment, and learning in employment. Seven seminarstook place, which were in total attended by colleagues from11 of the 12 HEIs inWales.

Following an extensive usability study across the sector, theHEA refreshed its website presence in June 2011.Thechanges were made to ensure the website could betterreflect the organisation.

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Higher education institutions

The HEA liaises directly withinstitutions across the UK toensure it develops and providesprogrammes of support based oninstitutional needs.Through itsregular communication channelsit encourages debate so thatinstitutions can collaborate in sharedacademic research to support thelearning experience of all students.

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Higher education institutions

The Change Academy programme, which the HEA runs in partnership with the LeadershipFoundation for Higher Education, saw change programmes on topics ranging from learningthrough employment to education for sustainable development. A clear trend towardsprojects related to employability and graduate skills emerged. One particularly innovativeexample was ScotPID (Scottish PDP Institutional Development), which was run inpartnership with the Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA) and QAA Scotland.

Other change programmes led by the HEA this year included‘Green Academy: Curricula for tomorrow’.This was a pilotprogramme in association with the Environmental Associationfor Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and the NUS to helpinstitutions achieve sustainability in the curriculum goals.Feedback from the eight institutional teams includes commentssuch as:“I think the fact that we’ve got other institutions here,learning from what they’re doing, sharing ideas, sharing bestpractice, is very valuable indeed.”

Over the last year the HEA has worked through the subjectcentres to provide support to departments and faculties inusing National Student Survey (NSS) results to improve thelearning experiences of their students. For example, theGeography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Subject Centreheld an event that provided academic and support staff withan opportunity to share innovative practice in assessmentand feedback and its relation to the NSS.

The HEA also engaged with institutions, and with nationalpolicy, through the NSSWorking Group and national eventsincluding the ‘Surveys for Enhancement’ conference.Thisconference took place in May, and featured presentationsand workshops designed to help delegates use survey datato make improvements to students’ learning experiences.The event focused on the National Student Survey, thePostgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) andthe PostgraduateTaught Experience Survey (PTES).

The HEA ran four scholarly activity workshops that gave128 delegates from 58 further education colleges advice toguide higher education in further education teachers indeveloping their pedagogic or disciplinary research skills.The delegates were also given guidance on the UKProfessional Standards Framework.

In Scotland the HEA, in partnership with Scotland’s Collegesand the Equality Practitioners’ Network, launched a three-year programme of work to support colleges and HEinstitutions to further embed equality and diversity withincurriculum design, delivery and assessment.The programmeincluded the development of a self-evaluation framework,which universities and colleges can use to evaluate andreflect upon their progress in embedding equality anddiversity in the curriculum, strategic planning and capacitybuilding workshops, and a regular newsletter.

In partnership with Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) the HEApublished a commentary to provide higher educationinstitutions with ideas and examples on how to promotehigher achievement among Black and minority ethnicstudents.The online publication, Improving the degreeattainment of Black and minority ethnic students, is theculmination of the HEA and ECU summit programme,which brought together 15 higher education institutionsto plan, develop, and/or pilot initiatives to address theattainment gap in their institutions.The commentaryshowcases their varying approaches to help othersdevelop their own work in this area.

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The disciplines

The HEA works across thedisciplines to provide subject-specificsupport for enhancing the studentlearning experience. Lecturers,subject departments and disciplinecommunities are supported througha range of services includingsubject-specific information andresources, events and departmentalworkshops, as well as mini-projectfunding and support for SpecialInterest Groups.

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The disciplines

The work of the Islamic Studies Network continued during this year and was led by across-HEA team including the subject centres for Business, Management,Accountancy andFinance; Law; Philosophical and Religious Studies; Sociology,Anthropology and Politics;and Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.

An independent evaluation of the Network found that its eventsand funded projects were all well received by the sector andattracted participants from a wide range of disciplinaryperspectives.The Network also launched its biannual publication,Perspectives, a forum for those involved in teaching IslamicStudies in higher education to share practice and resources.As well as updates on Islamic Studies Network activity,Perspectives publishes articles on a wide range of topicsrelated to Islamic Studies in higher education.

Themes related to employability were key priorities for manysubject centres this year. ESCalate, the Education SubjectCentre, held its student conference on the theme ofemployability and enterprise in education.The Subject Centrefor History, Classics and Archaeology held a workshop toexplore the way the practical aspects of Archaeology areprovided at university and the skills required byarchaeological employers, and the Subject Centre forInformation and Computer Sciences led discussions onenhancing the employability of computing students.TheHospitality, Leisure, Sport andTourism Network published abook, Enhancing Graduate Impact.The UK Physical SciencesCentre published the results of three major national surveysof recent graduates in relation to skills development, theteaching of their courses and transferable skills.The reportshave been cited in a successful bid by the forensic sciencecommunity for a national subject benchmark.

The STEM group of subject centres, including Engineering,Information and Computer Sciences, the UK PhysicalSciences Centre, the UK Centre for Bioscience, the UKCentre for Materials Education and the Maths, Stats and ORNetwork, held a workshop for academic staff who had eitherrecently been appointed, or aspired to becoming, an externalexaminer. Delegates experienced several external examiningscenarios and considered how the role is likely to develop inthe future, and UUK presented their review of externalexamining arrangements.The Social Policy and SocialWorkSubject Centre also held a successful event for externalexaminers in its field, with over 60 delegates attending and78% reporting they would change their practice followingtheir attendance.

The Subject Centre for Dance, Drama and Music, PALATINE,held an event on ‘Digital reflection: using digital technologiesto enhance and embed creative processes’, which was verywell received, with comments from delegates including:“Sincethe event I have adapted some of my assessment strategiesfor next year in light of some of the innovative ideas thatwere presented at the event.”

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Students

The HEA’s approach to studentengagement considers studentsas active partners in their learningexperience. It promotes the valueof student engagement and shareseffective practice across the HEsector.The HEA has workedwith HEIs to ensure that allstudents,whatever theirbackground, can benefit frominclusive teaching practices.

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Students

Results from this year’s HEA postgraduate experience surveys showed the highest overallexperience ratings since the surveys began. 88% of students who took part in this year’staught experience survey said the programme had met or exceeded their expectations, upfrom 85% in 2010. 86% of students who took part in the research experience survey saidthat the overall experience of their programme met or exceeded their expectations.

This compares to 84% in 2009, and 83% in 2008 (the surveydid not run in 2010).A record number of higher educationinstitutions and postgraduate students took part in the surveys.A total of 102 HEIs and 31,202 students took part in PRES and80 HEIs and 38,756 students took part in PTES this year.

InWales, the HEA has continued to be a key partner in theWales Initiative for Student Engagement (WISE), a cross-sectorapproach that engages students as active participants in theleadership, management, development and delivery of their owneducational experience. Partners include CollegesWales, theHEA, Higher Education Funding Council forWales (HEFCW),Higher EducationWales, the National Union of Students inWales (NUSWales), and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).The partners work closely and collaboratively with learners toempower students to engage with the processes that will enablethem to participate in the enhancement of their own learningexperiences.TheWISE approach is underpinned by threeprinciples: working in partnership, valuing feedback, andharnessing expertise.

The HEA continued to prioritise its work on educationfor sustainable development (ESD) this year. In March itpublished a report on First-year attitudes to, and skills in,sustainable development, which showed that first-yearstudents believe their university should be responsiblefor actively incorporating and promoting sustainabledevelopment to prepare their students for graduateemployment. Commissioned by the HEA, the reportwas undertaken by NUS Services, in collaboration withStudentForce for Sustainability and the University ofBath.The report gathered responses from over 5,760first-year students and was the inspiration for a GuardianHE Network online discussion on the topic of ESD.

Teams from eight HEIs took part in this year’s UK-wide pilotGreen Academy programme, which supports institutions asthey embed sustainability into the curriculum.All institutionshave reported significant impact and progress with theirprojects.The project directors have formed a communityof practice offering peer support and further capacitydevelopment and are preparing a joint bid for a presentationat the international ESD conference in Rio de Janeiro,June 2012.

The HEA launched a programme this year supporting 16HEIs to create an inclusive learning and teaching culture toimprove the success of all students.The projects beingdeveloped by the HEIs include an inclusive assessment and

feedback policy and the development and use of inclusiveeducational resources.A further ten institutions from EnglandandWales (eight HEIs and two FE colleges) were selected totake part in the ‘Meaningful student engagement’ programmeto enhance the engagement of disabled students in thedesign and delivery of learning and teaching.

The HEA has worked with the NUS on student engagementthis year.This includes two successful conferences whichbrought together students, academic staff and managers ininstitutions to explore the meaning of student engagementand share practice and approaches including an HEA-commissioned literature review and the jointly badgedstudent engagement toolkit.The HEA also supported tendevelopment grants to institutions across the UK to supportdevelopment of evidence-based work in studentengagement.

The subject centres’ student awards programme engagedhundreds of students in developing their ideas on adiscipline-specific topic.Topics included: ‘Is the Law degreefit for purpose?’ and ‘When studying Mathematics my biggestsurprise was…’ Nine of the winning students attendedthe HEA annual conference.The Art, Design and MediaSubject Centre asked students to submit a visual entry(image, film, etc.) reflecting their perception andexperiences of higher education.

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National policy making

The HEA works to inform,influence and interpret policydecisions across the UK and homenations. It does this throughrepresentation on committees andthrough formal responses to relevantconsultations. It also facilitates policydebates that affect learning andteaching in higher education togive the maximum benefit forstudents’ learning experiences.

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National policy making

The HEA in Wales led the quality enhancement agenda in Wales through the ‘FutureDirections’ programme of work during 2010-11.Working with the sector,Wales’ firstenhancement theme was identified – Graduates For Our Future.The theme has three workstrands: Students as Partners; Learning in Employment; and Learning for Employment.The theme and work strands are helping to address the dual priorities set out in the WelshGovernment’s For Our Future strategy document: HE supporting a buoyant economy anddelivering social justice.

The HEA has been fully engaged in the current review ofScotland’s arrangements for quality assurance and enhancementin colleges and universities by the Scottish Funding Council. It hasalso responded to the Scottish Government’s Green Paperconsultation on the future of higher education. Its student-ledteaching awards initiative with NUS Scotland goes from strengthto strength and is cited in the recentWhite Paper for England.The HEA has also been taking a lead role in co-ordinatingthe work of the new Scottish Higher Education EmployabilityForum (SHEEF).

This year has seen the publication of theWhite Paper forEngland, Students at the Heart of the System.The HEA haddiscussions with officials preparing theWhite Paper, and boththe Chair of the Board of the HEA, Professor Sir BobBurgess, and the Chief Executive, Professor Craig Mahoney,met with the Minister and senior officials as it progressed.

The HEA was specifically mentioned in theWhite Paper,which stressed a pivotal role for teaching in highereducation “at the centre of every higher educationinstitution’s mission”.

Work by the HEA and the GENIE (Genetics EducationNetworking for Innovation & Excellence) CETL at theUniversity of Leicester is referred to, as is the NUS andHEA’s Student Engagement project and the associatedtoolkit that was produced.

In Northern Ireland the HEA responded to DELNI’sconsultation on the development of the higher educationstrategy, emphasising the importance of student engagement,flexible learning and employability skills.This consultation wasa result of an earlier DELNI review, led by Sir Graeme Daviesin 2009-10.The HEA contributed to this review throughleading the learning experts group.

The Network of Deputy and Pro-Vice-Chancellors andVice-Principals provides a forum for senior managers in HEto enhance their understanding of current learning andteaching issues through biannual meetings.The meeting heldin November 2010 focused on the theme of ‘Sustainingexcellence in challenging times’. It included an after-dinnerspeech given by Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive ofHEFCE.The April 2011 meeting looked at the implicationsof the changing system for funding and student finance onstudent choice, participation and engagement, and includedan after-dinner speech by Mark Batho, Chief Executive of theScottish Funding Council.

Many subject centres contributed to policy making in theirdisciplines including the Centre for Education in the BuiltEnvironment, which was involved in the development of anational framework specification for foundation degrees inConstruction Operations Management in partnership withConstructionSkills, the Chartered Institute of Building andrepresentatives from a range of higher education institutions.

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Partnerships

The HEA works in partnershipwith educational organisations andHEIs to share expertise and guidance.These deliver a range of resourcesand outcomes that directly impactthe student learning experience.The HEA’s partnership workingensures that those with expertise inareas of common interest can helpshape the future of the studentlearning experience.

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Partnerships

NUSThe HEA’s work with NUS this year includes the secondyear of the two-year pilot student-led teaching awards inScotland.The President of the NUS, Liam Burns, sits on theHEA Board to ensure the student voice is represented at astrategic level.

Leadership Foundation for Higher EducationThe HEA’s flagship Change Academy programme forms partof its work with the Leadership Foundation for HigherEducation. Change Academy continues to drive the agendaacross institutions seeking to deliver strategic changeprogrammes that benefit students and attracted its firstinternational team this year.

The QualityAssuranceAgency,GuildHE and Universities UKThe HEA has worked with the QAA, GuildHE and UUK onexternal examining and this year began working on a guidethat will complement the QAA’s new UK Quality Codefor HE chapter on external examining.Through thispartnership the QAA had input into the HEA’s forthcomingassessment guide.

The HEA also sat on the Sounding Board for the QAA’sAcademic Infrastructure.

In Scotland, the HEA and QAA have worked in partnershipto support the sector through several national enhancementinitiatives over the past year ; the EnhancementThemes,the Scottish Higher Education Employability Forum (SHEEF)and the Scottish PDP Institutional Development programme(ScotPID).

JISCThis year the HEA worked with JISC on phase two of theHEFCE-funded Open Educational Resources (OER)programme, which was launched in August 2010 andran until April 2011.

Equality Challenge UnitThe HEA’s partnership projects with ECU included thepublication of a commentary, Improving the degree attainmentof Black and minority ethnic students.The commentaryfollowed a joint developmental change programme anddraws upon the experiences of 14 participating institutionsas they addressed this challenging agenda. It offers thesector ideas, strategies and examples of initiatives on howto better support Black and minority ethnic students.

Action on Access, funded by HEFCE and thePaul Hamlyn FoundationThis partnership continued its ‘What works? StudentRetention and Success’ programme to generate robust,evidence-based analysis and evaluation about the mosteffective strategies to ensure high continuation andcompletion rates.The seven projects, involving 22 HEIs,completed this year.The resulting work suggests thatstudent engagement lies at the heart of retention andsuccess, and successful higher education depends on apartnership between a student and the institution theyattend.The findings will be disseminated throughout2011-12 and beyond.

Scotland’s Colleges and EqualityPractitioners’ NetworkThis year the HEA launched a three-year programme ofwork focusing on equality and diversity in the curriculum inScotland in partnership with Scotland’s Colleges and theEquality Practitioners’ Network. It is funded by the ScottishFunding Council to support the delivery of their equality anddiversity framework for 2010-2013.The programme workswith institutions in the higher education and college sectors.Work completed this year includes a survey to betterunderstand the priorities across the sector and a self-evaluation framework to enable the review and evaluation ofprogress.The activities offer institutions and individuals theflexibility to engage with the programme at times and inways that help them to further the embedding of equalityand diversity within the curriculum.

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Future plans

Over the past year, against a backdropof budget changes, and afterconsultation with the sector, theHEA has refocused and restructured.The new structure and operationalplan, in place since 1 August 2011,have been designed to maximise theHEA’s ability to work directly withacademics and learning supportstaff, and to provide even greaterflexibility to meet demands duringa continued period of uncertaintyin higher education.

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Future plans

The work of the organisation is built around three related aspects of the student learningexperience – Teacher Excellence, Institutional Strategy and Change, and Academic PracticeDevelopment – and operates at both the generic and discipline levels.

Changes to the student fee regime in England from 2012 havehighlighted teaching quality.This was signalled in theWhite Paperfor England, Students at the Heart of the System (see ‘Nationalpolicy making’ chapter). HEA recognition and accreditationprovide two means for institutions to demonstrate their staff arequalified to meet recognised standards, and our services in theseareas will be further developed in 2011-12 to anticipate anincrease in future demand.

The development of the HEA’s postgraduate experiencesurveys will also be key.TheWhite Paper for England refersto the benefits of postgraduate students having access toinformation relating to the student experience.The UK-wideHigher Education Public Information Steering Group(HEPISG) may consider introducing a National StudentSurvey of taught postgraduates and consider that institutionscould make available “a standard set of information similarto the KIS for ... taught postgraduate courses” (para 2.13).The HEA’s PostgraduateTaught Experience Survey (PTES),which is being further developed in 2011-12, could formthe basis of the proposed survey.

Student engagement remains an underpinning principleacross the UK, with students involved as partners insupporting educational change; for example, in theinstitutional change programmes for 2011-12, studentswill be team members for institutional initiatives.

The HEA will continue to focus on the themes of flexiblelearning, and retention and success, and to examine anddevelop appropriate services and products for all subscribingproviders. New services in 2011-12 will include PhDstudentships and a policy think tank on learning and teachingin higher education.

Finally, in 2011-12, new systems for management ofrelationships with institutions subscribing to the HEA and itsprincipal partners will be developed.Work in this area willinclude institutional account management: the maintenanceand enhancement of partnerships and support forsubscribing higher education institutions, and partnershipdevelopment with key non-institutional stakeholders – theHEA will work closely with sector-wideagencies/stakeholders and non-HE organisations to developeffective and efficient partnership working in areas of jointinterest and benefit to the sector.

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Governance

As of 31 July 2011

Chief Executive Professor Craig Mahoney

HEA Board Members

Professor Sir Robert Burgess Chair of the Board,Vice-Chancellor, University of LeicesterRobert Barlow Founder and Managing Associate,YourTalent LtdLiam Burns President, National Union of StudentsAnthony Carey Partner at Mazars LLPProfessor Antony Chapman Vice-Chancellor, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityGeoff Donnelly Non-Executive Director, NHS NorthYorkshire andYork, and independent governor,

Oxford Brookes UniversityProfessor Janice Kay Senior DeputyVice-Chancellor, University of ExeterProfessor Mike Mannion Vice-Principal and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Learning andTeaching, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityJohnny Rich Publisher, Push/RealWorldRamaThirunamachandran DeputyVice-Chancellor and Provost, Keele UniversityProfessor DianneWillcocks FormerVice-Chancellor,York St John University

Income and expenditure account

Year ended 31 July 2011

2011 2010

Income£000 £000

Funding body grantsOther incomeInvestment income

24,3573,19655

26,6602,94044

Total income 27,608 29,644

Expenditure

Staff costsSubject CentresOther operating expensesRestructureDepreciationInterest and other finance costs

(4,528)(11,372)(9,532)(1,059)(76)(4)

(5,498)(13,667)(10,025)

(3)(127)(5)

Total expenditure (26,571) (29,325)

Surplus for the year retained within the Income andExpenditure reserve

1,037 319

The income and expenditure account is in respect of continuing activities for the HEA andTechDis.

There were no gains and losses other than those reported in the income and expenditure account.

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HEA contact details

General enquiries enquiries@heacademy.ac.uk +44 (0)1904 717500

Professor Craig MahoneyChief Executive craig.mahoney@heacademy.ac.uk +44 (0)1904 717521

Professor Grahame BilbowHead of Arts and Humanities grahame.bilbow@heacademy.ac.uk

Dr John CraigHead of Social Sciences john.craig@heacademy.ac.uk

Dr Janet DeWildeHead of STEM janet.dewilde@heacademy.ac.uk

Geoff GloverHead of Health Sciences geoff.glover@heacademy.ac.uk

Heather JacksonHead of Organisational Effectiveness heather.jackson@heacademy.ac.uk

Elaine PayneHead of Institutional Strategy elaine.payne@heacademy.ac.uk

HelenThomasHead ofTeacher Excellence helen.thomas@heacademy.ac.uk

Marketing, Media and Communications pressoffice@heacademy.ac.uk

Website address www.heacademy.ac.uk