Academic professional

About the role

Academic Professionals work within the higher education (HE) sector delivering higher education teaching and undertaking research to support the development of knowledge within their discipline. They may work in Universities, Colleges or the Private Sector, in the primary role of developing and sharing knowledge with students, peers and external stakeholders to support advancement of the discipline and the resolution of major challenges. Academic Professionals play an active role in supporting a range of people including students, funders, stakeholders and government to gain insight into their specialist discipline area. Academic Professionals engage in continuing professional development in both their discipline and their pedagogy and make use of appropriate technologies to support the acquisition of knowledge. Academic Professionals will reach full competency in their role through this apprenticeship, taking them from their entry point to employment in higher education to full professional competence, which can be achieved only following extensive training and work experience in both the core elements of the apprenticeship and in a specialist route for either teaching or research. At entry point, individuals have considerable expertise in a particular subject discipline, usually as indicated by the completion of postgraduate level 7 or level 8 qualifications, but still need the substantial training indicated below to acquire full competency as an Academic Professional. The Academic Professional Apprenticeship Standard reflects widely understood professional standards for both the teaching and research routes in higher education and is aligned to the Higher Education Academy’s UK Professional Standards Framework and Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework. Academic Professionals undertake the core role and follow one of two specialist routes, teaching and supporting learning or undertaking research: Specialist role in Teaching: Specialises in teaching and the support of student learning at undergraduate, postgraduate taught and research levels. Employees in this specialism exceed the core teaching abilities of an Academic Professional by playing a leading role in the development of current learning and teaching practice, pedagogical and assessment methodologies, advanced skill in supporting learning for diverse groups of learners, including those with learning disabilities, delivery of a high level of information literacy and the application of technologies in support of learning, promotion of independent learning skills and other teaching techniques. They will contribute to changes of practice by developing innovative forms of teaching for use with students who are working towards higher-level learning at levels 4 to 8 in the Framework for HE Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, ie from HE Certificate to Doctorate level. Specialist role in Research: Has the capacity to operate as a principal investigator, identifying research opportunities, competing for external funding, managing research projects and budgets and creating research outputs. Specialises in research activities, often within a research team addressing major challenges facing the world, or those of public or private funders and commissioners of research. Employees in this specialism exceed the core research abilities of an Academic Professional by playing a leading role in wider research management, oversight and deployment of research-related funding, collaboration with external organisations and dissemination of research outputs. These are competences that reach far beyond the original contribution to knowledge in a defined field which is the prime focus of the research degree held by most academic professionals.