Professional Practice in Higher Education

The Professional Practice in Higher Education (PPHE) programme aims to help staff and research students to meet some of the key challenges of working in the rapidly changing world of higher education. These challenges – of teaching, supporting student learning, employability, sustainability, new technologies, team management, enterprise, quality assurance and external accountability – range across the whole business of higher education, and can rarely be addressed in isolation. They raise many questions about how best to enhance teaching and research within particular contexts, and about how managers and administrators can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of current practices, not least in terms of addressing students' needs and aspirations, enriching their learning experiences, and raising the enduring value of their learning outcomes.

Why study Professional Practice in Higher Education?

By sharing ideas, knowledge and expertise about our professional practices we can both deepen our understanding of the challenges we face and realise opportunities to make improvements through innovations and the adoption of best practices. The PPHE programme will help individuals to evidence their personal commitment to professional development and to enhance the quality of their work and contribution to the development of higher education in their workplaces.

Key features of this course:

• Opportunities for accredited professional development designed to meet the personal and career needs of teaching and non-teaching staff and research students working in higher education contexts.
• Flexible patterns of enrolment, course delivery and credit accumulation that enable participants to plan and undertake their professional development at their own pace.
• Learning activities and assessment tasks that have a practical orientation and can be tailored to reflect the needs of participants within their work environments.
• Opportunities to network and share knowledge and experience within a community of practice focussed on understanding and enhancing higher education.