Advance HE has a dedicated membership team, Ian Hall and Jenny Tester, that works closely with our 30 member institutions in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. We are committed to supporting you through these difficult times, and this flyer illustrates some of our work over the past year and for the forthcoming year.
Advance HE convenes the Australasia Strategic Advisory Board (ASAB) three times a year which comprises senior representatives from our members in Australasia. The group is chaired by Professor Kylie Readman of Murdoch University and shapes our activity in the region, and inputs into Advance HE’s governance and operations.
Contact your Membership Team
If you would like to speak your dedicated Membership Team for Australasia, Ian Hall and Jenny Tester, please click the link below.
Member Benefits Specific to Australasia
Advance HE will continue to support the region through its member groups (ASAB and APLN) along with continuing the support for Fellowship and accreditation listed above. We are also offering the following for members over the next year. Based on feedback from our members, our overarching theme for member benefits over the next year will be on Sustainability. Specific areas of focus include:
- Student outcomes
- Internationalisation and partnerships
- Preparing and developing future leaders
- Embedding inclusivity
- Leadership and governance of institutions
We will also be continuing our work on:
- Revision of the Professional Standards Framework
- Development of a Leadership Survey and Framework
- Student Success
- Flexible learning: approaches to assessment in a global sector
- The Future Student Experience, including hybrid working and educational technology
We will also offer sessions on other areas of emerging need throughout the year.
Accredited Programme Leaders Network (APLN)
Australasian members are invited to be part of the Accredited Programme Leaders Network (APLN), a group chaired by Professor Abby Cathcart of QUT that meets regularly to discuss matters relating to Fellowship, accreditation and staff recognition. The group features a range of invited speakers and has also led on projects specifically for the region. Key discussions at the Network this year have focused on mentoring of Fellowship and evaluation of Fellowship schemes, and the network also hosted a guest speaker from an Advance HE accredited provider in Thailand.
Professional Recognition in Australasia
Many of our member institutions engage with our Fellowship programme to recognise their teaching and learning support staff. Over 6,000 of our Fellows are based in Australasia - nearly 50% of our international Fellows. To support the ongoing professional recognition of staff in the region we have offered the following this year:
- a range of calibration sessions for those assessing Fellowship applications, that help with training and development of assessors
- drop-in sessions with the Advance HE accreditation team, and resources to support institutions applying for accreditation or re-accreditation
- developmental reviews of accreditation or re-accreditation applications for Strategic Members
- engagement sessions for the development of a higher education leadership survey and framework
- an Introduction to Principal Fellowship for aspiring Principal Fellows
- Advance HE Connect groups to support specific member groups (eg Accredited Programme Leaders Network) or those in specific roles (eg Principal Fellows network) + sessions for colleagues to input into the revision of the Professional Standards Framework
SAGE (Science Australia Gender Equity) Athena SWAN
Advance HE has worked with SAGE to offer the Athena SWAN gender equity charter in Australia. 43 institutions have achieved an Athena SWAN Bronze award in Australia to date.
Advance HE Member Grant funding
Over the past year Advance HE has offered the opportunity for member institutions to apply for grant funding to conduct collaborative projects on a range of higher education themes. We are pleased to note that Australasian members have been successful in applying for these funds.
In addition, Advance HE will shortly be offering an opportunity for all of its international members to bid for Global Impact Grants - small awards to showcase work you have conducted in teaching, learning, leadership, governance or equality that has a direct impact on staff and students.
Surveys
Advance HE runs an annual Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) which has been taken in the past by over 100 UK HEIs and has reached over 50% of the postgraduate research population in the UK. This year, we ran a pilot of the survey with three Australian member institutions.