Marios Hadjianastasis (Scheme Lead) and Jamie Morris (Deputy Scheme Lead) reflect on the last 10 years of the University of Birmingham’s professional recognition scheme for awarding Advance HE fellowships.
Beacon is the fellowship scheme for staff who have a role in teaching and/or supporting learning at the University of Birmingham, and is accredited by Advance HE to award D1-D4. The scheme is run by the Educational Development Team.
This blogpost discusses the impact of Beacon on teaching practices at the institution, and an update on a recent consultation survey sent to completers of the scheme.
The University of Birmingham has been accredited to award fellowships since 2015 through our taught programmes and the Beacon scheme. Therefore, we knew that 2025 would be a special year, and that we would be celebrating our first decade, but we were quietly hoping for more: could 2025 also be the year in which our 1,000th fellowship would be awarded via Beacon?
At our July 2025 ratification panel, we were delighted to do exactly that: we awarded the 1,000th fellowship, and another 20 on top! Soon after we held an event to announce the 1,000th fellow and to celebrate 10 years of Beacon.
At this event, we invited those without whom Beacon would not exist: the more than 100 volunteer mentors and assessors currently working on the scheme. These ‘Beacon champions’ were treated to an afternoon tea as an opportunity for us to thank our Beacon advocates for supporting and giving back to the scheme. They are the people who understand that it is not just about helping others achieve fellowships and enhancing the quality of teaching and supporting learning at the university: getting involved with the Beacon scheme is also about becoming part of, and building, a community and being part of a group of people who truly value quality education.
1,000th fellow
Our 1,000th fellow was Dr Kelly Tighe, Assistant Professor in Social work, who had obtained her Senior Fellowship.
Kelly achieved Fellowship though the University’s PGCHE a couple of years earlier, and decided to apply for Senior Fellowship a little later. Like many in that stage of their career, she had competing priorities, but managed to keep working on her application and submitted it in spring 2025, succeeding at that first submission.
Kelly emphasised that in an environment where research is highly valued, it is great that we have the Professional Standards Framework for those who teach and support learning. It has allowed her to measure her achievements against benchmarks and to find there a recognition of the importance of high-quality, impactful teaching.
Survey
Since then, we have been celebrating our various Beacon champions, interviewing mentors and assessors, and sharing their message with the wider community. Moreover, we have embarked on a 10-year evaluation and consultation which includes a survey and a series of interviews. The survey was circulated among more than 700 individuals who achieved different categories of fellowship through Beacon. Many of these have since left the University of Birmingham to work either in other HE institutions or in different sectors.
At the time of writing, we have had 150 responses to the survey. Many respondents highlighted the importance of going through the process of applying for, and achieving, recognition not just for their own career progression, but crucially on the quality of their practice in teaching and supporting learning. This reinforces the understanding that simply by reflecting on one’s practice and ‘taking stock’ can have a transformational impact on future practice. Many participants agreed that achieving fellowship had given them more confidence, for example, to apply for other opportunities, including leadership roles: it had heightened their self-belief in relation to their career. They had also become more enthusiastic about continuing their learning, and more pro-active about sharing good practice and influencing change.
Highlights in relation to our history and our numbers include:
- Beacon started in 2015 with four people who had Senior Fellowship and started assessing applications.
- Some of the people who obtained their fellowships in 2015 are still involved and assessing for us now.
- We have held many information sessions about Advance HE fellowships in departments; now the scheme has grown so much in reputation and momentum that there is hardly any need.
- The scheme was expanded a few years ago and we now award Principal Fellowships; interest in this keeps growing.
- In our first year, we awarded a total of 27 fellowships: 2 at D1, 10 at D2, and 5 at D3.
- In our 10th year, we awarded a total of 148 fellowships: 42 at D1, 64 at D2, 39 at D3, and 3 at D4.
- The highest number of fellowships awarded in one academic year was 171, in 2023-24.
- Taken all together, the division per category is as follows: we have awarded 27% of fellowships at D1, 41% at D2, 31% at D3, and 1% at D4.
Fellowship trajectory
Through the survey we learned of some of the personal trajectories of our fellows.
Dr Marios Hadjianastasis, became a Fellow in 2011 via the taught PGCert programme in 2011. He gained Senior Fellowship in 2015 via Beacon, has been mentoring and assessing on the scheme ever since, and gained his Principal Fellowship just a few months ago.
“One of the unexpected benefits of my involvement with the Beacon Scheme [mentoring and assessing] is the insight that reading these applications gives me into the diverse experience of our learners, and that really helps me in my own professional practice in interacting with a range of different learners.”
Dr Julia Lodge, Reader in Biosciences, and coordinator for postgraduates who teach
Educational Development Team
Just like Beacon relies on a great number of volunteers and champions, it is run by the core Educational Development Team at the University of Birmingham, which is led by Sarah King. Beacon was led by a number of colleagues in the past 10 years, starting with Sue Moron-Garcia, followed by Sarah King, Dionne Barton, Els Van Geyte, and currently led by Marios Hadjianastasis and Jamie Morris.
Marios Hadjianastasis is a Principal Fellow and is the Beacon Scheme Lead at the University of Birmingham. Marios has previously led the University of Birmingham PGCHE programme.
Jamie Morris is a Senior Fellow and Deputy Lead of Beacon, and is also the lead for PGTA provision.
