Two teaching staff members at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University have become the first Principal Fellows recognised in Taiwan. Senior Provost, Ta-Sung Lee, and former Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Henry Horng-Shing Lu, recently achieved the recognition following a collaboration between NYCU and Advance HE. They are two of 78 Fellows currently recognised across all categories in Taiwan.
Since 2018, Advance HE has been working with NYCU on delivering a Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Programme (CLTHE) to enhance the teaching and knowledge and practice of teaching staff, Ph.D. students, and post-doctoral researchers alike. NYCU has subsequently set up their Centre of the Higher Education of Accreditation for Teaching (HEAT) to further support senior staff to apply for Senior and Principal Fellowships through workshops, mentoring applications and feedback.
Senior VP Lee and Professor Lu both attended a Principal Fellowship application workshop facilitated by Advance HE Associate and Director of the Academy of Learning and Teaching at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Professor Abby Cathcart, and applied for the Principal Fellowships following this.
Ian Hall, Head of Membership (International) at Advance HE said: “We are delighted that the commitment to high quality teaching and learning shown by NYCU has resulted in the first Principal Fellows being recognised at the institution and in Taiwan. In our experience, the presence of Principal Fellows in the teaching faculty of an institution provides an inspiration to colleagues and helps them develop their own teaching practice further. I congratulate Professors Lee and Lu on their achievements, which recognises them as part of a group of just over 1,000 strategic leaders of learning and teaching across the globe.”
Fellowships are awarded to applicants who demonstrate their teaching practice conforms to the UK Professional Standards Framework. They can be awarded through direct application to Advance HE or via an accredited programme, which give institutions the ability to confer Fellowships to their staff directly. Principal Fellowship is awarded to those who have a strategic impact on learning and teaching at an institutional, national or international level.
Advance HE recently awarded the 10,000th Fellowship outside the UK and there are now almost 150,000 Fellows recognised worldwide. The growth of the scheme has been a marker of the commitment to high quality teaching by Advance HE and institutions around the world.
Find out more about applying for Fellowship here. If you are interested in introducing Fellowship across your institution find out more about our Fellowship services for institutions.