Expectations of Academic Staff at
Anglia Ruskin University: continued evolution
Introduction and Background
Anglia Ruskin University and all other universities are operating in an increasingly
turbulent environment where we are competing for students and for academic staff. It is
important, in order to attract and retain high quality staff, that we are clear about what we
expect from our academic staff and that we provide an environment with appropriate
support and development, to enable staff to achieve these desired objectives, in
furtherance of our overall vision. In view of this, we have recently introduced processes
which provide promotion opportunities for staff who achieve consistently high standards
in research, academic leadership and teaching as an agreed outcome of the National
Pay Framework process.
This document aims to provide a broad and general guide outlining our expectations of
academic staff and to highlight those aspects that we see as the main areas of evolution
and development. It is not attempting to describe the tasks of any particular member of
academic staff in detail nor to replace detailed job descriptions, person specifications,
collective agreements or other documentation. It is aimed at all faculty-based academic
staff on permanent career grades (L/SL, PL, Reader and Professor). The expectations
outlined here do not extend in full to hourly paid staff, research-only staff, academic staff
within support services or other staff with a more narrowly defined or specialist role.
This is a revised version of a document first written in 2003 and has been updated to
support our new vision and values. We have made considerable progress since that time
and this version attempts to capture the relevant changes and improvements including,
in particular, the commitments and aspirations outlined in the HR Strategy (2008-2010)
and the Research and Scholarship Strategy (2008 -13). Further changes will still be
required and the expectations of academic staff will continue to evolve over time. The
probation and appraisal processes for academic staff are based on the expectations
outlined in this document.
The changing role of an academic at Anglia Ruskin University
We have taken positive action to enable our academic staff to spend the maximum
realistic proportion of their time on their academic teaching and research responsibilities,
i.e. activities that cannot be undertaken by other categories of staff. We have made a
number of changes which entail generalist or specialist support staff taking on roles
previously performed by academic staff, including the use of student advisers and
learning technologists.
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It is important that all academic staff use their academic expertise to contribute to
research (including pedagogic research), consultancy and/or professional practice
development, as well as to achieving excellence in learning and teaching. We are
committed to an increased emphasis on research and external income generation,
including consultancy. We accept that we have a responsibility to provide developmental
support to enable staff to build their expertise and confidence in these areas. We have
provided additional funds and support through the central sabbatical scheme, Learning &
Teaching Fellowships and the creation of Research, Development and Commercial
Services (RCDS). The HR Strategy and the Research and Scholarship Strategy outline
a range of support mechanisms and commitments, including the expectation that all
academic staff will agree to specific outputs in relation to research and scholarship
through the appraisal process and to supporting academic staff to gain doctoral level
qualifications.
The reasons for the renewed emphasis on teaching excellence and increased emphasis
on research, consultancy and professional practice development are multiple: every
university needs staff who are encouraged and enabled to build their reputation and
expertise in both teaching and research and who are at the cutting edge of their subject.
The reputation of individuals forms the collective reputation of our University. Investing in
continued efforts to improve the reputation of Anglia Ruskin University is important in
attracting and retaining students and for the morale and self-esteem of all staff.
Engagement in research and scholarship can also lead to enhanced job satisfaction for
staff, better teaching for students, increased ability to generate new income streams and
a more substantial and significant contribution to the regional and national economy and
community.
We need our academic staff to be flexible and to be committed to providing a high
quality service to students and other clients. Staff should accept shared (employerindividual) responsibility for their own continued professional development. We place
trust in the professionalism of our academic staff and will allow them as much autonomy
as we can. In return, academic staff will be expected to act as professionals and to be
accountable for their contribution and performance. Contribution to the academic and
wider external community is an important part of the role.
We wish to encourage academic staff to manage their own careers and expect their
interests, roles and responsibilities to change and evolve over time. We would expect
most members of staff to have some periods where the emphasis would include
academic leadership and management responsibilities, alternating with other periods
where the primary emphasis is on the academic teaching and research aspects of the
role. We have implemented a system of rotational roles in order to facilitate this. We do
not regard academic management roles as more important than excellence in teaching,
learning and research. We have developed a new pay framework and job evaluation
scheme using the concept of ‘job families’. The descriptors for the highest level roles
(levels 7 and 8) and the professorial scales clearly describe expectations and
progression routes which are based on excellence in teaching, research, external
contributions and external income generating activity, as well providing recognition for
those with academic leadership and management responsibilities.
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We accept that our expectations relating to academic staff have moved considerably
when compared with the past, and that the expectations remain challenging, particularly
for longer serving staff. All new staff recruited during the past five years have been
expected to demonstrate activity in all three elements from the start of their employment
with us and these have been monitored as part of the probation process. We will
continue to provide the support necessary to enable all staff to embrace the full set of
expectations outlined here.
The academic role
All academic staff have responsibility for the achievement and maintenance of high
standards in the following three broadly defined areas:
Element one
Contribution to learning, teaching, knowledge of the academic subject area and
scholarship in the subject,
Element two
Contribution to research, consultancy, professional practice and knowledge transfer,
Element three
Contribution to the academic community and to professional standards
More details of expectations in these areas are outlined below. The range, level and
balance of expected contribution will vary depending on the experience, seniority and
current roles of any individual. The probation and appraisal schemes for academic staff
are structured around these three broad headings.
Contribution to learning, teaching, knowledge of the academic Subject area and
scholarship in the subject
Academic staff are expected to be expert in their field and to strive to be excellent
teachers and facilitators of learning. It is axiomatic that academic staff should have an
up-to-date knowledge of their subject/discipline, with appropriate breadth and depth so
that they can create high quality experiences for students at all levels by:
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planning their sessions in ways that allow appropriate learning outcomes to be
achieved and prepare students appropriately for their working lives
facilitating learning through a variety of means appropriate to the students, the
level and to the discipline
providing appropriate academic guidance and support to students
designing and managing appropriate assessment and feedback schemes
reflecting critically on their teaching performance, making improvements to their
practice and taking an interest in pedagogical issues
responding to developments in their subject so that the academic portfolio
remains attractive and current
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ensuring that they keep abreast of the use of technology to aid learning and can
respond to the rapidly changing skills and expectations of the student body.
Practice in learning and teaching will continue to develop as the needs and expectations
of learners change and evolve. The use of appropriate technologies will play an
increasingly important role in supporting learning. Academic staff will therefore be
expected to devote some time to reflection of their own practice and to keeping abreast
of developments in learning and teaching, throughout their careers. This includes, but is
not limited to, embracing the developing use of technology. We strongly encourage staff
to produce outputs relating to their reflections on teaching and pedagogy through
participation in internal and external workshops/seminars run, for example, within
Learning and Development Services, INSPIRE or provided via the HEA.
Teaching and support activity extends beyond taught programmes at undergraduate and
postgraduate levels to include PhD study. We wish to ensure that we have a critical
mass of research students in each faculty and that these students are supported by a
skilled and committed cadre of research supervisors. Academic staff are encouraged to
develop their skills and experience in this area.
Contribution to research, consultancy, professional practice and knowledge
transfer
All academic staff should seek to be at the forefront of knowledge in their field by taking
part in its creation and dissemination. They should be contributing to the development of
knowledge, application of knowledge and/or to the development of pedagogy in their
discipline at a level that is appropriate to their career stage and to our needs and
strategy. Our Research and Scholarship Strategy defines scholarship as producing
outputs and not just keeping up-to-date with a subject for teaching purposes, although
this is very important. We have established a range of mechanisms which recognise and
reward excellence in research and scholarship and we will continue to develop these.
Our vision includes a commitment to increase the proportion of academic staff who have
a doctorate and this will form a key element of our support activity over the next few
years. We also need to increase the proportion of our staff who are qualified to
undertake doctoral supervision.
We value a broad range of research – it is not limited to RAE type research. We
acknowledge that RAE and REF type peer reviewed outputs in high ranking journals are
very important in evaluating the quality of our research and individual researchers will be
encouraged and supported in producing such work. However, other outputs such as
textbooks, articles in good professional as well as academic journals, the presentation of
conference papers, the design and creation of artistic works, artefacts and patents are
also valued and encouraged. Pedagogic research is a field of considerable interest to
us as a University and some colleagues may wish to concentrate on this area of enquiry.
The definition of appropriate contributions to consultancy, professional practice and
knowledge transfer is wide-ranging. We do, however, expect staff to do more than ‘keep
their hand in’ as a practising book-keeper, lawyer or nurse. Academic staff should be
able to make a distinctive and scholarly contribution to the dissemination and application
of new knowledge in their profession, public service or in commerce. Knowledge
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Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are an excellent vehicle for combining professional and
academic contributions. We value highly contributions to the academic and policy
development of professional bodies at local, regional, national or international level.
There should be reputational as well as financial benefits to our University and to
individuals from income generation, knowledge transfer or consultancy work undertaken.
A whole range of other outputs in relation to industry and the public sector can be
viewed as contribution to professional practice and the nature of these will vary from
faculty to faculty.
Many of our staff teach in areas that relate directly to a profession, public or industry
sector. Insights gained from research, contributions to professional practice and
consultancy activity should feed back into teaching. Staff should be able to reflect
critically on their performance in research, external income generation and/or
contribution to their profession. They should strive to improve the volume and quality of
contributions and outputs with experience and relevant support. Staff should be
prepared to seek external funding to support their research as funds available for
internal support are limited. Staff should be able to develop and implement appropriate
plans and agreed outputs from their research, external income work and/or contributions
to their profession.
Contribution to the academic community and to professional standards
The academic role is a professional one and the academic community extends beyond
the narrow boundaries of our University. Academic staff have a considerable degree of
autonomy in the conduct of their teaching and research; but they must also manage their
workload, build relationships of trust and respect with academic and support staff
colleagues and discharge their responsibilities in a professional manner. This expectation
of professionalism, and support for colleagues, is a significant part of the role of an academic at
our University and its importance has been enhanced within our recently revised set of values , to
which all staff are expected to subscribe.
All members of staff should be prepared to take on a reasonable share of the academic
management and leadership load within their faculty including acting as personal tutor,
module and pathway leader, etc. The type of role will vary depending on the experience,
expertise and interests of the individual concerned and roles undertaken by individuals
will be expected to change over time. We have taken steps to reduce unnecessary
bureaucracy and complexity and will continue to seek ways to do this. We endeavour to
deploy academic staff to roles that make appropriate use of their particular skills. The
emphasis within the curriculum management structures aims to be on academic
development and leadership activity, with the minimum necessary level of
administration.
We expect all academic staff to be outward-looking and to play an active part in the
wider academic and professional community. All staff should seek to engage with
external networks via activities such as working as an external examiner, validation
panel member, member of editorial boards, participation in their academic or
professional body, attendance at conferences etc. These activities will be recognised
and valued by our promotion processes.
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The regional, international and community aspects of our mission are very important to
us and we have set ourselves some demanding growth targets in these areas. All staff
will be expected to make an appropriate contribution to the work of our partner
institutions (in the UK and overseas) and other community partners and stakeholders.
This may include: visits to partner institutions; the development of appropriate distance
learning materials and increased awareness when interacting with students and staff
from different cultures and backgrounds.
All staff are required to abide by relevant rules and policies in relation to equality and
diversity, ethics and Health & Safety legislation as part of their commitment to
professional standards.
Concluding Remarks
Our expectations have changed significantly since this document was originally drafted
and this third version of the ‘expectations document’ has changed to reflect the current
position. We would expect this definition of the academic role to continue to evolve over
time and to continue to provide for a wide variation in roles at the level of an individual
member of staff. We are committed to ensuring that all academic staff contribute to
research, external income generation or professional practice development and we will
provide the support necessary to enable staff to contribute fully to all three elements of
the academic role.
We have committed to an ambitious new vision for our university and have developed a
set of strategies to support the achievement of this vision. The commitment, activities
and skills of our academic staff are central to our achievement of the vision. This
document is intended to ensure that all academic staff are clear about what is expected
of them.
We have put in place probation, appraisal and promotion systems which underpin and
support these expectations. These systems attempt to recognise and fulfil support and
development needs but also seek to ensure that we gather evidence of performance and
outputs across the full range of academic activity, under the three broad headings
outlined in this document.
The major changes in our University have been cultural as well as structural. All have
been intended to improve the operation of our ‘core business’, i.e. to contribute to high
quality learning, teaching, research and other academic activity in support of our overall
mission. The continued support of well motivated academic staff, who are clear about
their role, is vital to the achievement of the ambitious objectives we have set ourselves.
We hope that this ‘expectations document’ is helpful in this regard.
Please contact the authors if you have any comments or suggestions in relation to this
version of the document.
First drafted by:
Revised and updated by:
Further updated by:
Helen Valentine & John Davies. June 2003
Helen Valentine & Sonia Young. Aug 2006
Helen Valentine & Sonia Young Oct 2008
October 2008
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