Our Work

The 21st Century Business Academic

Support for the Development of New Academic Staff in Business-Related Disciplines

 

Aim of the Project

The aim of the project has been to identify the personal and discipline-specific development needs of new academic staff in business subject areas and, through case studies and other resources, to share examples of best practice of support provided.

The results to contribute to planning future BMAF provision of activities and resources for new academics, alongside BMAF involvement with activities in Scotland and Oxford and at the Academy.

In November 2008 The BMAF Subject Centre (now renamed the BMAF Network) invited Expressions of Interest to be involved in a ‘"New Lecturers Project" .

Background

Concerns about the future availability of academic staff in the business disciplines had been highlighted in the Francis Report at the 2006 ABS Conference and also been identified as a priority area by Deans and BMAF Key Contacts across the UK.

The Project began informally through discussions with colleagues about some of the outcomes of an earlier project on the support needs of part-time teachers.

BMAF involvement in an Academy Scotland SHEER2 project with Darren Comber at Aberdeen, and Lorraine Walsh at Dundee, widened the perspectives on discipline-specific versus generic support needs.

Work developed from April 2008 and in the autumn of that year colleagues at Liverpool and Ulster undertook a pilot, visiting each other to review practices and interview a range of senior and new staff.

Main Project

Following the call for expressions of interest in November 2008, six more universities became involved in January 2009 and, based on feedback from the pilot, were paired up as follows:

• Leeds with Surrey
• Aston with Portsmouth
• Southampton Solent with Glamorgan

Following those visits each reviewed the data and drew up an initial report on their partner and then collaboratively prepared a final project report.

These reports had two main purposes:

• to provide each institution with an external appreciative review of support arrangements and staff perceptions. These have been used as the basis for presentations to colleagues at school teaching and learning events and to revise policy and practice.
• to contribute to the overall themes and forward plans for BMAF in developing support for new business academics

An additional benefit was identified by those involved in the project as they gained much from working collaboratively with colleagues

"The 21st Century Business Academic"

From these themes, and linked to the Scottish QAA Enhancement Theme of "Graduates for the 21st Century", the Project Team identified an initial group of characteristics that will be required for those delivering business education in the future.

• comfortable and appropriate with diversity of students and colleagues
• confident and competent with large student numbers (especially planning and coordination)
• can work solo and also collegially and in partnerships
• balance of research and teaching skills
• flexible and adaptable to change (job and organisation)
• effective with time management
• competent with a range of technologies

While some of the characteristics may not be exclusive to business education, this list has been recognised by colleagues during early presentations of these ideas.

Continuing Professional Development

Although this work began in the context of "new" lecturers, the expectations of students, funders and employers are that HE will develop "Graduates for the 21st Century".

To achieve this, all staff who support student learning will need to make adjustments to their approaches and skills, so BMAF are now working on a tool-box of processes to support such development. This will be in addition to the valuable opportunities already offered through workshops, conferences, small grants, SIGs and other networks.

Contact Richard Atfield on ratfield@brookes.ac.uk if you would like to discuss any aspects of this Project.

The interim Progress Report is available under the link below and in right-hand side panel, along with a number of related papers and presentations.

Further documents will be added as they become available.

The following event took place on 10 March 2010 in Leeds:

21st Century Business Academic: Workshop for New and Aspiring Academic Staff

 

Click here for more detail on the interim Progress Report and related papers and presentations.