Applicants must hold a teaching qualification for a minimum of 12 months and at the level of Senior Fellowship of the HEA, or QTS, before applying to become a HEFi Scholar. In addition, as part of their application, they must be able to evidence their continuing commitment to teaching excellence in higher education and contribution to the wider academic community. This evidence can take a variety of forms but might include, for example:
- Facilitating continuing professional development. This can be both within and outside the applicant’s school / department; for example through contributions to taught sessions or action learning set facilitation on University of Birmingham teaching and learning programmes (PGCHE, Beacon, ILT, IAP etc). This might also include facilitating HEFi events and workshops, presenting at learning and teaching conferences, etc.
- Supporting early career staff. This might be through a mentoring role within a School or department, or mentoring and supporting staff on the PGCHE. It might also include undertaking teaching observations or mentoring Beacon Associate Fellowship / Fellowship applicants.
- Developing more experienced staff. This might include mentoring Beacon Senior Fellowship applicants or assessing Beacon applications. It could include mentoring colleagues building a case for promotion or applying for Education Enhancement Funded projects.
- Enhancing research and scholarship in relation to learning and teaching. This might include developing the applicant’s own scholarship, perhaps through leadership of an Educational Enhancement Fund project or writing for publication, or influencing and supporting the research/scholarship of others in order to support them to innovate or change their practice.
These examples are not exhaustive and HEFi encourages anyone who can evidence a sustained contribution to leading and developing teaching excellence at the University of Birmingham, and to impact, to apply.