UniSQ and CQUniversity set to “lift” academic staff capability with Advance HE
In a groundbreaking collaboration, two of Australia's leading regional universities have joined forces to establish a comprehensive staff development program.
This has been achieved in partnership with Advance HE – a higher education charity with members around the world and whose portfolio of enhancement work includes the accreditation of staff development programs.
CQUniversity Australia and the University of Southern Queensland's (UniSQ) joint program, known as ‘Lift’, has now been accredited by Advance HE.
This means both universities may award Advance HE Fellowships to successful program participants. Fellowships recognise teaching excellence aligned to the Professional Standards Framework and an ongoing commitment to continuous professional development. The accreditation period is four years and includes Associate, Fellow and Senior Fellow categories.
Spearheaded by UniSQ’s Associate Professor Ian Davis and CQUniversity’s Professor Kate Ames, the concept for the innovative program spawned as part of Professor Ames' mentorship by Associate Professor Davis through her Principal Fellowship in 2021.
UniSQ’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Geraldine Mackenzie welcomed the collaboration, stating, "This joint effort symbolises our commitment to advancing the learning and teaching capabilities of academic staff across our two institutions, while enhancing the overall student experience for those studying in regional areas. I look forward to working with CQUniversity and Advance HE as this exciting staff development program progresses.”
CQUniversity Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Nick Klomp echoed the sentiments saying that the program was further evidence of innovative collaboration among regional universities.
"As leading regional institutions, UniSQ and CQUniversity are keenly focused on maintaining and sustaining our academic workforces well into the future to ensure our world-class teaching and research capabilities benefit many generations to come. This innovative collaboration with Advance HE will bolster the capabilities of our academic workforce and lead to improved staff attraction, retention and succession.”
Over an 18-month accreditation period, a dedicated team from both universities meticulously developed and solidified the processes and approach for the 'Lift' program. The name 'Lift' was chosen to encapsulate the shared commitment to uplifting individuals on their academic journeys.
Advance HE Chief Executive Alison Johns said: “I am delighted that these two valued Advance HE member organisations have successfully achieved accreditation of this exciting and innovative approach to staff development. It’s particularly pleasing to present the accreditation certificates to both Universities today – congratulations to them both and we wish them every success with the 'Lift' program.
“Advance HE works with our members across the globe, including more than 30 member institutions in Australia, to support higher education providers in their enhancement work and this collaboration is a fantastic illustration of how sharing innovation and practice can ultimately improve the academic experience for students. We are delighted to be a part of this staff-led push to build capacity and capability at UniSQ and CQUniversity, and look forward to seeing the results of our upcoming efforts.”
Professor Kate Ames highlighted the fundamental pillars of the scheme, emphasising, "Reflection, mentoring, support, and peer review are at the core of our program. Witnessing our exceptional staff embrace this opportunity and take on added responsibilities has been truly rewarding. The green light to proceed is a testament to what we can achieve through collaborative efforts."
Associate Professor Ian Davis said the ability to combine resources across institutions would help the 'Lift' program achieve scale.
“UniSQ possesses significant mentoring expertise, while CQUniversity has large numbers of existing Fellows to assist with support and evaluation. Both institutions are committed to supporting academic staff across their careers, and Advance HE’s global expertise provides a great foundation for our efforts.”
'Lift' is poised to set a new standard in staff development initiatives in Australia, representing a unique joint independent accredited scheme that evaluates and awards Fellows within the cultural and practice environments of the participating universities. The program will feature collaborative panels, with the first session scheduled for April, marking a significant milestone in this pioneering partnership.
Transcript
So this morning I'm really excited about it because we're here to launch officially the Lift program. It's a collaboration between CQUniversity and University of Southern Queensland and in collaboration with AdvanceHE to work together to accredit fellowships. It just fits in so well with what CQUniversity and I bet University of Southern Queensland stands for and that is this opportunity for continuous learning and empowering our staff ultimately of course it's for the benefit of our students and our graduates to raise that profile to build that community of Scholars and to put on the front foot the importance of higher education the importance of learning and teaching and reflection and for us to continue to develop and improve. And so I wanted to stop and recognise Professor Kate Ames from CQUniversity, Marie Foreman from CQUniversity, and we'll hear from in a moment from Ian Davis from University of Southern Queensland.
So through goodwill uh passion imagination a partnership has been formed by between our two regional universities realising that size and capacity we lacked as individual entities we could overcome if we worked together. Because we wanted to highlight that the values that in form my scheme were underpinned by the idea that you lift as you climb so as we embark on this exciting project I hope that we do as part of the lift scheme does help lift the quality of learning and teaching, help lift collegiality through mentoring, lift recognition of everyday good practice, lift skills and knowledge, lift our sector influence as was mentioned, and also lift remarkable and excellent practice which enhances the student experience.
This is a very rare event we're at today. This is currently the only operating joint collaboration in terms of accreditation that we run at AdvanceHE and by doing this this is a huge commitment to teaching and learning, it's a huge commitment to your staff, but I think probably most importantly it's a huge commitment to your students. Accreditation is not an easy thing to achieve there's an awful lot of hard work that goes into so I'm sure you can attest to that and I think I just do need to say a couple of things about the accreditation panel's assessment of this application and they were very very impressed. What came through your submission was both universities’ commitment to this joint scheme and it was very impressive and how much care had gone into the planning and preparation of the partnership approach and also a very well-developed vision that came out very very clearly and particular particular note is the attention given to the equal sharing of roles and responsibilities. This wasn't a takeover an acquisition by one party to the other it was very equal and that runs through all aspects of the scheme. Also the inclusive nature of the scheme really shone through and it's something we care passionately about back at the back at home and the emphasis on Indigenous First Nations participation and student needs really really shone through. This is a really strong scheme, it's fully deserving the accreditation that you've won. I know that you have you've got currently 200 or more members in fellowship between the two institutions and I think we should acknowledge their their active and enthusiastic contributions as well to this scheme so this is a really really highly commendable in initiative.
