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Professional Practice in Higher Education at Bath Spa University - UCAS

Bath Spa University

Degree level: Postgraduate

Professional Practice in Higher Education (Taught)

Course options

2025 - 2026
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Course summary

A programme to help staff and research students address the key challenges of working in higher education.

  • Opportunities for accredited professional development designed to meet the needs of those working in higher education contexts, by building on prior relevant credit or HEA fellowships.
  • Undertake professional development at your own pace. We offer flexible patterns of enrolment, course delivery and credit accumulation.
  • Learning activities and assessment tasks have a practical orientation and can be tailored to reflect the needs of your work environment.
This flexible Master’s course is designed to support your continued professional development through a range of module options, and offers both intermediate qualifications (PGCert/Dip) and external (Advance HE) accredited status (for BSU staff with suitable teaching practice in HE only). You'll choose modules based on your role and interests and study over a two to five year period. The course is suitable for academics, professional services staff and research students and can build on previous relevant PGCerts (in HE practice) , SEDA PDF award or HEA Fellowships via accreditation of prior learning. As a staff member or research student, the PPHE programme will help you meet the key challenges of working in the rapidly changing world of higher education while gaining credit and postgraduate qualifications for your professional development. These challenges – of teaching, supporting student learning, employability, sustainability, new technologies, team management, enterprise, quality assurance and external accountability – range across the whole business of higher education, and can rarely be addressed in isolation. They raise many questions about how best to enhance teaching and research within particular contexts, and about how managers and administrators can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of current practices, not least in terms of addressing students’ needs and aspirations, enriching their learning experiences, and raising the enduring value of their learning outcomes.

Modules

This course includes or offers the following modules. Please check the programme document for more information on which modules are core, required or optional.

  • Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education
  • Technology and Innovation in Higher Education
  • Researcher Development
  • Supervising Research
  • Mentoring and Coaching in Higher Education
  • Digital Learning in Higher Education
  • Independent Study
  • Education and Society
  • Leadership in Practice
  • Research Methods in Social Science
  • Research and the Professional Part 1
  • Research and the Professional Part 2
- Dissertation

Assessment method

Assessment for all modules is by coursework, based on the completion of assignments designed to promote understanding, enhancement and/or application of professional practices in higher education for your own practice.

Entry requirements

You must be working, or a research student, in a Higher Education Institution (including HE in FE) during your part time study on this course. Activities and assessments are based on your current HE professional practice. This includes both academic and professional services staff. Enquire with the course team to discuss. You’ll normally be required to possess an undergraduate degree awarded by a UK higher education institution, or equivalent qualification from overseas. Applicants who do not possess an undergraduate degree, or equivalent professional qualification, but who have at least two years of work experience relevant to the programme are also welcome to apply and will be invited to attend an admissions interview. If you already hold a qualification such as a PGCert in HE (learning and teaching or academic practice), or a fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, the course can build on this towards a higher qualification. This course is consequently suitable primarily for those living and working in the UK, able to travel to Bath regularly for part time study alongside their work in HE.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Professional Practice in Higher Education at Bath Spa University - UCAS