12 March 2018 
Jacqui Marshall,
The University of Exeter won the UHR Learning & Organisational Development Award in 2017 for ‘The Exeter Academic’. Here the team explain more about their award-winning project.
We are very proud to have received the UHR Learning & Organisational Development Award for Exeter Academic. This was a pro-active rather than reactive HR development piece designed to support our academic community and their careers. Setting up the project was challenging, as there were complex policy requirements and it was difficult to reach a consensus across the University.
Our aim was to try to create innovative development modules that would appeal to colleagues at all levels. Psychological principles and nudge techniques were used to make this an easily accessible and user friendly tool that colleagues tell us has become an essential resource at critical moments in their career.
Our approach to Exeter Academic has been to shine a spotlight on what it means to be a successful academic at the University, and how this success is recognised, with uniquely clear career progression criteria for all academic job families (Education and Research, Education and Scholarship, Research). One Senior Lecturer said, “I have found the documents detailing the progression criteria really useful for my own guidance and also when I have been supporting junior colleagues through their PDP.”
We framed the whole of Exeter Academic with explicit statements about what our colleagues can expect from the University and in return what we expect from them. A Principal Investigator commented, “It’s great to have such clarity when I am discussing future directions with my researchers. I’ve found the downloadable guides and signposted resources are really useful in Performance and Development Reviews.”
Exeter Academic continues to grow with our focus now on enhancing our support for academic leadership and professional development in education, research, knowledge exchange and citizenship. This ambition is only being realised through new collaborations across a range of different services, working with academic experts and professional bodies such as HEA and VITAE. Our new Head of People Development recently observed, “Such close partnership working between different Professional Services and Academic colleagues is still relatively new to HE, and Exeter Academic is delivering new ways of effective working as well as unifying traditionally separate service areas with a common purpose.”
With the Exeter Academic becoming the ‘one-stop shop’, we are better able to promote new developments in key areas such as student mental wellbeing or digital skills. This has really helped our development professionals by providing definitive content in one place, enabling a much more seamless learning experience for academic delegates.
We were slightly nervous about entering the award and putting the spotlight on ourselves, but we invested a lot of time in the application process to get it right. Winning this award really showcases all the hard work, enthusiasm and dedication of colleagues involved in setting up and establishing this pioneering project. It really boosted team morale and there was a definite buzz on the HR corridor once the results had been announced. The award also attracted additional local accolades in the VC and Registrar's briefs, as well as improving overall perception and take up.
Applications for the 2018 Awards are now closed.
