Continuing Professional Development Framework

Introduction and background

Read more on our dedicated CPD Framework websiteAUA is in the forefront of professional development in higher education administration and management. We are delighted to present the continuing professional development framework to the sector, as the culmination of a highly collaborative two year project jointly funded by AUA, HEFCE (Leadership, Governance and Management funding), LFHE and HEA. The aims of the project were to develop and implement a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) framework supporting HE professional services staff across the UK in their career development in order to:

• enhance institutional performance through high quality staff
• develop management and leadership capability
• enable succession planning
• provide a framework for sustainable practice in career planning
• foster equality and diversity of development opportunities across the sector.

Dedicated CPD Framework website

The full CPD framework documents and supporting online resources below are available for use by staff in HEIs and can be accessed via our dedicated CPD Framework website.
 

The CPD framework offers:

• a broad structure within which individual HEIs can identify the CPD needs of professional services staff in their organisation and plan and deliver development activities to meet those needs
• a broad structure within which individual members of professional services staff can identify their personal CPD needs and plan their development
• a model of professional behaviours (described below)
• flexibility for institutions to substitute their own CPD processes and documentation, capability frameworks, organisational values and behaviours whilst still benefiting from the broader framework within which to support CPD in their organisations
• the basis for a common national approach to CPD for professional services staff in UK Higher Education

The flexibility for local tailoring inherent in the framework is one of its key strengths.

The underpinning principles of the CPD Framework (which build on the CIPD key principles of CPD¹) are:

• CPD is essential for maintaining the standard and integrity of HE professionals
• professional development is a continuous process that applies throughout working life
• individuals are responsible for managing and undertaking CPD activities and ensuring that their learning is integrated into their professional practice
• individuals should identify for themselves their learning needs and determine how best to fulfil them
• learning objectives should reflect the needs of the institution and its stakeholders as well as the individual’s goals
• learning should come from a wide range of activities, both formal and informal
• learning is most effective when it is acknowledged as an integral part of all work activity rather than as an additional optional activity
• all professional services staff should have equality of opportunity to engage in and benefit from CPD activities

Would you like to enhance your professional performance? Help manage change? Identify team development and training needs? Be equipped to meet modern HE challenges? Then the AUA CPD Framework can be a big help to you.

AUA will support you all along the way, and you’ll also benefit from FREE consultancy. We welcome applications from teams, departments, institutions and professional groups. In fact, no project is too small or too large!