PGCAP Academic Practice (Online)

Our online academic practice programme benefits students from diverse backgrounds by providing those with or without prior experience teaching in higher education (HE) an opportunity to develop their academic practice, academic leadership, and scholarship-related knowledge and skills to enhance their careers and support students’ learning. 

There are three study awards for the programme – starting with the Postgraduate Certificate Academic Practice (PGCAP) and progressing to the Postgraduate Diploma Academic Practice (PGDAP) and full Master of Arts Academic Practice (MA AP).  

The online PGCAP programme has two pathways depending on a student’s background. For those who do not hold a substantive teaching position in higher education, our first pathway is a route to gaining a PGCAP that will provide an excellent grounding in the theory and practice of teaching and supporting learning in higher education in a global context. 

For those students who do hold a substantive teaching position which would enable them to demonstrate Descriptor Level 2 of the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF), our second pathway enables you to earn a PGCAP and simultaneously gain recognition as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) through our unique partnership with Advance HE, the UK’s foremost agency for driving excellence and developing leadership in higher education. 

The Postgraduate Diploma Academic Practice builds on learning from both pathways of the PGCAP to further develop academic leadership, scholarship, and pedagogic research in preparation for progression to the MA AP which gives participants the opportunity to complete a supervised academic practice project. 

Active learning plays a fundamental part in the programme structure on all awards. You will have opportunities to demonstrate your understanding of educational concepts and barriers to learning and your ability to apply pedagogical theory from varied global perspectives to the classroom. Furthermore, you will be encouraged to utilise international educational frameworks to design lessons, set assignments and design learning outcomes that can be applied to your own context or to a global teaching space. 

The online interaction with international peers and those working within higher education will also provide you with opportunities to give and receive feedback relevant to academic practice and develop your knowledge from peers who may have different experiences across a variety of educational contexts. By the end of your studies, you will be prepared to take your practice to the next level within the ever-changing higher education sector. 

Download a prospectus for more details on this programme including module information.