Harper Adams in top 10 universities for teacher-qualified staff
A Shropshire university has one of the highest percentages of teacher-qualified lecturing staff in the country, newly-published data has revealed.
The data released by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and analysed by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, puts Harper Adams University in the top 10 universities in the country.
The university, in Newport, has the sixth highest percentage of qualified staff – 78 per cent – according to the data, which was collected between 2014 and 2015.
Andy Jones, director of learning, teaching and international, said: "We are delighted to have been placed so high in this national table of qualified teacher numbers.
"Harper Adams University employs staff with excellent industrial experience and academic qualifications but has always taken seriously the development of our people as teachers and we continue to invest resources in this important area of our work."
An academic staff member is counted as holding a teaching qualification if they hold a credit-bearing higher education teaching qualification, or another relevant teaching qualification, or have been recognised in other ways for their teaching expertise, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency's definition.
Teaching qualifications are likely to factor into the government's teaching excellence framework assessment of UK universities, which will determine funding, tuition fee caps and student recruitment quotas.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England states that "information about teaching qualifications has been identified as important to students and is seen as an indicator of individual and institutional commitment to teaching and learning".
