To be or not to be

: investigation and evaluation of a conceptual CPD framework for staff development in Higher Education – the case of Coventry University

Abstract

The key questions relating to this research revolve around the aim ‘To Explore and Evaluate the Impact of the Coventry University Framework – Professionally Accredited (CUFPA) on Stakeholders and Decision Makers’. This is an important issue in relation to the CUFPA scheme, at Coventry University Group as it will help to determine how the scheme is moulded, changed and adapted for future Stakeholders and Decision Makers. The focus of the research is to consider the findings from these two groups and explore and evaluate them. The benefits of the CUFPA scheme to all academic and professional staff’s personal and professional development will be considered, together with the affect of the scheme on the retention of staff, the contribution the scheme makes to the TEF and the significance of the different categories of Fellowship. The categories of Fellowship range from Associate Fellow, to Fellow, Senior Fellow and Principal Fellow and are offered as a part of these direct route CPD schemes accredited by Advance HE and run by Universities. This thesis will focus on a sample of universities both Russell Group and post-1992 in England and Wales. The methodology includes on-line questionnaire sent to the Stakeholders within Coventry University Group and semi-structured interviews conducted with Decision Makers at four universities.



The findings from the thesis have shown there is a range of differing opinions both within Stakeholder groups and from Decision Makers responding to questions designed to meet the objectives of the thesis. There are areas of agreement and disagreement. The diverse range of findings include for example staff struggling with lack of time to engage with the scheme, senior managers stressing the need for schemes to represent value for money and Assessors demanding allocated hours for their role. The thesis also highlights the role of the Operational Managers as a valuable link between the two diverse groups made up of Stakeholders and Decision Makers. This link has yet to be fully exploited. Due to this range of findings recommendations are made to the sector as a whole, staff and Coventry University Group specifically.

Date of Award	Aug 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Coventry University
Supervisor	Maktoba Omar (Supervisor)