About academic development and assessment centres

Academic leadership and citizenship roles are critical to successful departmental performance and culture, whether that is as a Head of Department, taking a role on a DMT, representing the department at University committees, or taking on key departmental critical roles, for example Head of Admissions.

This has been identified as a key priority within the University's future skills and succession strategy.

We therefore want to ensure that:

• there is a consistent, professional approach to appointments based on robust information that includes leadership capability and competence
• tailored development support is given to individuals both before and during their tenure
• there is a strong leadership pipeline within Departments

Academic Development and Assessment Centres

We have been running Development and Assessment Centres for support staff since 2015. In April 2019 we ran an initial pilot for invited members of the academic community to test the centre, and will be running two further pilot centres for academics in July and September 2019.

We want to give those who aspire to develop in the area of administration/citizenship the opportunity to benchmark their leadership skills through attending a development centre, 12-24 months before taking up the role so that they are supported in their ongoing development through a package of tailored support.

The programme is available for:

• Academics who are 12 to 24 months away from taking on a HoD role
• Mid-career academics who are 12 to 24 months from taking on senior leadership roles