**1. Introduction**

Accreditation, broadly speaking, involves a process of evaluation and judgement by an external body which, if successful, enables an institution, or a programme, or short course within an institution, to be recognised as meeting a pre-determined standard [1]. This recognition is often used in marketing materials and serves to inform potential 'customers' that what is on offer meets, or perhaps even exceeds (where accreditation is not the norm), industry quality standards. Despite accreditation having a long history in many professions [2], the accreditation of teaching in Higher Education (HE) is a relatively recent phenomenon emerging as part of wider moves to professionalise teaching and learning in the sector [3, 4]. This 'professionalisation' plays out in various ways including becoming qualified (and/or accredited) as a teacher and engaging in pedagogic research and scholarship [5].

Internationally, there is a substantial evidence base relating to the impact of teacher development programmes at the level of individuals [2, 6–12]. Within this global interest in HE teaching and learning, the UK has made a significant contribution in leading good practice, research and agenda-setting, alongside strong and often collaborative contributions from countries such as Australia and New Zealand. This leading role has included the UK, through the former Higher Education Academy1 and the UK Professional Standards Framework, driving what is now a global agenda to professionalise HE practice in teaching and learning [13].

In this chapter we draw on survey data collected from a sample of HE institutions globally that are accredited by Advance HE (a UK-based, member-led, sectorowned charity) to award teaching fellowships. These fellowships, frequently known as HEA fellowships (after the former Higher Education Academy), are aligned to the UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning (UKPSF). The stated goals of the UKPSF, as articulated on the Advance HE website [14] include supporting 'the design and delivery of initial and continuing education development programmes', and 'demonstrating professionalism to stakeholders'. The UKPSF can also be used to support senior staff in developing policies and promoting a strong culture of excellence in teaching and learning support via the development of processes to reward and recognise teaching. The recognition afforded through the UKPSF is intended to promote and support career paths in teaching and learning [14, 15]. However, the extent to which this ambition has been realised is debated [5, 15]. Equally though the growth in accredited provision that has formalised professional development for new, and experienced staff, has been documented, both in the UK and beyond [13, 16], and evidenced through the widespread use of Advance HE accreditation services. The impact of these developments has been contested by some [5, 17] raising concerns over local resistance, and conflict between the long-term goals of professional development and institutional priorities to raise the profile of teaching. This project therefore aimed to establish the impact of operating accredited programmes and courses on:


Here we are specifically interested in exploring the rationale behind HE providers becoming accredited by Advance HE and the impact this has on the quality of teaching and learning. We also sought to establish whether there is any clear evidence of the impact of accreditation on the student experience.

Understanding the impact of any form of teacher development on the end-user, the student, is notoriously fraught with difficulty [18, 19]. Attempts to capture potential impacts have tended to be indirect, or one dimensional, i.e. focusing on satisfaction as a measure of the complexity of the student experience [20]. Despite this, the agenda for ensuring HE teachers are appropriately qualified remains, with nations proposing ambitious recommendations to address this [2, 21, 22] and the priority for the professionalisation of HE practice reaming a priority for many countries [13]. This reflects the documented benefits students gain from studying within an environment where lecturers have engaged in initial, or on-going teaching-related professional development [18]. Since gaining institutional accreditation

<sup>1</sup> The Higher Education Academy became part of Advance HE, a new, sector-owned charity in 2018, with the aim of addressing system inequalities and advancing education.

is not required in HE, and comes at a time and financial cost, alignment of teacher training and ongoing professional development to an accreditation framework, such as the UKPSF, appears to be important to institutions in demonstrating a commitment to the professionalisation of HE teachers.
