Higher education (HE) today is a diversified area which has grown expansively over the last two decades in response to a rapidly changing educational and political climate (e.g., Englund, 2018). In this age of complexity, development and change are omnipresent and intrinsic parts of the university teacher’s practice, from the development of the teachers’ individual practice at microlevel, to the collaborative development of scholarly practice at the meso-level of the department, and to the strategic institutional approach at macro-level, which links to employment and promotion frameworks and the recognition of teaching quality (Bolander Laksov & Scheja, 2020). As changing demands has placed focus on learning and teaching, higher education in Sweden has followed the European development from quality assurance towards quality enhancement (e.g., Pelik, 2016; Nygren & Sjöberg, 2022). The universities are now responsible for developing their own quality assurance systems and more emphasis has been placed on ownership and the possibilities of influencing the process (Swedish Higher Education Authority), which has grown more complex. Through their professional teaching work, academic teachers are expected to strengthen a pedagogical "culture of quality" at the higher education institution (e.g., Elken & Stensaker, 2018).  

What we are witnessing is a more mature quality assurance work which is characterized by increased trust in the universities themselves and the ways in which they choose to organize their quality work. But we are also witnessing the heightened complexity of academic development where academic developers has become involved in work on all three levels (micro, meso, macro), for example, appointment procedures, career structures and promotion criteria. Academic developers have become central to the implementation of these strategies, which has greatly extended the range of their professional activities. This development goes hand in hand with the shift in focus from quality assurance to quality enhancement. By allowing the universities to develop their own quality assurance systems, the new quality assurance system signals a heightened awareness of the importance of ownership and to affect the process, which relates to national governance strategies of teaching and learning. As the changing educational and political demands on higher education have deeply affected the professional activities of the academic developer and the academic teacher, this article addresses the changes and challenges faced.

The present paper will present the results of a study of Swedish academic development units planned to be conducted in early 2023 and which focus on the areas of responsibilities and everyday practice of academic developers today. In the paper, we will discuss the implications for teachers and academic developers in this diversified context. Our aim is also to contribute with further knowledge and understanding of structural and organisational prerequisites for academic development in higher education.

References

Elken, M. & Stensaker, B. (2018). Conceptualising ‘quality work’ in higher education. Quality in  Higher Education, 24(3): 189-202.

Bolander Laksov, K. & Scheja, M. (2020). Akademiskt lärarskap. SULF Publications XLII.

Englund, C. (2018). Teaching in an age of complexity: exploring academic change and development in higher education. (Doctoral dissertation). Umeå: Umeå University.

Nygren, Å.  & Sjöberg, J. (2022). Om pedagogiskt kvalitetsarbete i högre utbildning: vägen framåt. Högskolepedagogisk debatt: Högskolan Kristianstad.  

Pelik, R. (2016). “Quality assurance and quality enhancement,” i Baume. D och Popovic. D. (Eds). Advancing Practice in Academic Development. London: Routledge: 142-156.

Stensaker, B. (2008b). Outcomes of quality assurance: A discussion of knowledge, methodology and validity. Quality in Higher Education, 14: 3-13.