Academic Professional

Academic Professional

On an academic professional apprenticeship course, you’ll work within the higher education sector to deliver teaching and research.

As an academic professional, you may work in universities, colleges, or the private sector, primarily developing and sharing information with students, colleagues, and external stakeholders to advance the topic.

You will play an active role in supporting a wide range of individuals, including students, donors, stakeholders, and government, to gain an understanding of their specialised academic field.

You will engage in continuing professional development in your topic and education and use applicable technologies to help acquire knowledge.

During this apprenticeship, you will perform the primary role and one of two speciality routes: teaching and learning support or research.

What you’ll learn

On an academic professional apprenticeship course, you’ll learn to:

  • Provide high-quality higher education training in the form of lectures, tutorials, practicals, or seminars.
  • Adapt your teaching strategy to the learning environment and the needs of your students.
  • Create research questions and hypotheses before doing a study in their sector.
  • Analyse, synthesise, and use critical thinking in research supervision and mentoring students and peers to advance knowledge in their discipline.
  • Implement methods to academic practice that are influenced by equality and diversity.
  • Make proper use of digital technology to develop and disseminate subject-matter knowledge and understanding.
  • Share ideas and evidence with students, peers, politicians, and commercial and public organisations through various channels, including publishing and teaching.
  • Collect evidence of the impact of their efforts, such as student surveys or citations.

Entry requirements

You’ll usually need:

  • A postgraduate degree (level 7) qualification in an area of disciplinary specialism.
  • Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level before taking the end-point assessment.
  • Pass enhanced background checks

Assessment methods

The End Point Assessment consists of three distinct assessment methods: 

  • Academic Professional Practice Assessment  
  • Professional Conversation 
  • Written Submission 

Duration, level, subjects and potential salary upon completion

  • Duration: 18 months
  • Level: 7 – Degree Apprenticeship
  • Relevant school subjects: English
  • Potential salary upon completion: £35,000 per annum

Apprenticeship standard

More information about the Level 7 Academic Professional Apprenticeship standard can be found here.

Apprenticeship end point assessment

For more information about the End Point Assessment Process, please read the Institute of Apprenticeships’ information page.

Updated on January 17, 2024

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