The future of the HEA and support for the Bioscience learning and teaching community

Latest news

Page last updated 29 November 2011

For details of the support for Biological Sciences coordinated from the HEA in York please see: www.heacademy.ac.uk/disciplines/biological-sciences

Centre transition activities (Aug-December 2011)

As you may know the withdrawal of funding for Subject Centres by the HEA means that the UK Centre for Bioscience will close at the end of December 2011. Between August and December 2011 the UK Centre for Bioscience will undertake a limited programme of activities and will support the transition to a new organisational arramgement that will see subject-specfic support coordinated from the HEA in York. As well as facilitating the transfer of the valued resources collated and developed with your support over the last decade, the following activities are planned for autumn 2011:

• Another annual 24 hour Bioscience Representatives Forum (6-7 September, Birmingham) and maintenance of support of the Bioscience Representatives network (event held; support ongoing)

• Publication of Volume 18 of Bioscience Education, initiation of Volume 19, and handover of journal production to the Higher Education Academy’s journals team (underway)

• One 1-day event on a discipline priority theme e.g. Assessment and Feedback (October 2011) (completed)

• Two or three Teaching in the Biosciences events aimed at postgraduates and new and aspiring teachers (Oct – Nov):1 event completed in Cardiff ; 2nd event completed in Cambridge.

• 1 issue of the Bioscience Bulletin and periodic email updates to the bioscience community (Bioscience Bulletin 34 published Nov 2011, electronic updates published Sept 2011 and Nov 2011)

• Completion of the OeRBITAL open educational resources project (completed; resources and report published)

• Liaison with bioscience organisations and external projects (ongoing)

If you have contributed to resources or publications produced by the Centre then we may contact you about their transfer. We would ask that you resNov 2011pond quickly and positively to these requests in order that your contributions and resources can continue to be available for the benefit of the bioscience learning and teaching community.

April 2011

Vacancies at the HEA
The HEA has announced details of a number of vacancies for staff to help deliver the mission of enhancing teaching and the student learning experience. They seek experienced colleagues, passionate about learning and teaching, to develop and deliver an ambitious strategy to support higher education institutions in their work to improve learning and teaching in higher education.The closing date for applications is Tuesday 17 May 2011.

Ddetails of the academic support and services the HEA will provide from 2011-12
The HEA has released a paper outlining details of support services from 2011-12. Download the paper from the central HEA website.

March 2011

Update from the Centre

In November we notified you of the planned refocusing and restructuring of the HEA that will see the closure of Subject Centres during the academic year 2011-12, and the development of a new programme of subject specific support for learning and teaching coordinated from the HEA's York site. Support for the Biosciences will be provided within a much broader STEM grouping.

An outline of The Higher Education Academy 2011 and beyond is now available to download in PowerPoint format.

How do the changes affect the Centre and the bioscience community in the short-term?

As well as continuing with our planned programme of support activities up to the end of July 2011 there has been a lot of work and discussion going on behind the scenes to ensure that community priorities are made known and resources valued by the bioscience learning and teaching community continue to be readily available - community resources such as our website, Bioscience Education (our journal) and ImageBank to name but a few. Consideration is also being given to how the bioscience learning and teaching network that has been established in the last 10 years can be sustained and developed for the future. Also, the UK Centre for Bioscience is formulating plans for a reduced programme of activities and support, for the first half of the 2011-12 academic year. Full details will be announced as soon as our plans are approved but we anticipate this will include several one-day events, and a further issue of our journal and various other publications.

Look out for further discussion of the change process and associated issues in our forthcoming newsletter (Bulletin 32), due out before Easter. As always, we are interested in your views and priorities and encourage you to address any questions, comments or suggestions you may have to heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk

15 November 2010

UK Centre for Bioscience is to close

On 10th November 2010 the Board of the HEA agreed a revised, narrower focus for the HEA’s work, which will concentrate on activity that supports institutions and their staff in improving teaching in higher education. This will be built around three aspects of the student learning experience – teacher excellence, developing academic practice, and institutional strategy. The HEA will continue to work with institutional leaders and with academics in their disciplines.

The future of the HEA’s work at the discipline level has been clarified; Subject Centres will be phased out by summer 2012. From 2012 work at discipline level will be led and coordinated centrally (from a restructured York office and smaller offices in Cardiff, Edinburgh and possibly, Northern Ireland), and delivered with the support of a network of associates, including subject experts, drawn from academic staff based in or linked to a wide range of higher education institutions.
Subject Centres including the UK Centre for Bioscience will be funded for the remainder of the current academic year (to July 2011) and we are committed to completing all projects or activities already announced for 2010/2011. From 1 August 2011 reduced funding will be provided for several months to support the involvement of Subject Centres in the development and delivery of services and projects for the Academy, and the transition to the new structure.

From 2011-12, the subject-level support from the Higher Education Academy will include support for new academic staff and graduate teaching assistants, teaching development grants, specialist CPD workshops and the provision of subject-specific resources.

During the last 10 years the UK Centre for Bioscience has worked closely with colleagues throughout the UK in the development of a strong, vibrant and supportive bioscience learning and teaching community, committed to meeting the needs, and enhancing the learning experience, of bioscience students around the UK. We believe that nationally, bioscience teaching and learning has benefited considerably from the close collaboration between colleagues in Departments and Schools and the Centre and we hope collaborations will continue once the new structures are in place.

We will provide further information and updates as plans emerge. In the meantime, please direct any questions or comments to heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk

We would like to thank members of the UK bioscience learning and teaching community for their involvement and encouragement over the years and for recent messages of appreciation and support. We welcome any suggestions or help you can offer us as we look to a different future.

Regards,
The UK Centre for Bioscience Team