Effective personal and professional development is the result of co-operative and co-ordinating working at all levels in the University and also with the individual members of staff. At the strategic level the personal and professional development implications of strategy and vision must be recognised and resourced. Overall responsibility for the development and delivery of Personal and Professional Development policy and strategy rests with the Director of Human Resources and the Personal and Professional Development Unit.
The Director of Academic Professional Development and the Academic Professional Development Advisory Group, convened by the Director of Human Resources, acts as a central focus for the co-ordination, planning and provision of a range of learning and teaching development activities. The Deans and/or Associate Deans for Learning & Teaching, as appropriate, liaise with the Director of Academic Professional Development in order to consider appropriate ways in which development needs can be met, including delivery at department/section/unit or Faculty level, or through central delivery. The link between centrally delivered and Faculty-based development activities is supported by regular and ongoing contact between the Director of Academic Professional Development and Faculty contacts for Academic Professional Development, normally the Associate Dean for Learning & Teaching. Heads of department/section/unit ensure that all staff employed in their area receive appropriate advice so as to ensure direct and substantial benefits are achieved for staff undertaking any development, support towards identifying their developmental needs through the review process and by other means, and ensure that adequate time is made available within workloads to allow staff to engage in identified and agreed development activities, as appropriate, to address these needs. Faculties and departments/sections/units