2021–2025 Funding Cycle

PROJECT 1

Continuous Professional Learning (CPL)

Project Lead: Dr Esmarie Strydom

AIM

To develop a guideline for a national CPL framework that could be contextualised by individual universities, as well as a database of existing institutional CPL policies and programmes.

GOAL

• Develop a nationally responsive CPL framework and concomitant policies, guidelines, and procedures that could be contextualised for institutional relevance by any of the 26 public universities.
• Develop a database of CPL programmes for access by the 26 public universities.
• Develop professional learning communities to support academics across career stages.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Emerging and early career academics
• Academic management and leadership (Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors: Academic/Teaching and Learning, Deans, Heads of School, and Directors/Heads of Academic Departments)
• Directors and Heads of Centres of Teaching and Learning or Continuous Professional Development
• Academic development support staff

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Completed a desktop analysis of CPL offerings across all 26 public universities, establishing a national baseline for CPL framework development.
• Convened a National CPL Think Tank in August 2024, bringing together 44 representatives from universities across all regions of South Africa.
• Developed guiding principles for a nationally responsive yet institutionally adaptable CPL framework, centred on inclusivity, flexibility, and the integration of theory with practice.
• Identified practical approaches for institutional recognition of CPL participation, including reward structures and the establishment of Communities of Practice as knowledge-exchange platforms.
• Produced a mapping of existing CPL offerings – from formal qualifications to mentoring programmes – against academic career development and leadership pathways.
• Generated policy recommendations for inclusive CPL development, grounded in a review of institutional experience across the sector.
• Established a partnership with the HELTASA Professional Learning project, creating synergies for CPL implementation across the sector.
• Produced research outputs from the Think Tank that are informing journal article development, with publications planned for 2025 and beyond.

PROJECT 2

Blended and Online Learning (BOL)

Project Lead: Dr Britta Zawada

AIM

In line with the African philosophy of ubuntu and the principle of peer collaboration, to establish dedicated Communities of Practice (CoP) for academics working in blended and online teaching environments.

GOAL

• Create Communities of Practice that share and collaborate at a national level to support academics as teachers in blended and online environments, situated within a South African context.
• Create a National Library of Open Educational Resources (OERs) to support sharing and collaboration across the sector.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Academics as teachers in blended and online environments
• Academic developers tasked with assisting and training academics as teachers

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

Project 2 explored approaches to developing Communities of Practice and shared resources for academics navigating the blended and online teaching environment – a need that became particularly evident during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The work initiated during the planning phases contributed to the sector’s broader thinking about the support structures needed for academics as blended and online teachers, and informed related work within the Sub-Programme.

PROJECT 3

Developing the Field of Academic Development as a Profession

Project Lead: Prof Jo-Anne Vorster

AIM

To work with academic development staff to strengthen the academic base and stature of academic development as a profession and a career path in South African higher education.

GOAL

• Enhance academic development as a profession with status in South African higher education.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Academic developers (ADs) at public universities

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Designed and administered two national surveys of the academic development field, gathering 126 responses from AD practitioners across South African public universities – one of the more comprehensive empirical accounts of the field to date.
• Generated findings on the conditions that support AD practitioners in their work: educational discourse foundations, discipline-specific capabilities, supportive leadership, and job security emerged as enabling conditions.
• Produced recommendations for the sector, including the formalisation of AD practitioner development pathways and more contextualised approaches to evaluating the impact of academic development work.
• Convened a national workshop jointly with HELTASA to share research findings with the broader AD community and gather further sector input.
• Held a writing retreat in June 2024 at which the project team worked on journal article manuscripts drawing on the survey findings and workshop data.
• Presented findings at the ISSOTL 2023 international conference and at the University of Johannesburg Learning and Teaching Symposium in August 2024.
• Facilitated a HELTASA webinar focused on AD field findings, disseminating research insights to practitioners beyond the immediate project team.
• Conceptualised two follow-up research projects to further investigate professional development pathways in the AD field, with in-depth interviews with key field members already underway at the close of the cycle.

Journal publications arising from this project’s research are expected to appear in 2025 and beyond.

PROJECT 4

University Teaching Leadership Development

Project Lead: Prof Kasturi Behari-Leak

AIM

To develop a national and institutional cohort of senior and middle-level management capable of developing teaching and learning leadership across South African higher education institutions.

GOAL

• Establish a national and institutional cohort of senior and middle-level managers who are capable of developing teaching and learning leadership.
• Facilitate succession planning by enabling participation of aspirant, leaders-in-waiting who will manage teaching and learning in the future.
• Create a leadership community of practice to form collaborative networks that respond to challenges in the national higher education context.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Senior and middle-level higher education managers, including Faculty Deans, Heads of Department, Teaching and Learning Centre Co-ordinators, aspirant Deans and Heads of Department
• Directors of units and schools associated with teaching and learning, as well as teaching and learning project managers and deputy deans with responsibility for teaching and learning

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Appointed a Project Research Assistant and completed desktop research analysing teaching and learning development and support activities across all South African public higher education institutions, resulting in a research report that provides a sector-wide account of existing practices and structures.
• Initiated a research study examining the enabling and constraining conditions for middle-managers who support teaching and learning development, generating insights into the dynamics of teaching leadership in different institutional contexts.
• Developed “Third Space” theory as a conceptual framework for understanding the positioning of Teaching and Learning Centre Directors, who move between teaching development leadership, academic work, institutional advocacy, and other roles – providing a basis for future leadership development work in the sector.

The research conducted during this cycle laid groundwork for a potential second phase focused on leadership coaching for Directors of Teaching and Learning Centres.

PROJECT 5

National University Teaching Awards (NUTA)

Project Lead: Prof Clever Ndebele

AIM

To develop a framework for the National University Teaching Awards and to implement the awards as a national recognition system for university teaching in South Africa.

GOAL

• Celebrate quality teaching by recognising contributions to teaching in support of student success.
• Augment the status of teaching in higher education by recognising academics across diverse institutional contexts, disciplines, and career stages.
• Develop a framework, procedures, and adjudication process that are transparent, inclusive, and applicable across all 26 public higher education institutions.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Academics at all South African public higher education institutions
• Academic management and leadership (Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors: Academic/Teaching and Learning, Deans, Directors and Heads of Academic Departments)
• Directors and Heads of Centres of Teaching and Learning or Continuous Professional Development
• Academic development support staff
• Stakeholders in higher education, e.g. USAf, SATN, SAQA, other quality councils, and professional bodies
• The public
• Students

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Developed and launched the NUTA website, providing a publicly accessible information and communications platform for the awards.
• Designed and finalised the NUTA brand identity, including a logo and supporting visual materials.
• Developed and published the NUTA Procedures and Framework Document, providing a governance structure, criteria, and process for nominations and adjudication.
• Developed and published a 15-dimension framework of criteria for university teaching award submissions, covering student-centred learning, assessment and feedback, integration of research and teaching, use of technology, community engagement, mentorship, language and cultural sensitivity, and reflective practice, among others.
• Convened a national NUTA Adjudication Panel and provided training through dedicated workshops, establishing consistent standards for evaluating teaching portfolios.
• Developed an online submission platform for the standardised submission and management of teaching portfolios.
• Delivered five regional online workshops in 2024, providing information, support, and mentoring to academics and Teaching and Learning specialists from universities across all provinces.
• Launched the inaugural national call for NUTA nominations, open to academics from all 26 public higher education institutions.
• Received 63 teaching portfolio submissions in the inaugural cycle, from which 22 candidates were shortlisted, 12 were interviewed, and 2 award winners and 3 commendation recipients were selected.

The inaugural NUTA Awards Ceremony, at which the 2024 cohort of winners were celebrated alongside the 2025 winners, was held on 21 November 2025.

Project 6: NCC Administration (Secretariat)

The five projects above were supported by a sixth project – the NCC Administration (Secretariat) – hosted at the University of the Witwatersrand throughout the 2021–2025 funding cycle. The Secretariat provided administrative support to the NCC Chairperson, the Executive Management Committee (EMC), and all five Project Leaders, and was responsible for financial oversight, reporting to DHET, convening NCC and EMC meetings, maintaining the SAUT website, and providing logistical support for all project activities. The Secretariat transitioned to Walter Sisulu University at the start of the second funding cycle in April 2025.