Copenhagen Business School (CBS) has partnered with Advance HE to award its early career academics a globally recognised teaching credential, after its Higher Education Teaching Excellence Programme (HETEP) achieved formal re-accreditation against the Professional Standards Framework 2023 (PSF 2023) for a further five years.
The accreditation, confirmed following an independent panel review, means that early career faculty who successfully complete HETEP will be awarded Fellowship (FHEA) as part of their professional development.
Fellowship provides internationally recognised acknowledgement of their commitment to teaching excellence and offers academics what might be described as a teaching passport: a portable, globally understood credential that speaks to the quality and rigour of their practice.
CBS is Denmark’s largest business school and one of Europe’s largest, with more than 21,000 students. It is one of only around one per cent of business schools worldwide to hold triple crown accreditation from EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB simultaneously, and HETEP forms part of the institutional foundation that supports this achievement. Completion of a teaching excellence programme is mandatory for early career faculty under Danish law, and a condition of progression to associate professor level. CBS’s accreditation with Advance HE means that successful participants additionally receive internationally recognised Fellowship, giving their professional qualification a global dimension.
HETEP is delivered by the CBS Educational Development and Quality (EDQ) unit and structured around four mandatory Collaborative Inquiry workshops, teaching observations, reflective writing sessions, and elective continuing professional development. Participants submit a final Account of Professional Practice, assessed against the dimensions of the PSF 2023, and are supported throughout by both a departmental and a cross-departmental supervisor.
The Advance HE Accreditation Panel commended CBS on a range of strengths in its submission. These included the institution’s six Pedagogical Principles, which align closely with the Professional Values of the PSF 2023 and reflect CBS’s strategic aim to deliver educational experiences that benefit both students and wider society. The panel also praised the well-supported supervision model, the thoroughness of the programme’s quality assurance processes, and the active HETEP Community, which continues to connect staff beyond the programme through peer collaboration and shared initiatives. Accreditation for its Higher Education Teaching Excellence Programme (HETEP), recognising the programme as a route to Fellowship, aligned with Descriptor 2 of the Professional Standards Framework 2023 (PSF 2023).
Karen Hustler SFHEA, Head of Accreditation at Advance HE, said: “Copenhagen Business School demonstrates a strong commitment to learning and teaching and to the professional development of staff to underpin this. HETEP is delivered and assessed by an experienced team of Senior Fellows, and participants benefit from extensive observation of teaching and feedback processes that genuinely promote the enhancement of practice. We congratulate the whole team on this highly positive outcome.”
For CBS, the value of accreditation extends beyond the programme itself. Fellowship is formally recognised within CBS’s academic career progression framework and the ethos of the PSF 2023 is increasingly embedded across the institution, with senior educators and teaching support staff also encouraged to seek Fellowship at the category appropriate to their experience.
Sylvia von Wallpach, Academic Director of HETEP, said: “Our participants consistently confirm the transformative impact the accredited scheme has had on their teaching practice. We see that the programme supports early career scholars in developing a reflective mindset and a more confident, student-centred approach to teaching.”
Jakob Ravn, Executive Director of CBS Educational Development and Quality, added: “Since our initial accreditation in 2021, the ethos of the PSF has become increasingly embedded across our institution, reflected both in the achievements of programme alumni and in the growing number of senior staff in key educational roles attaining Fellowship.”
Advance HE’s teaching and learning accreditation scheme enables higher education institutions to have their professional development programmes formally recognised as routes to Fellowship. Institutions whose programmes meet the required standard can award Fellowship directly to successful participants, extending the reach and impact of the PSF 2023 across the sector.
