PNU’s Program for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (PETL) hosted its annual Excellence Forum under the title “Nexus: Inspiring Learning Futures”, bringing together staff from across PNU’s colleges to mark the achievements of the past academic year. 

The event included a keynote on pedagogical content knowledge in the age of generative AI, a panel discussion on Fellowship journeys and impact, and four masterclasses covering topics from neurolinguistic programming approaches to learning analytics. Fifty staff who had recently attained Fellowship received recognition certificates, alongside the mentors, reviewers and observers who support PNU’s Academic Excellence Programme, its Advance HE accredited provision. The top five colleges for Fellowship attainment were also recognised, a touch of friendly rivalry that PETL says has helped spur wider engagement across the institution. 

But behind the numbers, PETL Director Dr Ola Elshurafa is clear that the real story is one of cultural change. 

“The PSF has really helped in creating a beautiful culture of teaching and learning, one that always stresses innovation and inclusivity,” she said. “It has created this extra layer of effort on the part of our educators to reconsider and reflect on their practices, their assignments, their assessments and their learning activities, and to keep asking themselves: is this actually inclusive?” 

That reflective habit, she explained, has translated into tangible changes in practice. Feedback to students, once often delivered as an informal verbal exchange, is increasingly structured and evidenced, with many staff now maintaining a bank of considered, descriptive feedback for recurring assignments. Active learning strategies are being implemented with greater care and intentionality, and staff are becoming more confident in evidencing constructive alignment between learning outcomes, teaching methods and assessment. 

Dr Elshurafa also pointed to a growing consistency in teaching quality across PNU’s colleges, as more staff engage with the PSF’s framework and descriptors, and to a stronger institutional focus on measuring impact rather than simply delivering content. 

Looking ahead, PETL is working to extend the framework’s reach still further. Working with the University of Bahrain, and facilitated by Advance HE, we are preparing to launch the first of its kind Senior Fellowship pilot programme, delivered and assessed entirely in Arabic and aimed at educational leaders from across the Middle east region.  

“I think this is really where the greater impact we’ve been hoping for is in the making,” Dr Elshurafa said. 

Advance HE’s partnership with PNU has grown steadily since the university first engaged with the PSF, and the Excellence Forum offered a moment to take stock of that progress. With 290 Fellows now in place and rising, a well-established accredited provision, and a new Arabic-language route to senior fellowship on the horizon, PNU’s PETL team has set out a clear ambition: not just to grow Fellowship numbers, but to embed the values of inclusive, evidence-based, student-centred teaching across the institution for the long term. 

“It was a great way to celebrate the impact of the PSF and how these educators have grown through the accredited provision and through attaining their fellowship,” Dr Elshurafa added. “They look at it as a transformational journey, one that has added a great deal of value to their teaching and learning practice and their perspectives.” 

Kristian Rumble, Head of Partnerships (MENA) at Advance HE, said: 

“PNU’s achievement of 290 Fellows reflects a deep institutional commitment to educational excellence and continuous improvement. What stands out is not only the scale of engagement with the Professional Standards Framework, but the clear impact it is having on teaching practice, student learning and organisational culture. PNU is emerging as a regional leader in advancing teaching excellence, and we are delighted to be working together on innovative initiatives such as the soon to be launched pilot Arabic-language Senior Fellowship programme that will extend this impact across the Middle East.”