For the latest on the EF Community, visit EF Central, accessible to all UNSW staff.
This space is designed to provide you with essential information about being an EF, keep you up-to-date on EF events and initiatives, hold useful educational and professional development resources, and connect you with members of the EF community.
Education Focussed Careers have been rolled out at UNSW
The Education Focussed (EF) career model will help deliver our UNSW 2025 Strategy by fostering educational excellence, and offers a new career path for academics who are talented and passionate teachers. Teaching capabilities across the University will be enhanced through a greater focus and sharing of pedagogical research and teaching innovation. An education focussed approach will also provide the University with the ability to develop or engage renowned experts in Higher Education to provide teaching leadership and mentoring. The greatest benefit of a stronger educational focus is the enrichment of the student experience at UNSW.
Universities are at the heart of the sophisticated global knowledge system shaping our future. The 2025 Strategy outlines UNSW’s aspiration to be Australia’s global university. We aim to improve and transform lives through excellence in research, outstanding education and a commitment to advancing a just society. The mutually beneficial partnership between research and teaching is at the heart of the university’s strategy toward a holistic contribution.
The introduction of the EF career model provides an exciting career pathway for talented academics who excel at teaching. The EF model is focussed on recognising, rewarding and developing academics who can make a vital contribution to the delivery of outstanding outcomes for its students and the broader society.
Education Focussed academics are eligible to apply for Career Development Funding to support education focussed conferences, professional development courses, as well as attending or participating in activities that generate evidence that could lead to academic promotion or for teaching awards, applications and support for recognition schemes such as HEA, HERDSA or discipline-based Fellowships.
See more information about education focussed careers on the 2025 website.
Professor Ian Jacobs (VC and President) and Professor Merlin Crossley (DVC Academic) join our EF Champions in this video, to talk about how the Higher Education industry is changing and what this means for UNSW.
Professor Richard Buckland, Director First Year Experience at UNSW, says that the introduction of Education Focussed (EF) roles represents a significant step towards achieving UNSW’s 2025 strategic priority of educational excellence. Even though his field is CyberCrime, Cyberwar and Cyberterror, it was significantly through his teaching excellence, pedagogical research and service to education that he was promoted to this level.
Watch this video to hear Richard share with a lot of conviction his personal story and thoughts about what this new EF model could mean to teaching academics, to our students, and to the strategic success of UNSW.
What is clear from the video is that Richard is passionate about his students. He says that from his experience, and from research interviews with students, they want to be taught by lecturers who care deeply about being excellent teachers. The introduction of EF roles represents a significant step towards achieving UNSW’s 2025 strategic priority of educational excellence. And excellent teachers foster excellent students.