Higher and Professional Education MA

Why choose this course

* This online, part-time MA has a strong disciplinary and professional context focus. It has been built with practising university teachers in mind, including those working in mainstream academic departments, faculty development/support centres, such as libraries and study skill centres, as well as those involved in teaching/supporting learning in tertiary-level professional education contexts.


* The MA encourages you to construct your own developmental pathway through a choice of optional modules, allowing you to graduate as a more confident teacher, with the skills and knowledge to both critique and shape professional practice.

* The MA is taught by members of staff from the Surrey Institute of Education. The Institute is one of the largest institutions in the UK dedicated to multidisciplinary research and practice solely within higher and professional education. Our aim is to produce the next generation of practitioners and researchers, ready to address the complex problems in tertiary education, and help shape policy and practice at local, national and international levels.


* We’re preparing you for the future by integrating AI into every course, building digital skills, confidence and creativity that employers value in tomorrow’s workplace.

What you will study\
Our distance learning course offers you the flexibility to create a programme that suits your professional development needs in the field of tertiary-level/higher education teaching. Offered on a part-time basis over three to five years, the qualification recognises the importance of balancing your studying alongside your teaching roles.

This course allows you to tailor your learning according to your interests and preferences through a choice of optional modules. You’ll do this by engaging with the connections between concepts, theory and practice, teaching and research, disciplinary methods, and teachers and students.

As a fully online course, teaching is delivered via a range of live and recorded or guided learning activities that you can engage with at a time that suits you. These activities support the learning outcomes of each module and reflect the needs of the student group. As such, whilst you register for the full masters, you may step off from the course at either the postgraduate certificate or postgraduate diploma levels.

Throughout your studies, you’ll analyse issues relating to your everyday teaching practice. In addition, you’ll debate alternative ideas, challenges, and explore solutions with your peers and tutors. Your experience on the MA can provide evidence to support your application for Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

You’ll benefit from our vibrant research culture and you’ll work alongside leading academics who are at the forefront of their respective fields, giving you access to expertise in a range of areas of higher and professional education.

Our Higher and Professional Education MA is open to applicants who are working with students aged 18 years or older, within a higher or tertiary education setting (or other organisations that teach at a higher or tertiary education level).