Offered through Duke’s Certificate in College Teaching, the Advance HE Fellowship Mentoring Program provides flexible, milestone-based mentoring for Duke graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff preparing direct applications for Advance HE Fellowship—a UK-based credential recognized internationally for teaching and supporting learning in higher education.
Fellowship applications ask applicants to make a reflective, evidence-based case for the quality and scope of their teaching or support for learning. Participants work independently with application materials and meet with a mentor at agreed milestones to identify relevant evidence, develop their applications, and address questions as they arise.
About Advance HE Fellowship
Advance HE offers four categories of Fellowship: Associate Fellowship (Descriptor 1), Fellowship (Descriptor 2), Senior Fellowship (Descriptor 3), and Principal Fellowship (Descriptor 4). This program primarily supports applicants considering Associate Fellowship, Fellowship, or Senior Fellowship.
The appropriate category depends on the nature, breadth, and impact of an applicant’s teaching and/or learning-support practice—not simply on job title. At the outset, participants review their experience and may use Advance HE’s Fellowship Category Tool to identify the best fit.
Applications draw on Advance HE’s Professional Standards Framework (PSF) 2023. Participants do not need prior familiarity with the framework; mentoring materials and conversations help them connect concrete examples from their own practice to the framework and communicate them clearly.
How the Mentoring Program Works
- Begin with a conversation. We discuss your experience, reasons for applying, anticipated timeline, likely Fellowship category, and the direct-application process.
- Agree on a concrete next task. This might include completing the Category Tool, developing an evidence grid, identifying examples from your practice, preparing an outline, or drafting part of the application.
- Schedule the next meeting. Before each meeting ends, we agree on the next milestone and set a date to review progress, address questions, and determine the next step.
Applicants proceed at a pace that fits their circumstances and application goals. Most mentoring is individual; small-group conversations or peer-feedback opportunities may be offered when several applicants are working through similar questions.
Direct Applications and Fees
This program supports direct applications: applications submitted directly to Advance HE for assessment. It does not award Fellowship or serve as a Duke-based accredited route.
There is no fee to participate in Duke’s mentoring program. Advance HE charges a fee for direct applications, and applicants are responsible for that submission fee. See Advance HE’s information for individual applicants for current requirements and fees.
Who May Participate
The program is open to Duke graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff whose work involves teaching or supporting learning in higher education. It may be particularly useful for those who teach, TA, tutor, advise or mentor students, design curriculum, lead educational programs, or otherwise contribute to student learning.
Begin the Process
Mentoring is available on an ongoing basis rather than through a single annual cohort. To begin, email Hugh Crumley with a brief description of your role, relevant teaching or learning-support experience, and anticipated timeline. We will arrange an initial conversation to determine whether Fellowship is a good fit and agree on a first step.
Contact
Hugh Crumley, PhD SFHEA
Assistant Dean, Academic Affairs
Director, College Teaching Programs
crumley@duke.edu
A Note from the CCT Director
I recently pursued Senior Fellowship through Advance HE and wrote a blog post for the Graduate School on what the application process taught me about gathering evidence, making teaching practice explicit, and developing a clear account of its impact—work that can be useful whether or not you decide to apply right away.