
Fellowship (FHEA) brings you a range of benefits:
- Consolidate personal development and evidence of professional practice in your higher education career;
- Demonstrate commitment to teaching, learning and the student experience, through engagement in a practical process that encourages research, reflection and development;
- Fellowship is increasingly sought by employers across the higher education sector as a condition of appointment and promotion;
- For individuals, to identify their expertise with the entitlement to use post-nominal letters – FHEA;
- Recognised and valued by a growing number of international institutions.
Download the Fellowship pack
If you feel that you are working within this category, download your Fellow guidance pack to find out more about how to apply.
Is Fellowship for you?
We have identified the roles and experience for which people applying for Fellowship typically have below:
- in the early stages of your academic career
- in an academic-related and/or support role holding substantive teaching and learning responsibilities
- an experienced academic relatively new to higher education
- a member of staff with (sometimes significant) teaching-only responsibilities including, for example, within work-based settings
If you feel that you are working within this category download your Fellow guidance pack to find out more about how to apply.
Our Fellowship Category Tool has been designed to help you reflect on your practice
After you have answered a series of choice questions, which will take around 10-20 minutes, you will be shown your results and a PDF report summarising your responses will be sent to you. You will be able to use this to understand which category of Fellowship most closely reflects your current practice and to reflect on your ongoing professional development and career aspirations.
The UKPSF and Fellowship
Fellowship is awarded to professionals who can demonstrate they meet the criteria of Descriptor 2 (D2) of the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) for teaching and supporting learning in higher education. By applying to be a Fellow of HEA individuals are able to engage with a broad understanding of effective approaches to learning and teaching support as a key contribution to high quality student learning and demonstrate:
- successful engagement across all five Areas of Activity;
- appropriate knowledge and understanding across all aspects of Core Knowledge;
- a commitment to all the Professional Values;
- successful engagement in appropriate teaching practices related to the Areas of Activity;
- successful incorporation of subject and pedagogic research and/or scholarship within the above activities, as part of an integrated approach to academic practice;
- successful engagement in continuing professional development in relation to teaching, learning, assessment and where appropriate, related professional practices.
Download your Fellow guidance pack to find out more and commence your application.
Applying and application fees to 31 March 2021
There are various application routes for Fellowship, they are made in writing and need to be supported by written references. Find out more about the available application routes.
Application fees vary depending on the route you take to Fellowship, with individuals from subscribing institutions benefiting from discounted fees.
Fees
Accredited Provision (individual from a member institution) - No cost
Accredited Provision (individual from a non-member institution) - £200
Direct application to Advance HE (individual from a member institution) - £200
Direct application to Advance HE (individual from non-member institution) - £400
Fellowship Application Builder
If you are thinking of applying for Fellowship, our Fellowship Application Builder online course is designed to help you create an application that fully reflects your practice.
Applying and application fees from 1 April 2021
From 1 April 2021, there will be an increase to the fees of direct applications for Fellowship. This is the first Fellowship fee increase in over seven years and reflects the increased costs we have been able to absorb until now. Find out more in our Application fees FAQs.
The new Fellowship application fees will be:
Fees
Accredited Provision (individual from a member institution) - No cost
Accredited Provision (individual from a non-member institution) - £220
Direct application to Advance HE (individual from a member institution) - £220
Direct application to Advance HE (individual from non-member institution) - £440
Do you want to support your staff to achieve Fellowship?
Advance HE offers Fellowship support to institutions through a structured process:
- Fellowship workshops - sessions helping your staff understand Fellowship and the application process
- Fellowship Writing Retreats - expert support providing a structured and guided environment in which to construct an application for Fellowship
- draft Fellowship applications reviews - a consultant will review applications and provide annotated feedback, including points for further development.
All of these services can be delivered online.

Meet some of our Fellows

I am now very proud of the title of HEA Fellow. It has definitely boosted my confidence as a lecturer and has boosted the recognition of my professional career. My Fellowship title has also been acknowledged by several colleagues within my institution whom have kindly congratulated me!

Being recognised for teaching makes a big difference and opens doors. It gets your work taken more seriously. Without HEA Fellowship, my job would have been so much more difficult.

Advance HE is useful because it provides a framework for career development tied to enhancing education quality. Even those who do have strong natural teaching abilities can benefit from guidance to calibrate their teaching methods with current research on the quality-enhanced approaches.