Aurora is a leadership ignition journey, inspiring women to achieve their career goals in higher education through a combination of individual and group learning, mentoring and networking.
It is run as a unique partnership bringing together leadership experts, higher education providers, and research institutes to take positive action to address the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in the sector.
Once part of the community, participants continue to enjoy the support and inspiration of fellow Aurorans throughout their leadership journeys and beyond.
In June 2024, Advance HE will start the first pilot of a contextualised version in Australia, which will welcome 52 participants from six universities. The national programme dates will be announced shortly and are expected to take place from early 2025.
Bookings now open!
Our Aurora Australia programme starts on Wednesday 2 April 2025.
The Aurora leadership program introduced me to concepts and practices that align with effective leadership, and provided me the opportunity to practice some of these concepts in hands-on activities. I also met a fabulous group of women from a diverse range of academic disciplines who inspired and encouraged me to keep pursuing success in academia. I highly recommend the Aurora program to others looking to become leaders in their academic institutions. "Caitlin Moore, UWA
An independent longitudinal study shows that women who have taken part in Aurora are more than twice as likely to be promoted. Read the study.
Who is Aurora For?
Aurora is for women, up to senior lecturer level or the professional services equivalent, working in a university, college or related organisation who would like to develop and explore issues relating to leadership roles and responsibilities. They may have recently taken on their first leadership role either formal or informal or may be looking to shortly progress their career into a leadership role.
Programme Delivery Structure
Mentoring Session
Welcome and Introduction Webinar
Adaptive Leadership
Core Leadership
Action Learning Set 1
Identity, Impact and Voice
Action Learning Set 2
Politics and Influence
Your Future in HE and Graduation
The Impact of Aurora
Since taking part in Aurora in 2022-23
- 42% of participants had gone on to propose new strategies in their institutions.
- 34% had shared learning with colleagues.
- 19% had been promoted to a senior post.
- (Based on data from 297 participants)
From a recent alumnae impact survey:
- 65% of the survey respondents had applied for promotion since completing Aurora, with 83% of those being successful in their applications.
- Also, almost 71% of the survey respondents mentioned that their salary had increased either slightly or significantly since completing Aurora. Most importantly, alumnae agreed that their engagement with Aurora both prompted them to apply for promotion (average score: 3.8/5) and had an impact in the success of their applications (3.8/5).”
Aurora has already helped more than 10,000 women in more than 200 higher education institutions across the UK and Ireland develop their leadership skills and the global community has been extended further in the Middle East and South Africa with a contextualised version of Aurora.
Aurora Australia 2025 Cohort Dates
Please check with your HR team if there are any Advance HE Aurora Programme Champions within your institution.
Aurora Australia 2025 Cohort Dates
Download
Aurora Australia Facilitators
'Aurora is part of our gender equity strategy': Sir David Bell
Advance HE’s Aurora women’s leadership programme is a key part of the University of Sunderland’s strategy to create a ‘pipeline’ of women leaders.
Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell explains how the programme is supporting the institution’s equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) efforts and creating a cohort of women leaders who are more confident, better connected and more satisfied in their roles.
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