Who Are UKAT?
UKAT, the United Kingdom Advising and Tutoring association, is the sectoral voice and leading association for personal tutors and academic advisors. UKAT is a collection of multidisciplinary academic and support professionals dedicated to transforming tutorial and advisory practices so that every higher education student can experience inclusiveness, well-being and personal growth. We recognise that effective tutoring and advising is fundamental to the personalisation of learning, increasing employability, enhancing student outcomes and all aspects of student success. Our vision is for a higher education experience in which tutoring and advising are core to student success and personalise learning to empower all students to flourish. We support the development of staff and students throughout the learning journey by sharing resources, practising scholarly inquiry, promoting partnership, fostering community, and espousing excellence in personal tutoring and academic advising practice.
UKAT membership is open to all higher education institutions from around the world. The membership benefits from strong partnerships with colleagues from the USA, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, and Sweden and from partner organisations including NACADA, LVSA and OneHE. Inclusivity is at the heart of what we do: it's central to our mission as professionals in higher education, working not only with students but also with each other as a professional body. We warmly welcome new members wherever they practise and encourage contributions across all our activities so that we can help spread the work we do and enhance the development, recognition and value of personal tutoring and academic advising.
What We Do
UKAT promotes student success by advancing the scholarship and practice of personal tutoring and academic advising in the UK and beyond. We provide opportunities for professional development, research support, networking, and leadership for our diverse membership.
Research
Through our research mentoring programme, we are championing efforts to grow research capacity and build the evidence base which demonstrates the impact that advising/tutoring have on student success. This programme enables members, regardless of their job role or research experience, to receive help and support in taking a research idea from inception, through the design and implementation of robust study to publication of the outcomes. This is complemented by a range of publications such as a special edition of Frontiers in Education focused on advising and tutoring in higher education.
We will continue to build on our research mentoring programme, and enhance it by offering webinars, collaborative research events and small-scale research grants for members.
Professional Development
Our professional development offerings currently include
- 2-day annual conference
- Free monthly webinars, and archive recordings of previous webinars, delivered by sector experts on a wide range of tutoring and advising topics from the strategic, institutional and individual practice perspectives
- International travel bursaries and study trips
- Special Interest Groups (Strategy & Policy, Coaching, Professional Service Advisors, HE in FE)
Our activities are underpinned by the UKAT Professional Framework for Advising and Tutoring, a professional competency framework which defines the competencies that tutors/advisors and tutoring/advising leaders should possess. This framework is mapped to, and extends, the UKPSF and National Occupational Standards for Personal Tutoring. We are currently piloting a professional recognition and accreditation scheme based on this framework which will soon be available across the sector and will recognise excellence in advising practice and leadership. Member institutions will be eligible to run their own accreditation recognition programmes.
We offer a range of online publications focusing on individual practice and institutional approaches to the organisation and enhancement of tutoring/advising to support student success. A range of online professional learning modules will soon be available, covering topics including
- Foundations of advising and tutoring
- Advising theory
- Interpersonal relationships in advising and tutoring
- Legal and ethical issues in advising and tutoring
- Technology and data in advising
- Supporting student success
- Inclusive advising practices
- Quality enhancement of advising and tutoring
Benefits of Student Membership
Being a member of UKAT enables your institution to benefit from a wide variety of networking opportunities, and to collaborate and share practices that support student success with expert tutors and advisors across the sector. Our Student Membership is suitable for those currently registered as students at a recognised Higher Education Institution, and is particularly suited to those studying for Masters or Doctoral level qualifications.
We're still working out the details of our Student Membership offer, so please be sure to check back regular for updated information. In the meantime, please complete the form to register your interest and we'll be in touch with you once our Student Membership offer is confirmed.
The Student Membership offer is likely to consist of the following, but please note that these details are subject to change.
- Competitive free sponsored student delegate places at the UKAT Annual Conference
- Discounted delegate place at the UKAT Annual Conference
- Access to the UKAT OneHE network and member-only resources
- Bimonthly newsletters
- Access to resources, publications and online training to support professional development and tutoring practice
The pricing for Student Membership has not yet been fixed, but is likely to cost in the region of £30 per annum inclusive of VAT
Terms and Conditions of Membership
If you are not currently registered as a student at a Higher Education Institution, our Personal Membership may be more suitable for you. Check out our Personal Membership page for more details about individual membership of UKAT.