Welcome
Educational and Professional Development at the Learning Institute
The Oxford Learning Institute provides a broad range of voluntary courses for university and college staff to help them in their work and in the development of their careers. These courses cover all aspects of teaching, including course design, examining, and graduate supervision; leadership and management, including finance and personnel issues; personal and career development; and inductions for newcomers. The Institute also supports the design and administration of certain specialist courses provided by other groups across the University. For complete listings of all these courses, and to make a booking, see 'Courses and seminars'.
Most of the Institute's sessions can be taken as 'stand-alone' workshops which participants can choose to suit their needs, but there are also structured programmes which can lead to qualifications recognised by other employers. For details of these programmes and related online resources, grouped according to their intended audiences, see 'Support by staff group'.
For help with managing your workload and avoiding stress at work see 'Managing yourself'.
Public seminars
The Institute invites speakers, generally from outside Oxford, to give talks on Thursday afternoons in term on matters related to higher education and educational and professional development. These are open to all, with no need to book.
Research Supervision
The 'Research Supervision' pages are an extensive online resource aimed especially at new supervisors and those who give them help or mentoring. There is also much here that will be of interest to research students.
Career development and review
Many staff find it helpful to set aside some time at intervals for a discussion with a mentor or colleague about how they might develop their careers. The Institute offers support to departments and individuals in developing systems to suit their needs. The Institute also administers the Staff Learning Scheme, a fund to help staff meet the costs of their professional development where a fee is payable.
Institute Overview
This section of the website presents a range of 'Learning Institute resources', including information on gender equality, mentoring, our library and publications.
Oxford's 'CETL', Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, which was based at the Institute, was set up to promote the development of training across the University for early career researchers (research students and staff) to introduce them and prepare them for academic careers. These programmes are now embedded in the Divisions with continuing support and under-pinning research provided by the Institute.