Apply for HEA Fellowship through STARS

Getting a category of Advance HE (HEA) Fellowship allows you to evidence your professional practice in higher education and demonstrate your commitment to teaching, learning and the student experience. It is increasingly listed as a desirable or essential criterion by employers across the higher education sector in the UK.

In general, there are three ways to achieve an award of fellowship:

Apply direct to Advance HE to evidence that you meet the criteria for a particular descriptor (category of fellowship).
Successfully complete a taught programme that has been accredited by Advance HE at a particular descriptor.
Successfully complete an experiential scheme that has been accredited by Advance HE for particular descriptor(s).

Currently there are no accredited taught programmes at St Andrews. The university has an Advance HE accredited experiential pathway: the St Andrews Recognition Scheme (STARS). Staff can also apply directly to Advance HE (see "What if I don't have a place on STARS?").

St Andrews Recognition Scheme (STARS)

STARS is our Advance HE accredited scheme. It provides participants with structured support to reflect on their practice and prepare a claim for recognition against the Professional Standards Framework (PSF 2023) Descriptors D1 (Associate Fellow), D2 (Fellow), or D3 (Senior Fellow), as appropriate to their context.

Participants will be assigned a mentor who will give them guidance in selecting what to include in their application, and who will give feedback on a full draft of their application prior to submission to the Recognition Panel for review. There are also "Applying for fellowship" workshops and facilitated writing retreats to support participants throughout the year.

Recognition Panels are run internally with trained colleagues acting as reviewers, with moderation from an External Reviewer.

If you have any questions, please email teachingdev@st-andrews.ac.uk - let us know if you have specific questions or would like a copy of the most recent STARS Participant Handbook.

Who is eligible to apply?

Anyone who is employed to teach or support learning at the University of St Andrews. This includes academic/research staff, doctoral students who teach and professional services staff. Clinical or workplace staff who provide work-based teaching may also be eligible. (Please note we cannot support masters or undergraduate students who engage in peer teaching or mentoring.)

A complete STARS cycle takes two consecutive semesters, so you may only apply if you will be employed at the University for the full duration.

Please note that places on STARS are limited. When registration for each intake opens, places will be advertised initially to colleagues who are enrolled on the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice and eligible participants on the Health Professions Education PGCert. If available places are not filled from those cohorts, then there will be an open call to apply.

How to apply

There are two intakes for STARS each academic year, in early September and late April or early May. Please note, places on the scheme are limited so not every applicant may get a place. Places will fill up quickly so we encourage you to register early.

You may apply to the scheme more than once, but applicants who have never been on the scheme will be given priority over those who have participated before.

STARS aims to support you to gain recognition for your current practice. Before you apply, please complete Advance HE's Fellowship Category Tool to help you identify the most appropriate category of fellowship.

If you would like to start your journey to the STARS, please fill in the application form at the link below (link is visible only during application periods).

Applications for the semester 1 intake AY25-26 will open in mid-September.
Applications for the semester 2 intake AY25-26 will open in May 2026.

If you are seeking Senior Fellowship, you must do one of the following before submitting your application:

Attend an “Are you ready for Senior Fellowship?” briefing (these go live in the booking system the month before applications open), or
Book a meeting with the Scheme Lead (email teachingdev@st-andrews.ac.uk) to discuss the best time to submit.
Your application cannot be processed if this requirement has not been met.

We aim to inform you whether you have been allocated a place on STARS within three weeks of you submitting your application.

Successful applicants who are allocated a place are expected to attend all the following support components:

Welcome Briefing (08-Oct-25 for S1 intake, 20-May-26 for S2 intake)
1-to-1 meeting with Scheme Lead or Deputy Lead
Applying for Fellowship workshop
Meetings with mentor

What if I don't have a place on STARS?

You can still apply direct to Advance HE, although there is a fee to do so. As the University of St Andrews is a subscribing member of Advance HE, any member of staff or student who teaches/supports learning is eligible for a 50% discount on the fee for direct application, ie fee category "Direct application to Advance HE (individual from a member institution)". IELLI does not cover the cost of direct applications.

If you are preparing a direct application you can self-enrol onto the Applying for Advance HE Fellowship by Individual Route Moodle course for tips on how to prepare an effective application. Colleagues who wish to prepare a direct application may attend any of the STARS "Applying for fellowship" workshops and writing retreats for help in preparing their application, but we cannot offer review and feedback of completed drafts.

Become a mentor/reviewer for STARS

STARS relies on colleagues across the University to act as mentors for participants, and to review submitted applications. We are always looking for new mentors and reviewers and we invite anyone that already has a category of fellowship to enquire about joining our STARS team. Please email teachingdev@st-andrews.ac.uk if you are interested in supporting STARS in this way and would like more information and a copy of the Mentor-Reviewer Handbook.

All STARS mentors and reviewers receive training to support participants and make robust recognition judgements using the PSF 2023. In order to be a STARS reviewer you must have attained at least Fellow (D2).

Being a Mentor is a great opportunity to contribute to colleague’s professional development and to the growth of teaching excellence across the institution. You may mentor people individually, in a group or online.

As a Reviewer you will be acting on behalf of Advance HE to assess claims. You will review the applications submitted by colleagues to determine whether they have provided sufficient evidence to meet the PSF 2023 Descriptor criteria for the category of Fellowship sought.

Becoming a Mentor and/or Reviewer on STARS provides evidence of your commitment to learning and teaching in higher education and of your willingness to share your experience, understanding and ideas with colleagues. Engaging with other people’s learning and teaching practices and thinking can also be an enriching and stimulating opportunity for critical reflection on your own practice. You can also reflect on and write about mentoring/reviewing as part of your own submission when you seek your next category of Fellowship!