New Director of Learning and Teaching: Andy Jones

Posted 22 January 2014

Harper Adams University is pleased to introduce Andy Jones as its Director of Learning and Teaching. 

In this newly-created role, Andy will have oversight of the University’s undergraduate and taught postgraduate curriculum, international strategy, educational development and key services that support the University’s students and teaching staff.   

Andy Jones has been a senior manager in higher education for more than 10 years, most recently as Dean of the Faculty of Education and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Learning at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). 

He said: “Harper Adams University is in a very strong position with a range of great opportunities. It’s a powerful, specialist university – highly regarded and very strong in terms of student feedback on teaching and learning. And it has a strong international presence.”

“So it’s a very exciting place to have come to. The institution has been through a lot of change in recent years, most significantly gaining university status, which puts us on a really strong platform for on-going developments.”

“I am interested in effective, high quality teaching and learning. I’m also interested in employability levels and sustaining those, and in the internationalisation of the curriculum for the 21st century. We are a university on a global stage and that’s not just about student recruitment from overseas; it’s about the content of our modules and how we address our place in the international context.”

“I’ve already met a lot of great people with clear ideas, strong views on the future, and lots of enthusiasm. Inevitably there will be challenges, as there are across the sector, but I think Harper Adams, compared to many institutions, is in an enviable position.”

A graduate in drama and theatre arts from the University of Birmingham, Andy’s interests in teaching were developed via theatre-in-education experiences. He gained a PGCE in secondary education before teaching performing arts and English. His MPhil focused on group-devised, educational theatre forms and processes.

Joining MMU in 1990, he worked extensively as a teacher trainer, in-service tutor and consultant across all phases of education both in the UK and overseas. He led a large, modularised, Master’s level CPD portfolio for teachers, FE/HE lecturers and related professionals across all subject areas before moving into senior university management.

Andy Jones is a fellow of the RSA, an honorary fellow of the Institute of Administrative Management, a trustee of the Brightside Trust and was Vice Chair of the UK Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) until 2013.