What is academic practice?

Academic practice is the term used to define any work that uncovers, researches, and teaches information, knowledge and learning materials. Academic practitioners include researchers, higher education and university lecturers, professors, teachers, analysts, librarians, and academic laboratory technicians – their contributions go toward providing students in higher education with a better standard of knowledge within their field.

The University of Liverpools online Master of Arts in Academic Practice is a qualification for those who wish to enhance their academic practice and develop their higher education teaching career, providing students with invaluable teaching methods and techniques, informed by global pedagogical viewpoints.

About the programme

Our online Academic Practice programme is designed for applicants with limited or no experience teaching or supporting learning in higher education. Through this programme, students will develop their academic practice and build employability skills to enhance their teaching careers in higher education in the UK and around the world.

There are three study awards for the programme – starting with the Postgraduate Certificate Academic Practice (PGCAP) and progressing to the Postgraduate Diploma Academic Practice (PGDAP) and full Master of Arts Academic Practice (MA AP).

On the PGCAP award, students will develop their academic practice and build employability skills to enhance their teaching careers in higher education in the UK and around the world. The PGDAP builds on learning from the PGCAP to further develop academic leadership, scholarship, and pedagogic research in preparation for progression to the MA AP which gives participants the opportunity to complete a supervised academic practice project.

Active learning plays a fundamental part in the programme structure on all awards. You will have opportunities to demonstrate your understanding of educational concepts and barriers to learning and your ability to apply pedagogical theory from varied global perspectives to the classroom. Furthermore, you will be encouraged to utilise international educational frameworks to design lessons, set assignments and design learning outcomes that can be applied to your own context or to a global teaching space.

An Executive Scholarship of 15% is available for our May 2025 intake.

A UK Scholarship of 20% is available for students residing in the United Kingdom, who enrol on the May 2025 intake of our full masters awards.

International students residing in specific regions outside the UK may be eligible for a Regional Scholarship of up to 20%.

A separate application form is not required for a scholarship, as it will be applied once you have received your official offer letter. Please note, scholarships cannot be combined but can be used alongside our Up-front Payment Discount.