Enrol and apply through GOLD

1. Complete the Advance HE Fellowship Category Tool

The Fellowship Category Tool has been designed to assist you in selecting the category of Fellowship that is the closest match to your current practice.

The tool consists of a set of statements that are aligned to the different PSF Dimensions of the Framework and Descriptors of the Professional Standards Framework (PSF 2023). This self-analysis tool will ask about your professional activities in teaching and or supporting learning in higher education. You will be asked about the range of activities you undertake in your practice.

Complete Advance HE's Fellowship Category Tool (PSF 2023) here.

2. Select an approved GOLD mentor to support you and your application

This is essential. Having an approved GOLD mentor is an integral part to our supported scheme. Your GOLD mentor will be able to provide 1-2-1 support with preparing and developing your application. They will undertake teaching observations if required for your application, and provide a supporting statement. Your GOLD mentor does not need to be someone from your school/department/faculty. However, they must be someone that can authenticate your practice and claims made in your application.

All our GOLD mentors are trained to provide support for you and attend annual refresher training to keep up-to-date. They all hold a category of fellowship and must hold either the same or higher category to which you are wishing to apply for. You must contact and get confirmation from the approved GOLD mentor that they are able to support you. We can only accept applications from candidates who are supported by an approved GOLD mentor. If you are having difficulty finding a GOLD mentor to support you, please contact our GOLD team.

View our full list of approved GOLD mentors across our institution here.

If you would like to be supported by someone who is not an approved GOLD mentor, then they should attend our GOLD New Mentor Development Workshop. More information about becoming a GOLD mentor can be found here.

3. Attend the mandatory introductory mentee online workshop

Once you have secured an approved GOLD mentor to support you, you are required to attend our mandatory 2 hour GOLD Introductory Mentee Workshop. This workshop outlines the GOLD scheme, the application process and the PSF 2023. It will help you to establish which level of fellowship is most suitable and identify areas for professional development.

Dates and bookings for the GOLD Introductory Mentee Workshop can be found here via Horizon Learning.

4. Complete a Registration of Intent (ROI) form

You will be given access to our online Registration of Intent (ROI) form after having attended our mandatory GOLD Introductory Mentee Workshop. The ROI identified who your approved GOLD mentor is, confirms you have approval from your line manager, and indicates to our team when you intend on submitting your application to us. You must complete and submit the ROI form to apply to enrol onto our GOLD scheme. You will receive confirmation from our GOLD team when this is processed and officially enrolled onto our scheme. You are required to submit a GOLD application within 1 year of your ROI submission.

5. Develop your GOLD application

Developing your GOLD application is not something we would recommend to rush and on average can take between 6-12 months to fully develop. Through our scheme, there are various ways in which you can find support and guidance with preparing your application.

Using our GOLD participant handbooks and guidance resources

Our GOLD team have carefully crafted resources to help you with understanding how to evidence the different dimensions and criterion of the PSF, write reflectively, and develop your GOLD application. We strongly recommend that you read the participant handbook and guidance resources for the category of fellowship you are applying for in full. All of these are available to download and read below.

Working with your GOLD Mentor

You should only start developing a GOLD application once you have an approved GOLD mentor and have enrolled onto our scheme. You will work with your GOLD mentor to develop your application over a period of time. We encourage that you make contact with your GOLD mentor to set up an initial meeting to discuss ways of working, timelines, evidence to map to the PSF and to identify a future date to submit their application for review. Your GOLD mentor will be able provide advice and support and give feedback on drafts of your application.

In addition to this, your GOLD mentor will also be responsible for your teaching observation and writing a supporting statement. Teaching observations are required for all Fellowship applications, and Associate Fellow claiming for A2 only. These can be live face to face or online teaching sessions.

Your supporting statement will be completed when you provide a final version of your application to your GOLD mentor to read. The purpose of the supporting statements is to authenticate your practice and any claims made in your application. For Fellow and Senior Fellowship applications, a second supporting statement is required for a second referee.

Application forms, supporting statement proformas and guidance for referees can be found in our GOLD resources below.

Attend our additional GOLD workshops

In addition to the support provided by your GOLD mentor, you are welcome to attend our optional GOLD workshops to help develop your application, answer any questions, or provide feedback on a section of your application - this is through our GOLD 1-2-1 drops, GOLD writing retreats and Senior Fellowship Development Workshops.

You can find more about our additional GOLD workshops here

6. Submit your application

Once your application is completed, it must be submitted to our GOLD team along with the supporting statement(s) via our online submission form. Your application will be reviewed at the next closest submission point. Each application is reviewed by at least 2 approved GOLD reviewers. We aim to provide review decisions and written feedback within 8 weeks from the submission review point date. A small sample is also reviewed by our external examiner for quality assurance purposes. Any unsuccessful applications are accompanied with detailed feedback to help with re-drafting for a future re-submission.

Submit your GOLD PSF 2023 application here

We only accept applications using the PSF 2023 to be uploaded and submitted via our online route - If you have used the UKPSF 2011 please email it our GOLD team